Weekly Thread Dec. 20 - 26

[Jenelle]

I had envisioned myself as being the only one left here to start these threads... and then sitting here talking to myself. I think it's starting to come true. :LOL Any of you December "lurkers" out there - feel free to jump in and talk, even if you have nothing to talk about like me!

Today I am 38 weeks 4 days... but like someone said last week, who's counting?

Well, just typing those numbers makes me feel a little better, because time is actually going by kind of quickly for me. It seems like we were just taking the 36-week pictures like yesterday! It's just that we really wanted to have baby home for the Christmas get-togethers - and chances of that are looking slim - so I'm a little disappointed.

I don't have another dr. appt. scheduled until a week from today.

Keeping myself busy now with little things around the house and getting together with friends to do our Christmas gift-giving. Last night we had friends over and it was so nice to just relax and visit and eat hot food... because I know that soon that won't be possible!

Oh, I meant to say in the beginning - Carolynn (cinnamonamon) announced her baby's birth at the end of last week's thread, for anyone who missed it! It sounds like she's got a beautiful baby boy and she tried really hard for her VBAC... Congratulations Carolynn! And I love the name!

Niki, hope your son is doing better, and that you are feeling well.

Everybody have a great week - and best of luck to us birthing those babies!!!

[kazmir]

2 days to EDD

and still here. I just posted in "Who's still waiting" too. I hope I will be in labor soon. I asked a friend to help me out during labor and birth, DH isn't too good around hospitals and wanted some help. She will be out of town over Christmas for a couple days and thats probably when it will happen. My Sister and Mom will be here but I don't think they will be much help in labor, its been too long for mom and sis hasn't any kids...

I sat down and wrote out my birth plan yesterday just to affirm what I want to happen with this birth. I probably won't give it to the nurse but have it available if I need it. It will also be a guide for my friend. I think I'll post it in Birthing for feedback.

We had a great weekend here. DH finished re-siding the house where we put in new windows. I have a beautiful wood bay window above our sink in the kitchen now. Its gorgeous and so much warmer than the old-fashioned garden box window we had before. We went to the beach yesterday and had a nice walk while DD rode her bike on the path. Then DH and DD built a sand castle and I sat on a stump and watched. I even swept off our deck for the holidays to help out labor but no show, just some practice contractions all evening. But at least its something!

I have to go check out last weeks thread and catch up.

Congrats to Carolynn on her brith! and any others I missed! I can't wait to join you!

[NoraJadesMama]

Hi there, I'm a longtime lurker on this board, due Dec 28.

My first two were two weeks early so I really thought I'd have a baby by now. I'm pretty scared of labor so I'm not really in a hurry. :-(

It's nice to have Christmas prep and a big project of mine mostly behind me, so I have been enjoying our last days as a family of four and doing fun family stuff for the holidays.

Soon we will be changed by our love for the new baby and we'll be rocked by all the adjustments. It's so hard to believe that this quiet time is so fleeting. Soon we won't be able to fully believe that we could ever have existed without him!

I am so excited to meet our new child...I just too vividly remember my last two labors.

[nikirj]

Well I'm right there with 'ya Jenelle - 38 weeks, 4 days. I said long ago that the 20th seemed somehow significant to me but we'll see if that was just silliness - since that would be today

DH told me this morning as he was on his way out to work that "I've seen that look before - is the baby coming today?" and he gave me a bunch of phone numbers for his managers, the front-end, etc. so that wherever he was I could reach him (he's not allowed to bring his cell phone with him, he has to leave it in his locker) - can you BELIEVE that until now, I didn't have a direct number? I'd have needed to call his work and hope not to get someone scatterbrained (one of his managers is famously scatterbrained, he has what they call the 'black hole' look, if you're getting it, you just nod and tell him again later). I am not having any contractions now but I was having some nice ones last night - unfortunately, the discomfort I associated with probably-being-in-labor abated after I passed a rather ridiculous amount of gas (there, I admitted it, I, a third-time mom, was fooled by gas).

My mom called last night and we talked for like an hour. She would be seriously bummed if she missed the birth but is really trying to psych herself out for it - she knows it is unlikely she'll make it, since she can't be here until the 27th. Still, she keeps telling me to "think 'PREGNANT CHRISTMAS', think about how you'll be PREGNANT at Sheryl's [mil] for lunch...". And she has told me that if I make it till then, she wants to come whether I'm in labor or not, and if I don't have a baby she'll be happy to take me and the kids shopping, etc - and help clean, etc. It would be nice. But I don't think I'll make it till then (watch, I do now...).

I'm feeling good but tired today. I think I'm done being sick and another full night of sleep would do it for me. Thank goodness it was so much shorter for me than it was for the kids! I never really developed the cough, or the severely runny nose. I was just uncomfortable sinus-wise, in the ears, and in the throat, and phlegmy and coughing occassionally for a couple of days. DH hasn't gotten sick at all. DS still has a nasty cough, although he finished his course of antibiotics (for the pneumonia) yesterday. He's still sounding hoarse and honky, but he isn't quite so crabby today (thank GOODNESS, wow was it rough the last couple of tantrum-every-five-minute type days). He even slept in his own bed most of the night last night (he sleeps way better on his own, has for a couple months now, since he wakes every time I change position or get up to pee, and even though he doesn't need anything from me to get back to sleep, it must be annoying since he sleeps like a brick otherwise). DD has moved back into her own bed as well. Our king-sized bed seems HUGE the nights that neither of them come in.

So anyway, with all of us probably still carrying the virus around, I'm not doing anything that could even remotely be encouraging towards labor. Not walking around a lot, not taking my RRL tea, not taking my oil supplements, if I feel a contraction I hit the bed or bath/shower. Even though I don't *think* I'll make another week, I'm kind of hoping for it, you know? Just cause I think it is way worth waiting to meet this babe if it means the house is less contagious.

I have a MW appointment tomorrow and a physical therapy appointment on Wednesday.

MIL is gone until tomorrow, on vacation in Victoria with her husband. I hope they have a GREAT time! We are using his car while they are gone, and it is nice that our car is here for me to use without me having to take DH to work, and DH still has a car there (he carpools a lot, actually, so I get the car a lot, but he wouldn't be able to just leave work, in fact he gets home a good half-hour later when he carpools). I just made him promise to be clear to his friends that even if he says they're getting a ride tonight, he might ditch early and they're on their own. I don't know what he said to them but as they tend to arrange rides and shuffle people around during the day while they're at work, it shouldn't be a problem. I never know how many people he'll be driving on any given day.

[DalaiMama]

Still here... 40w 3 days, I think? I am surprised to go over, since my ds was born on his due date, and as I posted in the "still waiting" thread, I was certain this one was coming a week ago. ah, well.

I'm still feeling pretty good, except for the excrutiating hip pain when I get out of bed in the mornings. I got out a couple of days last week to finish Christmas shopping and try to walk this baby out, and it didn't work, obviously. Now I'm paying the price for too much walking, and crawling around on the floor trying to wrap Christmas presents. At least I'm done buying presents for Mylo, so I don't have to worry about him not having anything under the tree because mama was too tired to take care of it.

We went to a party at my SIL's house this weekend, and she was kind of making the "uncomfortable about homebirth" comments... "what do you do if something goes wrong? aren't you worried that the baby will be too big? it seems shady to me to pay someone to come to your house to deliver your baby..." It's frustrating to me, becuase I'm perfectly confident in our plans, but I'm so hormonal right now that it would be easy for the doubts to creep in. But anyways...

Niki, glad to hear you're all on the road to recovery at your house. And I admit, I too was nearly fooled by the gas last night, to the point that I got out of bed because I was in so much pain.


Now I must be off... having a little IM fest with my med school friend... could get interesting.

[nannymom]

40 weeks and 1 day

still here...

[nikirj]

Would you be ticked...

if your mom told you she'd had her whole mini-church (meeting group) praying that you deliver after the 27th?

'Cause I am.

How about praying for a healthy baby, or an easy delivery? But noooooo...we're all praying you deliver on the 27th or later so your mom can be there...

Maybe I'm just in a bitchy mood.

I think labor will come before the 27th, prayer group or no. I'm not having contractions but have a familiar flush to my face and loose bowels, both things that happened just a day or two before my other two were born. I'm gonna clean out the car this afternoon and we'll just see what happens then

[Jessviola]

Niki

Yeah, you'd think they could find something better to pray for... :

[EnviroBecca]

39 weeks

We found my missing pants in MrBecca's laundry pile!

We got the car seat installed and the nursery better organized. Now my main nesting desire is to get the dining room cleaned up and put on the Christmas tablecloth. Tonight, though, keeping up w/dishes and laundry is probably all I can manage.

I continue to feel like labor isn't imminent. I'm feeling pretty sexy and figure I'd better act on the urge when I can, since I'll be out of commission for at LEAST a few weeks afterward, but that doesn't bring it on. My midwife suggested practicing breast-pumping as a way to stimulate contractions. I'm thinking I'll hold off on that and RRL tea until the 26th...not wanting to nudge my baby into being born on a holiday if that isn't its plan. I've known people born on Dec. 24th, 25th, and 26th who all complained about it, whereas my uncle born on Dec. 28th (my due date) says he's gotten great presents that people buy at after-Christmas sales!

[Kundalini-Mama]

Originally Posted by nikirj

if your mom told you she'd had her whole mini-church (meeting group) praying that you deliver after the 27th?

'Cause I am.

How about praying for a healthy baby, or an easy delivery? But noooooo...we're all praying you deliver on the 27th or later so your mom can be there...

Maybe I'm just in a bitchy mood.

: You know being bitchy is a great sign, right? :LOL Oh, man, I'll be over here meditating on a healthy and easy birth for you, before the 27th!! Everyone, feel free to join in!!



Amy

[Jenelle]

Niki - I think it is just wrong to pray for the baby to come on a certain day. The baby is such a gift in the first place, do you really think God is going to honor her selfish request for it to come in her timing? Here's to your baby coming whenever he/she is darn good & ready!

Nannymom, Sorry to hear about your "false alarm". My sister went through the same thing, except we took her to the ER because she was supposed to be having a c-section (not going into labor) and hers was just pee too. I know you are miserable and can't wait to meet your baby, but your day is coming! They don't stay in there forever - I promise.

And if being bitchy is a good sign, then I've been going into labor for some time now! :LOL

[kimkabob5]

I've been lurking here for a long time. I'm due in four days and I had one heck of a day yesterday:

I woke up around 4 feeling like something was leaking out of me. I ignored, it then felt it again. So I went into the bathroom to see what it was. As I pulled down my underwear, I felt something fall out and plop onto the floor. It was a large blood clot. I called the doc and he said to come in if the bleeding kept up. By 7 or so I decided I wanted to go in.

I got on the monitor and the baby's heartrate was great. The nurse checked my cervix and it was 2cm, long, thick and posterior. A resident came in to do a speculum exam to see if my water had broken. She was quite incompetent and it was excrutiatingly painful. Dr. Skory came in then and was not happy with how the exam had been done. He checked me and said he could feel the head (very high) and membranes and that it didn't appear that my water had broken.

After he left, the nurse offered me an enema because my rectum was very full. I was having minor, irregular contractions this whole time and decided an enema might just kick me into active labor. It didn't work, but it was very nice to be all cleaned out!

Then I took a nap for about an hour, and when I woke up I had two contractions that felt like real labor. But then they were gone. They suggested another enema, and I agreed. Again, it did not do what we hoped it would.

At this point I got into the whirlpool tub to see if that would relax me. I tried to do some nipple stimulation to see if that would get the contractions going, but I couldn't stand to do it for very long, it just felt awful.

After my bath, I got back on the monitor for a bit and then made the decision to come home. The doctor would have induced labor (he had an order for CYTOTEC!!! in my chart) but I have not had six natural births just to have number seven induced and interfered with.

I am very surprised that my doctor, whom I thought knew me, would even offer such a thing as Cytotec to me. Over my dead body!

Anyway, this morning I woke up to a very strong contraction, but no more followed. Just now I've had three strong contractions, so I guess all I can do is walk around, bounce on the birth ball, stay fed and hydrated, try and take care of my kids and just have faith that my baby and my body are working together in some sort of productive fashion.

I've always had a baby within 18 hours of a bloody show. I'm still bleeding, and no baby. i'm starting to fear that my body is old and broken.

[KoalaMommy]

Hi mamas, Hang in there!

I haven't been on in so long, it's hard to find time with the new baby. I miss the group though. DH was so cute, he wanted to know if we were all ever going to meet, since, afterall we've been through pregnancy together. It was the first time I realized he understood that this online group of mothers I was chatting with was important.

I can't wait to see y'all over in the life with a babe thread.

[nikirj]

Well, last night I had a lot of contractions, but they were the non-painful sort - they were pretty frequent, though. Around 5-10 minutes apart when I got into the tub, and then they went away and I went to sleep. Like I said yesterday, I thought I needed another full night to feel up to par - and it did help a lot.

This morning I'm discharging a lot of very thin fluid, I'm not sure what this is but if it keeps up maybe I'll ask my MW for a test strip to see if my waters are leaking slowly or something. I have an appointment this morning.

As for my mom, I truly think that I trump however many people she has praying "for me", just because this is MY body, and I'M the one with the mind-body connection. But it is still irksome and it introduces this doubt in the back of my mind, like there are a bunch of people willing to pray for something that is counterproductive, kwim? Maybe I should post in the "I'm Pregnant" general forum with a request for some counterbalancing prayer/meditation re: baby coming when it's time for baby to come.

[EnviroBecca]

Niki, I was already praying that your baby would come at exactly the right time, WHENEVER THAT IS.

The last two nights, I've had a couple of "more real" contractions: harder, slightly painful, with an intense sensation of upward/opening movement. Very exciting! Now I understand why Spiritual Midwifery calls them "rushes". I know that each night I've had one while lying down but not yet asleep, plus one that woke me before it was over. Monday night I think I might have had more than that...but maybe I was just dreaming them...but MrBecca said he heard me breathing strangely at one point...?

[nikirj]

Naomi was born this morning (12/22) at 2:50 am! Three hours of very manageable labor, 5 minutes of pushing - a beautiful home waterbirth. Everything I could have wanted Story sometime in a couple days

[lauren]

WOW! Congratulations! Can't wait to hear more!

[Jenelle]

Oh, Niki, I am so happy for you! Congratulations!

But on the other hand, I'm a little jealous... since we have the same due date! It literally brought tears to my eyes to realize you've had your baby, because I really do feel like I won't go into labor on my own and I'll have to be induced. I think this is because I was induced with #1 and I just can't "picture" going into labor on my own.

Also my husband - who normally travels for work and has to stay overnight somewhere 3 hours away about 3-4 times a week - is on vacation this week, until Monday. And so, since it would be perfect to have the baby while he is off and not traveling, I have resigned myself to the fact that it won't happen.

[shalena]

Yay Niki! I'm so happy for you

[Jessviola]

Congratulations Niki!!! Welcome Naomi!!!