april amas chat thread, sept 27-oct 4 - Page 2

[sunbaby]

jessiekate, i hear you on the car issue. i also prefer britax, though i havent gotten a second seat, i just dont know if i can get one secured properly in one of the side positions in our old volvo sedan. we only ever put dd in the middle. i guess we'll tackle that when it comes closer. and i know how funny it is to drive a car you previously dissed, now and then when my car breaks, FIL lones us his SUV, and i feel very silly. its vain i know, but i have been know to park around the corner from our local co op grocery so no one will see me getting in and out of the gas guzzler.

yes, gina that is so exciting how DID you know? and how on earth will you keep that secret? i never could.
i cant wait to know if i am having a boy or girl, i'd love to experience a boy, but then a pair of girls would be so fun too. and if lil sis is way different than dd, no one can say 'its a gender difference', because oh, that drives me batty, and i know i will hear it lots if i have a boy. who else is gonna find out? who's going to let it be surprise?

sorry to hear about your job stream. gee, that's really stress you need.

still keeping you nephew in my thoughts seren. sorry your appointment was so bad.

jesse, i cant wait to hear about your midwife appt, do post soon. thanks for the side view. looking great.

[proudmamanow]

I'm back! Had a rather stressful weekend with my mother and sister : which is too bad, definitely exaggerated by the fact that my mother preferred to make a pg lady sleep on the floor than stay in a hotel that would have been billed to her office, where she stayed the night before! (my sis just moved into her new place and doesn't have any furniture). Despite my clear request that I wanted & needed to be on a mattress, we all still ended up on the floor because my mom & sis are too frugal (cheap!) I'm all for voluntary simplicity, but really!! Rant over.

We saw our midwife yesterday. Good to see her, we like her...the student midwife mostly dealt with us and she is very sweet but it was a bit dissapointing...good reminder that we need to get to know other midwives in the practice too. Couldn't hear the heartbeat but at only 12w4d I'm not surprised, plus I'm not super skinny which is supposed to make it harder. We'll try again at our next visit in 4 weeks. It's also kinda weird to go from super monitored & medicalized conception to super laid back, hands off midwife. I prefer the latter, but it's still an adjustment, kwim?

Thanks for the belly compliment, sunbaby

I'm on training at work for the next few days so my computer access is sadly restricted... I'm sleeping a bit better (since the floor incident ) and did wake up at 5 am today, but after sleeping a solid 7 hours!

Jessikate--good info about your car challenges. We have a very small fuel-efficient car that we strongly hope will work well for our new little bean, but I can see how it won't work for more than one. (we're already unsure about lack of space). Glad you found something that works for you!

Stream about your work troubles!!! What horrible timing! And what extra pressure on you not to spill the beans (unless they already know). I hope it is resolved quickly with minimum stress for you.

Seren-so glad your little nephew is getting better!

Gina : congrats to you! How exciting!!

'talk' to you all again soon.

eta: I think I might be feeling some little flutterings...it certainly woke me up this morning as I was lying there thinking could this be? could this be? Not sure....but maybe....

[gracesmom0801]

It was just an u/s. I'm 14.5 weeks and when she looked, he was spread-eagle letting it all hang out. She isn't allowed to say that she is 100%, but we'll get a more advanced view at next months u/s when I'm 20 weeks. I had to have several u/s because of bleeding/cramping early on, so I asked if she could tell and she said yes!

[Qerratsmom]

Its funny this I should find this thread today because I woke up this morning after a night filled with romantic dreams about a boyfriend I had when I was 16! I dreamed about him yesterday during my nap also! I have no idea what it means, but I had to laugh this morning. Maybe this is a hint that DH and I need some more "alone" time together which is hard to do with busy schedules, morning sickness and a toddler!

[seren]

Is anyone else dead tired all the time? I go to bed around 11, 11:30, rarely sometimes earlier, and sleep great until 4:30 then I toss and turn for a while, then ds wakes up and doesn't go right back to sleep. He sleeps in his crib from bedtime until sometime after 4:30, then he comes to our bed. Usually he can't decide who he wants, me or dh. So the last few nights my wonderful dh has taken him to the couch so that I could get some more sleep. He's so great. He has to get up early and work, but still thinks of me at night.

So last night we had one of those nights and ds actually slept through dh's alarm. He was out good. And I had to get up, wake my kids up, and take dh to work so my sister could take her baby to the dr. Why am I such a doormat for my family? Instead of my mom getting up at six to take my dad to work, I got up at 7, woke both my kids up, when they would have slept at least an hour and a half longer. Because I cna't say no. Grr... Okay, rant over.

Because I'm so tired, I am not being a good mommy. I yelled at dd (3) because she pooped in her pants. She told me she had to go poop, but I was using the other bathroom and couldn't exactly stop. I told her to go use hers, which she can and does do by herself all the time. But she didn't, she pooped in her pants. I yelled at her. I hate it. And I made her cry. I feel like a horrible mommy.

So aside from all this today, I'm constantly tired. I take a nap almost every day and I'm still tired. I get so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open. Dh is buying me some chlorphyl tomorrow to boost my iron, hopefully that will help. But is anyone else this tired? Is it just me?

[Stream]

Me! I'm tired! I'm sleeping as much as my 3 yr.-old dd these days, and not spending my days running around at warp speed. I don't know how she manages.

More comments today that I've "really popped." I don't know about that, but I was pleasantly surprised to hop on the scale last night and be up 2.5 lbs. from my m/s low. So hopefully I'm headed in the right direction now- yahoo! I have no real issue with pregnancy weight-- I'd like to gain as much as I need to to keep this little bean happy and healthy. I was lucky last time around that a year post-partum I was significantly under my pre-pregnancy weight-- hoping for a repeat of that pattern! In any case, the higher number on the scale was a happy thing.

Are any of you getting flu shots? Pregnant women are on the recommended list, so they are still available to us. But... I dunno. I had the flu really badly once (when I was bf'ing dd at about 6 months old) and since then have gotten the shot religiously. But the idea of willfully injecting myself with mercury when I'm not even eating tuna (fercryinoutloud!) is a little... off. I talked to my MW about it and she said the CDC recommends it, but that it's ultimately my choice. If I were to get pneumonia or have a high fever for a long time, there would be a significant risk of early delivery (*too* early), so that's the risk I have to balance. Do you all have any thoughts on that? Before talking to her, I was deadset against it, now I'm thinking I might go ahead and do it, but wait until I'm 18 weeks or so (the later in the pregnancy, the more comfortable I am with it-- I wouldn't ever do it in first trimester).

[jessikate]

Tired here, too. Seren, I'm with you on suspecting low iron. I didn't know about chlorophyll for upping your iron level... I'll have to look for some. I've been falling asleep while putting DD to bed almost every night lately. That's great, except I usually wake up a couple hours later and have a hard time getting back to sleep. No fun. I'm usually dog tired in the morning when she wakes up, too.

I'm not getting the flu shot. I've always looked at it as a real crapshoot. Aside from the mercury issue, they can only guess at which strain of flu will be the big one in a given year. There's no guarantee that you'll actually be protected from whatever strain is going around, the way I look at it. Besides, I haven't had the flu since middle school and I'm not really worried about it.

It was gorgeous here today - mid 70s and sunny. And what did we do? Slept all afternoon, and it was lovely. We've got all the windows open now and it's so nice in here. I'll miss having the windows open.

[seren]

Ok, will probably be MIA for a bit. We just got a call that dh's 18 year old nephew was killed in a car accident tonight. We will probably be going to Missouri soon. Check back when I can.

[crat19]

Seren! I'm so sorry to hear of you and your family's loss. Our thoughts are with you during this very difficult time. Peace be with all of you.

Yep, have been quite exhausted lately. I have also been battling some nasty headaches lately too. Unfortunately I haven't really had much of a chance to nap. Although, I did get a short nap in the other day with ds when I was telecommuting from home. I figured it counted as my lunch hour. We've also been working really hard on a big home project that includes laying a large cobblestone patio and landscaping. It's going slowly and my dh works on it religiously, and I pitch in when I can after work and on the weekends. It's a day off for both of us when he's on shift. Now we're gearing up for another long weekend of finishing up the project. I'm hoping to have earned some energy back to help with the project. It will be great for our ds and 2 doggies once it's done - safe, clean and organized!

I've never had the flu shot and am not planning on getting one this year. I considered it briefly during my last pg, but then ended up not getting it. I rarely get the flu and am pretty much in the same mindset as jessikate. Although I can understand and support others' need or desire to have one for their protection, especially if they're prone to getting the flu.

[Mizelenius]

Hi, mamas! Long time no see!

I don't have time to write to everyone, but I have read everyone's news! And Seren, I am deeply sorry about your nephew. How tragic! My thoughts and prayers are with your family tonight.

Nothing new with PG . . .I have a vow of zero complaints because hanging out at the TTC board made me eternally grateful to be pregnant at all, so I don't feel right about complaining about it!!!

The only thing I'm worried about is a name. Is that dumb? I was SO sure about DD's name (Fiona) since, well, forever. (OK, if you count 7th/8th grade as forever). I even named my harp Fiona long ago, but knew it would be for a girl if I had one someday. Anyway, right when I was PG, guess which movie come out? SHREEEEEEEEEEK. Groan, groan. I feel like a name is incredibly important, and I have no idea where to begin. I've looked at lists, family names, but I have no clue. There was no #2 name for Fiona (Fiona was always first choice).

Oh, and the reason I'm only thinking of a girl's name is because DH thinks that's what it is. So far, he's not been wrong about guessing any family/friend's baby's gender (it's creepy).

Oh well . . .if that's all there is to worry about . . .I have it easy!

'Night ladies!!

[jessikate]

Serenity, I'm so sorry about your nephew.

Elena, I'm with you on the names thing. I have NO idea. With DD, we had her name picked out before she was even conceived. And what was the #2 or #3 name for our state in 2003? Grace, of course. It's so funny how names come and go, isn't it? I feel that our new baby is a boy, which is kind of a problem, LOL. All I know is that his middle name will most likely be Christopher, after DH. I like James for a first name - it's my dad and grandpa's name, and it would've been mine if I'd been a boy. Boys' names are especially hard for us because there are so few that work well with our last name. I do have another girl's name picked out, though I'm having second thoughts on the first name I like. Good thing I've still got 25+ weeks to think about it and see if something comes to me.

[Stream]

Oh, Seren. I'm so sorry to hear about your nephew. Your family is in my thoughts.

We also have name dilemmas. We've had a boy's name picked out since early in this pregnancy, but no real clue for girls at all. My entire family is girls, though, so our odds seem to be leaning in that direction. I can't read my own intuition about gender-- heck, I still get some mixed signals about having twins(!)-- so I don't know what to think. If it's a girl, she may go through life as Baby Girl D. I'm super-picky about girls' names in particular, and like unusual names that don't sound unusual. DD's name is Andelyn and she goes by Andie-- by my standards, that's about perfect because everybody knows how to pronounce/spell Andie, but there aren't any other Andelyns running around at her preschool. Good balance. I don't want another name starting with "A" either, which rules out some good candidates. Our leading contenders for girls right now are Josephine (family name-- my mom's favorite grandma was Mama Josie-- but I think it's getting popular) and Maria (which doesn't really fit our formula, but we like ok anyway). I'm just not getting the "that's it!" vibe from either option, though. And heck knows what we would use as a middle name.

[seren]

Well, we are heading up to Missouri tomorrow afternoon. The funeral is being held early Saturday morning at the high school. I think dn was a Senior, but am not positive. My mom is keeping the kids, since it will just be a quick trip up tomorrow and back Sat afternoon. It's a 5 hour drive and not fun with the kids. We can't afford to stay longer (sil isn't exactly up to extra people at her house) so we are coming back a few hours afterwards. We still don't know the details. And I'm trying so hard to be patient with dh. I know he's hurting. Dn is only about 10 years younger than him, so they were kinda close. So he's getting angry about everything and taking it out on my and a bit on the kids. I'm really trying to understand. And I keep reminding him that I know he's in pain, but he needs to not take it out on us. This all still feels like a bad dream. Dh and I were talking and I know this is hard on his siter and her second oldest boy, as the brothers were really close, but the one that makes me cry the most is her 4 year old son. He's just too little to understand and he was also very close to his brother. Oh geez, I don't know if I am going to make it through this weekend either.

[Stream]

Oh, Seren. Will be thinking of you and yours this weekend.

[proudmamanow]

Serenity
My thoughts are with you, your dh, his sis and family. Take care...

[natashaccat]

Seren, I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. My thought are with you.

As for names, this has been my first order of buisness for both PGs. I can't seem to relax about the rest of the pg until dh and I have this settled. I feel that names really shape who we are and also that they should be derived from family roots to carry on the legacy of beloved family members.

A boy will have dh's name because this will be the fourth child in his family to have this name. I'm gonna feel like a total redneck calling my boy Junior but Dh's Dad is John and he is Johnny so we're kind of out of other options. (DH is a redneck and doesn't mind this a bit, lol.)

For a girl we've decided Michelle Edith. Michelle feels like a very warm and loving person to me and Edith was the name of my great grandmother who passed away a few years ago.

[JoyAnne]

I am an April mom to be who hasn't posted here in a while- got all absorbed in "new threads!"

Seren- my prayers are with you and their family.

NatashaCat-
You can call your son Jack like JFK- he was a John. And I like Jack!

I think we are gonna go with Matthew William for a boy- at our last US they were pretty sure they saw boy parts, and the day I found out I was pregnant I "knew" it was a boy, so that is the name we have been thinking about. That is after our brothers and my father.