Weekly thread Nov1-7

[KoalaMommy]

Oh my goodness, I'm due in 1 month!!!!!!

I finally started on the crib set I've been meaning to sew. Got some stuff moved into the baby's room (like changing table so I could put diaper stuff on it). The floor is being finished in there today, and then maybe we can move enough stuff out of our room into baby's room so we can actually have room for baby in our room. It seems a bit ironic, doesn't it? My ILs bought us a car seat (Yay, I was getting a headache just thinking about which kind to buy).

Oh and I think the baby dropped and that I maybe lost my mucous plug. Not sure about either, but it seems like she's sitting a bit lower now, and I felt this major stretching/pressure around my belly button area when I stood up on Saturday night. And the mucous plug thing, well I started a thread on that in the "I'm Pregnant" section if you want to weigh in and help me decide. It happened Sunday morning. I'll be glad if I did, and I'll be praying baby comes early (well, I'm already doing that).

I'd like a Nov 21 or 22 baby if I could. Of course, I'm not going to do anything drastic to arrange for that. My friend was relating to me a story yesterday of a friend of hers who had all 3 children induced based on her own notion of when she wanted a baby and "she never felt a labor pain". Sounds kind of icky to me, but I have to admit that it's very tempting to be able to schedule a baby. Of course I won't do it, but it's tempting nevertheless.

[mamamoo]

I can't believe how close we are getting!! I am due Dec. 10th...and also hoping for babe to come a little early( the 26th would be perfect...turkey the day before and a full moon to boot!)...but that would only give me 3.5 weeks to get ready, so maybe a couple weeks late would be better. LOLOL

I am so uncomfortable, can't walk at all without having a ton of BH...and tons of pelvis pain. Baby isn't moving quite as much as she was the last few months. And I can barely eat anything without feeling over stuffed, and then suffering from heartburn. This will be my second thanksgiving that I was big pregnant in three years!! LOL

Oh, and peeing!!! I swear this is what my bedtime is like...nurse sam to sleep, go pee and brush teeth...get in bed, lay down, just get comfortable, and then relize I have to pee again!!!!!!!!!!!!! Arg....then I am up peeing every hour or two all night long, not to mention nursing Sam a couple of times a night...can you die from lack of sleep??!! LOL

Oh well...only a few more weeks, then I will get even less sleep, right?! LOL At least it will be becasue I am nursing a beautiful baby.

Ugh, sorry bout all the complaining!! The last few weeks really do me in.
Debi

[shalena]

33 weeks or so

I woke up this morning at 4:40 to some terrible contractions. I always feel them mostly in my back, as well as the underside of my belly and they hurt so badly I have trouble catching my breath. I got up to pee and couldn't go, the baby had switched positions I think and it felt like he or she was blocking off my plumbing. : I layed back down and timed them, they wern't regular, 2 - 3 minutes apart, then 6-7, then back down to 2-3 and then I was able to fall back asleep. I am just so tired of not knowing what is going on. I wish I had a definite answer whether this baby is coming early or not. I am so frusterated I could break into tears.
While I was at the hospital, I had another ultrasound done where they dated the baby at 33 weeks. If it were acurate, I'd be 34 weeks, 2 days today. How selfish I must sound, just wanting this baby out.
On the positive side, I'm still cooking this little one, and probably will be for a few more weeks.

Sorry for the "poor me" post mammas.

[mamamoo]

Aww mama...I hope thing calm down for you, and your baby stays in there for a few more weeks!!!

[nikirj]

Shalena, how frustrating. Hopefully everything will calm down for you and you can spend a couple more weeks, hopefully relatively worry-free, with baby cookin' inside.

Sooooo...

I'm sick - sore throat, barking cough, stuffy nose. DH had it and got a fever with it, DS had it without the fever, but either way they weren't happy for a couple days and I'm not happy to have it now.

And I have an extraordinarily uncomfortable rash. Take a look here for the unhappy details.

I see a midwife for the first time tomorrow! I'm all excited. She sent me a bunch of stuff in the mail and it became a little clearer why we 'clicked' so fast over the phone - she seems like, well, me, only later on in life (really, some of her 'history' is what I've already done, and then at one point it switches over from what I've done into what I intend to do, and it isn't a 'usual' history).

Trick-or-treating was SOOOO cute last night. The kids were so excited. We went with some friends so it was even a little more fun for us parents. DS was a skeleton - his costume took like 45 minutes to make and he's SO happy with it, I'm thrilled (plus I made it out of MM fleeces, so it will last and last, and he was very warm). DD was a mardi-gras princess (she wanted to be a princess, and she wanted to wear this colorful mask...) and her costume took FOREVER and the fabric it is made out of....well, the entire worldwide stock of the stuff should be burned. I've never had more trouble getting any fabric to behave. It stretched, it slid, it looked ugly once the stitches were in, and I was using 'invisible' thread because one layer was sheer, and you could STILL see the stitches very clearly because the needle-pokes interrupted the weird shimmery pattern on the under-fabric, it was ridiculous. She was happy with it but I totally know better now. And she ended up wearing her wool coat over her dress while we were out anyway. She looked more like a psych-ward patient, but oh well, she was happy. And pregnant me (see, it is on topic...) got a good 3 miles of walking in last night.

[nannymom]

33 weeks

TGIN-Thank God it's November! I can't beleive how close we are getting. I am in the excited yet terified mode. I don't feel as perpared as I could be. Unforutnatly a lot of things that i want to get done are things that DH has to do and it is not easy to ask him to paint two rooms and wash the house by Thanksgiving which is what i really want to have happen.

Anyway, I am still feeling pretty good just huge as can be.

nikirj-I read your rash post. I agree with everyone else that is probably just horriable razor burn. My sympathy goes out to you.

Shalena-Don't feel selfish for wanting the baby out. I want this baby out of me too and I know it's too soon. Don't beat yourself up. You've been through a lot and not knowing what's going on is scary.

mamamoo-I didn't know I could hold so much pee untill the past few weeks. lol.

[mamamoo]

Nannymom~When is your little guy two? My Sam will be two on the 29th of this month...

[green betty]

Well, mamas, I've been b**ching and moaning about my late pregnancy aches and pains a lot lately... then today I was talking with the woman who runs my favorite cafe in town. I didn't know whether she had any children so I asked her whether she had "done this" and she said "Um, yes... no... well, I had a miscarriage so I've been pregnant but not as pregnant as you..."

We had a good conversation about it and all day I've felt profoundly grateful to be experiencing the (in the big picture relatively minor) discomforts of carrying a healthy baby to term! Thought I'd pass it along.

Rainy, thanks for your birth art comments! I'm continuing to have fun with it--I'm also making nursing necklaces now out of interesting lampwork beads.

Bras--I'm in love with the nursing bras I bought from Rawganique--they're possibly the most comfortable bras I've EVER owned (and I am big boobed). No underwires, no elastic, wide comfy straps, breathable organic cotton, and room to grow! You can look at them at http://www.rawganique.com/Wjanes.htm

[MountainLovinMama]

Originally Posted by uuelisabeth

Well, mamas, I've been b**ching and moaning about my late pregnancy aches and pains a lot lately... then today I was talking with the woman who runs my favorite cafe in town. I didn't know whether she had any children so I asked her whether she had "done this" and she said "Um, yes... no... well, I had a miscarriage so I've been pregnant but not as pregnant as you..."

We had a good conversation about it and all day I've felt profoundly grateful to be experiencing the (in the big picture relatively minor) discomforts of carrying a healthy baby to term! Thought I'd pass it along.

Thank you for the gentle reminder. That made me weepy. Yes, we are SO fortunate!

So, I am also sick...raging sore throat that keeps me up at night, stuffed up, tired, a low fever yesterday (I took some tylenol, and it has not come back again since). If anyone has any magic tips for pregnancy cold remedies, I am ready for them! I am, of course, flooding myself with fluids, I am using my humidifier at night, I am trying to rest and take it easy, I am taking some extra vitamin-C (up to one full Emergen-C packet per day - any feedback - is this too much?), steamy shower, gargling salt water.....what else can I try???

I just ordered our carseat (we were never happy with dd's infant seat; we decided to get a new one for #2) and a sling from hotslings...with that, my major baby "needs" will be complete. Wow, I am starting to feel almost ready...but hope to have the next five weeks still! I am hoping that baby arrives close to his/her due date (Dec 6th)...not too early, not too late....

best to you all!

[rainy32]

kristi -- I've been taking one emergen-c almost daily for the last 4 months, to avoid getting sick -- lots of sick students come to my office hours .... "Dr. C. I have strep throat, can you give me lecture notes...." ARGH. Anyway, I don't think the one packet a day is too much at all. and my childbirth instructor thought it was ok, too.

which brings up -- I AM SO GLAD MY CHILDBIRTH CLASSES ARE OVER!! dh and I really didn't like them at all. I don't want to say what kind, or who, or where, because I wouldn't want to hurt any feelings ... but we didn't learn much, and we didn't leave feeling empowered or positive at all. it was 2 hours a week of not feeling empowered or positive. we've been done for 4 days now, and its like a weight has lifted. we've been back reading ina may, and birthing from within, and communicating about our birth plan -- rather than complaining to each other about the classes. so glad!

[mamamoo]

Thank you for the reminder uuelisabeth. I have had a loss before and should remember to be grateful...it is hard sometimes to keep things in perspective.

We have been sick here too...nasty cold for more than two weeks now! Blech...hope everyone gets better soon...it's definately no fun birthing with a bad cough. I did that last time. I think I will go buy some of the emergen-c...we ran out a few months ago. Do you think it really makes a difference on recovery time from colds and such or is it just better as a deterant?

Please excuse my spelling...I am having brain issues. :LOL

[nikirj]

Ooooh it would totally suck to be sick come birthing time. I have a while to get over this but who knows I could have something else. DH had a flu when DS was born and spent a bunch of the labor and first day postpartum complaining about it and that sucked (granted, it was an 'easy' labor and birth, but still), and I am STILL surprised I never caught it.

And now I've been on MDC like, all day, because of course I have a laptop with wireless connection and have been sitting like an idiot nursing hot drinks on the couch all day buried in blankets with the computer in front of me (and the kids doing various unexciting things here in the living room, happy 'cause mommy is letting them have a halloween candy every hour or so). The place is a wreck, but to be fair, it was when the day started. DH and I share the housework pretty equally so we've been living in chaos since he came down with the cold on Thursday. And now I just feel depressed cause I didn't get anything done today, at all. I think I'll go now and microwave some leftover chili for dinner. And set the computer down with a big "NO" note on it or something, so I don't just sit back down on the couch with it again after dinner.

Oh, and the dishwasher broke. Yeah, just what I needed. In our usual routine, DH loads and runs the dishwasher at night and I unload it in the morning. So...this morning I stumble out of bed an hour early (too congested and coughing too much to sleep anymore), go to get some food, and the dishes were filthy, the dishwasher stank, there was gross gray-colored water on the kitchen floor, and when I opened the door the dishwasher detergent fell to the floor in a lovely gritty mess. Fun, fun, fun. And then DD showed up. I wanted to tell her to go back to bed and let me have a little 'time', but dang, what kind of message does that send a 4 year old?

And I'm sure going out in the cold last night for trick-or-treating didn't help much, especially since we must have gotten a good 3 miles of walking in. I was WIPED OUT by the end of the night (luckily so were the kids). I ate a caramel apple with TONS of nuts 'cause I felt like I earned it, I love the things and was soooo happy when MIL made us a couple. I haven't gained any weight the last couple of weeks (don't know why, I've been eating pretty well) so I've been eating some halloween candy. Watch I gain like 5 pounds this week. It would totally figure. I've been doing so good, only up about 23 lbs or so, which is great for this stage.

OK, time to get off my rear and make the aforementioned chili.

[Jenelle]

almost 32 weeks

Niki, so sorry to read your "rash" thread. That sucks! I can't even imagine. Mine has been left alone for awhile, but will be getting the #2 with the clippers soon... and if I ever had any thoughts about shaving (which I haven't) you have convinced me not to!!!

Aidan is sick with a cold and he has an asthma/wheezing problem that only flares up when he is sick. So I feel pretty bad for him. Even using the inhaler (albuterol) that the dr. gave him, he is still breathing fast and labored.

Dh is working on painting the nursery! Yay! I can't wait to get it done and get all the baby stuff in there. I will have to post a picture when we are finally done.

I am afraid with all the Halloween treats around here, then Thanksgiving coming up, then Christmas too... that I am going to gain a ton of weight this pregnancy.

[Oregonicmama]

33 weeks!

I am so sorry to hear so many of you are sick! DD and I had been fighting a cough since our late night party experience lastr weekend, but its almost gone. DD still has a mucusy deep lung cough, but it seems to only come out early in the morning and when she goes to bed. The Waldorf School in town has been experiencing a Whooping Cough outbreak for, like, 2 months and a number of people we know send their kids there. Like my Midwife! I know we don't have it, but just knowing that makes me so paranoid. Everytime DD coughs I cringe! I couldn't imagine being in labor with Whooping cough, or having a newborn around it... send us good illness avoidance vibes (infact, send them to our whole Due Date Club)!

My Midwife has suggested Emergen-C on a couple occasions and I have had no problem with it. We are pretty much past the point that too much Vit. C could do any damage. I have used it preventatively and to help and existing sickness with great success. Nothing like a liitle Vit. C to kick your immune system into gear.
If you're not into the Emergen-C (I hated it for years!) you could try Elderberry Zinc lozenges (at your Health Food store). Elderberry has a very high Vit. C content, and Zinc helps your body absorb it (and I think Zinc alone is good for your immunity too). They taste like Berries, yummy!

So, since I was having such a space cadet moment last week, I forgot to tell you about my Midwife apt.. My Baby flipped! YAY!!! I thought it had, and she confirmed it. It is still in the right position and hasn't been doing any flipping around. I really feel like it is going to stay this way. : Other than that, the appointment was uneventful.

Its not selfish at all to just want the baby out already!
As long as your just thinking about it and not taking action on it. You have had that liitle bean in there for 8 months now, nothing that isn't part of you ever stays in your body that long! Of course you want it out!! Plus, the baby will just be so cute, its perfectly normal to want to hurry up and see it. Don't feel guilty for feeling this way.

I am completely unprepared and even I want this baby out already!

[kazmir]

Oops, didn't see new thread

(copied from last weeks thread) I just got 2 new Bravado bras too. I really liked the one I had with DD and now have a beige, black and a leopard print one. I want to get a white bra too. I should get one that has a back closure, maybe I'll check out the olga ones.

My DD has been fighting a cold for several nites. She is good during the day but coughs and gets stuffed up at night. Last night - Halloween she had a couple nightmares from trickortreating. She says she likes the scary stuff, but probably not so much anymore!

I need to start taking the emergen-C daily too. I think it really does help. DD loves them and takes them daily to help her out. She is also on a Chai kick and drinks one cup in the morning of decaf, very cute

UUelesabeth - I have had three miscarriages between DD and this baby. It made this pregnancy more stressful but more wanted at the same time. Once the first trimester was over, I felt better about carrying to term. Now I have 7 weeks left, 4 weeks of work. Then I can really relax and enjoy!

[DalaiMama]

add us to the sickly club. Mylo picked something up from a cousin, and then I got it, too. Mylo's got the hacking, mucousy cough, I've got the sore throat and slight fever, but I think we're both at the tail end of it today. Niki, my day yesterday sounds just like yours, as I also have the wireless internet and laptop to soothe me while I mope on the couch. Sorry to hear about your dishwasher... nothing like a major catastrophe when you're sick.

I've been spending a lot of time with my mother and grandparents... my grandpa is in a nursing home with hospice now, as he has a rapidly spreading cancer and is deteriorating quickly... It makes me so sad to think that he is coming to the end of his time with us and may not get to see the baby on this side. Also, my mother needs a biopsy next week on multiple lumps in both breasts, so I'm freaking out. She's my best friend, and I'm terrified that she may have cancer too. I'll be going with her next week to see the surgeon, hopefully it's not bad news. Any positive thoughts, send em my way.

So, I ended up cancelling our refresher birthing classes, because I just have too much on my plate right now. If there's anythig I have trust in right now, it's my body's ability to birth this baby, so the classes were the first thing to go.

On a happier note, I voted today, and had to wait two and a half hours at the poll! It makes me feel good to know that so many people are getting out to vote. Now to keep all our fingers and toes crossed for the results... :

[Changed]

Oh everyone is sick!

Dh came home sick yesterday and today Meg is feeling crumby. I'm ok other than some drainage and LOTS of contractions. I think worry about her and the election is doing it. That and too much pepsi. I'm gonna get a water and head to bed to watch the rest laying down-ish.

I have enought nursing bras for life. I'm up to 10. I have like 2 regular bras. I'm anxious and scared about nursing and it's the only thing I feel like I should prepare for. KNowing there is no prepariing for that.

Shalena i'm so glad that you are still pregnant!! Good for you!
Don't feel guilty. We're all feeling rather done and you have been under tremendous stress for weeks now. It's going to be over soon... And it will seem like a million years ago in a few months.

[NeKisha]

sorry to hear that everyone is sick. i hope you all get well soon. i was sick once so far with this pregnancy, a pretty bady feverish-flu, but that was months ago...long before i was really even feeling pregnant.

i feel like going shopping for sling material today. maybe i will. i cannot wait until i have this baby. i am very anxious to see if it is a boy or a girl. i feel like it is a boy, but part of me says im only thinking that because ive always wanted a boy

braxton hicks contractions...arg : those i do not enjoy! they are so disconcerting (i think thats the word lol). sometimes they are pretty darn painful, otherwise its just an intense tightening and hardening of my belly.

last night i felt what i am sure was a hand gently brush my belly, twice! i loved it. it was so distinct...just a little round ball that traveled along about 3 inches on my belly

im hoping this baby wants to come a little early, lets say thanksgiving. then dh's daughter would be here and she could see the birth, if she chooses. plus who wouldnt like to see their baby asap and i remember all the kids who HATED having december birthdays...

besides that, i wish i was bigger. i have absolutely no mobility problems and look only slightly bigger than a co-worker who barely started her 3rd trimester, i am due mid dec.
i am not a large girl either, so i dont know where baby is hiding. i would be happy with a slightly smaller baby, that much easier to deliver i would imagine. i just always imagined walking around with this enormous belly and laying bowls of popcorn on it...but my little belly will have to suffice

[nikirj]

We saw the midwife yesterday and really liked her. I'm bummed because I was wanting a UC but it has turned out to be an almost-impossibility for me. But really, I couldn't be happier about a midwife, it is just that there is one at all that is bumming me out a bit. The visit went great, lasted an hour (at her house) and she lent me a birth video and a book I was interested in (she has some great books in her library ). I'm measuring right-on and she had no problem getting a strong 148 heart rate with her fetoscope. We went through whether I wanted any tests, and I thought that we should do a blood draw to check for anemia (which I have had in the past), and she said that what I'd eaten for breakfast qualified me for the glucose-tolerance test, so she ordered that too (I am part of an at-risk population), along with pretty much anything we could get out of a single blood draw at this point in the pregnancy. My kids watched the blood draw and thought it was pretty cool (DD told me afterwards, though, that "when I grow up and I have a baby in my tummy, I don't want them to take my blood out"). She had these really great models of fetuses at various stages, and the 30-week one was really awesome, made to be heavy and with rubbery flexible skin-like exterior texture. The kids really loved it. My midwife said that they're much better for bonding than any ultrasound, and I have to agree - the kids were holding and rocking it, and later my DD said to my belly "today we held a fake baby that looked like you. I like to know what you look like."

I seem to be doing a little better on the cold-front. Really phlegmy still, and coughing occassionally, but at least my throat isn't itching and burning anymore.

[lauren]

Getting closer. Something amazing happened this week in that my hip pain which had been getting worse and worse by the day, suddenly became manageable! I don't know if baby changed in some major way in there, or what but I am so relieved. I was about to try acupuncture because I was getting so desperate, but I am grateful for the shift.

**I have so many lists of things to do that I am going crazy. I am irritable as can be with trying to get so much together, and trying to get others in the family to understand my urgency!!!

I hope all of you that are having colds feel better soon!!!! (I also hope to be lucky enough not to get one!)

Have a peaceful week!