Jan. Mamas Dec. 12-18 - Page 2

[Malama]

Better your dh than my poor son! I've been TRYING to explain it to him (that I can't control my emotions sometime, etc....), but a 12 year old is just not the same a dh who can deal..... I wish this weren't so!!!!
And kids, you know i can tell them that I need my space, that I'm in a bad mood and that they shouldn't cross my path- and they take that as an invitation to bug me!!! actually, now that i think about it, i think they've learned that from their dad, grrrrrr- he LOVES to taunt me when I'm moody!!!!!

[LEAW]

Oooh goodie, that makes me normal then.

Last 2 weeks, no patience at all with the school kids, annoyed with DH, etc. Then this past weekend I was all tears all the time, and today, although very tired, I've been rather giggly and silly. DH isn't sure what to think of me today.

Full belly and tired me, I think bedtime may be at 8 tonight. In the meantime, a book and my flannel sheets are calling.

Lisa

[mamabeca]

My dh gets the moody thing enough to back the f off, and dd has learned that too (supporting Malama's idea of learned behaviour, for sure!), but I do think that eventually they get sick of getting snapped at and keep their distance. Perhaps this is not such a good thing overall, but this is a super temporary thing - easier for a grown person to grasp, but not impossible for a pre-teen...lol!

Have you tried headphones - even better are ones with noise canceling built in (I found them at a Circuit City type place for about $15 and got them for myself as a preggo presie). Just put your music on, tell everyone you'll be back in 20 or thirty minutes and zone out. The mama has left the house!

This indigestion is becoming problematic (again!?). I left off with the Mag Phos, but I think I'm going to go back on it. I can't hardly eat without burping up a small volcano! Oh well. Just power on mamas. We'll all be done in about 8 more weeks, many of us before then!

PS - I got some good painting done today, and it actually looks okay! Caio!

[Azreial]

I hear you all on the cranky thing. After working all day, I leave at 6:40 and don't get home until 6:30, I just don't have much engery to spare for being nice some days. I'm sure not sleeping enough isn't helping either.

I've been thinking about seeing if I could go down to half days at work, but every time I think about bringing it up with the midwife I back down. Yeah I'm tired, and yeah a lot of the office politics sucks but I really don't think I'm quite ready to leave yet. I love some of the people I work with, plus work is really where I get my socializing done (I'm a homebody) Oh and some of the ladies at work threw me a "baby shower" on Friday. It was more of a good luck thing than a gift thing, but it meant a real lot, even more so becuase I'm not really close to the two girls who planned it. I guess there was some fighting because the group I tend to talk to wanted to plan it but the other two beat them to it. Its so nice to be fought over.

[Azreial]

Originally Posted by fromscatteredtribe

Az--don't worry about the weight gain. it is not inevitable by any means that you will have a small baby. how are your fundal measurements? that's what i have been using as a gauge. I have only gained 4 pounds and i am in my 34th week, but i lost a lot at the beginning from m/s and i am already a little chunky. I figure with increasing fundal measurements baby is grwoing fine. i have always gained different amounts and had huge babies. i gained 70lbs with ds#1 who was 9lbs12oz at 42 weeks; i gained 35lbs with ds#2 who was 8lbs6oz at 40 weeks; i gained 17lbs with ds#3 who was 9lbs8oz at 38.5 weeks. I figure i can still do a ten pounder even if i gain less than ten pounds if the baby is taking weight from me. i was only anxious because without an 11 lb weight gain my homebirth midwife has a rule about seeing an ob. she counted from my lowest weight though which was 8 pounds below pre-pregnancy. wheeww. i did not want to have to find a doctor and then justify myself...

better get ds#1 to school....take care ladies.

Thats good to hear. I just gained so much with ds, he was 8lbs 4ozs. I was always measuring at least two weeks over with him. This time I've been pretty much right on for fundal height. I just worry about having a small baby because my 1st nephew was just so tiny at a little over 6lbs I didn't want to touch him. I worry that my baby will be that small and I won't want to tought her. I just keep praying "BIG BIG BIG" I want an 8 pounder

[fromscatteredtribe]

that's funny that 8 lbs seems big to you. i would feel bad if i made a baby that small after my bigger guys. i'm sure if your fundal height is good you'll have a healthy weight baby. i think that might slightly depend on where your placenta is located too. mine is right in front this time i think and it is making my belly stick farther out but my measurements are not as high???

i forgot to mention the worst part of my past week: vaginal yeast. as a chronic (until i moved to the desert) sufferer of breast yeast and the worst cases of thrush my midwives or dermatologists had ever seen; you'd think i would be diligent about acidopholous and other yeast-fighting measures. i have only had two vaginal yeast infections ever and they were when i was pregnant with ds2..ouch. i was in denial that what i have now was yeast (no discharge or deep vaginal pain when peeing, etc) but my labia started to swell and burn and harden up slightly and ache and itch....gross! i tried acidopholous by mouth and vaginally for a few days before resorting to the awful otc meds. i still don't feel great after the one day treatment; i should have used the lower dose seven day one..it's been three days and i am still having some pain even spotting. i should cut back on dairy, but since i've only gained four pounds and it is all i can tolerate sometimes and we get it free from WIC and i go years without it, i am a little spoiled now. dh and i have ice cream while the kids sleep when he gets home from the second job (about 11pm) and since he's gone most days and evenings that late night treat has become a little ritual. too bad soy ice cream is never on sale as cheaply....

[Malama]

yeast? yuck. With birth so close, scattered tribe, do whatever you can to get rid of it! I have had a lot of luck with boric acid suppositories, though when I thought I had some yeasties about a month ago, the treatment seemed worse than the yeast (which was just barely beginning).

I agree Azriel about the weight gain. Don't sweat it. I'd make sure you are eating well and taking in plenty of protein, but every pregnancy is just different. Having a lower weight gain does not mean you'll have a smaller baby. I gained barely anything with my first pregnancy, and that baby was 1.5 lbs bigger than the next when i gained a lot. Go figure. I would say though that with your long hours at work it's especially important for you to concentrate on eating well-- you've probably heard it already, but can't hurt to hear it again!

[LEAW]

fromscatteredtribe - the OTC 7 day icky stuff is the only thing that's worked for me while preg. What a bummer!

Azreial - lol on the groups fighting over you. My workday is short, usually 6.5-7 hours including my lunch break, that I didn't cut back - but I have been taking a day off each week instead. I just get too tired if I work 5 in a row.

Speaking of off work, we have a snow day today! I haven't had a snow day since I was in high school, my students were really hoping for one yesterday when it kept snowing all day. Now I don't know what I'll do with myself all day!

Lisa

[Pam_and_Abigail]

So, at 34 weeks, my baby is engaged. The mw's said he/she was very low in my pelvis. This goes well along with the feeling i've had since the beginning about the baby coming early. However, if I go before term I can't have the hb.
Does that seems too early to be engaged? It was a week and a half ago that I noticed he turned around to face my back.

Weight gain. I gained 12 lbs with dd, she was 7lbs 6 oz. but I lost a lot of my own body fat during the pg.

Crankiness: Glad to hear I'm not alone! Poor dd is only 2, though.

BH: I was having a lot, but these have slowed down. Last night I had a few odd feelings though: A severe tightening from one side to the other, towards the top of my uterus, lasting 15 seconds, every 20 or so minutes. But they stopped. They weren't at all painful.

Yeast: I had what I thought were varicose veins, but my mw thought it could be yeast. I've never had a yeast infection in my life. I have those sympotoms, except the itching. It's less now than it was though. Why is it important to get rid of it before birth?

[mamabeca]

Morning! Sent everyone off to school/work, walked the dog, it's cccccold out there! My mw meeting is later this a.m. and I am always psyched to see them! They're a good lot.

P&A: I don't think it's too early to engage, the baby can still move around and kick a lot even when low in the pelvic bones (they do come up and go down again), so it can be weeks yet! Don't sweat the hb - keep focused, visualize what you want, talk to your baby. Know that however the birth happens, you will birth an amazing little person...how is less important than that it happens safely. I learned this major lesson last time round, when we aborted the hb after 16 hrs... I was sad/mad for about 3 yrs over that! I don't have a clue about the yeasties except that you could so easily pass it on to the baby and then have to deal with two yeast infections! Ugh! Maybe Karen orr Heidi have more info.

Weight gain: I think I'm not the right person to chat on about weight gain...it's the low end people who birthed healthy big babies that we need some stories from...and, well, personally I can't even imagine gaining less than 25 lbs - it's just not in my genetic make up! Last time I gained like 60 lbs and had a 7lb 11oz girl, 22 in. long. This time I don't think I've gained 20 yet (but we've still got 6-8 wks to go!), but the baby is NOT small (not from the size of my stickie outie belly and the strength of the kicks that almost floor me a couple times a day!). Ditto everything Malama said about nutrition, basically.

Happy snow day Lisa! I hope you get a chance to crawl under a blankie and read a little - sip hot chocolate, take a hot bath, give yourself a manicure, whatever else you've neglected lately!

How do people know where their babies are (ie: front to back etc.). I can sort of tell which blasts are from a foot or an elbow, but honestly I can't tell which way they are facing, or sometimes even if they are top to bottom or bottom to top! WHY? I feel like a bad mommy...sigh.

As far as big babies go, excluding preemies, the average baby is about 7lbs. That means half are closer to 5lbs and half are closer to 9lbs. As the mantra goes... so long as they're healthy..

And happy sprinkle Az! I hope you enjoyed the attention (hey, is that why it's called a shower? Cause you get showered with attention!?) Boy has my brain ever shrunk...

Have a great day all! Enjoy the snowshine/sunshine and be good to yourselves! Lots of little treats make the day go by easier! Andy.

[LEAW]

P&A - extra yeasties beyond what is normal just increases the chance of baby getting thrush, mama getting thrush, my fear of ugly breastfeeding at it's best! Don't worry about being engaged now, this babe has floated up and down a few times in the last few weeks. It was the flip from transverse to head down that freaked me out the most - I went from feeling constant and sharp movement to very little since it was all in my back. Always fun for a first timer!

Andy, ooh yes, the dog, the blankie, tv remote, and I are on the couch right now. Loving Dh for spoiling me by hooking the laptop up. Will be nice to have up here after baby arrives too. DH is a computer nerd by trade, and our computer lab is in the scary cold basement Ask your mws to show you body parts. Once you know what they feel like, it's so much easier to figure them out. Head and butt are round, but butt is a little softer, shoulders are about the same size as butt, but bony. For me, babe is head down, looking at my right hip, so the shoulders dig in my left hip, the butt is under my ribs on the left, and feet under my ribs on the right and poking out the right side of my belly most days.

Lisa

[fromscatteredtribe]

Originally Posted by Pam_and_Abigail

Yeast: I had what I thought were varicose veins, but my mw thought it could be yeast. I've never had a yeast infection in my life. I have those sympotoms, except the itching. It's less now than it was though. Why is it important to get rid of it before birth?

what all the other mamas said PLUS it would hurt like heck to push a baby through when you were already burning, itching, and sore.

come to think of it, the pregnancy i had my only yeast infections vaginally was when i started with thrush. i was five months pregnant and got a breast abcess too, which had to be surgically removed. when that child was born within a week his butt was bleeding from the rash and i was bleeding through my shirt. you have to be SUPER aggressive with yeast. if you have it EVERYONE in your house is out of balance. I NEVER even five years after my worst case wear a shirt twice, wear a bra twice, leave a towel hanging wet in the bathroom, etc. I am vigilant because i know it can take forever to get the balance back.

i know a woman through ds1's school who said that yeast can make you retain weight in ways people rarely understand. if you get it in check through a naturopath your target weight will be easier to reach.

i don't want to scare new mamas about thrush, though...it hasn't stopped me from nursing for almost seven years straight, through pregnancies, tandem nursing, etc. it's one area though where if the natural stuff doesn't work i reach for the otc remedies for sure.....

[Pam_and_Abigail]

Well, I think I'll get a culture done anyway. I didn't think it was yeast, since I've never had one, and I was already convinced they were varicose veins, but I am still nursing my toddler, so thrush is definitely something to avoid for us!
Also, I think I'm actually 35 weeks, not 34. My mw said 34 yesterday, but when I checked my pg calendar, it says I'm 35. Anyone else due around Jan 19 able to tell me how far they are, to check?

Oh, and here's my nesting: Holiday Baking. I always do a bit, but so far I've made:

Rocky Mountain Squares
Nanaimo Bars
Rolled Shortbread cookies (dough)
White chocolate Macadamia cookies (dough)
Peanut butter balls
Homemade chocolates (mint, buttercream, peanut butter, strawberry cream, marshmallow, caramel, caramel pecan, Jack Daniels)

Plus, I've made all my gifts.

All this talk about strep b, and my mw called while I was typing this because she forgot to mention it yesterday. I didn't get tested for it with dd, and I'm trying to figure out whether I should. Can anyone point me o some information?

[Malama]

P&A- I second what scattered tribe said about the yeast and birth. It makes your vaginal tissue very sensitive and prone to getting little fissures (ouch!). I couldn't imagine birthing with one. If you're not sure what it is, I think it's a great idea to culture and just know.
If you DO have one, though that holiday baking sounds divine, know that sugars help keep those yeasties going.

Re: weeks pregnant, if you're due on Jan 19th then I believe that you are 35 weeks today or tomorrow (don't have a wheel in front of me, but technically that's just around the time I'm "due"- don't believe too much in those dates). SO you're mws weren't wrong- you just probably weren't a full 35 weeks when you saw them.

Re: GBS. I think I wrote that mothering had what IMO was a great article on GBS issues http://www.mothering.com/articles/pr...n/group-b.html
I feel like this article brings up some of the issues related to routine testing and then how GBS+ women are dealt with. The incidence of babies actually getting sick is quite low, but the consequences when they DO get sick can be devestating. So.... What you chose to do about it, is obviously your own decision. For the record, I am not being tested for it, and most of our clients chose not to test. But truly, it's a personal decision.
I'm sure that you can search the boards and also find more info on GBS.

[jessitron]

Originally Posted by malama

I just couldn't bring myself to use the pool that ALL of our clients use....

Eep, don't tell us that! I'm using one of my midwife's pools for labor. Good thing I'm not a germophobe at all.

Ooh Andy, you will post pictures when you're done with your painting, right?

On cranky and tired - yesterday I left work at 7 (i arrived at 10, so that wasn't late) and by the time I got home I was so tired I leaned on DH and cried. How do you moms do it when you already have children at home?

fromscatteredtribe, that yeast infection sounds miserable! You have my sympathies.

Lisa, yay for the snow day! That sounds great. I remember when snow was a good thing... then I learned to drive.

I'm not planning to test for GBS. If I had it, I wouldn't be willing to go to the hospital for antibiotics. The antibiotics kill good bacteria as well as bad, and they result in more antibiotic-resistant nasty bugs. My midwife checks all the babies carefully for GBS symptoms, and we rush off to the hospital if we see any.

Today I am wearing my first mama cloth! The MOE comfort pads from NoPins4Baby arrived a record four days after I ordered them. I've been using the diaper liners that I bought for the baby, since I noticed they're way more comfy than paper pantiliners. Now I have a real one that snaps to my panties and doesn't try to jump into the toilet when I pee.

dang it, the email I've been dreading has arrived. Suddenly work is 100x more busy.

[Malama]

Jessitron, there's NOTHING wrong with using the mw tub.... REALLY. We actually have 2 of them and I would choose the aqua doula one, but it sort of belongs to one mw and her daughter is due the same time as me, so it's not available. The other is a rubbermaid trough and I just don't find it super comfy. There's only one woman who's stuff I don't wanna absorb when i'm in the tub. Basically it's hard for me to stay out of my head and I want freshness....yk??

kudos to all the moms who have been working through their pregnancies. I'm so lazy that i just couldn't imagine it for myself. I did do one prenatal last week for a friend who's having a baby in April and i just couldn't figure out how to listen to her baby and put mine someplace- that big belly was just totally IN THE WAY!

[mamabeca]

you gals kep me smiling! Mw appt went so well - lots of Q&A time and noone else there but me and them - a first! The mw who listened/checked me said this baby still is moving around a LOT - they pulled around 270 degrees during the 15 minutes she was poking around! From head totally up to head left to head right. Amazing. We're off to a daddy night tonight, dads get together (w/partners) and rap about their roles, questions, fears, what helped etc. we're really psyched to meet some other crunchy folks in these parts...it's a little scary up here sometimes! Must walk dog before the bus arrives, but THANKS for all the sharing you do! It's a relief to relate to other pregnant mamas during this time! Cheers!

[fromscatteredtribe]

all those due date wheels are a little different. i have heard the "mistake" a lot of women make is counting from conception as day zero, and the hospitals often count from due date at 40 weeks backward.

i am due on jan 26th and am 33 weeks 3 days. i change weeks on saturdays is how i remember.

i figure keep whatever numbers in your head are going to give you the birth you want. if i go into labor new years eve, i will say the end of my 36th week, not 35 weeks 6 days; if i have a "late" baby i might fib a little on the due date to some people...we'll see.

[Azreial]

I'm due January 29 and I'm 33wks 3 days according to the birth center, which is pretty interesting seeing the scattertribe is also 33wks 3days and she is due on the 26??? The whole weeks thing confusing the hell out of me.

[pixiexto]

My best-predicted due date is also the 26th, and I'm 34 weeks tomorrow. I don't put much (if any!) credence in it anyway, but it's funny to see that people have different ways of calculating it!