Weekly chat for Nov. 7-13th

[DreamsInDigital]

Well, since I'm up, I guess I'll ring in the new week. I'm awake because I have a nasty sore throat, among other things, and after 5 restless hours of sleep I finally gave up and got out of bed to make some tea. I'm 38 weeks and 1 day. 13 days to go.

Hope we have lots of babies this week.

[beachbaby]

I haven't jumped in on the weekly thread in ages! I am up early for a midwife appointment this morning so thought I'd go ahead and post. I've been keeping up with all the weekly chatter and the birth announcements--it's starting to get exciting around here!

DID--sorry you are feeling sick; I had bronchitis a few weeks back and have *finally* stopped coughing. I think I pulled a muscle or bruised a rib from coughing so much...blech....

My last day of work was Friday....it's going to feel odd not being there today...but, I'm ready to just be hanging out at home--cooking, washing dipes and baby clothes and waiting for something to happen! So far, no labor signs for me....EDD 11/18....

Happy Monday, everyone! Can't wait to hear about more babies on their way!

[DreamsInDigital]

beachbaby, I stopped working 3 weeks ago and it's amazing how much housework I can get done with a toddler and a 6 year old running around. I can only imagine how much cleaning and cooking you're going to do at home by yourself!

[HoneyTree]

Morning, preggies and mamas with brand-new babes! (I may be assuming a bit much, that the new mamas of our group have the time or inclination to stay up-to-date on our chatter, but I didn't want to be exclusive .)

Still no contractions here -- three or four pretty darn serious Braxton Hicks this weekend, but nothing like what has been described to me as a real contraction. I tried to get a lot of cleaning done this weekend, but ended up doing more movie-watching -- has anyone seen "Me, You, and Everyone We Know"? It's brilliant and adorable, and was EXACTLY the kind of movie I wanted to see. "Wallace and Grommit and the Were-Rabbit" fit the bill, too. DH's choice, "Land of the Dead," not so much. I knitted a new soaker in the next room while he watched it, and because there seemed to be quite a complex little socially conscious plot, kept asking, "What's happening now? Who just said that?" I just can't handle gore and heart-racing stuff right now, but getting a play-by-play from a very patient husband to acompany the sound track was kind of entertaining.

My goal this week is to KEEP THE HOUSE CLEAN, i.e. sit still and don't do anything, as I have natural inclinations toward messiness, and to finish an article I'm working on that was supposed to be done by early October. I'm guessing my time is not going to become freed up anytime soon, so I have quite the fire under my tush to get it done NOW.

Happy second week of November -- wishing healthy, happy babies and labors to those mamas who are destined to go this week!

[3for3hb]

Hi everyone! Didn't sleep more than an hour all last night because contractions were keeping me up. I tried to stay in bed and rest as much as possible but they kept coming. I got really hungry but didn't want to wake dh yet so I went downstairs and made some scrambled eggs and rice w/ braggs. And they went away... story of my life these past 5 weeks!

My midwife is coming up for a visit and we're going to discuss my options. I am getting nervous about the safety of my baby, the ability of the placenta to support the baby etc. I know too many moms whose babies died within months of Willems' birth because of postmature complications... so I guess this time around I consider myself forewarned by the universe. I didn't feel like this at all when I went over with Willem and was willing to wait as long as necessary. But this time, considering the flow of prebirth hormones in my system, it's hard to distinguish between fear due to other peoples' experiences and my own intuition. So I'm going to play it safe because if anything happened to my baby I would blame it on myself at this point.

That said, I'm scheduling another acupuncture appointment, this time for the actual induction points to be stimulated. I'm also making an appointment for a prenatal profile ultrasound for Thursday to determine the state of the placenta. Kinda scary... I've never had an ultrasound before. I figure the baby is well enough developed and the circumstances warrant its use.

So that's what's up with me....
DreamsinDigital (and anyone else whose sick) I hope you feel better soon! Being sick in the third tri really sucks!

[Awaken]

Ahhhhh......it's 8:30am here and ds is still asleep and dh left for work......I'm alone and drinking my RRL tea and eating my yummy pastry I got at the farmer's market yesterday- what fun

willemsmama- I hope you and your mw decide on some good approaches to get things moving- sounds like you already have a good plan- the acupuncture should help! And maybe you won't even need the u/s but if so hopefully it'll show a happily growing babe in there. Sorry your bday was not *great* but you know we were all thinking of you How was your meeting with your other MDC mom? I thought of you when we were up in the Phila. suburbs a few weeks ago but it was a really short trip.

amy- so sorry about that pain in your side!! How are you today? I hope it's subsided.

To anyone who is sick/feeling crappy- sounds like there are a bunch of us

plagio- and anyone else who is having no real signs of labor- I feel so wierd that I don't, either! I had my son by this time (37 w)- I"ve never been pg this long! And I don't feel like it's going to be soon, either. I only had a very mild run of BH the other night and that's it. Mentally, I need to finish work this week, or at least finish tomorrow and write out a memo for whoever fills in for me- and then I'll feel freer. It'll be so different for me if I go to or near full term and have a 'regular' size baby!

kavita, DID- Yay, sounds like some productive days you've been having!! Doesn't it feel great to have things clean, somewhat organized. I keep cleaning but with our shedding dogs and toddler it doesn't last long : I wish shaving our dogs was an option- but they are lab/golden retreiever mixes with short hair already so they would just shed as much, but shorter hair.

It was a good weekend for us- Sat. was the first day we had NOTHING on our calendar!! Woo hoo. It was absolutely beautiful weather, in the 70's and sunny. We went on a long walk in the woods. Sun. we had our mw appointment, then went to our farmer's market and hung out for a while and had fun. That night I went to our local birthing circle meeting which was really interesting- about chiropractic, acupuncture, massage, and other complementary medicine in preg, labor, birth, and infants. I am getting myself a massage, I've had little to no pampering this preg. so I think it's the least I deserve!!

[flyingspaghettimama]

Waa. I'm still pregnant. Ok, I'm only one day over my DD, but I really thought I would have him early, based on...well, my own imagination, I guess. And so many B-H...and, and...well, I guess not.

willemsmama, I also had a talk with my MW about options. I guess she does the biophysical profile w/ultrasound (if you want) at around 42 weeks. She also strips membranes if you wish for it - did you have that done? She suggested all of the usual methods of natural induction, but none of them sounded too hot to me, as in - I've already tried them! I might try this acupuncture method if I get fidgety by Wednesday. There are several people around here who do acupuncture.

On the other hand, I did get to spend some awesome time yesterday with my family, going for a huge walk & bike ride, eating really good homemade food, just snuggling on the couch with my daughter.

If some of you GBS FREE (lucky duckies, all of you) remember, I am GBS positive. I've decided to go down that antibiotics road, because they don't bother me that much physically and my MW has a very mellow way of doing it (20 min needle in, no hep lock to keep dry). I'm totally bummed about it though - I think I have a pretty kick-ass immune system, so I don't know why I'm positive. But even Ina May in her book defines as higher-risk women who are highly colonized. Which I am. Dang colonizers. I am oppressed by GBS.

I wonder if Flapjack Helen had her baby. I hope you feel better DiD. Colds are so not fun.

[nataliekat]

Morning, all. Well, today I'm 3 days from my due date. No progress other than one or two strong BH at night, and a lot of regular BH in the evening usually.

Trying to be strong, but right now I just want to get through the days and it's hard to really be there for Maisie. She came down with a stuffy, runny nose yesterday, poor baby. She fell asleep on the couch sitting up in the afternoon. Then she didn't sleep well last night for trouble breathing. I feel a bit of a scratchy throat this morning, so it's lots of hot tea with lots of Vitamin C for me today. Can you believe it? Three days from my due date and I'm coming down with something? Ack!

No nookie for us this weekend, because honestly I want to wait and have the baby this weekend when my mom is here. Then I don't have to worry about Maisie at all. After reading about all you prodromal mamas, I keep thinking that's going to happen to me, too. But I think it would have started before this. Hopefully I won't be a victim of disappearing contractions!

We had just about decided on a name for the baby and told Maisie we had decided on Lottie, then she said, "No, I like Clara." She keeps saying Clara is the name she likes, so she must know something we don't. After the little one arrives, we'll let her make the final call.

All right, hang tough, mamas! It's getting old saying that weekly thread after weekly thread. But soon enough it will be Dec or Jan and we'll ALL be done!

[PicnicBear]

Originally Posted by BeTheEarth

My goal this week is to KEEP THE HOUSE CLEAN, i.e. sit still and don't do anything, as I have natural inclinations toward messiness,

That's my approach, too.

Willemsmama -- good luck to you with the induction attempts -- I have never had an ultrasound either, but it sounds like this is exactly the kind of case where they can be useful so go for it and hope you get some useful info. Oh, check out my belly cast that you inspired (under belly shots)


FSM -- too bad about the GBS but that's what I would have done, too, if I were + since I am not as anti-antibiotics as some -- if like me, you don't have bad reactions to them, then you probably won't even notice you had them

[AmyGirl28]

Good morning everyone! Well, my weekend was okay. The in laws came to visit. I cooked and DH cleaned. It was nice and it made the weekend go by quickly. I am starting to count the days, all 18 of them that I have left till my due date. Then, when I reach the due date I guess I can start counting how many days late I am. Oh boy! Time is crawling. I can't wait to meet my little girl.

Lots of you mammas have been talking about cleaning. Ugh, I can't even find the motivation for that. Especially with DD running a muck everywhere making more messes.

Dreams In Digital- I'm sorry about your sore throat. I have one too. DD caught a cold at daycare. Isn't that lovely. Hope you feel better soon!

Willemsmamma- Sorry no baby yet. Hopefully you can get things started pretty soon. I'm rooting for ya!

[MamaFern]

ak. yesterday my plan was to sleep all day and try to get my body better..well that didn't happen.. stuff just kept happening..people dropping by..elwynn being needy..and i didnt even get a wink of a pnap all day long... and my throat is as sore as ever this morning. but the rest of me feels okay..or maybe im just trying to convince myself.. im sorry to everyone else who is feeling sick. its a really stressful time to be sick.. at least im having a hard time with it. im thinking of fasting today and see if that helps my body at all.. just drinking lots of herbal teas and taking it really easy. well as easy as i can with elwynn and lucas in the house all day. i just finally got the house cleaned up this weekend its a never ending cycle. oh well.. ive come to the realisation that baby will come when the time is right and if the house is a mess then the house is a mess and if i have a sore throat then i have a sore throat...i guess baby isnt going to come as early as her brother did.. that makes me kinda sad, but im also okay with it. today would be the day i had elwynn.. i was hard at work in labour..it brings back so much! i want to be holding this sweet baby in my arms sooon!!!! i guess we all feel that way now..

and to you mommas who are over your EDD i especially feel for you! i always assumed that this baby would be born by now..and its hard! waiting is really hard.

im thinking about the mommas who havnt posted in a few days and wondering if they have their beautiful babies now. its so lovely sharing this exciting time with all of you. i think it would be hard going through everyday without having people to talk to about this stuff.. sometimes i think the people in my life get tired of hearing me talk about this baby!

[samsmamma]

Hello hello!

No news to report at all. Had a nice mellow weekend - took Sam to see the Wallace and Gromit movie on Saturday and did nothing yesterday. Dh seems to be mellowing out a bit, but he just feels so nervous about us doing anything that will make the baby come "right away" that I'm surprised he even let me go to work this am!

Sam has been super sweet about the baby and thinks it is coming on 11/17. Which is possible. There is really no sign of much of anything going on at all. Baby feels lower, but I actually am feeling a lot better - I feel lighter, somehow, more comfortable even with the add'l pressure in my hips and groin area. So whatever it is, it is.

Some very good news though: I have been approved to work one day a week from home after my leave! I will have this privilege for 9 mos after I return, so till baby is a year, and then we will evaluate on an ongoing basis for period of 3 months at a time. I'd be happy to be able to do it till baby is about 15 mos or so (at that point with Sam, I stopped pumping, and I was on a day schedule with him by the time he was about 18 mos), so I'm really happy about this. It's a huge credit to my own decidation and work ethic, and also to my boss who really needed to fight for me for it. So yay!

I think I might get some spicy food for lunch. I keep talking to the baby and telling it to come out because it will have more fun out here, but it's not listening to me...

[rsjamison42]

Well, I had my MW appointment Friday and found out I'm GBS +. : Also, the baby is still happily hanging out head-up, so we scheduled a version for Tuesday afternoon. At this point I kind of feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place: it'll either be a c-section or a penicillan IV. Obviously the IV is the lesser of two evils, but I'm still not happy about it. I don't do all that well with needles, and I'm afraid that could be what starts the slippery slope of my not being able to relax. It will mean I have to go into the hosp a lot sooner than I was planning. I've seriously considered just waiting anyway (oops, too late, time to push!), but I don't want to make the MW mad at me, or give them any reason to insist on a spinal tap or something equally awful for my baby once she's born. Amazingly, dh was completely supportive of me wanting to refuse the IV; he's much more accepting of standard hosp procedures than I am. After thinking about it all weekend, though, I just don't think I could live with myself if she did get an infection, and I've already proven I'm horrible with the low odds (breech, GBS+), so I'll most likely go along with it.

On a related note, does anyone know if the eye antibiotics have any benefit with GBS? I'm not planning on giving them to her, but if they might help the chance of infection from GBS I might consider it. I've never heard any connection between the two, though.

The MW also sprung on me at the visit that if the version is successful they'll probably want to schedule an induction to make sure she doesn't turn back to breech. That's a battle I'll absolutely fight. I'm so frustrated. I've spent my entire pregnancy reading up and preparing myself physically and emotionally for a natural birth, and now at the last minute I feel like everything is conspiring against me to prevent that. I feel like I did about the best I could in finding a suitable MW on my time crunch (we just moved states, and with changing insurance and not knowing anyone in town, it was really tough to choose), but now I'm feeling like she's way more indoctrinated into the OB mindset than I wanted. Too late now.

Sorry to hear some of you are sick. Hope you feel better soon!

[flyingspaghettimama]

rjamison, I don't think eye antibiotics really do much one way or another regarding GBS. I'm declining them. GBS infection seems to be something fairly random, from what I've read. My MW said the only infection she's seen was one in which the baby came out WITH the amniotic sac (waters hadn't broken), and it was fairly obvious that the baby was sick.

Is there any way that your hospital won't hook you up for the entire time, but just a 20-min infusion every 6-8 hours? This is what I'm doing. I know it's really hard to get around "protocol" esp if the MW isn't flexible.

Ina May has a good section on GBS in her book. You might find out if you are highly colonized or less so, which would reduce risk.

[rsjamison42]

One of the things I'm going to ask about at my appointment tomorrow is the specifics of the IV treatment. If they only hook me up for 20 minutes it won't be so bad, and I know dh and I are willing to fight to have them take it out in between treatments if they don't want to. I'll also ask about the level of colonization. My copy of Ina May's guide is still packed somewhere...I can't find it. I've also considered asking them to rescreen at my 39 week appointment, assuming I make it that long. I know odds are good that I'd still be positive, but it couldn't hurt to check.

When she first did the GBS test, the MW told me a horror story (I think it was her sister) who wasn't screened, her child got an infection, and spent a month in the hosp near death. This came across to me as a scare tactic, though I hope it wasn't meant that way, which is why I think it will be a major battle if I refuse the antibiotics.

[Godiva]

I hope all the sickies feel better soon! Thankfully I got over all that a few weeks ago. I'm trying to get into my acupuncturist today to get some contractions going again. Hopefully she has something open today and I don't have to wait til tomorrow. I'm so disappointed, I had really strong contractions going for 2 days (definatly not bh's) and then they just stopped. I'm trying to be patient, but I really need Caia to come out now for my sanity. I'm starting to get a bad case of the "what ifs". She's so overdue and I know the risks of that. I know she is still very healthy and that the placenta is functioning properly but I still start worrying about what if she's not ok. What if she isnt getting enough nutrients or oxygen. It's been so long, what if she isnt comming out because something is wrong with her. I'm starting to loose faith and I'm thinking I should go to a Dr and get a U/S just to quell my fears. But at the same time, I know they are just worries because I have nothing else to do but worry. I can feel that she is ok, she is actually getting even more active than she was before, if she wasn't getting the proper nutrients she would be getting weaker, not so strong to the point where some of her kicks and punches literally feeel like she is going to claw her way out the front of my stomach. I know my instincts are telling me that she is ok. But my stupid brain keeps me worrying. The only times I ever get into trouble is when I ignore my instincts and listen to my brain. I don't know what could go wrong with just going to get a us to check her out, but something doesn't feel right about it. See now if she would just come out, I wouldn't have to worry anymore. Oh, I got a rather funny email from my aunt this morning (who I dont talk to much) saying that she was hoping that she would open her email to see a notice that I had my baby already and she "assumes that you're not near that 'magical' 42 week mark where it is wise to 'coax' the baby out because the placenta may deteriorate". No, I'm not near it, I'm way past it and guess what, my baby is still alive thank you very much! It's not like on week 41 and 6 days the baby is just fine, then all of a sudden overnight the placenta just stops functioning. ::sigh:: I'm just not going to bother responding to her, I know my baby is fine and that's enough. Well I'm hungry, I think I'm gonna go make some waffles.. hmm or pancakes...

[babykaoss]

Originally Posted by flyingspaghettimama

I am oppressed by GBS.

Same here. how annoying, huh?

Well, as I posted in another thread, in order for my mother to be present during the delivery, baby will have to decide to come either between now and the 14th, or after the 21st which is my EDD, because mom is flying to san diego for grandma's 80th birthday party. she has non refundable tickets and i guess this was planned a long time ago. it makes me crazy though, because she doesnt much care for her mother in law.......and i KNOW she'd rather stay here w/ me just in case but...........yeah that's not going to happen.

so i'm really trying not to be frustrated because other than really constant, strong B& H and the stabbing pains in my cervix nothing unusual has been going on. Unless you count that in the last few days if I stand up from sitting down, or try to walk right after being seated my stomach gets so tight and uncomfortable that i literally have to stop and not move for a few moments...........anyone else experiencing this?!? Never happened to me w/ dd!

[spughy]

Good morning everyone!

No signs of imminent baby here. Just the usual minor aches and pains. It's a nice day at the moment so I think I'll go for a walk before it rains.

rsjamison - one of my best friends had the same thing happen with her first baby as your midwife described but I don't think hers was in the hospital for a month with his GBS infection, maybe a week? It was still pretty scary. That's the problem with GBS, it's rare that a baby will get an infection but they do happen. But it is your choice what to do about it - if you have difficulties with antibiotics the odds for good outcomes might favour not treating you and only treating the baby if it gets infected.

My friends had a baby shower for me yesterday and I didn't get one single thing I didn't want!!!! Tons of books (yay!), the cutest little star-shaped fleece bunting bag, some bunnykins dishes and a few little clothes (we had to put the little socks on my friend's cat, they were just too cute... fortunately the cat is tolerant). Anyway, it was really nice and nowhere near the estrogen-infested hell I had imagined it could be, even though none of my guy friends got invited.

Hope everyone has a good week, and babies start popping out like spitballs from a straw in the hands of an eight-year-old!

[snugglebutter]

37w 5 days here - just got back from my midwife appt. My GBS test came back negative YAY! Everything is looking good otherwise. I found out that the other midwife in the group switched to a different practice - so if I give birth on my midwife's "off" weekend then it will be attended by one of the ob's. That is this Fri-Sun - hopefully she will not decide to come out then!

Afterwards I stopped at the hospital's breastfeeding store to get a bra. I have a couple of cheapies from Target that I am happy with, but wanted to also have something with a little more support. I ended up with a Medela seamless softcup bra. The LC at the store was very helpful in making sure I got a good fit.

We did a little "stock-up" shopping over the weekend - things like toilet paper, a few frozen dinners, etc... And I picked up a few more Christmas gifts. Hopefully I can get some stuff done around the house today, but I also plan to rest!

Hope everyone is having a peaceful week. I just love coming to the board to read about more new babies!!!!

[spughy]

Originally Posted by babykaoss

so i'm really trying not to be frustrated because other than really constant, strong B& H and the stabbing pains in my cervix nothing unusual has been going on. Unless you count that in the last few days if I stand up from sitting down, or try to walk right after being seated my stomach gets so tight and uncomfortable that i literally have to stop and not move for a few moments...........anyone else experiencing this?!? Never happened to me w/ dd!

Yeah I totally get that, especially in the evenings. Not so bad that I can't move but it's certainly less than comfortable. And it makes me have to pee. Ah well, it can't go on for TOO long!