Weekly Chat: Nov. 21-28 ~ Get your gripe on!! - Page 3

[nataliekat]

QoC - I'm absolutely ENRAGED for you.

How dare they!

Good for your mom, at least. I know it's hard, but try to ask for what you need. If you want to hold the baby and have them get you something to eat, ask them. Shame on them for letting you do for yourself when there were SO many people in the house.

God, I remember those hormones. They are brutal, and it's not easy having a housefull when you're feeling them. On the upside, I'm glad you're feeling so good physically. I'm sure it's because of the easier labor, and also because you aren't trying to take on quite as much as you did last time. Even though we feel elated, our bodies really do need to rest right now. Keep checking in and tell that DH to TAKE CARE OF YOU!

Well, beginning day 13 past my due date. Every night I go to bed thinking "another day done and no baby". Every morning I wake up thinking "another night gone and no baby". Ugh. We DTD this morning and I'm feeling crampy so please, PLEASE let me have a baby! I'm beginning to feel that my having a baby is just a rumor. Why don't they make t-shirts that say something like "DON'T ASK!" I'm sick of talking about my belly, I just want to ignore it right now. MIL calls every day and asks DH how I'm doing. How do you think I'm doing?

My NST and AFI were Monday. They went really well. Baby is active and reactive. Amniotic fluid level measured 17.9 cm. Apparently anything below 10 is considered low, so I have lots. And I saw the tech type on the screen that my placenta is "superior" I hope that doesn't mean she's going to be in there for very much longer.

You know, I thought about the mental or psychological blockage possibility as far as labor taking so long to get started. But, if no other induction techniques work until the baby is ready, then visualization isn't going to, either, IMO. I've heard of women hiding their pregnancies and denying they're pregnant to everyone, even themselves until the baby comes out. If they can manage to go into labor on their own, then I can, too! With the rest of the pressure to give birth, I don't need to worry about my subconscious making problems for me.

Yes, I'm a little bitter. I'll try to cheer up now.

[*Amy*]

I think I might be following your example Aubrey. I feel *so* nauseated and gross today, like the good old days of the first trimester. All I can do is lay in bed and look out the window at the snow falling (which is really nice) and go to the bathroom to (as you say) lose my bowels. I am having cramps/contractions/something but they seem to decrease in intensity when I lie down. I'm really hoping this means things are starting. No loss of mucous plug or water breaking, but maybe that will happen soon. :

[babykaoss]

i've been feeling nauseated off and on for the past two days too! that's really odd. i dont remember feeling like this before i had dd........hmm. and what happened to that wonderfully productive nesting? i'm SO unmotivated lately!

[MamaFern]

nope.. no baby. im still having crampy contractions.. but if they dont pick up by after my MW appt im going to go ahead with the castor oil. so hopefully today WILL be the day! ill keep you all updated

[DreamsInDigital]

3 days past my EDD and according to my horoscope, I should not leave the house.
So I'm not even getting dressed today. We made hot cocoa and oatmeal for breakfast and now the boys are vegging on some crappy cartoon.
My DP has the next 2 days off work and I'm so not looking forward to having to put up with him. He is so getting on my nerves lately.

[flyingspaghettimama]

DiD, can come and have fruit loops with you this morning? sounds so good...

I feel nauseated and gross too, but I chalk it up to too much rich food.

[flapjack]

Nausea stinks...I wet myself this morning throwing up What's worse, I got really excited and thought my waters had broken with the pressure, until I tried sitting on the toilet to see if anything came out This is gonna be one hell of a birth story- do you think the BBC would make a comedy out of it?
What's worse, I can't believe I actually admitted to that in a public area .
QoC- I want to come and hit your family with a HUGE, HUGE brickbat. I can't believe they did that to you, and it's just so- hurtful. It really, really is. Grrr.

[*Amy*]

Oh Helen...you threw up AND peed? That stinks.

[Awaken]

Greetings from postpartumland

Hi ladies-

I've been reading and keeping up, but the times when I actually have 2 hands to type are limited, so I haven't been able to reply like I'd want to!

bec- we are totally going through the 'boneless toddler' thing right now, too LOL- but it is super exasperating! : I can't physically pick him up like that in my current state, nor when 9 mos. pg so he either lays there and screams or I have to drag him if it's crucial that we get out of there- just awful and I feel terrible about it.

dh's- Mine is acting as pp doula as well, but I'm not having the lovely rest period that monique so beautifully described!! He is really busy keeping ds busy, cleaning up, checking in with work, etc that I feel bad asking for anything for myself. He does bring my breakfast in bed every day

In a way I feel sad, b/c after ds was born it was such a magical, intimate time- just the 3 of us around the holidays getting to know one another and sharing all the baby care. THis time, dh is working so hard to care for all of us that he hasn't gotten to do much with the baby- although part of that is b/c this baby is a good nurser, and nurses frequently, so usually it is me that he needs. I do have dh hold him whenever he is content just to give them some bonding time. Also, changing a newborn's diaper is SO hard- I had forgotten- so I always get him to do that if he can!!

Me- I'm feeling very well physically as far as healing. Those killer afterpains are finally gone! My main problem is engorgement- OMG- it is soooo bad! I'm doing all the typical things to help it but today is the first day I've seen any improvement. This also happened last time and I totally freaked out- I'm not freaking out this time but it hurts SO BAD I want it to be over!!

?- Also, today I developed a fever- now it's 100.2 and I am really achey, and have a headache, and am totally having hot and cold flashes. Is this normal or could I have an infection?

And for all you mamas who are waiting- just wanted to say I had the nausea/no appetite, and the complete lack of motivation and extreme tiredness in the days before labor, too, so that's a good sign!

And, *please* be encouraged if you're not seeing a lot of cervical change or contractions, like other posters have said- in BOTH my births, I had no/minimal cervical change, no loss of mucus plug till the birth, this time barely any BH ever, and both times I went immediately into labor and had the baby within hours. So lack of 'signs' does NOT mean you won't have the baby soon!!

everyone- thinking of you all so often

[MamaFern]

itsybitsy - i hope your fever and aches go away soon! take it easy.

so i went to the midwife this morninm.. everything is great with baby but the midwife i was seeing..or rather student.. seemed a bit worried about me.. i dunno why. i actually feel great today. maybe just because im now 11 days over.. but its not unusual.. and she talked to me about NST's and wants me to call on sat if i havnt had the baby by then and wants me to do one.. which im pretty much against..but we shall see...

i told them of my plans to take castor oil today and they gave me some recipes and some lemon verbena oil, which apparently is used a lot in europe and just lately available here.. its a uterine tonic and supposidly works better than castor oil because it actually works on the uterus not the intestines..so im making some "augmentation tea" right now.. cloves, cinnamon, ginger and oil of lemon verbina.. if it doesnt work im making the "labour coctail" tomorow first thing in the am.. it has both lemon verbina oil and castor oil as well as almond butter and apricot juice.. sounds rather nasty. i might just make an ice cream smoothie or something. they said i could do that today but reccomend doing it early in the day and its already 12:30 so im starting off with the tea. so send me labour vibes mommas!! hopefully today or tonight ill be giving birth!

flapjack : sorry you are feeling so rough

[babykaoss]

Originally Posted by itsybitsy25

?- Also, today I developed a fever- now it's 100.2 and I am really achey, and have a headache, and am totally having hot and cold flashes. Is this normal or could I have an infection?

just wanted to encourage you to pay close attention to yourself mama. thats how i felt about a week or so postpartum w/ dd and it turned out to be mastitis from being so engorged.......i got a nasty fever and chills and hot flashes and body aches and ended up having to be on antibiotics. wasnt fun!

[DreamsInDigital]

DS and I took a 3 hour nap and I've managed to stay in the house all day so far but now we're out of eggnog just when I want some SOOOO bad.
I think I might go to the grocery store in my pajamas. Do you think anyone would say anything?

[MamaFern]

hell no! you are soo pregnant. pregnant woman are allowed to do whatever they want!!

[zjande]

DUDE, WHERE is my labor???
It's been 36 hours now of nausea, endless bowel emptying, adrenalin craziness/nesting, weird backache, & this very morning, on my edd, I woke up to lose my huge gross globby bloody mucus plug (yay!)! My cx have each definitely gotten longer all day today, but they are just as irregular & not very painful as ever. DP & I had sex & I lost even more giant globs of bloody mucous (lordy, how much is in there?), but no impressive cx yet. I feel SO close, so right on the edge of labor, but just waiting for these cx to pick up some regularity. Arg, it is definitely enough to drive an impatient pregnant chick batty.

I'm going to try going on a walk now.

[HoneyTree]

Today wasn't such a bad day for me, either, aside from the fact that DH and I have been COMPLETE flakes today, and have made no less than NINE trips to the grocery store. Two of those trips were not our fault -- stores here have sold out of things like organic milk, butter, and bread (???), but the other trips were because we just kept forgetting things. The reason for all the trips is that my mom decided to come up and spend Thanksgiving with us; I'm really excited about that, and today I made cranberry sauce and an apple pie from scratch. It was a fun way to pass the day. Especially since later in the afternoon I had my NST. It looked great -- the nurses said ours was the prettiest baby they'd "seen" all day (if you count good heart tones and movement as seeing!) -- we were in and out and everything looked splendid -- but still it was weird to be all hooked up to these wave things when I'd so assiduously avoided them all pregnancy. So tonight is just getting chililng out, making ready for company, watching some T.V....

[Awaken]

zjande- sounds like baby's on it's way!!

looks like I have an infection I feel awful. temp is 101. I'm doing vit c and goldenseal/echinacea, and i'm goiing to stop doing anything but relaxing with baby. i *can't* get sick- i don't have a doctor and it's a holiday week so my only choice for antibiotics would be the er which would be a nightmare plus they wouln't know about abx for nursing moms.

and we bought all the ingred. to cook fot TG- looks like that won't happen.

[Kavita]

Yikes Mary!! I hope you start feeling better! Do you have an urgent care near you? Better than the ER . . . .

Hugs to all you mamas waiting patiently (or not!) to have your babies!! It's weird, I totally thought I'd be having my baby around now, and she's two weeks old! I had the opposite problem--I was in early labor, in the tub crying because I had assumed I'd have a little time to myself before going into labor, I had just finished work and was looking forward to a little leave time pre-baby, and I didn't feel ready and was so tired and didn't know if I'd ever get any time to myself ever again and here I was in labor!! In really early labor (Sunday before she was born) I was in a frantic rush trying to get all these things done--including having my birth bead necklace strung! (The bead store was closed--and 2 weeks and 1 day postpartum it's STILL not strung. : ) Sounds like most of you are pretty close--don't be discouraged!! The day before I went into labor my midwife was giving me the "be patient" talk and saying it would likely be around thanksgiving. I had about 36 hours of prodromal labor stuff too with no real dilation to speak of either--I was two cm and not even completely effaced until about 10 pm Monday night and she came out within 4 hours from that!! So hold the hope!!

Things here are going pretty well. The doula came for 2 hours today, and I had her help me with a bunch of Thanksgiving stuff. I am making the traditional turkey dinner, but making a 2 lb turkey breast, as DH doesn't eat turkey and it's just the two of us for dinner--he's going to make some sort of tempeh thing for himself. My potatoes are peeled and cut and in water, the bread for stuffing is cubed and toasted, and I have the pumpkin underway. Instead of doing a pumpkin pie, I'm doing a pumpkin custard b/c I'm just not up to doing a crust and I don't really like store-bought crusts so much, and it's healthier w/out the crust anyway so who cares?! I'm trying to not overdo it, but of course now I'm feeling like I'm behind. We had planned to share the cooking with our across the street neighbors but now they're sick, so we're back on our own at the last minute and I'm having to do everything myself.

We're going to MI on 12/4 to see my family. My dad (who was in the plane crash and was burned) is doing okay. It is really sad, there was a lot of damage to his left hand and in the last couple of days he lost circulation in it, yesterday they had to amputate it below the wrist. He's still on a ventilator and heavily sedated, my mom and sister keep talking to him and telling him we had the baby but it's unsure how much gets through. And I can't bring the baby in to see him b/c there is too much risk to her--lots of antibiotic resistant staph infections, pneumonia, etc. I'm hoping it all goes okay. DH is staying a week and I'm staying 2--it will be weird to be without him, and weird to travel with the baby alone. But we'll manage.

Whoops, gotta go, I'm being "paged" by a screaming hungry baby!

[MamaFern]

well tthe verbina oil didnt do anything for me i guess ill try the castor oil tomorow as soon as i wake up.. if i can sleep.. i just scrubbed the kitchen and tidied the livingroom and all the laundry is washed, so hopefully the castor oil will do more than just upset my tummy. otherwise i think im going to go crazy!

on a happier note my friend hawkfeather sent me the most beautiful flowers today. they are just amazing. im so excited to have them in my birthing space!

[flapjack]

Fern, is that who they were from? I think that's such a lovely idea... sorry the verbena oil didn't work, because I was getting excited about the idea of trying it: it sounds like such a lovely gentle kick-start.
Today has been FAR less embarrassing. Contractions are still niggling, sickness has stopped, baby isn't out yet and I'm not in labour- I can't decide if this is a good thing or not. I have, however, lost count of the days until Christmas, which is messing with my mind. (33? I think) Seeing as I lost all my birth stories in the divorce (he got custody of the computer) I'm going to spend today typing them up again and focussing on just how cool and down-to-earth they really were. I can't believe it's 7 years today that I became a mummy and gave birth for the first time, and now I'm sitting here with a huge baby in my belly.
Itsybitsy- can you call your midwife? I really hope you feel better soon, but I don't think you should mess about, in case it's something nasty.
Kavita . You sound so happy and fulfilled .
Zjande- apparently mucus plugs keep renewing themselves- and it can start after 24 hours or so. My midwife told me this, but I'm still completely mindblown by just how much is up there... I'm sure she's wrong. Still, labour can only be hours and days away now, rather than days and weeks- we're so close!!!

[kangaroo_mom]

I guess I should stop being a stranger and post here. I keep lurking and have posted twice I think. I am a week overdue now (I think - I'm measuring 41 weeks). It is insane when I think back to when I had the ultrasound in October and they told me that I had 5 more weeks to go (instead of 1 or 2). They told me I'd be due around Thanksgiving (instead of before Halloween) and I totally did not belive them! I remember saying "This baby is coming out before my birthday if I have to cut it out myself!" Well, my birthday was the 15th, the full moon and although I had steady contractions for a while and my midwife came over to check on me, nothing came of it. Since then, I've had constant prodomal labor. So I'm going on about 2 weeks of false labor. It is driving me insane because I am so ready to have this baby and I am having such a hard time caring for my 2 young kiddos. My DH has been staying home from work to care for them (he'd been sick anyway, but still, this will be cutting into time he can take off post-partum).

My midwife wants to strip my membranes. It was so painful the last time she came over just trying to check for dilation (my cervix was posterior, whatever that means). I just cannot bring myself to let her stretch my cervix. It's just too painful and violating, to me. I don't want to do castor oil The stuff just scares me. So we've been doing the usual 3 S's - Spicy food, Sex, and Squating as well as tons of RRL tea and walking.

I can't think of anything that could be holding me back. I have the downstairs of our house organized and ready. I've seen the 2 movies I had wanted to see very badly - Pride and Prejudice and Harry Potter. My DH is feeling better. If I actually get to go to the Black Friday Sales, I'm going to be very disappointed! I'm so sick of the constant barrage of questions from people about if I'm still pregnant on top of the nasty homebirth comments "I'm SOOO scared for you!!!" Why?! I've done it twice already (homebirthed, that is). Stupid people suck!!!

Cheers ladies, sending labor vibes and happy babymoon vibes your way.

Oh, and do watch out for mastitis. It's nasty, not as bad as thrush, but still no fun. PM if you want info on how to treat it without antibiotics. I got it twice during the first 6 weeks after I had my first DD (I'd had antiobiotics recently) and I never saw a doctor for it. I treated it all with herbs and ointments.


Jenn ~
busy mama to 2 sweet princesses (ages 3.5 and 21 months) and EDD #3 any day now! (hint, hint)