Can we do a "getting to know you" thread?

[melissel]

There are already a bunch of us here. I say we jump right in, LOL! And anyway, I fell asleep putting Bella to bed and now I'm up late and bored. I'll start...

I did kind of an intro in my Me too! post, but I'm Melissa (30), DH is Dennis, DD is Isabella, DDog is Toby. I sort of WOH, in that I work full-time (business research editor) but I work from home all but 1 day a month. My mom comes once a week to take care of Bell, and she's in "school" about 12 hours a week (I'm kind of regretting that decision, but boy does she love going, blech). But I get to kind of be a SAHM to an extent too, which isn't exactly what I want, but the bills get paid and I get to spend more time with my DD than most working moms do.

We live in NJ, my job is in NYC. We AP, Bella is still nursing, we co-slept until a few months ago and CDed until Bella started rejecting them around 18 months. I'm a voracious reader, but lately I can't get seem to get into anything except parenting/homeschooling type stuff, so if anyone has suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them!

Bella's birth was totally medicalized--I was induced at 10 days overdue due to poor NSTs, had an epidural because I was terrified of "Pit hell" and because the nurse kept telling me I should call the anesthesiologist soon before my ctxs got too bad, so finally I did. I really liked the OB and nurses, but they were not natural birth-friendly at all. This time we have the most amazing midwife, I am SO looking forward to working with her. I am toying with the idea of a home birth, but don't think DH would go for it, and anyway I am still pretty chicken. We'll see how that turns out.

I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of your stories, if anyone is inclined to share.

Melissa

[SimplyMama]

Hi, I'm Kristina & you can see my minions in my sig. We're still kind of new to Maryland, and live out in the semi-rural countryside. I'm turning 30 on Friday (!), and am a SAHM. DH is an airline pilot, and has been flying a *lot*, so I'm running the circus on my own about 4 days a week. He's super helpful when he's home though, and we're lucky to have moved to a cul-de-sac with very nice neighbors and lots of small children. We just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary, and are very excited about #4. (We found out on Christmas Eve day, which was nice.)

My firstborn Katherine is turning 9 this Feb, and mentally resides in Pony-Fairyland. You can find her by following her trail of socks, books, and other assorted items. She's dramatic, and a *huge* animal lover.

She was induced and I labored with pitocin & an epi because 1.) DH was working on the other side of the country after his commuter airline went under, and could only get 4 days off, and 2.) I didn't know any better. I was pretty fortunate to have a wonderful nurse who dimmed the lights, gave me a squat bar & mirror, and totally trusted that would deliver vaginally. I did, after much waiting, and was running around as soon as the epi wore off. I really assumed that this is what hospital birth was like, all of the time.

Next came Stephen, my scientist. He loves to measure, all things to do with numbers, and plays a mean game of checkers. He's also a great artist, and loves to help in the kitchen.

His birth was tough. My parents and DH took vacation days when he was *supposed* to be due, but the days dragged on. My mother actually sat on my couch glaring at me because I wasn't in labor yet. I was miserable, and finally consented to an induction. At a teaching hospital. My arms were bruised from the first nurse not getting a vein, another one couldn't find my cervix, and the third one cranked the pit up every time I turned my head. Not suprisingly, soon after I got my epi, all hell broke loose.

I 'crashed', someone jabbed a needle in my arm, and I was raced down the halls (past my Mom, who just got off of the elevator) and into the operating room. The meds made me itch and shake, and I was vomiting. I was pretty sure that I was going to die. However, I soon noticed that everyone was pretty cheerful at the business end of the table, gossiping & cracking jokes. Stephen was cut from the womb, and tried to crawl back in. He screamed fiercely, and was just fine. I was asked if the med students could keep my placenta. I gathered that I was *not* meeting my maker that day after all, and started to get pretty p*ssed.

DH got permission to bring Stephen to the recovery room, where he got to nurse. I roomed in with my little guy, and followed him everywhere. He slept in my bed, and we left as soon as we could. At home though, I got an incisional infection. My OBGYN refused to meet with me, and I only got to see his partners. I worked through PTSD, and resolved to never, ever, let something like that happen to me again.

Thomas is number three, and does *everything* Stephen and Katherine do. He's a happy little guy, and loves to help. We delivered at a freestanding birthing center with no interventions. He was posterior, but after a *lot* of work he was birthed with nary a skidmark. There isn't a lot to tell, other than it was great, painful at times, and I felt in control. I'd do it again in a second! DH was *amazed* at the difference in experience. We all slept in the big cast iron bed for a few hours, and went home 4 hours later. Though the pushing was hard, the whole feeling *after* the birth was bliss.

Our fourth little bean will hopefully be another great VBAC, though it will probably be a fight to get one. This mama, however, is motivated!

[~Megan~]

I'm Megan and I'm boring! Really I am!
I'm married, will be 5 years right before the baby is born, to Shawn. I have a 2.5 year old. She hangs with me all day.
I was baby sitting a friend's son 4 days a week 7 hours a day but last week was my last week (thank goodness, I was getting so tired!).
So we are out the money but I can sleep in now!

I like to read (haven't done much lately) and knit. I'm a horrible housekeeper and totally unorganized.

We are having a HBAC with a great mw friend of mine. Dd was breech and my incompetent doctor scared me into a c-section without giving me other turning options, etc I wasn't educated about birth and at first thought a c-section was my way out of a labor that I thought would be horrible. The c-section wasn't at all what I wanted I found out. It was a much more serious surgery and affected my daughter in many ways.
She was taken at 36.5 weeks, before I was in labor, but I had dilated to 6 and 80%. She wasn't ready though and had breathing problems. She was suctioned so viciously that she had eating problems until she was nearly two, she didn't eat solids until 21 months on a regular basis.

For this baby we ttced over a year. We didn't tell anyone until I had a loss in September, a very early one but I was still upset. The consensus is pretty much "finally!" by all of our family. This will be the second and third grandchild on each side.

[AllyRae]

I'm Ally (24) and dh is Dave (26)...our anniversary is tomorrow. We have one little guy, Brandon, who is 13 months old. We are due with our 2nd on September 7th...

With Bran, I had hyperemesis, and then was on bedrest for 6 weeks due to PIH. Because of PIH and severe edema, I was induced, and ended up with 53 hours of labor, and 3 1/2 hours of pushing (ending with a vacuum extraction). Completely traumatized me and scared the crap out of me. In addition, the hospital was stupid and gave Bran the hep B vax, sugar water, and a pacifier against my wishes, and the later two completely ruined breastfeeding.

So, this time, I'm determined to reverse the cycle. I'm meeting with a midwife today, and will be hiring a monitrice. Homebirth is probably not an option (due to being high risk last time, and having SVT), but I would like someone who will help me have a natural birth. I really need a good birth experience to restore my faith in birth, and my own body...

[sweetred]

Hi---

I'm Sara (32) and my dh is Dave. I'm due Sept. 7 (even though my ob said Sept. 1) with my 2nd. My son, Leo, is 22 months old. He was born 4 weeks early, so I am a little scared of another early baby. I know he wasn't "that early" but it would be so much easier to have a baby that is bigger and doesn't have bfing problems. I am in the process if deciding to go with a different ob or a midwife. I want really good care, someone that will listen to me and not just say, "Oh, that's normal," and disregard my instincts. Anyway, enough of that. I am am SAHM and love it. We moved to Rochester 2 years ago and I've made a lot of friends, but still don't feel like we have many close friends. We don't have any family here, which is hard sometimes. I do some freelance photography and my husband is an engineer. That is about it for me. I hope to get to know all of you other Sept. moms more in the months to come!

[mom2threenurslings]

I'm Amanda (turned 30 on Dec 30th!), married to my amazing dh Jim (turned 30 on Jan 2 and is the son of a LLL Leader!) for almost 9 years (anniversary is Jan 13). I'm a church secretary, working 9 hours a week and plan to quit when baby is born! Yipee! (Work is a 40 minute drive one way, three days a week, for me and not worth it anymore...I used to be able to make my own schedule and work at home a lot more!).

I am Mama to:

AJ ... my angel baby whom I lost due to abuse when I was 15. His father died of leukemia a few week prior to my losing him.

Angel, a natural (complete) miscarriage on March 1, 1998.

Alexander, conceived 3 weeks after the miscarriage, was born in a hospital 9 days "late" after a horrible induction, epidural, episiotomy (I didn't know any better at the time...ugh!) ... blue and lifeless weighing 7 lbs 2 oz. After being resuccitated (sp?) and spending 3 hours under observation in Special Care, I finally got to hold him and nurse him. We had some nursing difficulties at first, but got lots of support and had a very successful nursing relationship.

Zachary was conceived when Alex was 9 months old. Alex nursed through his pregnancy and Zack was born 8 days "late", completely naturally at a medical center (OB attended) after 3 days of labor. He weighed 9.5 lbs. He and his brother started their tandem nursing relationship a few minutes after he was born.

Haley was conceived when Zachary was 15 months old. Alex and Zack tandem nursed through her pregnancy. She was born on her due date, completely naturally in the water at a birth center (midwife attended), weighing 8 lbs 4 oz. She and her brothers triandem nursed for over 18 months until Alex naturally self-weaned on his fifth birthday.

I'm currently tandem nursing through pregnancy (again!). My kids are now 6 yrs., 4.5 yrs. and 2.5 years old. I plan to have a midwife attended homebirth this time around and am SO excited!

All I wanted for my 30th birthday was to be pregnant...and I got my birthday wish!!!

[cj'smommy]

Hi I'm Amy, married to Jim. We're both in our early 30's (ok, more like mid but I'm trying to stretch the early part! :LOL) and we have a 23 month old son Connor. He's like his daddy and loves cars and anything with wheels. He's quite a character and really keeps me on my toes! I'm a SAHM and am loving it. Jim is a Controls Engineer. Jim and I have been married just over 3 years. Oh, I can't forget my fur baby Rufus, him and C are great pals. We live in a suburb of Chicago.

Connor was 9 lbs. 2 oz and I had a hospital birth. From start to finish it was about 12 hrs. with almost 3 hours of pushing. I wouldn't say my experience was a bad one but it wasn't all that positive. I tore on top of my episiotomy really bad, as bad as you can get. It wasn't a pleasant experience. Since I tore like I did, I needed an epidural so he could sew me back up because I could feel him stitching me. He couldn't get to where he needed to with an injection to numb the area so an epidural was the only other choice. It was a nightmare, they couldn't find the anesthesia doc, then I started to hemorrhage, etc. I'm terrified that the same thing will happen again. I really hope it's a positive experience this time. I also had some bleeding problems when I was pg with Connor and that was scary. I'm praying that doesn't happen with this pg.

AllyRae - I hope you have a good experience this time too.

[tsfairy]

Hi there!

I'm Heidi (29 next month), and my DH Michael is 30. We've been married for 2 years next month. I'm a Systems Analyst and DH works for one of the local school districts. We're both total bookworms and computer geeks.

This is our first child. I'm one of 6 kids and except for one bachelor brother, I'm the only one who hasn't had any babies yet. My family's reaction was "it's about time!" We were trying for about 9 months, but didn't really tell anyone so I think everyone had decided we were just never going to have kids. Our baby will be the 15th grandchild on my side, but the first on DH's side.

I'm due in early September. (The doctor's nifty "wheel of pregnancy" says 9/4, but I'm sort of counting on probably a week later because my family tends to be slow cookers.) We're planning a homebirth. We've met with 3 different midwives so far, and I think we're going to pick the one closest to us. I do have some reservations but she seems to share our birth philosophy (no interventions, very hands-off, etc.) and is very nice. Plus she is going to work with us to get the HB covered under my insurance.

I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone in the coming months.

[hollyhobbie]

hey,
my name is hayley and my dh is mark. we have been married since my dtr cassia (23 months) was 6 months old!! so not that long. i am 39!! and dh is 35. i am a social worker but i havent worked since boo was born. well, not outside the home anyways. i live in victoria, bc on the west coast of canada. i am a proud canadian!! my dh works with computers. i am learning to knit and i love to read. i just saw a DVD about frida kahlo on the weekend and it was very interesting and inspired me to get some books out about her from the library.

i have had two previous losses this year. it is very hard. i have done tons of research and made some changes including weaning cassia. i was ready to do that anyway. i am feeling like my progesterone is better and that maybe this one will make it.

i have an amazing, wonderful, warm midwife who is truly a gift!! the whole group is so supportive. i had cassia at home with no intervention and it was an amazing experience. i was so relaxed b/c i was in my own bed etc that by the time angela checked me the first time, i was 10 cm and ready to go! it all happened very fast and i am a bit worried about how fast this one will go!!

welcome everyone!! say a prayer for me if you can or send good vibes my way. feel free to ask the same of me. i am asking as many ppl as i can b/c i somehow feel that if i get enuf ppl praying maybe it will help!

[Mommay]

Hi everyone. I'm Laureen, 32, dh is Larry, 34 and ds is Kyle, 18 months old. I was working on my dissertation when I got pregnant with Kyle, and still want to work on it, though it has essentially come to a halt. But I love being a mom and am thrilled to be able to have another one.

I had a pretty bad birth experience with Kyle, and hope to have a better one this time around. I'm still wondering what I should do. Homebirth? Hospital? I want to do a homebirth, but am probably brain-washed about having to be in a hospital. I've heard of a great hospital, but now I have to find a midwife who delivers there. But maybe I will go with homebirth. I'm driving myself crazy, but I'm doing the research now, and that'll make me feel better.

[AllyRae]

Hi Laureen! I had that same dilemma...all I know is I didn't want to go through the same hospital junk as the last time. But after a lot of thinking, with my high risk pregnancy last time, and my SVT, it's probably better to be around medical care. What I did do was find a GREAT midwife who is totally against unnecessary medicine of any time. She even said because I had a 3rd degree tear (before I ended up having an episiotomy for the vaccum), she won't do an epis...most doctors probably would, but she said that it would probably end up causing me to tear even worse because the area is weak.

So anyway....if you want to do the hospital or birth center, at least find someone who will listen to you and work with you to have a great birth experience!

[melissel]

Wow, what a great response, I hope we keep adding to this as new mamas arrive! I love finding out about everyone.

You know, I wasn't overly thrilled with my first birth experience, but I can see that I got off pretty easy. I so hope that everyone has an amazing experience this time around.

Melissa

[lrmama]

Hi, everybody! I'm Shannon (almost 31), married for three years in March to my dh (31). I'm a SAHM to two wonderful girls. There's a pretty big age discrepancy betwwen the first two. I had my oldest dd when I was 16. I was overdue, went through an induction and a huge episiotomy, which "required" spinal anesthetic, according to my doctor. My dd was perfectly healthy, though, and weighed 9.5 pounds.

My second dd is now 18 months, and still nursing around the clock. I'm a little concerned that my supply is drying up, though. She actually woke up and asked for water last night, which makes me think she wasn't getting much milk. Her birth was also in a hospital setting, but I managed to avoid drugs.

I'm hoping for a homebirth this time, but my dh is very leery. I've got a little while to convince him, so hopefully, it'll work out!

[Palmetto210]

Greetings all!

My name is Kate (27.5) and my husband (35) and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on Thanksgiving. We are still blissfully in love, and thrilled, absolutely thrilled to be expecting baby #1 somewhere around Labor Day. We have always used NFP, and though I have not yet been to see a doctor, once my temps stayed elevated, I knew we were pregnant. We have been actively ttc for 4 months and I have been taking prenatals since last February. Before ttc, I got a healthy check up with my family doctor. I later discovered that she has written several medical texts on childbirth. Yeah! She seems 100% supportive of my intention to birth naturally. We are planning on using the Bradley Method of natural childbirth. Has anyone here tried it? In the mean time, I am devouring every book I can find, planning healthy meals, and snacking on fruit and organic yogurt whenever I get hungry.

Some think I am an overachiever, but mostly, I just have too much energy to sit still. There is always something new to learn or some adventure to try. I am currently finishing up my MBA and will graduate in May. DH is finishing up a fellowship in geratrics. His training was in family medicine, which is great since I am pretty inquisitive and would probably drive him crazy if he wasn't interested in this stuff. He was actually interested when I told him I noticed little white spots on my nipples at about 2 weeks pregnant. He said he had heard some women got these but it wasn't someting he had been able to "see firsthand" in medical school!

We are both tried and true Southerners, though sadly, I have lost my accent due to frequent moves as a child and several stints of living overseas. I was living abroad most recently from Feb - Aug while I worked on some graduate studies in Vienna, Austria. Ahh, it was great. My flat looked right over the Hapsburg palace and I felt like the city was my personal oyster! DH was incredible to support my adventure; while I was off exploring the towns of Poland and Hungary on the weekends, he remained back home working hard.

I am avid reader, enjoy vegetable gardening (though grad school has currently got my energy),love to dance, to learn new languages, and to develop new recipes. I try to read several newspapers a day to provide a fuller perspective. I am fascinated by current events and I also like antiquing.

I, too, am looking forward to getting to know y'all better over the next months.

Palmetto

[Mommay]

Thanks for the advice Allyrae. I think that's what I'm going to do. I may have to go far, but I am confident I'll find the right midwives. Sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope it's better this time around.

[wenat]

I've put some info into my other email, but here's a quick bio ...

I'm Gladys, 37, married to DH for 5 years now. We had DS 18.5 months ago, and this is pregnancy #2 for us. I've been nursing until now, and hope to nurse through this pregnancy. I'm so glad to see so many other pg nursers and hope to get advice from you on how to keep the supply up. Part of me is feeling guilty that DS is getting deprived of his milk, but at 37, I'll take the chance at pregnancy just in case it doesn't happen again.

I'm NOT looking forward to being 7-9 mos pg in the summer heat, but again, being pg is better than not being pg at all, so I'll try not to whine too much about it. I'm definitely starting a low-salt diet now, however. With my first pregnancy, I put on a TON of water weight and could only wear sandals from March until I delivered in June, so hopefully I'll be able to avoid that this time.

We live in a suburb of Vancouver, Canada, and I commute about 45 minutes to work in downtown Vancouver. I knit (mostly entrelac baby blankets these days) and most of the time I think of myself as a nerd, though the days of playing computer games for hours at a time are long gone now -- the 18 mo doesn't let me do anything without him!

Like I said in my other email, DS was an emergency c-section, and this one will probably be a planned c-section because my cervix is small and XL heads run in our family. I had 2 months of BH contractions and then 3 weeks of double-up-in-agony contractions last time, and I don't know that I can endure that again, especially with a 2yo running around the house this time.

[mtnsunshinemama]

Hi there! I just had my first appt with the midwife and she pushed my due date back to Sept.2 so I thought I'd say hello to you ladies in September!

I'm Tracy, 35 and a practicing acupuncturist, this is my first baby and I'm so excited and my DH is too! He's 40, a professor and we were just married in Sept '04, luckily it didn't take us long to conceive. Our midwife is our dear friend, who also performed our wedding ceremony. We are both absorbing all the info we can and read Ina May's Birth Stories to each other every night.
Looking forward to hanging out online with you all!!

[lillian]

hey everybody. i am lillian, almost 36, and this will be my second babe - i have a 14 month old boy. i am home with him here in rural wisconsin. i am due sept 4.

[phathui5]

Hi there. My name Liz. I'm 20 and my dh, Tym, is about to turn 25. We have two kids, Patrick is four and Delilah is 16 months. I got my positive HPtest this morning! The due date calculator on quiverfull.com says I'm due September 9th. I just put in a call to the midwife who delivered Delilah to see what insurance she takes.

Dh works at a cell phone store here in Baltimore and I'm a part-time breastfeeding counselor at WIC. Dd goes to work with me and ds is either with dh or the great-grandparents when I'm at work. I like how it's worked out. When I have the new baby, he/she will go to work with me and both of the older kids will be with family.

When the baby's born, dd will have turned two and ds will almost be five. I like how they seem to be spacing out.

[canadiangranola]

A canadian hello

Hi all,
My name is Anno and I am so excited to be joining this thread...at home right now we have me (30, sahm) to spunky, laugh making Elijah who is 18 months, dh (28) who is a registered nurse who hates his job and is at the same time a full time student studying to be a lutheran pastor (we are year 1 of a 5 year track.) We live in a teeny tiny 730 sq foot house in saskatoon, saskatchewan, and love the cottage like feel of the place...I think it might feel even a bit smaller after number 2 comes along, but we would so much rather be in our own tiny house than in someone else's rental property.

We also have a siamese fighting fish (the only pet we could responsibly own at this time), although sometime down the road (like in 8 years) we will get a wonderful dog.

I am an avid reader, an aspiring knitter, and have a degree in international development studies, as well as an almost degree in elementary education (lacking only my final 10 week practicum as I got pregnant with ds just before finishing and was unable to complete due to a very messed up back. I had back surgery this June, when ds was 1, and although the 6 week recovery No lifting time was excruciatingly difficult, I've gone from having to use a wheelchair to grocery shop and not being able to stand for longer than five minutes due to extremem pain to being able to walk freely and stand for hours at a time. It's been quite a life giving thing for me, as i was very depressed and isolated trying to raise a baby i couldn't lift or carry, and has given me a whole new perspective on the things we take for granted (walking, being pain free most of the time) etc. I'm expecting this pregnancy to be a completely different experience from the last one, simply because i can move and walk now...not to mention labor being very different.

Anyway, enough for now, I look forward to walking the road ahead with all of you, gaining expertise from those who have had more than one child, and new insight from all.

Peace as you begin your pregnancies,
anno