Weekly thread October 24-30 - Page 4

[samsmamma]

Laisett, where in NYC are you? I'm another big apple mama. Who is your MW? Feel free to PM me if you want!

[3for3hb]

thanks Jenn and Amy I'm feeling a little better about it. Yes, I've been doing the exercises. Baby was at a -2 as of yesterday, but of course that really doesn't mean a thing because it could change. I' pretty sure i had about a week of this last time too (and it's been MORE than a week this time).

I've woke up this morning exhausted because ds decided to wake up throwing tantrums last night at 3 am. It finally ended when I put him in the shower : after two hours of screaming and kicking and banging his head against the floor/bed/pillow because it was such a major distraction I guess. Then I cuddled and rocked him and fed him a banana and he was asleep again within a half hour only crying like two or three times more. It's nights like these that dh and I wonder if we should have CIO'd from the very beginning, but neither of us had/has the heart to abandon him in the middle of the night like that.
So I'm taking him out to breakfast and hoping that these darn menstrual cramps I woke up with will pick up the pace and get regular and strong!!!

Oh and Jenn, I forgot you live in ATL, you should try finding a chiro who combines regular manual adjusting with some light force techniques, maybe even a cranial sacral therapist who has experience with pregancy care and breech presentation. And don't for a second feel that you are cheating on your chiro. If he/she is a professional they will understand that there is only so much one chiro can do. Every chiro sort of has their own niche; because it is such a hands on profession,every chiropractor is different in their approach etc and your body will respond differently to every one too. Some of my patients back in SC didn't like the way my husband adjusted them when he substituted for me and some of his patients preferred his touch to mine when I worked on them. It's a pretty interesting dynamic. Best of luck in getting that baby head down!!!

[laisett]

morning!

i had some insomnia last night, too...or this morning, really! up from 5am-630am. yawn! sorry your husband woke you up last night, bensmom!

my first ring sling arrived in the mail today- it's gorgeous, hope i can figure out how to use it! i've only used pouches, wraps, and mei tai before...

i've been in very crampy the past 24 hours. willemsmamma i can't imagine that anyone would think you cried wolf over labor! it can be so hard to tell, and we're all so excited to meet our little ones! btw, thanks for the huge welcome and neat that you and your dh are both chiros! my parents practice together, too- dad is a chiro, and mom is a massage therapist. unfortunatly for me, they live in CA (where i'm from), so i haven't had the lovely adjustments and massages i got when i was pg with ds....

at any rate, i'm all about overanalyzing every twinge these days

my ds seems to have a touch of a cold (or it's teething, but i'm thinking cold) he's been weaned less than 2 months and this will be his second cold...i feel kind of guilty about that, even tho he was only nursing once a day for the last 2 months before i went ahead and weaned him

[Queen of Cups]

Willemsmama - don't feel bad! My CNM said she had a client who went to the hospital THIRTEEN times thinking she was in labor before she actually went into labor.

DS (17 months) is unbelievably cranky today. I just gave him some Motrin becasue I think its his teeth that are causing this - both top canines are coming in. But I'm about to totally loose patience! All my friends who have had babies while their toddlers were little said that their toddlers were just awful for the last couple weeks before the baby is born. They really seem to sense that their whole world is about to turn upside down and freak out. Rationally, I understand that and I have sympathy... but when he asks for a cup of water and then cries hysterically when I insist on putting the lid on his sippy cup and throws it down it just drives me insane. Same thing with breakfast - cries the whole time I'm making it like he's starving, then doesn't want to eat. Cries and begs to nurse RIGHT NOW, latches on for 20 seconds, then jumps out of my lap and cries begging to nurse again. WTH? I soooo can't deal with this for another two weeks.

[laisett]

oh wow, QueenofCups, you just described MY toddler boy (19 1/2 months) to a "t"! he's definitly been a grumpy, clingy, whiney mess the past week. he's getting some molars in, but i think there's more to it than that, too...i think he knows things are about to change! when i made bread 2 days ago he was anxiously waiting for it, asking for it as soon as it came out of the oven...and when i cut him a slice he didn't want it anymore. he also has been really grumpy about the lids on his sippy cups

i'm sorry your boy is chipil, too, but i'm glad mine isn't the only one!

[meagen]

Qoc and Laisett- I soooooo remember those days with dd, and I wasn't even pregnant! Not that that helps you guys, except I can say I really like her again since she turned three!

Oh Willemsmama - I so did the EXACT same thing two weeks ago, and it has been just awful thinking for two weeks that any minute now things could pick-up again. That being said, I'm going to go ahead and cry wolf again today. I was so crampy all night, and now am losing my mucuos (sp?) plug, and still feel pretty crampy. So, HOPEFULLY this is the beginning of something bigger than a false alarm. However, I don't have any urge to throw the last minute stuff into a bag for the hospital or anything, so I don't think anything will happen until probably tonight at best. On that note, does anyone know if it's ok to have sex after you lose the mucous plug? Just in case I need to kick-start this all again tonight!

[3for3hb]

I loooooooove you mamas thanks for making me feel like I'm not a weirdo loser. Thing is that I actually expected this to probably happen... with ds being as late as he was and my prodromal labor with him.
Guess my womb is nice and comfy! It's alright, I'd rather have a nice fat baby with no vernix than a tiny skinny baby with cheese skin (but I'll take 'em either way )

QoC, 13 times??????? Wow... now THAT makes me feel better.

Laisett... overanalyzing every twinge.. yeah, that's me. They all feel like they're really doing something. Maybe it means a shorter labor once the active part actually starts. My midwife made me feel better when she told me that with her 8th baby she was in labor for 6 days!!! It would start, go for 12 hours or so and then just stop for a night, maybe a few hours, whatever, then with no warning start just where it stopped. Crazy how non-textbook our bodies are, huh?

[AmyGirl28]

I can totally relate to you mamas with toddlers. My DD is 24 months and I can never figure out what she wants. My patience is wearing thin. She just started this new habbit of taking off her diaper after she pees. I am working on the potty training. She sits but doesn't go. The worst is at night... she takes the diaper off and wets the bed. So, almost every night I have to take all the bedding off and replace it with new. Ugh. I had my OBGYN appointment today and I was sooo excited. My blood pressure is good and the baby is head down. So, they have no reason to schedule an early c-section and I have free reign to go for VBAC. Now, if things would just hang in there for a few more weeks.

[BensMom]

Willemsmama, I feel your pain with the sleeping thing! DS was a horrible sleeper for 2+ yrs and now we couldnt ask for a better sleeper. He will fall asleep on his own (reading and singing to himself) in his bed and anywhere we go on vacation, etc. There were many times in that 2nd year when I had to fight DH off who thought we just had to CIO. This too shall pass for you, hopefully sooner rather than later!

And I went to the different chiro, who has a great success rate with turning babies and specializes in pregnant women. She said we are kinda late in the game but she will do her best. And she did the Webster technique very different from my regualr chiro who I have been seeing all along. Fingers crossed!

[Queen of Cups]

Meagen - you can have sex up until your water breaks. And, after that, nipple stimulation would still help kick start things. Last pregnancy, DH and I had sex right before I went into active labor - when I was already 6cm dialated, 85% effaced, and at a +1 station! It cracks me up when I have pregnant friends who claim that "there's just no room down there" starting at about 8 months... its all about positioning and lubricant.

As my mw told me, "What got you into this will help get you out of it!"

[*Amy*]

Awww Jenn, I was thinking about you and wondering how Ben was doing with the school bus. I hope he had a better day today! And that sounds hopeful about your visit with the new chiro - I hope it helps!

I think this baby may have dropped, at least partially (I'm 36W tomorrow). A friend of mine commented today that I look smaller and lower, and I've been having different sensations down low. Most of the time it isn't any more uncomfortable than anything else, but I went for a walk today and was really uncomfortable in my hips and pelvis by the time I got back, and her head just feels so...hard, and in the way!! All I can wear is yoga pants now because I just can't stand anything pressing in on my lower abdominal area, right where her head is.

And my breasts are killing me. Killing!! Is anyone else dealing with this? I feel like I need to go get a really tight sports bra and bind them up.

[PicnicBear]

Ahh, the todler years are something I know nothing about (yet) but it sounds trying.

Thanks for those words of empathy about my MIL -- DH talked to her last night on the phone and told her she would have to call those she invited directly (2) and tell them that they couldn't bring anyone else, and that she should have asked us before inviting them etc. She did it becase she was more concerned about "bringing together the parts of the family" than about respecting me and DH as heads of our own household and me as a hostess. He was like "she could go at any time, she's really pregnant" since tomorrow I am 38 weeks -- and she was like, "oh, I was just thinking Nov. 10" (my due date). He told her less than 5% give birth on the due date and she was suprised. I don't feel that she has any idea of what pregnancy is, physically, even though she has 2 kids herself. She says she felt great through her pregnancies (in ref. to me being tired). Well, she was not working at all when she was PG with either, so with the first she didn't have any children to care for and the second she had one. I am trying to get my PhD while pregnant, doing TONS of physical work in the lab -- and mentally stressfull stuff, too like traveling around the country presenting at conferences full of professionals where I am very much a junoir. It's a little different, I think. Plus, she had tons of extended family and neighbor support that I don't think she even realized or remembered. I gues like willemsmama said, I am getting more she-wolfish and things are pissing me off more and more. It bothers me that I feel so angry about this -- I don't know if it's a disproportionate response. I also feel like she missed the point about just not inviting to someone else's party and was focused more on trying to explain that these people would not be trouble and that she didn't think I was so pregnant, or whatever, which is not even the main point!!!

I am trying to just chill out about this though -- and even tried to tell myself and DH maybe it's good that this happened now since this is relatively minor and maybe it will get her in-line before the birth so that she doesn't start inviting people to the hospital without our permission or whatever.

On a happier note, the people at work took me out for a shower-lunch -- it was organized by the secretary, a woman who is totally baby-oriented, but the rest was all men -- she organized it all which was sweet. It was funny to be at a "shower" where the pregnancy/baby barely came up and they were talking about baseball most of the time. At one point the babe moved so much you could see the movement under my sweater and I was sitting across from the other woman and she saw -- we started laughing but the guys had no clue -- pretty funny. It was sweet they all chipped in and gave us $100 gift card to babies 'r' us!

[MelW]

I had my home visit this afternoon (one of the midwives is sick, so the scheduling was a bit crazy), and everything is still great- BP is good, baby sounds great, and is even hanging out OT right now instead of OP like my previous visit. The midwife I saw today was totally laid back about fetal positioning- she knows that I'm doing all of the "right" stuff to prevent an OP baby, and is going along with my philosophy that the baby will turn and be in the position that he/she needs to be in. She said when she was first learning midwifery, she was told that 90% of OP babies will turn in early labour. Not sure that this is an accurate stat...but it sounds good to me

And after much, much debate, I had decided to do the GBS swab at my last visit. And it's negative Yeah for probiotics!! So everything is terrific at 38+ weeks, and I'm just hanging out and waiting on this baby.

I had another terrific swim this afternoon, and went to the last farmer's market of the year. I'm feeling good today- my back ache is almost completely cured (as long as I don't sit for too long), and I have another accupuncture appointment for tomorrow.

[*Amy*]

Originally Posted by MelW

I had decided to do the GBS swab at my last visit. And it's negative Yeah for probiotics!!

Wonderful news!! Did you do anything specific to prepare? Mine's on Monday so I'm wondering if it would be worth it to try a few things, proactively.

[Kavita]

Wow! I spend a couple of days offline and you people just go nuts posting!! I'm not going to even try to respond to everyone but just jump in where I'm at . . . but at least I'm feeling caught up on where everyone is at!

plagio--what you wrote about your MIL even pissed ME of on your behalf, so I don't think it's at all inappropriate to be upset, and I don't think it's even a pregnancy thing. Maybe it is more upsetting b/c of the pregnancy thing, but I think I (and if I'm guessing, probably you too) would be upset about that if not pregnant. It's just completely a violation of a pretty obvious rule of ettiquette!!! Usually it's known that when you are invited to a party, particularly if it's a thing for which you actually have a written invitation (and you're over 23 and NOT living in a frat house!) you are not authorized to invite others! And if you do want/need to bring someone else along (a date, or a visiting out of town guest, something like that) you should get permission of the host/hostess first if it's someone you're close enough to that you feel comfortable asking. NOT just randomly invite a bunch of other people!! If she wants to have the family together, SHE should throw the damn party!! Call me crazy, but I'm on a major ettiquette kick in the last week or two. I live in a particularly flaky and ettiquette-deprived part of the country--I have talked with other people who have moved to here from the Midwest or Eastern parts of the country, and we have agreed that there is a little more respect for certain social customs there than here. (Like RSVPing or not just flaking out on a party/social event when you say you're going to be there, or calling if for some reason at the last minute you can't attend. Here people don't even seem to think that this is rude, and act like YOU'RE weird for being disappointed when they don't show up after they said they would!) So I guess it's good to know that Chicago isn't the promised land of manners that I remember the midwest to be! (I'm originally from the Detroit area.)

I'm having a busy week at work--I'm teaching classes all day every day this week. Was 37 weeks yesterday, and I don't think this baby is coming any time soon, although I am noticing more BH cx the last day or two. The baby's head is well applied but not too low, and I'm not dilated or effaced at all (per my DH, whom I "walked through" a cervical exam!!) I decided to work next week too. Strangely enough I am feeling better in many ways than I was a month ago--partly, I think it's because the work stress is abating because the end is in sight! But now I almost want to keep working a little longer! Partly, a month ago I was bummed that I've been too tired and stressed and preoccupied with work problems and finances to really do some of the things that I wanted to do in the pregnancy--like going to prenatal yoga, meeting other pregnant ladies, going to a couple of LLL meetings, getting certain things in the house together, etc. A month ago I was really wanting to have the time and freedom to do those things. Now, I'm just sort of in the waiting stage--although I'm not miserable and desperate to go into labor, I'm close enough to giving birth that I'm less interested in getting INTO being pregnant than I am in getting out of it on the other end!! Also, my perspective sort of shifted on some of the things that I want to do and the relative benefit of doing those/vs. working longer. For example, I was all interested in cooking and freezing some meals, but then I realized that at my current pay scale, about one hour of work will pretty much pay for a decent dinner for me and DH--so what's the point of taking off early to slave away at home to try to prepare a few meals when by working just another week I could afford take out or pizza or something every night for the first month, or extra household help? Especially now because I am enjoying it more because I'm so close to leaving anyway that nothing really matters that much at this point!

The people at what I jokingly refer to as "the mothership" (ie my employer, who places me offsite at a school) are having a shower for me tomorrow there in the afternoon. My only request about this has been, nothing involving toilet paper!! The people I used to work with onsite are doing this for me, and they LOVE doing parties/showers so I've been to a lot of them that they've given for other work colleagues! Seems like every bridal/baby shower this particular group of friends has thrown has featured some game that has involved wrapping the guest of honor in toilet paper for one reason or another!! (Either the "toilet paper bride" for wedding showers, or for baby showers trying to visually gauge the girth of the expectant mother and tear off an appropriately sized piece of toilet paper, later having the opportunity to check accuracy of said estimation by wrapping it around the mom's belly!) I hope I'm not cramping their style too much with that request!!

I think the people at school are planning to do a (semi-suprise) something for me next week too--a couple of weeks ago one of the administrators gave me the third degree about what we have for the baby and what we need for the baby, and finally just made me inventory our supplies and then cough up our registry information plus a list of what we need! Then the secretaries and the ladies in the school nurse's office kept asking me about plans for my last day, and when I was kind of waffling about that two of them exchanged a look, and then one of them just said that they need me to be there next Wednesday! Since then I've noticed a few furtive glances and then conversations ending when I walk into a room, but not in a bad way!

Well, other than that, no news. See, here I accused all you of being chatty and now I'm just ing away!! Shame on me!

[3for3hb]

I don't feel that she has any idea of what pregnancy is, physically, even though she has 2 kids herself. She says she felt great through her pregnancies (in ref. to me being tired).

plagio - she was pregnant so long ago I'm sure she doesn't remember... : sometimes it's hard for me to remember some of the specifics of my pg with willem and he's only 20months old!!! I get p'd off at my MIL for promising to watch ds and then backing out at the last moment, etc, etc, she does things without really thinking or trying to remember what it was like. As a first time mom (last time) who was super busy and stressed out with life while going through grad school I tended to get more p'd off about stuff like this than this time around. I guess I'm more understanding of my hormones and can let stuff go a little easier this time... plus I graduated so that's a HUGE burden off my chest. Just breathe, and make yourself relax. Shut the world out for a few minutes each day and just let yourself feel. You've got to process those emotions and tell your baby to let them go too.

to all mommas with toddlers... I really think that children are more in tune with their psychic abilities than we could ever imagine. Ds has known that something is up/ something's about to change for the past 3 months at least. He's super clingy, wants to sleep pressed up against me, etc etc. I just try to smother him with whatever love and attention I can muster at any given moment. Patience is a little on the rare side for me but I'm getting better at ignoring his tantrums (not getting my emotions involved) and redirecting him, and he responds well most of the time. All the moms I've talked to who have children close in age (under 2 years) have all said it's rough, rough, rough, but you can do it. So here's some extra special for us!!! WE CAN DO IT!!!

[MelW]

Originally Posted by *Amy*

Wonderful news!! Did you do anything specific to prepare? Mine's on Monday so I'm wondering if it would be worth it to try a few things, proactively.

Honestly, I was initially not planning to do the GBS swab at all. But it seems like almost all of my co-workers who had babies recently tested GBS +, and I was starting to wonder if our increased exposure to lots of vaginal flora made me more likely to have it (Okay, that sounds totally gross. But maternity nurse= touching lots of stuff that's wet with amniotic fluid, etc, etc.). And my husband read through the informed consent package given by our midwives, and was kind of leaning towards doing it, too, so I decided to in the end.

My big pet peeve is when people do stuff to "eliminate" GBS for the test only, and not the birth- like do hibiclens or garlic, but don't continue through with the "treatment" after they get a negative swab. Plus I wasn't keen on doing anything antibacterial ("natural" or not) to potentially killing off my normal "good" flora just for the sake of a negative swab. So... to FINALLY answer your question- I took oral probiotics consistently from about 3 weeks before I did the swab, and will continue taking them until baby is born. The other thing I did to "prepare" was not have sex the night before the swab- don't know if this matters or not (other than delayed gratification). And I spent time thinking about treatment options, etc. if it was positive.

[DreamsInDigital]

Ugh. It's 5am and I am wide awake. This is starting to get really annoying.

[*Amy*]

Thanks for the info, Mel!

DiD, I know, isn't it getting ridiculous??

I had a dream last night that I was losing my plug/had bloody show, and I got soooo excited that it meant my time was coming soon. Of course it's not happening in real life, but eh, it will be soon enough.

[DreamsInDigital]

And the worst of it is, I know as soon as I start to get sleepy again, the boys will be waking up.
Sigh.
No nap for me today either, DS has 2 hour early release from school.
Sigh again.