Week of May 10

[Piglet68]

October Mamas Roll Call

momtol&a
snugglebutter 10/01
mirthfulmum 10/03
TracyK 10/04
mhurst 10/04
kraftykathy 10/04
Jillerina 10/04
water 10/06
Proudly AP 10/08
FutureMama 10/09
allformyboys 10/11
Lucysmama 10/12
bendmom 10/12
momadance 10/13
Mandi 10/14
rhemp 10/14
wannabmommie 10/15
krnflwr 10/16
Piglet68 10/18
MommyMuse 10/19
BeauGeek 10/20
BeansMomma 10/20
CourtneyandLogan 10/21
EmbersMOM 10/21
Stanleymama 10/23
gottaknit 10/24
3boyz4us 10/24
Ctmom70 10/24
aspiring mama 10/25
truebluexf 10/27
Soogie 10/27
ameliabedelia 10/29
flitters 10/30
AnnR33 10/31

Good Monday to you all!

Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day. DH took DD early in the am so I could sleep. I think for the first time in two years I actually overslept! We went to the zoo together. DD ended up sleeping through almost all of it, lol, but we had a nice time out as a family in the beautiful weather (it was 80 degrees here in Ohio).

Question of the Week: How are you doing with weight gain? I don't mean to recite a bunch of numbers, I know that for many of us weight is an emotional issue...what I mean is, do you feel good about it, are you worried you aren't gaining or gaining too much? What do you do to monitor it, if anything?

I'm happy this PG b/c I started out 12 pounds lighter than I did when I got PG with DD (I was at my ideal weight this time). I'm noticing, too, that I'm gaining more slowly than I did last time. In fact, I've only gained about 6 pounds so far. I'm very happy with that, although I will admit that sometimes I almost worry that I'm not eating enough, lol. That's a trip! Anyways, I'm happy with how I'm looking and feeling weight-wise, and I like the way I'm looking (I'm looking definitely pregnant now). The only bummer is that some of my maternity clothes from last time are too big.



PS - we will be finding out the results of our amnio tomorrow, possibly today. I will let you all know as soon as I hear something!

[momadance]

Good morning mama's! We had a pretty hectic mothers day weekend. My sis flew in from NYC and we got to hang out with her for a few hours, and then drove over to B'ham Al. to see the inlaws. My FIL is home for a couple days after a year in Kuwait Dh got me some Tulips' a nice card, and a Kitchen Aid mixer. Kinda like one of those vaccum gifts but we've both been wanting one, we're kinda foodys..

QOTW: I've gained about 5 lbs. I've lost in my face, arms and legs, and my belly is big and hard! It makes me very happy. My sis (who I hadn't seen since xmas) said I look better then at xmas and I had been losing then as well. My FIL thought I looked pretty fit as well, it's been a year since seeing him. I always like to keep track of my weight. With Ds I gained about 45 lbs and ate somewhat willy nilly. I majorly regreted it after giving birth. It doesn't just go away with the round belly! Plus, it's just not healthy for *me*!

[Soogie]

Good morning ladies! I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. I had a great day yesterday. My DH let me sleep in, got the kids fed, BATHED (gasp!), and dressed. Then he took them for a bike ride. When they had gotten back, I had already taken a leisurely shower and even shaved my legs! Already a great day. The kids had picked me wildflowers on their bike ride. It was so cute with them carrying in bug infested flowers. Made me cry. Then I got my gift...an entire DAY at the spa...hour long massage, facial, manicure, pedicure, aromatherapy, hair, makeup lesson, lunch, some other treatment. Damian said I needed it after all that we have been through the past 5 months with the move and stuff. Then the rest of the day we spent painting until it was dinner time. Damian made reservations at a swank restaurant on the top floor of the Omni bayfront hotel. We had an awesome water view. Food was great, kids were well behaved. I couldn't have asked for a better day.

QOTW: Weight. Well, with my ds #1, I ate the healthiest I ever had in my entire life. I exercised daily and gained a total of 32 pounds. I started about 25 lbs above my ideal weight, but since I was eating right, the weight gain didn't bother me. I lost all of the baby weight within 6 months. With dd #2, my diet was not ideal. I was busy with a baby (ds was only 8 months old when I got pg) and nourishing my pg wasn't top priority. Should have been, but it wasn't. I walked everyday. I did follow the Bradley diet starting at about 30 weeks. Even with the different eating habits, I still gained 32 lbs, exactly what I had gained the first time. But the weight did not come off so easily the second time. It took 20 months for me to lose all the weight. With this one, baby #3, I have only gained 4 lbs so far at 16 weeks, which is 5 lbs less than my other 2 pg's. I'm trying to eat well, but now I'm finding it difficult to eat enough food throughout the day. My goal for this pg is to be more active. I haven't exercised in months. But I just signed myself up for a yoga class (starts tomorrow night! yay!) and my new double jogging stroller should be here tomorrow.

Susan
mommy to Aidan (3 1/2), Fiona (2), and little boo edd 10/27/04

[Piglet68]

OMG, Soogie, your DH totally ROCKS! What a fabulous Mother's Day you had!!

Wanted to add re: QOTW - I read somewhere that women tend to have a "pre-programmed" amount of weight gain during pregnancy that really doesn't change much based on whether you exercise alot or not, etc. I'm curious to know what others' experience is. Sounds like Soogie was set at 32 lbs. I gained 35 with DD and will be curious to see if I gain the same this time. I definitely was more concious of my eating and exercising with the first.

[OakEmber]

Hi everyone, sounds like we all had great Mother's Days so far. We spent most of the afternoon at my parents and my sister's family came there for dinner too. My DH and Dad prepared an awesome meal for us and topped it off with a chocolate fondue, with lots of yummy fruit and pieces of angel food cake to dip in. I think we've found a new tradition! Ember was the sweetest though, she had been looking forward to Mother's Day for quite a few days...her and her Daddy planted me a strawberry planter, she was so proud. I didn't want much as my unofficial present was the new fridge we got last weekend.

QOTW- Well, I have gained more this time so far than with DD, about 12 lbs. With her I gained about 35 total. It seems weird to me since I had major food aversions during the time I gained the most and wasn't over eating or eating junk food or anything. It seems to have leveled out now though, I am OK with it and am just trying to walk more (which I do because we only have one vehicle that Dh takes to work). I was pregnant and had a m/c before this pregnancy so I started out with a bit of weight gain from that which is a bit of a bummer, but oh well, I'll have to worry about that later. There was a point that I dropped to 25lbs under my prepreg. weight (when Ember was about 18 months) which I attribute to BF, hopefully it will happen again and this time I will make sure to keep it off! Last time it came off so easily that I didn't do anything to keep it off, easy come easy go :LOL (and by that I don't mean the weight, I meant the newly found figure that I had)

[BeauGeek]

Heya mamas!

I'm good here, mother's day was OK, I went boating with DH, SIL, FIL, Neice & FOTF. We werent out long before it started storming. Other then that DH, DS & me went out for dinner, it was a nice day, quiet

QOTW: I've gained about 5lbs and I am almost half way there. I don't worry to much about the weight, I lose it all afterwards I gain more in the third trimester.

[Lucysmama]

Happy Monday, mamas!

I had a pretty ok Mother's Day. My dd woke me up at 8:00am by bouncing on the bed. She then yelled, "I have a card for you....and I went poop in my diaper!!!" Dh said that was NOT supposed to be part of my gift. Dh had to work yesterday from 9-5. So it was just Lu and I all day. I had a fun day planned for us, but she ingested some nuts (which we are pretty sure she is allergic to) and ended up tantruming for half of the day. She and I finally fell in to bed for a nap exhausted around 12, and slept till 3pm!!! Then dh came home from work, and we all went out to dinner at my fave Hibachi joint. 5 courses and I ate it ALL! Later, dh told me to go out and see a movie, or go to the bookstore for a while, and he was going to put dd to bed and clean the house as a gift! I went out, but when I got home, I saw he had fallen asleep with dd. So, no clean house. It's still a wreck. But the dinner was nice!

QOTW: I really have no clue how much I have gained thus far....maybe 10lbs? I don't know. A lot of it is belly, but the other day when we were out walking, I noticed I was getting some thigh-rubbage. That happened when I was pregnant with dd, too. I normally have a small tushie and thigh area, but I gain there in pregnancy, I guess.

Sometimes, when I see a scale in people's bathrooms, I am tempted to jump on. But I have no clue what my pre-preg weight was, so it will really make no difference, other than it upsetting me. So I am totally in the dark. It's kind of liberating. I remember being so stressed about it my last pregnancy. There was this nurse at my MW practice who would shame me for gaining too much. One time, when I stepped on the scale, she exclaimed, "WHAT have you been eating?!?!?!" Another time, she told me I needed to "lay off the Halloween candy." I am so happy I don't have to deal with that this time.

[Ctmom70]

Hi Ladies!

Its been a while since I posted and I'm glad to hear that you all had a wonderful mothers day. I had a nice one and much needed family time for the 3 of us.

QOTW: So far I'm OK with my weight gain. Its kind hard on me because I have lost a lot of weight just before I got pg. I'm much lighter then when I was pg with my daughter. I'm still exercising and I'm not craving bad foods this time. Thanks goodness....lol

I see some of us have found out what our little peapods are...CONGRATS!! I my 20 wk ultra sound on June 7th...it seems so far away!! We will hopefully find out then. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Have a great week!!!

[Wabi Sabi]

Hello everyone! I lurked last week but never got the chance to post since my computer is still down with some unknown virus and I have to wait until I can get to a different computer...

QOTW: I'm 18 weeks now and have gained about 3-4 pounds so far. My midwife doesn't check weight but curiosity got the best of me so I bought a bathroom scale a couple of weeks ago. This is my first pregnancy, so I'll be curious to see what my body does. Like many of you, I haven't been eating and exercising very well. I have a home daycare and after caring for 5 toddlers/preschoolers all day long, I just don't have the energy to prepare a decent meal or exercise.

Last week's QOTW: I'm not planning on having too many people here for the birth. At this point, the plan is to simply have me, my husband, my midwife and her assistant, plus one close friend to help provide my husband some labor support relief, not to mention that I think I'll need her to coordinate heating water on the stove for the birthing pool- we have a lousy hot water heater and I want my husband to be with me, not in the kitchen heating water! My mother, mother-in-law, and other family can visit AFTER the baby is born.

I didn't get to personally celebrate Mother's Day yesterday. I asked my husband if I qualified this year and he said, "No, you're not a mother yet..." with a very confused look on is face. He really didn't mean to be an ass, he just simply doesn't "get it." He's really a very sweet man...

Last week was my birthday and he bought me a breast pump. It was truely the funniest (and BEST!!) gift I've ever received! Just picturing my husband shopping for a breast pump totally on his own is enough to send me into fits of laughter!

I was curious to see how it works, so I put it together and put it to my breast to see what the suction felt like. I can't tell you how surprised I was when only after one or two squeezes of the handle colostrum started to drip out! As I mentioned before, this is my first pregnancy so I was surprised to see it so early! I'm hoping that this is a good indicator that I'll have no trouble producing plenty of milk...

I also have my first appointment with my midwife's back-up OB tomorrow. He generally likes to see you once per trimester, but since I'm already in my second trimester I'll probably only see him twice. My husband and I have decided that even though we're going the low-tech homebirth route, we'd really like to know the baby's gender so I'm going to ask the OB about scheduling an ultrasound sometime soon! It'll be my one concession to a standard, medicalized birth. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll know whether we have an Ava or a Miles sometime in the next few weeks!

[krnflwr]

Glad to hear that everyone had such lovely mother's days. DH, DD and I got up really early and secretly planted flowers at the houses of my sister, godmother and a friend, who just had her 1st baby. It was fun to surprise them. My DD "decorated" the steps or sidewalk with sidewalk chalk and we had a blast.
Weight gain....hmmm. I worked really hard this past year to loose all the extra weight I gained, and was just starting to see my "goal" in the horizon when I became pregnant. I've been trying to not get too worried or worked up over my weight while I'm preg. I actually lost weight my first trimester (morn sick and still nursing), so at this point I think I'm up only 3 lbs overall. My face looks thinner, I think, but my belly is big and round.
I was pretty heavy when I became preg w/ Hannah but ate super well and exercised very regularly. Ended up at 9 months only weighing a few lbs more than where I started from, which always seemed weird to me. But we both were healthy. For some reason I seem to be able to loose weight while preg but gain weight while breastfeeding. How strange is that? So although I'm officially overweight, I'm feeling really good and loving my big belly.

[3bees~1flower]

hello! Mother's Day was good. we were up at my sister and her husband's on sat for his college grad. party and we stayed over night with them...went to church with them on Sun and then just hung out...we went out for lunch at Wendy's and then went to a big county park that has a HUGE lake and damn...the boys enjoyed that. then found a playground in the park and played frizbee, catch and ate munchies. then we had to head home about 3ish. it was a good day.

QOTW: i'm slightly nervous about the whole wt issue...i (stupidly, totally my own fault) started this preg 40 lbs heavier than my third which before that preg i had lost 40 when i had gotten preg. so, i'm a little concerned that i will end up at a wretched wt when all is said and done. i have not had the huge desire to eat junk, still eat it, but try to keep portions reasonable. i don't know, i just don't want to gain gobs, ya know...i'm trying, but it's still hard. i think i have gained 7-8 lbs and am 16 wks, 1 day.

on movement...yesterday, the bean must have worn him/herself out...i felt the most movement yesterday and today he/she is pretty quiet. this makes me nervous, i can't wait till there is constant movement, ya know?

have a good day!

[ameliabedelia]

I had a good Mother's Day as well. In the morning, we (DH, DD and I ) watched a video (Esther and the King) which DH had bought awhile ago, but we never got around to watching. Than we went to church, came home ate lunch, DD took a nap. After that, we all just lounged around on the couch talking and playing and called my mom. Later we went to a lake, and waded a little bit and walked along it. Came home, at dinner and that was it.

QOTW: I don't know how much weight I have gained. I am guessing about 5 pounds or so. I don't weight myself and I don't like to worry or think about my weight. In the past I have struggled with eating disorders, and although I am fully recovered now, I don't want to get into the whole weight issue. My midwife is cool with no weighing me, which I LOVE.

[mirthfulmum]

Had a wonderful Mother's day too. Alias was so into giving me my "surprise" that he dragged me out of bed at 7am. He was just heart achingly cute, so proud of himself as he carried a slightly too heavy pot of flowers to me . We went out for an early breakfast, then went out for lunch with my grandpa, uncle and aunt. The luncheon was covering three celebrations, my granpa's 91st birthday (which was on the 7th), Mother's day and DH's birthday (which was on Mother's day this year). And after all that socializing, we just went home, watched a movie while Alias took his nap and then it was time to focus on DH's birthday. So I made him one of his favourite meals while he and Alias chased each other around the house pretending to be monsters. It was so great to spend the day with my boys.

QOTW: When pregnant with Alias I gained 50 pounds. I lost it all and then some. Before Alias was concieved I was a size 10, at about 10 months post pardum I was a size 6. My weight loss secret? Nursing a child who refuses solid food until 13 months. This pregnancy I am not stressing about my weight. My midwife does not do a weigh in but there is a scale in the clininc's bathroom. I've weighed myself three times during this pregnancy and I have so far, at a little over 19 weeks, gained 10 pounds. It'll be interesting to see if I gain 50 ponds again with this pregnancy. With Alias, I was shocked by my weight gain. I ate really well, whole grains, organic produce, avioded fatty foods, drank lots of water, I even developed a dislike for sweets. And I didn't eat that much more than usual either. And still I just kept packing on the pounds. This time, I am definately more relaxed around the whole food issue. I kind of have the attitude that I eat what I can when I can. I try to make it healthy but frankly, a lot of the time I just don't have the energy. I just need something quick and easy.

[OakEmber]

Remember how we were talking movements and I said I was still at the not sure stage, but had been feeling things occasionally? Well now it been a few days (seems like a week but probably hasn't been that long) that I definately don't feel anything! Should I be worried...I am about 16.5 weeks, that's early enough for this to be normal right?

[Piglet68]

Amie...don't worry! I'm still "thinking" I feel movement, but honestly nothing definite.

With DD I first felt her when she gave my hand a big kick as it lay on my belly. I was about 19 or 20 weeks by then. I then realized that some of the "butterflies" I'd felt earlier were her. So you'd think this time around I'd know...but honestly I do get gassy alot and it's really hard to tell what is bubbles moving through my gut, and what is movement.

I would not stress about it yet at all!

[mirthfulmum]

I'm with Piglet. I don't think we're far enough along for us to be concerned with how often we feel movement. Our babes are still so little that, especially if we've had a busy day, we could go a long time without noticing any of the usual butterflies and swooshes. Even with this incredibly active baby will go a few days without alerting me to her/his prescence.

[Lucysmama]

Originally Posted by mirthfulmum

Even with this incredibly active baby will go a few days without alerting me to her/his prescence.

Me too!

[water]

I had a good Mother's Day, although my inlaws are here...

About the weight, with my son I gained 75 pounds, and lost 40 without doing anything, and then lost another 20 pretty easily by exercising and eating slightly less, so that left me 15 pounds over when I got pregnant this time. I figure I'll have to lose that 15 myself, so I'm just trying to stay under 40 pounds this time.

So anyway I have gained 11 pounds and I am 19 weeks. Not too shabby!

It's hard to simultaneously watch your weight and eat healthily etc etc. I had a really hard time actually going on a "diet" the last time, how can I call myself a feminist and yet still want to conform to some societal ideal of how I should look? (I was thin before, so its not like I needed to lose weight for health reasons or anything...)

I dunno, I still have a hard time with it, especially when my inlaws are around, since all of them have weird food obsessions, ranging from neuroses to full-blown eating disorders, including the men. I'm the only normal one here!!! Even at my "normal" weight, which is well within the recommended guidlines for women my height, I am still, by about 20 lbs or so the heaviest woman in my inlaws family. Very odd.

[krnflwr]

movement

On the issue of the baby moving:
When I was pregnant with Hannah, I didn't definitely feel her move until I was almost 22 wks along. Even after the u/s and seeing her moving and waving and swimming around in there, I couldn't really feel definite movements. I sure was getting concerned. But once I felt her, I don't think she ever stopped!
This time, I have felt what I thought must be the baby a couple of times (fluttery butterfly feelings) but nothing regular. I've been having lots of gas and cramping and intestional distress issues , so who knows for sure? I think the average time to start feeling the baby move is around 18-20 wks, so don't start to fret yet. Everything is hunky-dory! But I know how hard it is to be patient. Hang in there!
Piglet, any word yet from the amnio? I'm thinking about you guys!

[Piglet68]

WOO-HOO!!!!!!

I just heard from the Geneticist - little baby boy's chromosomes are all the way they should be. No Down's....I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW RELIEVED I AM!!

I tell ya, I was quite calm all week until this morning. I've been having major butterflies all morning long. I am just SO, SO happy that this little fella is going to be fine!!!!

where's the tears of joy smiley?

PS - as a treat to myself, I am now going to place my first order for newborn fitted diapers!!!