It's July!! - Page 2

[Jennifer H]

Mostly, ONE MORE DAY OF WORK!!!!!! YEE-HAW!

Then, yikes:
~ Professional Maternity portraits on Tuesday.
~ Go through the newborn clothes and sort out what is unisex enough for a girl.
~ Clean the nursery out and get her clothes put away.
~ Wash our blankets/burp cloths/crib pads (we co-sleep, but I use them for under my leaking breasts so that I don't have to wash the sheets everyday), etc.
~ BUY NURSING BRAS! Mine were all so sad that I got rid of them when Dane weaned! I totally forgot that I need them until this moment.
~ Clean out our spare room (I wonder if there is still a carpet in there?) so my mom can come and stay with us if I need her!
~ Get Lars started in Kindergarten next week (wasn't I just having HIM?).
~ Figure out what to do with my almost three-year-old all day long (I've never been a SAHM before... when I had Dane I kept Lars in daycare two or three days a week because I knew I was returning to work and didn't want to lose my incredible provider! Now she is quitting daycare).
~ Write my birthplan
~ Make a hospital list and pack
~ Buy lansinoh and breastpads

I'm sure there is more... EEK! Please baby, stay in there just a few more weeks!!!

[kris1225]

Originally Posted by oceanbaby

- Figure out a bed for the baby. We do plan on cosleeping, but I'd still like to have a little bed for them. I'm not setting up the crib, and I'm not crazy about the bassinet we used with ds, but I feel silly buying another one. I like the idea of am Amby Hammock but am afraid to spend the money and have the baby hate it. Any ideas?

did you ever consider a side-carred crib? We had it with DD and it was great! It's still up and ready to go.

[Foobar]

Hey guys!

I just wanted to shamelessly plug for getting a good sling ready!

Unlike Goo, who hated being held, Moo is a cuddle hound. A friend just lent me her Maya wrap and Moo and I LOVE it!

BTW- my bag wasn't completely ready when Moo came, but the hospital was very helpful. They were really ready to help out with what ever I needed.

Don't forget to take time to stop and smell the roses before your little ones arrive.... You'll be very wrapped up with lots of loving later.. Enjoy your breaks now!

[Mamma2Addison]

Had my appt this afternoon...the dreaded "induction" conversation which actually didn't go at all badly. I'm now dilated a whole centimeter {woohoo :} and 80 % effaced so my OB doubts much will happen over the next week ~ but who knows, right? Anway, the induction talk was basically my telling him my concerns and his telling me that he saw no reason to consider induction at this point, that it was something we could revisit at a later date {as in 2-3 more weeks depending on how things were progressing}. But he understood my concern with being induced a second time, and felt it unlikely to even be necessary and that Maia would make her appearance when she was ready. Phew!

Foobar ~ thank you so much for the pictures! What a precious little girl.

[Michelle Leigh]

Wow!

We've made it to July!

This is so amazing.

It seems to surreal.

I read Midwifer's birth story and am so inspired. I'm hoping for a short birth, too.

About stuff being ready:

I tend to get overly thorough, so I'm relaxing & thinking to myself, "I have everything I need!" I love being a minimalist, but when it comes to "big events" like weddings, dinner parties, births, etc., I am so detail-oriented and want all the bases covered (plus some).

Monday night I stayed up until 2:00 a.m., moving all of the birthing supplies to the master bathroom. They were upstairs in the bedroom where I sleep... It's been a challenge keeping dd out of everything.

Now, the master bath looks too cluttery for me. I'm hoping I can live with all the "stuff" because I want all this "just in case" stuff there.

I'm considering taking a picture of everything & listing all of it out on paper and then making a list of what I actually used--so that others can relax & see how little is really needed.

I'm now realizing how few clothes I have because I've given away all of dd's. I decided I wanted to buy all organic for this baby. It's almost time for the baby! I guess I'll go to the Trading Post section and see if I can do some swaps. I've never done that & would like to rather than giving everything away this time.

In the midst of all of this... Today I spoke with a realtor we may use to help us sell our house. He wants to come out & look in the next 3 or 4 days. I guess the house can be super clean for him, my midwife's prenatal visit, and the new baby!! (Not that I want to kill anything, but that's "killing 3 birds with one stone.")

[Michelle Leigh]

iron hemaglobin

If anybody's needing to bring up their iron/hemaglobin, I took alfalfa tablets for a few days and brought mine up from 9.8 to 10.5. I think my midwife was very surprised & pleased.

[majazama]

Good thing to know that there are other benefits of taking alfalfa powder. I take mine in capsules that I make. Alfalfa is supposed to be good for Vitamen K as well (hemorrage preventative), a mild laxative (always ), milk increaser... good stuff!

[Michelle Leigh]

6.15.04 prenatal check up here:
34 weeks 6 days
blood pressure: 100/70
baby's heartbeat: 132
weight: 158.5
fundal height: 30 cm
She was concerned that the heartbeat didn't sound rhythmic & wondered about the fundal measurment being about 5 cm "behind" and encouraged me to see a doctor for a check up & an ultrasound. I hadn't planned to go to a 36-week well-pregnancy check up.
I really felt that everything was fine. I can definitely understand the idea of being your own caretaker & following your instincts rather than having check ups...people worry you with stats/norms/tests/etc.

At week 36:
The ultrasound tech & doc. gave me thumbs up. The really good news is that this visit cost $111.00 less than my first one. They felt that everything was super. They thought the heartbeat issue may have been related to the baby's lungs developing & learning breathing movements at around week 34. They guessed the baby weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz. (+/- 1 lbs.), and all the developmental measurements were at 36 weeks. My fundal height was 32, but the doc. said he only uses the fundal height to see if there's growth between weeks 20 - 32. The rest of the time he doesn't pay that much attention to it. "Some moms have littler bellies."
I had my first internal exam during the whole pregnancy, which wasn't that bad. I didn't have to have my feet in stirups. He did it very, very quickly & looked straight ahead rather than at my vagina. (My ob/gyn with dd would do an exam every time, using a flash light & tongs to open my vagina... He did a lot of feeling, exploring, etc. I had to be in stirups every time.) This was a million times better. He said that my cervix was 60% effaced & 1 cm dilated with 4 more weeks to go!! Yeah!!

My waist (if you'd call it that now! :LOL) went from 36 inches on June 23rd to 39 inches on June 29th! Hooray!

[ebethmom]

I think this is my one shot at posting for awhile. You know that LONG list of things to do before Lila comes?? Don't think it's going to get done!

My contractions started at about 11:00 PM last night, and they've been about 30 seconds long and 20 minutes apart since 4:00 AM.

I know that my midwife is 3 hours away today at a family reunion. We've been paging her since 8:00 AM. It's 11:00 AM now, and still no reply. Her backup lives about 30 minutes from us, but I don't have her contact information.

I'm not overly concerned yet, but dh is DRIVING ME NUTS !!!! He is in "overdrive" mode, and I would MUCH prefer calm and collected. He has been snapping at ds all morning, and I know he has paged our midwife at least 10 times, left two messages on her home phone, and one on her cell. AGHHHHHHHHH.

I'm so curious to see how this labor progresses. I had an induction with ds. I'm so looking forward to delivering this baby girl in the water!!

I really didn't want a fourth of July baby, but oh well! I don't think I have much say!

[ChildoftheMoon]

Sending you gentle joyful labor vibes Elizabeth

[Threefold]

Happy Labor!

[Mamma2Addison]

Yay, Elizabeth! Hope you see your little girl soon.

[williamsmommy2002]

Happy birthing Elizabeth.

[Aura_Kitten]

Elizabeth ~

keep us posted.

[Snowbaby]

Gentle birthing, elizabeth.

I had such a tough time last night. Just really tired and achy and went into a really funky mood that seemed totally hormonal because there was no reason and it came and went very suddenly. I felt guilty though b/c I was really wishing for this babe to come out so I could feel better. My poor baby - mommy got mad at it even before it's born -- but I've regained my senses and know that I want him/her to only come when he/she is ready (but BEFORE any induction has a chance to take place).

Well, can't wait to hear about all of our Full Moon and Fourth of July babies.

Foobar - it's so awesome to hear you talk about Moo and know that she's now in your arms!

[Foobar]

Elizabeth!

Good luck! I wish you quick and easy labor vibes and can't wait to hear of your healthy child

[majazama]

Go elizabeth go! get that baby out of there.

I'm not feeling any birthy stuff yet. I don't think I will have a full moon baby (that was last night, anyways).... good, cause I still don't have those yummy kissaluvs to put on my NB.

I bought some plaster of paris today, and so I'm going to do a belly cast tomorrow.

[ebethmom]

She's here!!! Lila Kerry was born at 9:13 PM on July 3. I had my second full moon baby!

I'm popping over to the Birth Stories thread to post our story. I can't believe my baby is here! We had our beautiful homebirth (not at all like I had planned, but it went very well). She has been sleepy all day, but she is nursing well.

[Aura_Kitten]

yay!

[majazama]

Wow!! Congratulations ebethmom!! Happy birthday Lila!