April Mamas' chat thread: Sept 20th-27th

[proudmamanow]

Good morning everyone!

I thought I would start off the new thread for this week...
I am actually starting to feel better at 10.5 wks so that is very exciting! I hope everyone else is joining me or will join me in the land of less m/s very soon. Still tired, and still waking up 1-2 X per night to go pee, but less nausea is a big bonus!

Also, the lodger's boyfriend has left and it is nice to have just three of us in our small house (she is very quiet & super nice so is very easy to have around).

Other than that, we are eagerly awaiting our 2nd u/s this Thursday...

Question of the Week: What's your favourite pregnancy-related reading?

I can't wait to get my hands on Ina May Gaskin's spiritual midwifery and the new book by Peggy O'Mara of Mothering. Friends just gave me What to Expect yesterday and I had heard lots of bad things about it so wasn't surprised at it's medicalized and preachy tone, though it did have some good healthy eating info, I thought.

Hope everyone else is well!

[speedknitter]

Good morning!!! I thought i was feeling less queasy but last night's dinner did not sit well and gave me a royal case of heartburn!

I've laughed out loud reading "Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy". Also, my mom sent me a pregnancy book that belonged to my GREAT grandmother who was a midwife/nurse back in the very early 1900s....some of the stuff in there is hilarious!!!!

Have a great week everyone!

[Stream]

Happy Monday!

I just got back from my 11w appointment. We heard the heartbeat for one fleeting second, before the little one ran away (makes mama proud, since I have my doubts about doppler... glad he or she had the good sense to hide). MW was content just knowing someone was in there and didn't persist in trying to get a baseline reading or anything. It sounded a little bit slower than what I remember of my dd in utero. Could be because my pulse today was really fast though (90 bpm)-- dunno.

Ah, pregnancy reading. I just started Birthing from Within, and am seeing that it should be really valuable. I'd like to read the new Ina May Gaskin book-- can't come up with the title right now. I read What to Expect last time, and it truly was a waste. I also read Girlfriend's Guide, which also didn't really appeal to me. My fave book last time was Gentle Birth Choices. I've never gotten around to reading The Pregnancy Book by Sears, but I've heard all good things about it. I'm a Sears fan in general, except re: breastfeeding problems, where I think he falls awfully short (and Kathleen Huggins is my fave for that category).

Nausea is hanging around and saying hello every now and again, but by and large is better. I have the kind-of strange combination of having less nausea and more vomitting as the pregnancy goes on-- happened last time too. Who knows what that's all about...

Hope all is well with all of you!

[aprildawn]

hello all.

so, last week i had another appt with my doc and my blood pressure was high again. so, taking matters into my own hands i went to one of those grocery store pharmacy blood pressure machines. it was 24 points lower today at the grocery store, with my toddler hollering at me, than it was at the doctor's office. clearly, i'm having some anxiety about this new doctor even though i like her and feel like i'm comfortable with her.

it makes me feel much better knowing that. and i'll take it several more times just to see what happens.

pregnancy reading -- i agree that what to expect has some good overviews, but all in all i think it's condescending and assumes all pregnant women aren't smart enough to figure some things out on their own. i got peggy omara's book for my birthday. while it's not tons of new information, reminders are good, and i love some of the herbal and aroma therapy remedies she recommends.

[crat19]

Hi mamas!

Aprildawn: Good luck to you with your bp. I understand that some people's bp goes up in dr's offices due to "white coat syndrome" or something like that. Just being in the office causes bp to go up, whether or not the patient feels relaxed and comfortable. I'll keep my fingers crossed that ur bp stays low!

Stream: Congrats on hearing the heartbeat!! How wonderful it is! My ds completely played hide and seek during the first time we tried to hear. Although, the nurse said SHE could hear it, so she wasn't concerned. I heard our little bean's heartbeat at last week's appt. What a warm and fuzzy feeling. Congrats!!

Speedknitter: Oh no! Just when it was getting better. Well, good luck with the heartburn. I hope it stays away and you can enjoy your meals from here on out!

Wan2bemama: Congrats on getting the house back to its quiet self. It must feel nice to have it back to fairly normal again. Thanks for starting this week's thread.

Reading...hmmm. I did a lot of reading with my last pg, but overall I find a lot of my inspiration and reminders from reading MDC!! I sure was happy to see the positive homebirthing article (link by another MDC mama in another post) in the most recent Pregnancy magazine. I'm going to start my search soon for a CNM that is willing to do homebirths. I went to my regular dr's office for the last appt and they scheduled me with a wonderful nurse who used to do homebirths before coming to this practice. Unfortunately, she can no longer do them, but is willing to give me some recommendations. Now, I need to convince my dh to be supportive of a homebirth...

Here's to everyone feeling a little better!!

[jessikate]

I've been AWOL here... not enough energy to keep up with everyone. I think I'm finally hitting the end of the first trimester blahs and am feeling a bit more alive now. Never any m/s here, luckily, just being very tired and cranky.

I think I've found my midwife. We interviewed someone way back when I was newly pregnant, but never got around to calling anyone else. I liked the first mw well enough, but was/am bothered by the fact that she's younger than me. I hate that, but it's true and I can't go against it. I finally called the midwife that several friends have had, and even over the phone, her voice totally calmed and relaxed me. I hate talking on the phone - it tenses me up amazingly, so this is pretty cool. We're meeting with her next monday, and I think we'll be hiring her then.

I should get to bed. Sleep is still very hard to come by, as DD is teething and I have some awful insomnia. Better get any sleep while I can, I suppose.

I'm working on catching up with you all... I'll post some replies when I get the chance.

[gracesmom0801]

I'm 12.5 weeks now. (Its FLYING by). I just wanted to let you all know, I have just begun selling Natural Family Boutique products. I'm so excited. If you want to check it out, place an order, or learn about becoming part of my team, check out www.GinasNFB.com today. Thanks, mamas. I'm just excited to sell something I believe in! Much love to all!

[gracesmom0801]

I forgot about my preggo-reading. I enjoy Dr. Sears' The Pregnancy Book and The Birth Book. I'm also reading Husband-Coached Childbirth and Adventures in Tandem Nursing!

I have an extra copy of Dr. Sears The Pregnancy Book. If anyone would like it, I'll sell it to you for $10 ppd. Its usually $21.95 (at least that's what is says on the back cover). Just let me know if you want it

[philomom]

philomom

Hello, it's me. I'm posting in the April and May groups. I'm technically due may 6 but have never made it to 40 weeks. My other kids were all born in the 36-38 week range. I guess they run out of room in there.
Our first ds was stillborn at 35 weeks. A tragic loss in 1992. He is followed by a dd 1993 and and ds 1996. This new one is our surprise baby. Hubby was a trifle mad at first but is now teasing me and such. I am dragging out my bradley workbooks and baby name books. My biggest issues are my age and weight. I am twenty pounds heavier than any pregnancy before. I am now 38, which makes me an "older" mom.
I did have amazing undrugged gentle births in a hospital with midwives. I did do cloth diapers and will again. I did nurse sucessfully and don't see any reason not to again.
Welcome all you. I do run a new mom's support group in my area. It is a blessing and priviledge to keep passing on "mother lore".

[FreeRangeMama]

Just popping in to say hi

Between being so darn exhausted and incredibly busy with the other 2 kiddos I rarely have enough online time! My nausea is getting better, though I still have some blah moments. My belly is wonderfully big now and dh and I both love it!

I haven't done any pg reading at all. I am kind of enjoying just going with whatever happens I am thinking I am probably due closer to the end of April instead of the middle, so I wonder if I will even birth before May. My others were late (42 weeks and 41 weeks). I already have the twin buzz around me. I get large quickly and everyone just believes deep down that I will have twins eventually :LOL I doubt it though.

The nice thing about this being pg #3 and UC #2 is that nobody hassles me about anything. They know we will do whatever the heck we want so they don't even bother. I love the lack of fighting I have to do this time around. Only positive comments, and the only comments I get are that I am eating for 4 (or 5 if it is twins) being that I am nursing 2, plus baby, and of course myself.

Is everyone else's families being supportive so far?

[proudmamanow]

Hi everyone!

Susan--the pg book from your grandma sounds hilarious! my wife got me one from the 60s that's pretty amusing too...

Stream--how cool to hear your little one's and great to make it to 11w! I am 11w today (or so) and am starting to feel better, which is great. Sorry about the uke though! Your reading all the books I want to read...I better get to the library soon!

Aprildawn-- for the blood pressure problems. It's true that it often goes up in doc's offices, but that sucks all the same. Glad you were able to measure it elsewhere. Here's hoping it goes down & stays down!

crat19-- I agree, these boards are the best! I have learned so much from here and from reading birth stories etc. (at least I think I have... I guess I'll see when the time comes!)

Jessikate-- on feeling tired & crappy...we can all relate! So great that you think you've found a good mw though. Our mw is also very calm & reassuring even just in life in general, which seems like a good thing!

Gracesmom--glad you've found such a cool business to work on...the stuff looks great! And your book suggestions are good too.. I may take you up on that.

Philomom-- welcome!! and congrats!! how cool that you run a new mom's support group...I'll look forward to your advice & support when I'm a new mom!

FreeRangeMama--I`'m right there with you on the nausea getting better and the belly getting bigger--both lots of fun, eh? Glad you have such supportive family (and good UC experience to back you up!) My family is excited, and pretty much lets us lead our own lives (though my mom is thrilled I'm planning a homebirth) but this is the first grandchild for everyone so I think there may be strong views that are being kept quiet. Which is fine with me!

We had our 2nd and last u/s today, and everything was perfect! We saw a little arm waving at us and a little head moving around and a nice strong heartbeat. It was wonderfully reassuring to see this after 2 m/c (the 2nd one at 11 weeks). It really feels like we are out of the woods now, which is great. And I am looking forward to being able to share the good news! It also feels GREAT to be done with our fertility specialist, our care is now being transferred to our great homebirth midwife. A good transiton to make after such a highly managed conception process!

As you may have read in the other thread, my work has asked me to go to Haiti for up to two months... not sure what I will do, I'm still thinking over the health implications etc. Plus emotionally, this does feel like the kind of time when I'd like to be close to home...but I know it would be an incredible experience too....I'm going to talk to my other boss today (not the one that guessed) and break the news & get his views on the opportunity..wish me luck!

to all of us as we emerge from the 1st trimester!

[aquarianangela]

hi all. i am 9.5 weeks right now. i wanted to wait until 12 wks to tell people at work but the office manager requested vacation requests by oct 1 so they can make the call schedule for jan- june. so i had to tell her. given my history of preterm rupture of membranes she was less than thrilled. she is already thinking i will have to be off call starting at 28 wks or so. she doesn't want me to be on the call schedule, have to go on bedrest or something and then have to rearrange everything at the last minute. oh well- i'm going to be 37 next yr and if i hadn't gotten pg on my own (miraculously!) i would have done ivf again next yr anyway. so nobody should be that shocked.
my absolute favorite favorite pregnancy book is by Aviva Jill Romm i think it is called the natural pregnancy book? she just put out a new edition. she also has an excellent book on the postpartum time. she is wonderful and an herbalist.
my favorite delivery book is either birthing from within or the new ina may book.
there is also a really interesting book called the psychology of childbirth (i think) which is really eyeopening.
i also like the hypnobirthing stuff.
unfortunately i can't vbac due to the type of cs i had so i can only experience natural birth vicariously through you all!

[seren]

Hi all! I totally missed this, but have been a bit out of the loop this week. I am doing well. Very little nausea anymore, I only had it if I didn't eat on time, but it's been better. Well, my as little stress as possible poilcy totally went out the window this week. I can't really talk about it because I start balwing, so I'll just copy paste my thread from TOA. If you want to know more about the condition you can search for it at kidshealth.org. It's pretty scary.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=197466

[proudmamanow]

Oh Seren! I just read the thread and I'm so so sorry for your sister and her little baby. I will keep them in my prayers that everything will go well and he will be able to go home soon.

[Stream]

Oh, Seren. I hope he's doing a little better now. Poor thing-- it must be terrible to be so tiny and new and not know what's going on.

***

Come on, 5 o'clock! I really want to go home. It's been a long week and this mama for one is tired! We participate in a babysitting co-op, so dd is going to one of her friend's house for the evening. I think there is a couch, a movie, and a cuddly husband in my near future. My boss just walked by... I wonder if he senses my wanting-to-be-out-the-door-ness. Perhaps, perhaps.

In good news, nausea is now really just a fleeting thing in my life. Woo-hoo! I have little visits now and then, but not enough to even be an inconvenience. Oh-- and work people have committed in the last couple of days that I'm beginning to show just a little. Yay! Of course, it's still at the easily hideable (AKA, is she fat or pregnant) stage, but I'll still take it. Last time I was still at easily hideable well past 20 weeks.

I love baby bellies!

[sunbaby]

seren, how is your nephew now?

[seren]

He's doing better. Thanks for asking. THey took him off the stomach pump this morning and so far he hasn't thrown up. If he doesn't throw up tonight he should be able to nurse in the morning. I'm praying freally hard that he won't throw up. They have to stay at least a day after he starts eating and he now has a cyst on his arm that they will have to cut out. It's not supposed to be a very big deal. So, we're hoping they are home by Wednesday, but really are only concerned that he eat tomorrow. They'd like to go home, but don't really care as long as he can eat.

[sunbaby]

well, i had my first midwife appointment thursday and we heard a heartbeat at just nine and a half weeks. that did help me bond with this babe a bit, as i have remained fairly detatched so far.yeah. and now i dont have to go through the pain and suspense of more bloodwork. still am not able to muster the 'just glad i am going to have a baby' attitude- wake up in the morning dreading the day. well, now and then i get a livable day or even a good few hours, so i am thankful for that. i weighed myself at the midwife and i really have become underweight, like about five pounds under the lowest healthy weight, so no wonder i feel weak. the good news is, i have been able to eat a bit more this week, so maybe i will start gaining soon. also been able to catch a couple of walks and play with dd a bit more, so its all on the upswing.

i am not reading any pregnancy books so far. unless you count 'a good horse is never a bad color'....oh, wrong topic.

[sunbaby]

seren, we cross posted. glad to know it looks as if your nephew is getting better. i also will be praying that he does not throw up.

[Stream]

How is everybody feeling-- mentally? I am so happy to be pregnant, and yet, I think I'm feeling some prenatal depression (which, from my google searching, actually appears to be more common than PPD). Mine is very tied up in some negative work feelings, but more than I've ever dealt with all the same. I'm generally an eternal optimist and positive to a fault. I'm hoping I can do some sole-searching and find a better way to cope-- otherwise, I have a list of counselors covered by my employer, and as much as I would hate to, I'll call one of them or my midwife if this gets worse rather than better.

Hope you all are doing well.