Week of August 23rd - Page 6

[OakEmber]

OMG Katie! Well I am glad at least to hear that baby is still in you, but what a whirlwind of a time you are having! I wish I had words of wisdom for you but I can only offer s and baby vibes!

[Court]

Hey, just checkin in. I felt lost when Mothering was down, it interrupted my routine. I'm thinking about you Katie and sending good vibes! I want so much to hear good news from you, I think you've been tested enough.

Amie-what was it you said about being scatter brained or something? I think I have that. I'm really forgetfull all of the sudden and I have no energy. I do still skim through the other boards, but they don't excite me like they used to. I guess I'm just really bored too.

As far as a potential QOTW goes...my idea would be something along the lines of...How are you planning to avoid PPD? Or are you worried about it at all? Kinda serious, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and what my game plan will be.

Another thing I was thinking, if we run out of preggo related questions, maybe we could start asking silly, getting to know you questions, like "What was the first concert you went to?" or "What's your absolute favorite meal?"

ooh this baby is stretching his feet out, such a nice feeling

[OakEmber]

32 weeks

I was lost today too! And now that Ember is finally asleep I have so much to say! Totally contradicting what I said yesterday, I seem to have lots of thoughts tonight, :LOL! But I am glad that you are there with me Courtney!

So lets start with....Can you believe that last night, at 32 weeks I FINALLY had my first dream about a baby! I was holding Oakley on my lap, I'd say he was about 4 months and a lot chubbier than I'd expect my baby to be (based on Ember) and had green eyes, but not green blue like Ember's more hazel green like his dad. Of course now I am curious to see if he looks anything like that, but will have to wait a few months I guess :LOL And the other thing that happened in my dream is I harvested my garden....HMMM, harvesting and babies, must be some symbolism happening there? Anyone a dream expert?

Ok, so then. I went to the fabric store today and bought some terry and flannel to make wipes (not as nice of quality as I'd truly like but hey). Borrowed MIL's serger and should now have a ton of wipes soon, actually MIL bought the material too which was a sweet bonus. But I wanted to get some fleece too to make liners but I didn't really go in knowing enough about what I wanted, I was just looking for Malden Mills fleece but they don't sell it....anyway long story short, they basically had NEVER heard of fleece for diapers and thought I was crazy! So since getting home I went on the diapering board and found out that for what I want micro-fleece is the best, good thing I didn't buy anything today because I was looking at their heaviest fleece, which as I am learning is best for covers, etc. but not at all for my purpose. OK, so at least I am learning! Now's a good time to ask you all if you even think fleece liners are worth it, :LOL...I like the idea of keeping the bum dry for when I need extra time and also for keeping diaper stains at bay, at least in theory.

One last thing...whew, I tell ya, if this disappears on me I will freak, gotta get this out tonight because tomorrow I might be all scatterbrained again:LOL So back when we were doing our predictions my backup date in my head incase I am wrong is the 20th (the 6th and the 20th happen to line up with my moon cycles for LMP and conception). Dh says it's no fair to have a backup date :LOL So anyway, tonight I put the calendar infront of Ember so she could pick the day she thought Oakley would come (because she was talking about him coming in a few more weeks), and she picked the 20th. So we'll see, I don't want to change my prediction but just for the record maybe you guys will remember this if I'm wrong, :LOL.

I bet if I reread this in the morning it will seem really scatterbrained, but right now it feels like more clarity than I have had in a long time :LOL Off to bed now!

[sunshinegal]

Okay-have been super busy and just trying to keep up. Have been so tired and not enough good sleep to get rested to keep going. Yuk!
I have finally decided to have a vaginal birth.

It was a tough decision I had to make since my last birth (a successful homebirth) I had some issues. The hardest issue was, I had some reconstructive surgery on my perineum (did I spell that right??) and my rectum (oh joy!!) and the doc that did the surgery said that tearing again is really high but then again she has never had a patient go through with a vaginal birth after this sort of reconstructive surgery. The midwives at my ob's office have been extremely supportive of a vaginal birth which is great and my doc said that it is all up to me which is also great.
I finally am happy to be pregnant. I have spent much of this pregancy researching c/s and worrying myself out of my mind : that it has been hard digging down deep and listening to what I really wanted. I just couldn't go through a c/s after 2 vaginal deliveries just because someone said that I might tear and might have fecal incontinence-- although I have been doing a lot of my own research on the subject and there is no conclusive evidence of this.
I am not trying to offend anyone that is having a c/s. There are definite situations where they are absolutely necessary!! And I may end up having one depending on how the delivery actually goes. There is always that chance and I have prepared for it. But since this was up to me and something I needed to deal with- digging through all the fear and what ifs-- I just need to envision this as a vaginal birth and I am prepared for a possible c/s. All I kept thinking was- "I don't get to go into labor" and that pretty much freaked me out. -- Sounds crazy I know, but I loved labor!!
The other issue was a 10 day post partum hemorrhage I had. Which is why I am having this babe in the hospital. For some reason, I don't have any fear of hemorrhaging. I just KNOW that it isn't going to happen. My diet has been great, I am keeping my iron up up up and drinking plenty of RRL tea- thanks to this board I had never heard of it before.


Another big decision that we have made is that I am going to be a SAHM. I have been the one working for the past 5 years- my dh stays home to homeschool the kids- so this will be a big change for our family, never mind adding another person. DH hasn't found a position yet but I'm not too worried. These things always seem to work themselves out just in the nick of time. Gotta keep the faith.

Thanks for letting me go on and on for anyone that has read this far!! If you notice what time I am typing this you will understand how much I needed to post this.

[OakEmber]

Wow Sunshinegirl...what an interesting post! I can honestly say that I have never known anyone who had reconstructive surgery after a vaginal birth...way to go for going for it again Sounds like you have put lots of thought into it, I hope things go much more smoothly for you this time! We will definately be waiting to hear your birthstory....or maybe I shouldn't say that, not trying to make you a watched pot or anything. I think it is very cool that you have found support and I am sure that regardless of the outcome you are going to be in a good place about it! And so exciting for you to get to be a SAHM...sending job finding vibes to your DH! I assume then that you will be the teacher now, how neat for your kids to experience both!

You know your post really got me thinking, I haven't really devoted any time to the "what if I need a c/s" it would just suck so much, being that I am delivering so far away from home...it's kinda the downside to the tradeoff of having a midwife in my case, the midwife is well worth it, but if I were to have a c/s I'd rather be in the hospital closest to home, which is still in another city but is only 1/2 hr away instead of over an hour. So if it were for some reason necessary to preplan one (like if Oakley were to stay breech) then I would tell my midwife that I want my OBGYN that I have already been seeing about a dermoid cyst, which he could then remove. Not sure if that would go over well, and I am not sure if I'd get to continue the postpartum care with her but I hope I would. Hmmm, just thinking outloud now. Hopefully the powers that be will make it so that if it is my fate to have a c/s this time it can be prepared and not an emergency...is that too much to ask?

[Piglet68]

Hey everybody. Wow, I forgot how fast this board moves!

Katie, I am so sorry you are going through all this. I guess the PTL is no surprise given the stress you've been through in the last few days. It makes me feel like my stress (all physical, really) is nothing. Hang in there, girl. They say bad things come in threes, so you've had your three!! A suggestion for your housing situation: don't know what they have in your town, but I'm sure I saw these in Cleveland: movers who deliver a huge storage box to your house, you fill it up and they haul it away. They store it until you are ready to move into your new place, then deliver it to your new place. It's super handy. In the meantime, you guys might be able to find a motel or something to stay in. I can totally relate to how stressful this is: I'm already feeling the crunch of trying to set up a new home so late into pregnancy, and having ZERO energy or physical resources to do so. We'll all get through this together, mama!!

Sunshinegal: I'm glad to hear you've made the decision to go for a v-birth. It's so important to follow your heart when it comes to birthing. At least if you end up with a c/s you'll know you tried your best. Also, congrats on making the switch to SAHM. I'm back in the SAHM game myself now, and will likely be so for at least the next year. It's a nice change from the regular workday, though honestly it's harder work for me to play with a toddler all day!

Mum and I went to the fabric store yesterday and got some lovely fleece to make a pouch out of. We also bought some batik cotton and another light cotton to make wraps out of, and a heavier cotton in dark chocolate brown for another pouch. I'm a complete newbie to sewing (Mum's the pro) and I didn't realize that some of the fabrics we bought were 150 cm wide. I only needed 45 inches! No wonder the bill was so big: we spent $70. But it turns out we have enough fabric to make at least 6 pouches/wraps. So I told Mum I'd sell them on ebay, lol. If anybody is interested in an inexpensive pouch, I'll let you know what we end up with and post some pics. I'll probably sell them for $20 Cdn - mostly just want to recover some of the cost of the fabric. The whole point of buying fabric was to save money, lol! Still, Mum's pretty excited about making them.

Well, I have to run now. Emily is asking for me!

[AnnR33]

Hang in there Katie-I'm sending you positive vibes! Just let Dh take care of packing after his work-he can handle a lack of sleep for a few days for your health!

Ann

[mirthfulmum]

Katie -
I am sending you all the and de-stress vibes I can muster. I really hope that things get easier for you and your family. You have had to deal with more than your fair share. It's time the cosmos picked on someone else for a change.

Sunshinegal - That's so great that you've been able to find a birth solution that is right for you . And welcome to the SAHM club. Sounds like your family has a lot to look forward to.

Well it's almost 1 in the afternoon and I am still in my PJs. It is just one of those super lazy Sundays. Sure there's tons of laundry, very dirty floors and grocery shopping to be done (not to mention I desperately need to organize the boys' room to make room for Harrison's stuff) but I don't have many of these mornings left before I'll be juggling two boys so I'm kicking back and enjoying the pace of the day.

[gottaknit]

Hi Everyone! Hope you're all having a good weekend!

Yesterday DH and I decided to have a day where we just spent time together and did fun things. (So, OK, I decided it. But he happily went along with it.) This rarely happens because weekends are our time to "get things done". DH is a bit like a herding dog. He can't be still and do nothing - it's always work work work with him.

So we went out to breakfast, and then hit some baby stores/consignment shops, and then looked at blinds for our windows (if we're going to have a homebirth, it's about time to get some curtains! ) So can you tell who picked the "fun activities"? :LOL

For all the Portland mamas out there, if you haven't been to Mother Nature's on SE 26th and Clinton, check it out! They carry all the stuff I've been wasting my time shopping for online. Wraps/slings, cloth diapers and accessories, organic clothing and bedding, toys.... etc. I just wish they had a website... then I could email the link to my family members... I picked up some business cards and plan to discretely slip them into my mom and sister's purses...

DH was such a sport and tried on all the different wraps and slings. He looked so cute in the Moby Wrap! I hadn't considered it an option since it looks so complicated on the website, but it really is awesome and simple. And much less bulky than some of the other carriers. Of course, I don't know if it'd look as slim and trim on me post-baby as it does on my marathon-running DH.

Oh my, I'm so wordy today. Must be the full moon.

I tried to find some maternity clothes yesterday at the various consignment shops. Oh my Lord when did my butt get so huge!! : I was a size six prepregnancy and now I can't even squeeze into size large maternity jeans! I am so scared to see what I'll look like once the baby is here... I know it's vain, but Arrrgghhhh! I don't wanna be fat!

OK everyone enjoy the rest of your weekend!

[True Blue]

Katie -- I know how much rest sucks!! And I can't even imagine it happening in the middle of having to move. Just take it easy and hang in there. Baby will wait 3 more weeks. And at the very least, at 34 weeks, babies don't show any long-term effects of being premature.

OakEmber -- Fleece liners are really nice for nighttime. I don't care so much during the day, and I don't care about stains (I think inserting liners constantly is just annoying) and most stains wash out or sun out anyway. But a fleece-lines dipe at night can be the difference between several changes and none, and hence sleep vs no sleep. I think you can pretty much only find MM online. And the nice thing when you make them, you just have to cut them the size and shape you want...no sewing necessary as fleece won't fray at all!!

[OakEmber]

Don't want to scare you all but I was thinking of something...we started out with 40 weeks ahead of us and now it'll be more like 40 DAYS until our babies arrive (give and take a few or more days for some of us but you get the gist). Wow, when you think of it like that there doesn't seem like much time left, does there?

Gottaknit- Hey, hey, hey...online shopping is never a waste of time:LOL J/K. Living in a small town that's my lifeline, hehe. But seriously, sounds like you found a great store! It sure would be nice to get to try some things out before buying, and to have a place to send people shopping for you

Mirthfulmum- sounds like you are having a well deserved break today! Disregard the above warning, hehe.

Amy- Thanks! You've got me thinking that I don't really need too many, I will be washing every or every other day I think so maybe I will just buy 2-3 or so, it really won't cost as much as ordering the fabric...there is so many other things I want to spend my money on right now.