June Mamas May 23-29 - Page 4

[3girlsmommy]

Originally Posted by Greaseball

The hospital here says that when a mom comes in to get induced, they start her off at the maximum dose and they don't turn it off until the baby is born (or until the baby goes into severe distress and requires a c-sect.)

Things like that make me CRAZY!!!

[ksjhwkr]

Queenie -

I also would be very upset!!! I don't know much about card readings, but can't you do it for yourself? Probably not, or you would! DUH ME!
Good for you 1.) not being induced...I am SURE it was very difficult. You are one strong Momma!!! and 2.) choosing to only surround yourself with love and peaceful, positive energy.

LOVE TO YOU!!!!!!

[Greaseball]

I went to LLL today, even though dd is not nursing now, and it was kind of frustrating. There were other pregnant women there, and those who had recently given birth, so the leader wanted to talk about how we all pamper ourselves and I felt like the only one who didn't really have opportunities to do so. Everyone else was like "Oh, I just take a break as soon as I feel tired!" and I was thinking it was just so unfair that I don't have the opportunity to do that. So I didn't say anything. All the other women just seem happier, better off, more relaxed, etc.

I wish I would start showing some sign of impending labor. All I get are the faint b/h when I go on a long walk, but those don't hurt very much and don't last long. I just wish I would feel different somehow, YK? I don't feel any different now than I did a few months ago.

[eilonwy]

I get frustrated at LLL meetings too, mostly because everyone has a lot more money than I do and they tend to assume that everyone else is just as affluent. Especially the group I go to that meets in the mornings. It's like, you're a SAHM, that must mean you have money. One of the women was talking about how she had to give up all her dry clean only clothing when she had kids.. "I've got wool sweaters I haven't worn in two years!" I was thinking about how I'm not sure that I own *any* dry clean only clothing at all. Their ideas of nesting involve getting the kitchen redone. I just can't relate. On Saturday, for the first time in my entire life, I will become part of a two-vehicle family. Ah well. At least I can occasionally stun everyone with my geekiness. :LOL

I've never heard of a hospital that starts women out on the maximum dose of pitocin.. that doesn't make any logical sense at all. I can't work out any kind of rationale for it at all. The standard procedure is to start with the lowest dose and work your way up.

ksjhwjr: You can do tarot readings for yourself, but your own ideas/thoughts/feelings will often get in the way of accuracy. To get the most accurate, least influenced reading possible, you want to have someone else who is unaware of the question doing the reading. I always made sure that people didn't tell me their question until afterwards, and I was inevitably surprised at how accurate/applicable the readings were. It works best if the person using the cards has been using them (that particular deck) for a long time, because they get to know the cards and what they tend to signify in different positions/spreads/etc. It's all great fun, if nothing else, and I always found it very relaxing. It's like, the cards do all the thinking for you and you just have to interpret it. It's a great icebreaker in social situations if you're somewhat introverted and/or strange, like I am. I made lots of friends doing tarot readings in college. :LOL

[Smithie]

LLL weirded me right out. I think the issue is that I have no issues with bfing and no negative experiences or perceptions to work through, and since I'm not nursing yet, I also have no problems that need solving. So, there's not much they can do for me until/unless I have a hard time.

[shelbean91]

I ended up having pit with this 3rd baby and we (I) chose to do a very low dose. My birth story is linked in an earlier thread if anyone wants to read the whole story. They said the whole dose of pit is something like 40 and I never made it past 12 or 15, something like that. Very tolerable. Not nearly as bad as I envisioned it, but I was at a very low dose.

If they had tried to start higher, I never would have allowed it. The only reason we started was b/c ds wasn't tolerating the contractions too well (not bad, but not well), it had been 18 hrs since my water broke and absolutely no progress when my previous 2 labors had gone from start to finish in less than 6 hrs, and we wanted to see if the pit would help me to dilate. (It did, but we ended up w/c-section anyway.)

My logic of starting at the low dose was if ds wasn't tolerating contractions w/o the pit, why would he be able to tolerate them with the pit making them stronger. (He ended up doing fine and even better when we started doing amnio-infusion, which is adding fluid back into the uterus to replace the lost amniotic fluid.)

[ksjhwkr]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

ksjhwjr: You can do tarot readings for yourself, but your own ideas/thoughts/feelings will often get in the way of accuracy.

Ah, I understand! I have always been curious about that. Thanks for enlightening me!

I haven't been to any LLL meetings since Emma died. It is just too hard for me because I miss breastfeeding so much. I couldn't stand to go and sit and listen to other Mom's talk about it and watch them do it. It just feels like it's being rubbed in my face, you know? I will check out my meetings here after baby is born though. Luckily, I have lots of friends who are very knowlegeable about bf, so if I have any problems, I can just call on them.

So, I have a question about EPO...what is the purpose, when do you start taking it, basically, what does it do? I have read that many women are taking it and was just wondering if it is something that I should be doing.

If this baby follows Emma's pattern (which I am hoping s/he won't...for many reasons) s/he could be born next Thursday, 37+3 weeks! But, I really hope to stay pregnant until at least 39 weeks, if not 40. My sister and good friends are throwing me a Blessing Way on the 9th, so I MUST make it to that! But, I got the rest of my diapers today in the mail, so I am set and ready to go! Except I don't have any of my birth supplies yet I'll get them on Thursday at my midwife appointment.

Hope everyone is doing well....lots of labor vibes to those who REALLY need/want them, and lots of staying in vibes to those of us who REALLY need/want them!!

[LizD]

You can start pitocin at a low dose, you just need to insist on it. Cytotec and cervidil and things like that, however, cannot be turned off or somehow washed out of the cervix. So there is that to consider also. Any of these things should be used *far* less frequently in this country than they are, so you should have a real medical need. The benefits should outweigh the risks, and unfortunately convenience for mom or dr is often seen as a benefit of high value, instead of coming after medical safety. These things also can make your labor more painful, and while I use that "can" there, in my work I have never seen a labor with these things that is not very, very painful. Only twice have I assisted clients who could make it through an induction without pain medicine, and both of them had very fast labors. I have experienced cytotec myself for a stillbirth induction and it was nothing like ordinary labor at all.

I love the xbox and was very distressed when it was not working the last few days. I don't play on it much but we do play some games together and it's so cool, and so much fun, and I can't possibly see a problem with my husband having whatever toys he wants. After all we're on here typing away about boring old pregnancy, as far as they're probably concerned. My friend's husband said he really wanted one but his wife doesn't understand, not having been a d&d person. I said, you men are out paying for all this, and these kids that the women want, and a house and cars and nice things for everyone, and you come home tired as a dog and looking for some food and a break from dwelling on how you're working for the Man- every working man deserves an xbox, say I.

I feel fine too. I haven't slept in several days, I mean I really haven't slept, and while that is getting a bit difficult to manage I am otherwise fine. I went to my midwife's chiropractor at her request and was unimpressed. I feel exactly the same and he seemed kind of mad at me. The other patients were fawning all over him. He was so icky I was actually rather gleeful when I still couldn't sleep last night because at least he was wrong about everything. HAH!

*But* because my daughter was born so early and so fast my mw asked to check me and I said sure and things are moving right along. Of course I know and Queen here knows for sure one can be walking around dilated for weeks. Hang on, it will be worth it when the baby is born according to its own timetable, it really will be!

[Doodlebugsmom]

Kim, EPO is used to soften and ripen the cervix. My mw reccomended that I start it at 36 weeks last time, so tonight I will start it again. I puncture two capsules and insert them vaginally before bed. If you would choose to do this, WEAR A PANTYLINER to bed! It can also be taken orally, but I chose to use it vaginally. It's so weird, if this baby is born when dd was, he'll be born next Thursday! We have the same due date and both of our other children were born at 37+3! Wow!

[rubelin]

hmm, no Queenie today... I hope you are off having that baby Sweetie!!

Got a haircut today!! It feels so much better! Ben was very good for his, too, he looks very handsome Then we went off to do errands, return something to Old Navy and then down to Babies R Us to spend our gift cards! Got a bunch of mundane things, none of the outfits appealed to me. Then on the way home I started having rather painful contrax. They don't seem to be regular or in any pattern, and I'm trying not to pay much attention to them, cause they are probably just more prodomal stuff and I am not getting my hopes up that they will turn into anything more. Dan says I'm being poopy about it cause I won't time them, but I figure, if this is the real thing, I will know it soon enough. Besides which, it is hard to time them when Ben keeps interrupting

Julie, I had to lol about the couch. I have a very hard time sitting on ours lately, I keep getting stuck! It takes me about 5 minutes to extricate myself, so I've been sitting in our chair instead. It isn't as cushy, but at least I can get up out of it failrly easily

Man, my belly hurts! If this is not going to be the real thing, I would really appreciate it if it would stop hurting now!! It's making me fiercely grumpy So much for my gleeful couple of days, it would have been nice to have a few more of those.

Hope you all sleep peacefully and comfortably!

[mattjule]

My first LLL group was great, mostly b/c I don't go to church and didn't have any friends in the area, let alone friends with children. It was a great way to meet moms that felt the same way I did about childrearing. When I moved out here I was looking for the same thing-not really bfing support, but a way to meet mamas. The meetings I went to felt clannish. Not rude, just not really inclusive. I ended up crying when I left the last one b/c I felt so lonely so I stopped going. I have come to believe that the reason my first group was so eager to embrace me was b/c we had a high rate of new members. I was really bummed when I couldn't get that comraderie here. Thank god I eventually found MDC!

Robin- I feel that way about our butterfly chairs (and the floor LOL). It is so hard to get out of, I grunt and groan. I sound like my overweight, arthritic mother!

I used EPO orally and not for that reason. My mw started me on it to try to control my bp as it had started to rise at the end of my pregnancy. That it helps ready your body for labor was really not a part of the plan, though she waited until I was term before asking me to take it. It worked, my bp leveled off and I did end up giving birth 3 days before Tain's edd, I think about a week or so after starting it.

Oh, and FYI, my best friend was on pit after her water broke for about 14 hours and no steady ctx. She had a 28 hour labor. No pain meds. At one point a nurse she didn't recognize came into the room, looked at the monitor, turned the pit way up, and left. She had a TWO MINUTE ctx. They called the nursing staff and a familiar one came in and turned it back down, but my god! How crappy is that? I think they turned it off when she reached a certain dilation (I don't remember what, but it was large, like 8 or so) and her body was able to take over. I really admire her for not taking pain meds. She isn't a person that preps a whole lot. She didn't do any reading, etc. Luckily her parents were/are big hippies...She sure looked wracked afterward, though.

I have pants half made for Tain's doll. They way I sewed the legs on makes it look just indecent to have it naked. I still feel really unmotivated. But I remember that with Tain's pregnancy. I never got the nesting urge at the end of that pregnancy either. I kept thinking "Man, whoever said that women get the urge to nest is a liar". The day I went into labor I cleaned the whole house. It was the first day in, like, a month at least that I remotely felt like doing it. And I still didn't really want to, but I thought, "well, I am close to my edd and I don't want the mws to see my house such a sty!" It worked out well that I had a nice, clean place to labor in. So I anticipate that I will force myself to do some things, but won't really want to from here on out.

Thanks for the release Smithie. I'll just send all the fabric that is left so you are sure to have enough. I did already get the velcro, too (see, I had intentions...LOL). I'll make sure to send instructions.

Okay, this may be a little TMI, but does anyone else really not like the way they smell lately? I know it is just pregnancy b/c I remember it from Tain's, but it is still yucky. Just a different smell that I can smell really well, especially when I sweat. Ew. It makes me want to take 5 million baths a day, only I have so much trouble getting out of the tub at this point that I don't want to take any baths! Just can't win, I guess.

Well, I am going to go shower or something then I need to go draw more pencil lines on the announcements so I can put the quotation on the front. Man am I tired of measuring and drawing pencil lines! At least I am over half-way done...

Matt thought of putting "another sunrise" on the front, which I thought was cute since we are having another boy, but I am paranoid about the u/s being wrong and then they would be dorky. So instead I put "A scared moment has come, a moment old like the mountain, yet unique and new as a dream. It is the moment of beginning." A.A. Attanasio. Pretty cool considering we live at the foot of the Rockies. Anyway, it has a butterfly stamp in the upper left corner, then the quotation on the rest of the front. on the inside I plan to put a pic of new baby, preferably with Tain, though I don't know how well that will work (Tain is really hit and miss with how tolerant he is of having his pic taken), and then the usual announcement stuff on the other side of the inside. I chose to do it in green and gold pen. So I think when they are done they will look elegant and lovely. If I ever feel like getting them done...

Anyway, hope everyone has the labor they envision. Sleep well...

[dharmama]

Originally Posted by mattjule

Okay, this may be a little TMI, but does anyone else really not like the way they smell lately?

OMG!!! So funny that you wrote that. I JUST asked DH last night....ummmm....do I stink to you? Because I can't stand my own smell!!!

At first I was blaming it on DH (mainly his shoes) but I moved all of them out of our room and realized....damn....the stink is still here. Then I decided it was my PJs...must be wearing them for too long....so I threw them in the wash....still stinky. Finally I realized....YIKES! It's ME!!

I can't figure out exactly where it's coming from...like it's not really from my pits....nor does it seem to be from 'down there.' It's like I just smell bad all over.

BUT...DH says he hasn't noticed.

Anyway....

Sorry to hear that some of you have had bad experiences with LLL. My group is really great! The leader is a friend of mine from my UU church and there are several other women from my church who attend. It's the first time I have been around so many slinging, co-sleeping, EBF-ing, "crunchy" mamas in my life and I felt SOOOOOO at home.

Oooo...can I ask you guys a carseat question?

I got the Peg Perego at my shower and it is beautiful and very safe and all BUT....it was crazy expensive. Even the second base (which we have to buy ourselves) for it is like double what most are.

So my question is...since I'm expecting a nice plump baby I will most likely not be using the infant seat for very long. I thought about going right to a Britax but I read enough posts here on MDC that suggested starting with an infant seat so I'm going to do that.

So now I'm thinking of returning the Peg and getting a SnugRide (almost 1/2 the price), which would allow me to get the second base for DH's car (AND put a good chunk of change towards the jog stroller that I really want ).

Anyway...



Has anyone used the SnugRide (or the Peg Perego for that matter) and have any thoughts about it? I have a Toyota Corolla and I read that the SnugRide is well...snug in the center of the Corolla so that concerns me a little.

Thanks!

~Erin

[Steve's Sweety]

Erin - One of the moms in our bradley class has been checking out carseats and I believe the places have been letting her take them out to her car and try them, so that's what I would suggest.

We have a mw appt today and I'll have my GBS test done. Please send vibes for it to be neg. I *really* don't want an IV, not even a hep lock (had a horrorible exp w/ one as a child) and I'm paranoid about it.
How long does it take to get the results anyway?

I also think I'll go ahead and let her check me. I have been saying I wanted to wait, but I'm almost 38 wks so I have waited some and she is going out of town for the next week after today and I am curious!

Got a call from BIL last night about SIL. They have scheduled her to come in tonight for (presumably) cytotec and then will either keep her or have her come back tomorrow am for further induction. So by Friday at the latest (but hopefully tomorrow for her sake) I should have a new nephew!

Now, everyone please send SO's to our BOL to come out by tomorrow! That way I get to have tied status for the first grandbaby as well as get my May baby, and still have it before my mw leaves town.


And oh yeah, I meant to post a link so you guys could see who the heck blabbers in here on occasion.
9 months of belly shots

Ack, I don't know what happened! I spent all this time u/l them to Shutterfly yesterday and all except the first couple are all mosaic like!

[HoneymoonBaby]

I stink, too. I keep thinking it's my pits, but when I sniff them, they don't stink, so it must just be all over. Fabulous.

Went to the doctor this morning and they whipped out the U/S again. : That would be the EIGHTH time. They wanted to confirm he's head down. I told them I KNOW for a fact he is, since I can feel his butt/legs/head/etc. in detail by his movements and through my belly. They said "We can't just take your word for it." Whatever. They also did the GBS swab. "Negative result" vibes needed here, too, please -- I hate needles and even the heplock scares the shit out of me. Not what I need when I'm trying to go natural with no pain meds.

The good news is, Ian IS head down (duh), in exactly the position I told them he was. Their wild guess is that he's going to be almost exactly 7 pounds. Sounds good to me! My cervix is soft and ripe, but still closed. The Doctor said both Ian and I are "ready to go," though, so it's nice to know that if I get REALLY sick of being pregnant, I can have sex/take walks/eat curry/do visualizations/etc. and try to speed things along without feeling guilty. Just knowing that takes some of the pressure off and suddenly, I think I can wait a couple more weeks. I have lots of cleaning to do!

Best to everyone, and thanks for the hugs earlier this week. I needed them.

[Greaseball]

I also didn't find much help from LLL because I didn't need help! DD had no problems nursing until she started biting. I wonder if this baby will be the opposite, and I'll end up with cracked nipples and reflux and mastitis.

In just a few days, I've outgrown another dress and 2 pairs of underwear. I have an appointment tomorrow, my 40-week appt (well, 2 days before 40 weeks) and am not looking forward to it. I was hoping I'd have made some more progress or shown some signs of impending labor by then.

[Smithie]

Erin, we decided to go with the Snugride and get a Britax for the next step up. We have a minivan and a clunky American-made sedan, though, so size was not a factor in our decision. Everything about Peg Perego just screams "ripoff" to me. I installed the Snugride a couple of days ago, and I think it would fit just fine in the backseat of a Corolla. I guess it depends on how far back your dh needs to put his seat. I drive all squished up behind the wheel like somebody's grandma

[Smithie]

"They said "We can't just take your word for it."

Forget YOUR word - how about feeling Ian's little butt THEMSELVES? Good grief.

[HoneymoonBaby]

Originally Posted by Smithie

"They said "We can't just take your word for it."

Forget YOUR word - how about feeling Ian's little butt THEMSELVES? Good grief.

Seriously. But this is the same OB who called me a bad mother for questioning the necessity of the GD test (I'm 23 with ZERO risk factors). Science is his god. Ian kicked his hand good and hard when he was measuring me, and stuck his butt out for display, too. There's no reason they needed to do an ultrasound to confirm his position. I'm skinny as a rail and it is OBVIOUS where the baby is. But I honestly think this guy could actually WITNESS the second coming of Jesus Christ (complete with lightning, thunder, descending on a cloud, etc.) and not believe it was Him until he got a blood sample.

[Greaseball]

Well, after looking at the small cd stash I put together for the new baby, I decided to get some cd's for dd as well, even though she has been almost exclusively sposie'd. She only has 2 so far - a fuzzi bunz and a wonderoos which really doesn't fit her - and has worn them both today, and only peed in them. So I was thinking, good, I can just hand-wash them in the shower...and then she had diarrhea all over the bathtub! I almost wish she had pooped in the diapers...

My chicken is sick. She won't touch her food or water. I took her to the vet yesterday and he gave her some antibiotics that I'm supposed to give twice a day, but she won't eat them. She won't eat food, and I haven't been able to force the dropper into her mouth. I hope she starts eating and gets better soon.

Have to go clean the bathtub now...

[Queen of Cups]

Yay!

I HAD MY BABY!

Killian Jameson was born on Tuesday May 25th at 7:00am. I awoke in labor at 12:04 that morning, went to the hospital about 1:45am, my water broke at about 4am, started pushing at 4:30am. Almost no interventions during most of the labor, and the hypnobabies worked wonderfully. Unfortunently, there was meconium in the water, and the pushing stage took a very long time. At the end I ended up with an episiotomy and he was taken to NICU for observation. BUT he was released w/i three hours and we were released from the hospital about 1pm today. Killy is doing great and is a very avid nurser! I'm recovering nicely and we're happy to be back home!