Weekly Chat, Sept 12th - 18th

[MelW]

Here we go with another week...

I'm back online today after moving over the weekend. I have amazing friends, who all came and helped with the big parts of the move...while another friend took me to the spa for my very first time. By the time I got back to the new place the rental van was returned, all of our furniture was re-assembled, lots of boxes unpacked, and the kitchen mostly unpacked and very well organized (I had taken some kitchen stuff over earlier in the week, but just thrown in randomly in cupboards). And my husband's boss- who lives in our new building- made a giant crockpot of chili for all of our moving helper friends

I only have one "offical" shift left of work, then I'm on vacation until Oct 6 when my maternity leave starts. I'll probably work a couple of extra shifts to help pay for the unexpected move, but no more 12 hour night shifts for me!

Baby seems to have had a growth spurt over the last week- and I'm running short on shirts that cover my belly now. I'm 32 weeks!!! Time to unpack my camera so I can take some belly shots, because it's at a really cute stage right now.

Have a great week everyone- I'm looking forward to the updates

[meagen]

Now, that's the way to move! I've been really wanting to move, but the idea of keeping the house clean to sell has prevented me from doing anything other than pour over the real estate section every Sunday.

I'm hapily celebrating 33 weeks, and am REALLY starting to be in pain! Busy days like today, just about do me in! I can't believe we're getting so close!
This week's goal is to get Molly's hospital bag packed, and my own bag at least thought about. Oh, and pay bills. It's amazing how that always gets pushed to the back of my list

[AmyGirl28]

Hello everyone! Can you believe we are almost there? Time is flying by!
This weekend was my baby shower. I got lots of cute clothes and warm blankets for Amanda. As soon as I got home I started nesting BIG TIME! By the end of the day I was exhausted. I just keep thinking that I will never get everything done. DD's Birthday is 10/1, so I have to get ready for that as well. On Saturday I ate some chinese food at my in-laws. I had gas pains and diareah for 2 days after that. Yuck! I felt awful! Last night (Monday) I was so tired that I had DH go get a sandwich for dinner and clean house. I checked my BP yesterday and was very unhappy with the results 137/77. The top number seems to be steadily rising into the bad zone. Please pray for me. I do not want to come down with Pre-eclampsia/HELLP syndrome again! And I don't want to deliver a premature baby via c-section. But as long as we are both healthy that is all that matters I guess.

[mamaharsh]

What a way to move! Wish I could get friends over just to move furniture around the house for us...

Amy, hang in there! Hope your blood pressure stops going up.

Meagan - congrats on 33 weeks. You're almost there!

I'm 31 weeks today and feeling pretty good most of the time, as long as I don't pick up my 36 pound son. Any time I do that, I end up with serious pain along the top of my belly.

Today was Nate's first day at preschool. Parents stayed, so I don't know yet how drop off will go, but he seemed to be excited. Hopefully he'll be all settled in by the time the baby arrives.

We have a ton of stuff to do before the baby, but as long as we manage to set up the crib and buy a crib mattress soon, we'll be mostly ready. Of course, Nate rarely slept in his crib, so I'm not sure why I consider that an important piece of getting ready LOL.

[3for3hb]

Had my 34 1/2 week appointment with the midwives today. Went very good. I'm getting excited. Our homebirth visit has been scheduled along with the rest of the visits until my due week. Yay! Ordered my birth kit online as soon as I got home. My BP is pretty low at 110/52. That's why I've been so dizzy and breathless, apparently. But I gained like 8 lbs in 3 weeks... go figure.

So like I said in last weeks' post I'm finally talking to my parents again : Not too excited about it since I've gotten an average of like three calls and three messages on my voice mail DAILY since I broke the silence. My parents are beyond crazy. They seem normal... until you get to know them and then it's like... God, give me a break!!!! I'd been having dreams about my parents and since my mom is having major reconstructive surgery on the 23rd ...(she had my brother breech naturally and supposedly has had prolapsing of her uterus and bladder since ... until her hysterectomy after my birth b/c her uterus prolapsed when she was pregnant with me... long story). She almost didnt' make it through the last surgery due to post operative complications so maybe the dreams have been the baby telling me that I needed to make things right/break the silence for myself with her before the surgery.

So ds and I are flying out tomorrow evening. AND staying with my parents till next Monday. It'll be an interesting experience. At least the flight is only an hour.
I'm sure I'll be posting some frustrated posts here while I'm there... I'll need the support, for sure.
So I'm off to pack and clean... although I can probably skip the cleaning since dh will be here all alone and it'll give him something to do :LOL

On the lighter side, I discovered today that ds likes to pick poop out of his diaper and feed it to the dog...

[Belleweather]

Willemsmama: Oh no! You really sound like you have your hands full! Good luck with your parents; we'll keep you in our thoughts this weekend. I don't know what to say about the poor dog.

The first set of our diapers arrived yesterday, and I was totally acting like a kid on christmas about it. After making DH cuddle up to one of the kissaluvs, though, he was a total convert and now I don't feel like such an idiot about worrying and obsessing. He's getting all excited about CDing too now. I guess it's contagious.

Other than that, I'm finding my days just completely exhausting and am hating trying to split my attention between work and school now that the semester has started when I have placenta brain and can't manage to find enough attention for one thing, much less two. (I hope that actually adds up to a sentence). I have two 25 page papers to plan and start on, and got my trial advocacy professor to front-load all my presentaitons, so with all the things I'm trying to force into a small period of time, I need to be extra-orginized at a time when I'm more scatterbrained than I ever have been before and just want to lay around and pet my belly all day.

Sigh.

And, not to help matters, DH's department at the university is flat out refusing to let him miss any lectures, labs or exams when the baby comes. The lectures and labs aren't a big deal, since there is a specific time to make up labs and frankly who is going to notice in a 300+ student lecture hall if one guy doesn't show up. But he's got exams scattered all over during the time the baby is expected, and unless something changes in the space-time continuum, there's just no way the baby isn't going to conflict with something. So now we have to go through the university grievance procedure with the department and appeal to the dean of students and blah, blah, blah, as if we didn't have enough to manage right now as it is!

This week is just not shaping up to be my week. But I'm off to make supper and then read all night long... hopefully there will be some belly-rubbing time left at the end of the evening.

[BensMom]

We're settling in after vacation. It was a wonderful trip. DS was just a joy to have around. DH and I joked a lot that now we remember why we decided to have another one, it all sorta got lost in the misery that was April - July with DS' problems. Its nice to remember what fun parenting can be! Ben and I got nice tans, DH is glad Ben has my nice skin that tans well and doesnt burn easily. I just love seeing him run down the hall to take a bath with his stark white butt contrasting to his darker legs and back!

I tried doing handstands in the pool, to see if the darn baby will flip to vertex, and it was weird. I could barely get to where I was on my hands before my body started to panic for lack of air. I have never been able to hold my breath really long, but that was barely seconds. Weird how sometimes you are reminded that your body has adapted to growing this babe in weird ways. On the baby note, s/he has been active today, but AFAIK, still head up. :

I took a week off from the gym last week for vacation and went again this morning. OMG, I was dragging so bad. Then I came home and accomplished NOTHING while Ben was in school, except stuffing my face, reading my book and a short nap.

Plans for the week include finishing the %&^$&^%$^% floor in the nursery (a 2 day project that is in its 2nd month!) and start organizing furniture and baby stuff and nesting, nesting, nesting! We have a lot of cleaning and organizing and decluttering to do in the next couple weeks, so I just need to find a modicum of energy for that. 31 weeks today. 9 more weeks to go. That is single digits. Scary!!!

[Awaken]

Hi gals...getting in on the weekly chat earlier this time.

Jenn- glad you had a nice vacation and Ben was so enjoyable to be around That is great to hear! Awesome you are exercising so much- I wish I could go to a gym right now.

Mel- Yay about the move, and I have to say I am quite envious of your almost being done working!

Let's see...I've now officially gained 20#! My goal has been 25-30# so that is about right! I gained 20# total last time, with a 5.5# baby, so I'm really trying this time. The reduction in exercise has helped, I'm sure! I don't know if the wt gain will make a difference, but I've got to try- ds had so many nursing and sleeping issues being so small. In one sense I am glad, yet it is still hard to see my thighs so huge, cottage-cheese like, and now I am getting new stretch marks on my thighs! I can't even see my butt...I don't think I want to!

The baby is now poking out what feel like, or what I imagine to be, sharp knees and elbows at all angles! It is such a wierd feeling! Almost painful how hard s/he pushes them out! It is neat to think about how big the baby's getting in there. And of course, every time I try and get dh to feel it, it stops! The little stinker!

Exhaustion has been the hallmark of this pregnancy. I am just NOT sleeping, and I"ve done ALL the tricks short of prescription sleeping meds. I am almost considering that b/c I am so desperate. It is soooo hard to get through every day with ds's constant tantrums, and his poor sleep lately, when I'm going on 4 hrs of sleep a night myself. I have no patience or energy. Some days I just cry and cry when dh gets home b/c I"m so overwhelmed. The thing is, I feel great about the pregnancy itself and am really excited about the baby- but chronic lack of sleep in combination with a very difficult toddler just makes me psycho.

And as I posted in the other thread, meeting with the midwife was really great...dh and I have talked about it a little bit, but I haven't asked the final question- so are we doing the homebirth or not??? I am pretty excited about the possibility

[meagen]

I hear you, itsybitsy, with the knees-elbows everywhere. Last night he finally went head down for the first time. He's been enjoying his little hammock and not wanting to go anywhere else!

I had my 33 week appt today, nothing exciting, which is good. I'm getting so excited to see him! Molly was such a shock to see, I can't even imagine what he will look like. I had a dream that he was bald on top with this long, black mullet hanging over my arm I was trying not to sound like I didn't like it, but kept asking everyone for a hat for him! :LOL

I found out that Molly can stay with us in the hospital, which is the best news I could hear! I really think that will make the whole transition easier on her and us both!

Other than that, not much new in this AMAZINGLY SLOW week. I can't believe it's only Tuesday still. Tomorrow ought to be Friday!

[tryingitnatural]

Hi girls! I figured I would join in this week even though I don't have much to say. My mother and mil was to throw a baby shower for me but I don't want one where they will invite people they know but I don't. I hate inviting people I don't even know for gifts - maybe it just me. So I told them that if they wanted to do something for the baby to just go ahead and do like a family get together. That to me is alot more fun - besides the baby has everything he needs already (1st grandson on both sides of the family )
I have my doc 34 wk appointment coming up on Friday nothing to report expect normal pregnancy woes I will talk to you guys next week. I hope all of us have a pretty easy and relaxing week

[PicnicBear]

Yay, maybe I can keep up with the chat this week!

I hear you ladies about the sharp, bony parts. I wish my belly would strech a little more to accomodate these. It can kind of hurt to the touch where these things poke out.

Willemsmamma, you're leaving DH to clean, most women come home to a messy house when they leave DH alone, maybe yours is different?

Bensmom, glad you had a break and got some sun -- it always takes a little while to get back into the swing of things.

Belleweather -- I am really suprised that your DH is having those problems. I have been in school forever (several different schools, too) and cannot imagine not being let out of exams, etc. That is quite strange. I have been a TA many times and you wouldn't beleive some of the pathetic excuses some students use to get out of exams -- and how many I have had to privately proctor because some kid slept through the first one or whatever. As for your own work, I feel the same way since I keep trying to lighten my load but things keep coming up like a paper on Oct. 14 thats pretty major and also I might have to travel to St. Louis to do some lab work. I went to a conference last week that was exhausting, then some people didn't understand why I didn't go to a second conference occuring this week (uh, because I didn't want to be away from home sleeping in a motel and eating crap food for 3 weeks . . ).

I am trying to take it easier this week . . .

[flapjack]

I came home, a bit sad, on Sunday after moving my best friend out of town (don't worry, I wasn't allowed to lift anything) late, and tired and hungry- to a roast chicken, a big big plate of vegetables and the worlds largest homecooked chocolate fudge cake ever. Then on Monday, he cancelled his dentists appointment so I could be seen instead (my teeth are falling to pieces, it seems.) I think I have the sweetest husband on the planet.
Willemsmama- it's a sad fact that dogs like eating poo- this is why I hate potties- and I think Willem is very clever to have figured this out already. It shows remarkable awareness and responsiveness to other's preferences. : I hope things go OK with your mum.
Belleweather- hugs, and sleepy vibes. My friend's husband didn't get let out of exams when his first kid was due either- two weeks after their due date there was a mandatory placement in Scotland, and he wasn't allowed out of that either. I think there's a lot of sexism surrounding the issue of student fathers.
Mel- maternity leave rocks, doesn't it? I'm not doing much, but I'm getting a lot less tired not doing it.
Amy- hope your blood pressure stays down. As I understand it, the bottom number is the really significant one, but even so a one-off high reading isn't cause for panic.
Jenn- I am in awe that you are co-ordinated enough to do a handstand, this far along in pregnancy. I can't
Mary- big sleep vibes. I'm so sorry nothing's working yet.
This week is pregnancy week on Discovery Home and Health over here, and there were twins on one of the programmes, born at 31 weeks. Steve thinks I've gone mad because I was so excited about how HUGE they were- you know, proper baby sized.Very very cute, but I think I'll leave this one to cook a little longer.

[Kavita]

Things here are okay. I'm working really hard at work trying to get my requirements met before I go on leave, and it is not going perfectly.

I met with my supervisor today to review my annual evaluation. It was pretty decent, but in our process we have several people from the school placement site anonymously evaluate us. All of the evaluations were positive and the comments included were very positive, except one negative score in each category, and I can tell that the administrator who I've been having problems with is the one who scored me low in everything and who made a number of nasty comments besides. It was very funny actually in a way, because there would be three good comments and scores in a category like work habits and then one low score and nasty comment. Oh well. I don't really give a crap at this point. I'm just trying to do my work, pay off some debts, go on leave and then get the heck out of there if humanly possible. But I do intend to include a written response with the evaluation for my file. I can totally relate to your work/school situations plagio and Belleweather, it's so hard to try to keep up with things and have school/work be your major focus, when really you feel like you just need/want to focus on taking care of yourself and your baby. It is like being pulled in totally different directions. You have things to do that are important too and that you care about--I'm just trying to do the minimum to survive until I can go on leave and then hopefully quit and do something different when I'm ready to work again. Which makes it both harder in some ways and easier in others I imagine! It is also shameful Belleweather that your DH is not getting any flexibility for something so important as the birth of his child! Even if he were working, he would be able to take FMLA. Well, you gave me very good legal advice with figuring out my leave situation earlier this summer, so I'm sure that you will be able to do what needs to be done to handle the situation!

DH is gone tonight (again!) doing a group presentation for this course. I am keeping my fingers crossed big time that it goes well, because it is a major piece of his grade and if he does well enough in this and the course overall he will get hired as faculty to teach evening courses. That has the potential to really make the difference between managing okay and penury if I stay home! Keep your fingers crossed! My poor husband is working so hard, between this course and his full time job and his part time job and helping me out at home and then trying to spend quality time with me and rub/talk to the baby! The last couple of months have been very stressful for us both in this regard. And for me, because I'm not used to having him gone and we don't get to spend as much time together but I also know that he's doing all he's doing for me and our baby and our family. I try to contribute in other ways (more cooking/housework, etc.) but that's sometimes a little hard too! I feel bad sometimes.

Other than that, things seem good. Baby's growing and moving and seems very strong, so that's nice. My good friend just told me she wants to throw me a shower, meanwhile another friend already has been saying she's going to and even set a date about a month ago but I haven't been able to even get in touch with her lately even to say hi and no further arrangements have been made (invites, guest list, etc.) so I'm unsure whether that one is going to happen or not and whether to take the second friend up on her offer!

I think I finally look unequivocally pregnant to anybody and everybody--today it was really funny because I caught sight of my sideways reflection in a window and because of the way the baby was lying my tummy was really pointy right in the middle! It was really pretty amusing, it seemed almost triangular! It's very weird to look at myself and see this huge belly sticking out--it just seems surreal sometimes! Also, it just seems to have reached a size where it's taken on a life of its own! The other night I was in the tub and looking across at my tummy and couldn't tell if it was moving because I was breathing or the baby was moving/kicking or what--it almost seemed like it wasn't even entirely a part of my body!

[MamaFern]

i just got my little guy bathed and in bed.. im sooo tired! i didnt realise how much more tired i would be having 2 21/2 year olds in my care all day long! it doesn't seem like that much more, but it is.. elwynn hasn't been naping these days, which is hard, because i really need to lie down in the day..today i have hardly sat down let alone lay down, so after this post im off to bed.

tonight we had a nice hot bubble bath together..something we dont do that often anymore and he washed my belly for about 20 minutes. it was really sweet. he has been having some rough days.. yesterday he got a handful of sand in the eyes at the park and cried and cried and said "i cant see" and still has sand coming out of them.. and today he smaked his face ( right on the side of his face just below his eye) on a sharp table at science world..he has a nice big gash and black eye my poor little monster.it cant be easy being 2..

tomorow i get my first paycheque from childminding, which is perfect since i have about $15 in the bank but we always have enuff

[DreamsInDigital]

Well, I sat down today after having a major bawling breakdown and finally confessed to DP that we simply don't have enough money to get all of the things we need to move out and save up for a security deposit to move out by October. Money has been a terrible fixation the last few months because we live in a 3 bedroom house with my mom and dad and my 2 children and we are SO crowded here and we so badly want to move out but neither DP nor I have anything. Furniture, housewares, any of it, so we're having to buy everything. We have been having such a hard time coming up with the money for the things we need for moving out and for the baby, diapers and such and I'm also trying to cloth diaper Kolaiah full-time with very few diapers. I've been ending up not buying things for myself like my birth kit and supplies, mama pads, nursing pads, nursing bras and post-partum clothes. I keep thinking I can get something next paycheck and then something comes up and I'm freaking out that I have tons of baby clothes and not much else, so I'm really panicking that the last 10 weeks (give or take, of course) are already upon us. DP has been picking up overtime when he can but I just don't think it's going to be enough so we may not be moving out before the baby comes which means the baby will be born at my parents' house. I don't feel very comfortable with that and that worries me about how it will inhibit my labor and everything. Anyway, I'm really stressed out right now and I wish I could just quit my job and enjoy the last bit of my pregnancy but we would never get moved out of here if that happened. Sigh.

[flapjack]

OMG
You poor love. I wish I had a magic wand right now- or even just wasn't so far, because we have duplicates of most household stuff but getting it to you would be almost impossible. Is there anyone at all who could help you out with the deposit on the house? It's possible to cook perfectly well with just two pans, for instance, and your local freecycle group might be able to help sort you out with the essentials for the house- something to sleep on, etc. You might find that there's not a huge difference in deposit between furnished and unfurnished houses as well.
There is a second package heading your way,btw, which might help a little (sorry it's taken so long) so I wouldn't panic too much about mama pads (both top and bottom, so to speak.) I think there's enough, but as ever with my life, there's an amusing anecdote, which I'll save for another time.
Hope things work out. Have you talked to your parents?

[*Amy*]

Hi mamas! We're back - despite the fact that I *made us miss our flight* yesterday morning!! Talk about placenta brain! I thought our flight left Oregon at 6:45am, when it actually left at 6:15, so we arrived at the airport just as they were closing the door to the plane, and we didn't make it. I felt like such an idiot!!! Luckily they were able to re-route us through LA and we arrived on the same flight from Chicago as the one we would have originally been on, so it worked out OK. But God, my brain just doesn't work anymore!! I cannot be in charge of logistical operations from this point on, obviously. :LOL

We had an absolutely great time though. Despite the hassle of traveling, it was really worth it. I got to spend so much quality time with my dad, step-mom, and brother, so that was great. We did all kinds of fun stuff: Crater Lake, the great redwood forest in northern California, camping, watching football together. I really wish that we had had about a month so we could have done everything I wanted to do, but it really was a great trip.

Now that we're back home, I am also feeling that slightly panicked feeling of having a list this long of things to do before Brynn arrives. We still don't have diapers. ARRRGH!!!

I am starting to feel really uncomfortable the past few days though; she's definitely pushing up into my ribs, AND I'm still getting the mystery-gall-bladder pain, which I've just accepted as part of my life at this point. But you know, it is all balanced by the moments I have where I feel so close to her. Last night I just laid in bed and rubbed what I think is her back for about 10 minutes. She responded by pushing back against my hand, so I thought that was really sweet. I feel so connected to this little spirit already, I can't imagine how it's going to be when I can see her!

I have a million things to do today so I guess I'd better get myself going. We have no food in the house and I don't think the glass of OJ and soy-sausage patty is going to hold me over very long. :LOL

I'll catch up on the other threads this evening.

[Queen of Cups]

Hello, all! I thought I had already replied in this thread and was wondering why I hadn't gotten any notifications... pregnancy brain!

I'm having a pretty good week. I'm just soooo tired! I think a big part of it is that DS has upped his nursing a ton since my supply increased at around 24 weeks. When I'm tired I tend to sit or lay on the couch, and that apparently is the equivalent of putting out a "24-hour-all-you-can-eat-buffet!" sign over my head for him. :LOL I'm trying not to complain, though, because I was really really hoping he would continue nursing through pregnancy - and boy, he is!

I'm getting lots of those pokey/bony kicks, too. And I swear there are times this baby is swimming laps in there! Yesterday the baby would move so it was totally on my left side, then totally on my right side. Luckily, I was laying in bed when it happened, otherwise I think I would have lost my balance it was such a huge shift!

Okay, DH and my sister think I'm nuts because every day all I want is the same food for breakfast and lunch: yogurt with wheat germ mixed in for breakfast and mac and cheese for lunch. I KNOW that sounds like a terrible lunch, but I do make it with Barilla Plus Pasta (multi-grain enriched with 40% more protein than other pasta and omega 3-fatty acids), just a spoonful of Ragu ready-made double cheddar sauce, real cheddar cheese, and topped with tons of wheat germ mixed with various spices. I keep figuring that if I must eat mac and cheese for lunch every day (and I must!), then at least I'll make it as healthy as possible. Then I fix a real meal for dinner with lots of fruits and veggies... Last time I didn't have any weird cravings like this - I just want wheat germ on everything now!!!

I had my 29 week appt on Tuesday and it went well. Measuring just a little big (30cm), whereas I was always 2-4 weeks big with DS. According to their scale I've gained 20 lbs even, so I'm hoping I'm close to being done with weight gain... I really want to keep my weight gain to 25-30 lbs max. My original goal was only 15-20 lbs, but my midwife said she didn't think that was a very realistic goal and really encouraged me to not worry about it and said she preferred to see an extra 5 lbs than me not gain enough. I struggled with an eating disorder in the past and so pregnancy is very freaky for me. I gained 36 lbs with DS, though, so I am gaining less this time it seems...

[DreamsInDigital]

Oh Helen, you are such a dear.

[*Amy*]

Hey Ashe, I forgot to ask in the previous post but we have some extra household items that I would be happy to send you. I know I have an extra set of dishes and bowls, an extra set of silverware, and probably some linens (that I used once and then decided the pattern didn't go with my duvet). PM me or something if you want me to send them!!