getting to know you thread....

[allgirls]

hi ladies...I thought maybe we could do a getting to know you thread, there seems to be quite a few of us here now!...here is a bit about me...

I am Carolyn and I will be 39 in April, hubby was 39 in October and I have 3 girls already...14, 10 and almost 20 mos...this is my 4th, hubby's second. Hubby and I grew up in the same home town but weren't clever enough to know we were meant for each other until we were 36 years old..we have been friends all our lives, partners for only 4 years...we are a bit slow

We live in an old house built in 1840 that backs on to a sheep farm...we live pretty modestly and are not really mainstream in a lot of ways, cloth diaper, sling baby, AP and GD, I am lacto-ovo vegetarian but hubby and kids are carnivours...hubby drives a transport truck and feels guilty about messing up the air with it but then again he has worked real hard to make it as efficient and emmissions free as possible. We are very blessed because he is able to support the family and I can stay home with the kids...since he's away so much that's very important to us that I am home more. we live a very quiet life and try to keep it real simple.

I had a homebirth with midwives last time and will do so again if this pregnancy is uncomplicated...I am currently bfing my toddler and will continue to do so unless she self weans...quite unlikely but who knows so tandeming is in my future. She also shows signs of being ready to potty train...it would be nice if she was out of diapers when baby comes but if she isn't no big deal.

I look forward to meeting all of you over the next few months...it's an exciting journey!

[aishy]

Hi Carolyn & everyone else

I'm Aisling. I'm 25 (26 in July) and pregnant with my 4th child, my first planned-by-us child. I haven't even spoken to my midwife yet, but the online calculators give us a due date of October 23 based on my conception/ovulation date, 25th based on LMP (I ovulated early). My boys are 6 years old, 4 years old (my spirited one), and 2 years old. The oldest is in Kindergarden, and we're looking into preschool options for the four year old.

We live in North Texas, I work part-time at a movie theater. I like to play online, knit, read, and write. We're planning on another homebirth, with the same midwife i've used for all of my pregnancies. We do all the ap stuff - baby wearing, co-sleeping, breastfeeding. And part-time cloth diapering.

aisling

[moongirl]

I am Shannon. I am 28. I have an 8 year old ds, and two lovely stepkids (ds 12, dd14). Last year I had a miscarriage, so I am proceeding with my caution this pregancy. This seems to be going fine but I am anxious for some more substantial "evidence" of that so to speak." I haven't posted at mothering in several years, so its strange to be back.

[IfMamaAintHappy]

I am Jeni, married to Rob for 7 1/2 yrs, and we have 2 daughters, Grace (5) and Lily (2). Rob is a computer guy, programming mostly with this current job, and I stay at home with the girls, homeschool Grace, and do Mary Kay when I have time. I am also in choir at church, and involved in MOPS. I look like a suburban soccer mom, but Im a crunchy cosleeping, extended nursing, homebirthing mama. I recently dyed my hair burgundy and bought my first pair of combat boots, so I am perhaps looking a little less mainstream than I have in the past.

Grace was born with no medication in a hospital with an OB after an 18 hr labor. She was sunny side up, so I had back labor with her. My DH wanted me to have her at home, but I was too scared, and the nearest midwife lived more than 90 minutes away. I did not even try to cloth diaper Grace, and she is only partially vaxed, we stopped at age 3. We cosleeping, and Grace weaned at 31 months when I was 6 months pregnant with Lily.

When we moved to NC, I was 4 months pregnant with Lily. I went to a LLL meeting and asked around for midwife recommendations, and was referred to a woman who went to my church! Lily was born at home in a birthing pool after about 3 1/2 hrs of labor. Grace was around but not in the room when Lily was born. I cloth diapered Lily for about 6 months, and Lily is unvaxed. Lily continues to nurse, but I lost my milk at 4 1/2 months with her, so I anticipate losing my milk around the same time with this baby. I am not opposed to tandeming, but I dont think Lily will keep with it.

Grace and Lily are both spirited, Grace is more dramatic/sensitive/has food and clothing aversions, and Lily is just very loud and intense. Grace has the more high need personality, but Lily is more like her than her opposite. Lily continues to have some serious sleep issues, and my husband has taken over nighttime parenting with her while I am exhausted and feeling puny here in my first trimester. Thank you DH!

I am looking forward to life with 3. We want a large family, so I feel like we are just getting started!

A huge long rabbit trail tangent:
After this babe, we plan to adopt before we have another biological child. I had wanted to adopt instead of getting pregnant this time, but someone had other plans! So I am anxious to meet this little one, but also anxious to meet whoever God has for us in the US or internationally. I had a prophetic dream (what I call a dream when you wake up and are very certain you have been "told" something) not too long before I got pregnant, about adopting. My husband's late grandmother, who is my ideal of an exemplary southern woman and was an amazingly faithful, good, decent, wise woman... showed up in a dream and told Rob and I to go get our daughter that someone else had been raising for 2 yrs. We went to the location grandmother sent us to, and a woman was guardian to 3 little girls, the youngest was "ours". It was very surreal, and when I woke up, I felt so certain that there is a child out there who belongs to us.

/end tangent!

[kaya3]

mind if i join in???

My name is Krista, and i turned 36 in december. i am a sahm to 2 rockin' boys, Griffin(almost 6) and Jonah(almost 3). I just(10 minutes ago) got a big fat poitive on a home prgnancy test. i need to call my midwife!!!! My head is still spinning! Dh is Jeff, a computer guy. Aside from being a sahm, i also do b&w candid children's portaits. i have my own biz, shoot the moon photography. I have been officially in biz since 4-1-04.

ok, i am sure i wil post more soon, bt right now, i am in shock!!!!

looking ofrward to getting to know everyone!

Krista

[ryleeee]

My name is Riley and I'm going to be 21 in April, my husband's name is Derek and he'll be 22 in August. (Yep, we're young )
We've been married since August 31.'03...this is our first child and we are both super excited about it.

We live in Edmonton, Alberta (though we both were raised in BC) in a basement suite downtown. On the main floor, our friends Corey and Brigid live, and in the attic, another couple named Jonah and Kim live. It's pretty fun, our house is relaxed and everyone we live with (minus Kim) are "hippy-minded". We get along great. (For the most part. You know roommates )

We have a chinchilla named Chihiro and a hamster named Michiko.

I'm not working anymore, I've had an awesome case of morning sickness but Derek works nights at a homeless men's shelter. He also works some days at a print shop, and we are partners in a clothing company... He also has a band. And is an art dealer. *he's really busy!*

I'm staying at home, trying to feel well enough to start sewing again...but I haven't gotten there yet.

Anyways...that's about all I've got for now. I'm looking forward to going through this with you guys

[MelMel]

I am Melanie, I am 29 (will be 30 on march 4th) I have a fella, Michael, he is 29 also.we have been hitched for nearly 7 years. together for 10.

we have one dd, Veronica...she is 2.4. she recently weaned about 2 months ago. we TTC for a year with her (actively, we didnt do anything to prevent it for a few years before that) and started TTC a second child when I got my fertility back at 8months pp. (very quickly, I know, but we wanted a large family, and were worried it would take a long time again) well, over 18 months later, here we are, pregnant. yipee.

I really feel strongly it had something to do with her weaning, even though I know so many mamas who tandam and never stop nursing for years with half a dozen kids..my body must just be wack and something wasnt clicking in place till now.

we recently moved from a big old beautiful house in the city to a trailer (in a trailer park) in the middle of a gorgeous national park in Ohio...and we have never been happier! its small, its different..there is no basement or attic, no storage...but no crap, either! we downsized and simplified and are having alot of fun with it. I get walk everyday down historical paths and see covered bridges and stone quarries and lots of great stuff.

we are really into NFL...big on reusables, low impact living, etc...we are also pretty AP.....but fell more into 'continuum concept' type ideas when my girl got mobile. I make and donate slings and carriers all over the country, not a good enough seamstress to make a business out of it, but I love to keep babies in there moms arms, and when I had my dd, I couldnt afford a fancy name brand sling, so I try to provide them for needy moms like me

I had a hospital birth with my dd, pretty uncomplicated yet still not what I wanted or needed. so this time I am keeping my options more open. looking into homebirth and will start out well with a good midwife. I get Medicaid for pregnancy/labor and its hard to shun the hospital when its all paid for and a homebirth would have to be paid for out of pocket. but i know its possible if we really try, so we probably will.

my husband is a painter (apprenticed with his father, who has been painting for over 40 years, and is on his own now) and I take care of our dd and work here and there (I am a non-toxic housecleaner) we are also an atheist family, dont watch tv, like to eat soup, are planning to unschool, like punk music, have a gorgeous kitty named Ash, and Veronica just learned to cut with scissors....so we are all set! :LOL

[southernmama]

Hello from the deep south

Hi, I am 33, married for 5 years to a great man and mama to 2.5 year old Lucy. I am a mama and freelance writer by vocation and lawyer by avocation- though I don't practice much since Lucy was born. We live just outside of New Orleans, Louisiana and I am expecting a long hot summer of pregnancy- thank god we just moved into a home with a pool. I am due on October 1 and have been incredibly sick this pregancy. I am not a sick person so feeling this bad constantly has knocked me for a loop and it seems the foods I can handle are part of th white trash pregancy diet!

Lucy's birth was a c-section because she was "too big" accourding to the doctor after 24 hours of drug free labor after my water broke. Lucy was 9.6lbs= not huge by any means. This time we are doing a home birth vbac with a midwife- it is a godsend to have found someone down here that will even do a vbac- much less a homebirth. It is all "illegal" and she will lose her license if the powers that be find out- but this is her calling- she is awesome and just delivered a 11.4 lb vbac last week with no problems.

Lookinf forward to better days ahead and getting some energy back to enjoy my little girl and this pregnancy.

[Worldshakerz]

I am 27...going to be 28 this summer before the new baby is born. My husband Jamie is 25 and we've been married for 2 years now. We have a son Jakob who just turned 2 this year. We are very excited to be expecting baby #2. I'm a sahm and part-time student studying graphic design.
We've lived in a small 2 bedroom apartment since before Jakob was born. I dream of living in a comfortably large home on a comfortably large piece of land, where I can grow some food, maybe have some cows or goats and chickens, etc.
I'm still breastfeeding Jakob. I've heard the flavor of milk can change during pregnancy but if it has it has not phased my champion nurser. He still loves his milkie and he tells me it smells like cookies! Lol. I know the milk can dry up around the 4th month or so, so if it does maybe I will get a bit of a break until the next babe arrives. But Jakob doesn't seem anywhere near being ready to wean completely. Especially night time nursing...he's easily distracted during the day but he needs his milk to sleep. I think I'd be fine tandem nursing if it comes to that.
So there's a little bit about us. This will be fun together as we all await our new additions to our families!

[kerc]

i'm kristin, i found out i was pregnant on my 30th birthday. Erik's my husband of umm, 4.5 years, we've been together almost 10. Erin is our 2 yr old daughter (and no, she's not named as some kind of combination of our names, we just liked the name!).

Erik and I are both phd candidates -- me in geology and he in history.

Erin was a csection after a loooong 24hr drug free labor -- she was big, and sunny side up. Ok she was 9lbs and a few ounces, but I was pushing for hours and she wasn't moving. I feel reasonably good about having given up the natural birth and know that I made an informed decision to have the csection. I haven't decided whether to try for a vbac or not yet. Mostly I waiver because I don't want to endure labor for 24 hrs + and then have surgery.

I've had a bunch of bleeding with this pregnancy -- this weekend culminating in a trip to the er because I thought I had miscarried the baby. The doc told me that the pregnancy was "threatened" but we saw the heartbeat, making it a more likely scenario that things turn out ok.

[*green*faery*]

Allgirls~ this is a good idea!

I'm Erin, I'll be 27 in July. My husband Geoff (he'll be 32 soon) and I have been married for a year and a half, but we've lived together for 5 years. We live in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains, Ca, surrounded by redwoods, but with plenty of sun to garden. We bought an old house last year and have about a half an acre to plant fruit trees and garden on! We are striving to live more green and eventually be self sustainable. We both work at Trader Joe's, he's a manager, and I work at a different store 2-3 days a week. I am trying to start a little online business selling hand sewn goods. We are both Vegetarians and plan to home school and practice AP.

We have a house full of pets...5 cats, 2 dogs, 4 turtles, and 4 frogs
We both love hiking and camping, but don't get out as much as we would like. Geoff is very creative and compassionate and enjoys working with plants and flowers, he's also a wine expert. I like sewing, painting, reading, and yoga.
We both love music, but our favorite is reggae.

I am so happy to be expecting our first baby, due about Oct.29th. I feel a little afraid to get excited yet, I think I'm waiting for morning sickness, so I "feel pregnant". So far, just my boobs hurt, and they are already bigger!

I enjoyed reading all your threads!! I'm so happy to have found this website!

*erin*

[eclipse]

My name is Jeri, and I live in San Diego. I am 28 yo (will be 29 in June) and have been married to Jim (34) for 5.5 years. I have 2 children - Liam (just turned 4) and Rhiannon (20 months) - both are still nursing, although i suspect Liam will be done before the "new one" is here.
I am currently a SAHM, although I WOTH fulltime as an office manager for a healthfiid store until I was laid off in June. I had no luck finding jobs that could work around my dh's schedule and avoid abundant daycare time for the kids, so I'm now a SAHM. Things are really financially tight for us, but I hope we can continue to make it work.


We do most of the AP things - cosleep, baby wear, etc and many NFL things (i do, more than dh), like cloth diapering. I'm sitting here in that first few weeks exhaustion and mind haze, so I can't think of anything else of interest to say about myself :LOL

[amanda2b2]

hi

HI my name is Amanda. I am a SAHM ot three wonderful kids, Brandon is 7 and he is our "problem" child. He has attetention problems and most likely has ADD but I am too scared to take him to a DR and have him diagnosed because I don't want to deal with medication issues.
AShlie is three and she is 100% girl. Aidan is our youngest and he is the sweetest little boy ever. I am so hoping that this next one is just like him.
My hubby is a carpenter, he normally works at least 40 hours but we live in MA and with all the snow we got hit with it has been tough.
My last two births were drug free and uncomplicated, With Brandond I did have Stadol. Ashlie was born in NH with a midwife but at the hospital. I wanted to have a homebirth with Aidan so badly but like someone above mentioned it is hard because medicaid won't pay for a homebirth and a hospital birht is completelly covered. I did find the most amazing midwife ever. I love her to death and I am going to ask her about homebirthing but if she doesn't do it I am going t ostaywith her. It makes me sad because they may just be our last and Ireally wnated a homebirht but at the same time I love my current midwife and have ahd no problems with her or the hospital.

[murray&me]

Hi- My dh and I have been married for 4 1/2 years, and have been together about 7 years. We lived in NYC for 5 years and bought an old english tudor in the burbs (15 miles from city) 2 years ago. I will be 32 in a few weeks and my dh is 31. This will be our first baby. We have a 2 year old Vizsla, a Hungarian hunting dog, who is extremely high energy. We hope that he mellows out a little before the baby is born.

Right now we are DINKS (not sure if that is a NYC term or well known, so - - Double Income No Kids). My dh and I have been "hard-core" NY business people. My dh was in computer security for a bunch of years, but he just changed careers. We bought a market research company that he started running in January. After undergrad I went into Finance, then after grad school I went into management consulting. Two years ago I changed careers and went into market research. The nice thing about the new career/job is that it is about 3 miles from the house. I am debating if I will work once the baby is born, but I guess I will decide that once that occurs.

I love to play tennis (right now 3 nights a week), golf, and tinker in the garden. I am pretty handy with my sewing machine so I do most of the curtains in the house. I also knit. We also love to travel too. My dream trip is to go on a really nice safari in Tanzania / Kenya. Since that is a little dangerous for a preggo, I am hoping to go to the Galapogos Islands the spring/summer instead.

Wow I have babbled for quite a bit. Sorry. Anyway, I look forward to getting to know you guys even more over the next 7-8 months.

[onlyboys]

I am Amanda, 30, married to a great guy also 30. We have 3 boys: 8.5 years, 3 years and 17 months. They are all fabulous. The younger two are nursing, although I also suspect that my 3 year old will wean before the new baby gets here. He's down to one nursing a day, if he remembers.

I am a SAHM, but I am taking classes to become a CPM, LM (a midwife who delivers babies at home and at birthing centers; I'm not interested in hospital births, really). All of this goes on hiatus for a time while I gestate and then lactate. I am super-excited about birthing in general, am a certified doula and childbirth educator, and am eagerly looking forward to my first homebirth.

My first 3 births were all unmedicated and in a hospital. My first was horrendous, but we won't delve into that here. It took me 5 years to recover physically and emotionally from it. My last two were with a CNM and they were very healing and spiritual experiences. This time, it will be a homebirth, as I am now candidate for a HB, where I wasn't before.




For those of you who are having issue with insurance paying your HB midwife, check out some midwives. Many have sliding scales and many will barter for a portion of your fees. Here in FL, midwifery care is covered by state insurances, so I guess we're lucky in that. Good luck to you all in your quests.

[Serenity]

Hi everyone, I'm Karen, just turned 34, married to dh for 7 years. Our ds will be 3 this May. And I'm due with our second and last baby Oct.4th. This baby took 9 months to conceive and I had a miscarriage in November, so I'm a little anxious but getting calmer as the weeks go by.

I had a difficult labor with ds and ended up with a hospital transfer and had Pitocin and Nubain, was not happy with the experience but I know I was lucky to avoid a c-section. This time I hope to have a home birth.

We're pretty AP, no circ, cosleeping, breastfeeding, slinging, gentle discipline, cloth diapering. I just recently became a LLL leader.

I love reading and writing, hate cooking and cleaning! Looking forward to going through this journey with all of you.

[mamabeth]

Thanks for starting this thread...this is great to read all about y'all.

I'm Beth, 29 years old, married to dh for 5.5 years and have a 26 month old dd, Miriam. From the u/s I'm due September 26 but I know that's too early bc of the conception date, so here I am.

With dd, lots of things happened right before her birth. My pregnancy was relatively uncomplicated, but I was 40 pounds overweight when I got pregnant and then gained another 50. So I had PIH at the end, got put on bedrest, went two weeks overdue, and then was induced instead of just scheduled because I really wanted a vag birth (we did Bradley), and ended up with a c-section after 48 hours of pitocin and and epi just for the last 12 hours. It was pretty terrible.

Since then I've lost 90 pounds from my top pg weight with dd, ran a marathon, and my mw says I'm a great VBAC candidate. They are the most natural birth minded around here (atlanta) and I trust them. So here's hoping all goes well.

We coslept with dd til she was about 9 months, but it didn't work with her personality very well as she got older (long story). She's nursing once a day or so, but really loves that once a day and I don't see her giving it up anytime soon. I'm planning on CD-ing with this baby which I didn't do with her, and busting out all my slings/carriers...I was quite the hyena!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the next 7-8 months or so with y'all!

[Patti Ann]

Hi I'm Patti-31 . Will be 32 when the baby is born. I'm due sometime around the 26-28. I had a m/c in October and got some anoying spotting in January that lasted 23 days so I think this is my best guess. I've been married to dh for 8 1/2 years, been together for 13 1/2. We have 3 great kids 7 1/2, 5 and 2 1/2. I'm busy at home homeschooling them. I work per diem as a labor and delivery/postpartum nurse. My spare time consists of getting the kids to activities. I enjoy running and will keep it up as long as I can. I didn't exercise as much with #1 because of working full time, but I did with the others and it made such a big difference.

I love being pregnant and actually look forward to labor. I finally got it right with my 3rd labor. With my first my water broke 13 days early, no contractions. I ended up with 4 p-gels and pitocin. Got stuck at 3cm and 7 cm. She was posterior for most of the labor. Had some Stadol. My second my water broke 13 days early again. Again no contractions. Only took 2 gels this time. Got Stadol at 8 cm and rolled over and pushed him out. I was depressed for 2 weeks over getting the stadol. My third my water broke(no not 13 days early) 6 days early and I thought I was in for the same thing. My contractions started about 40 minutes later and she was born 2 1/2 hours after the contractions started. No medication and I helped to deliver her shoulders and body. I felt so empowered. The same CNM has delivered all 3 and she will likely deliver this one. She is in a group of 4, but since I know her and work with her she takes call special for me.

Looking forward to an exciting journey with you all.

Patti

[KermitMissesJim]

Dh and I live in UT; he is getting his master's in EE and we have 2 years left. We've been here for 2 years. Our ds is almost 5 and our dd turned 2 in December.

I love to read and sing. I'm busy with Messiah rehearsals and this little bulgy is making my breathing interesting already.

[doulanichole]

Hello, everyone! I am Nichole (29), married to Scott (also 29) and this will be our 4th baby. Our first 2, Bella (almost 4) and Sophie (almost 3) were born in the hospital with CNM's and our most recent, Joey (just turned 1), was born at home with a midwife. I had a wonderful birth experience and just can't imagine it getting any better this time.

I am a SAHM, certified birth doula, certifying to become a childbirth educator and the founder of our local birth network. Scott is a police officer with one of the local agencies and works about a zillion part time hours to help keep me at home. I know how hard it can be to come out of pocket for a homebirth when a hospital birth is paid for, but I have done it and I am so happy that we chose to go that route. We have insurance that pretty much covers everything associated with hospital birth, but due to the legal staus of midwives in this state, insurance does not pay for homebirth. My midwife was great and worked out a payment plan with us and it was so worth it. I have a wonderful CNM (I do dual care and also attend prenatals at the CNM/OB office) that I often get to work with at births, but I still choose to birth at home.

More than likely this will be our last baby (never say never) and it is a little bittersweet. I love being pregnant and my husband loves me pregnant so I am sad to think this is probably it, but trying to enjoy as much of it as I can. We had 2 miscarriages late last year and are so thankful for this pregnancy. Joey is still nursing and we will continue for as long as he wants although I do anticipate that it won't last too long since I normally have supply issues by the 2nd trimester.

I'm exhausted and that's all I can think of for now. Looking forward to sharing with each other in the upcoming months!