Weekly Check-In 12/18-12/24

[MamaTaraX]

About time for these things to be daily check-ins How's everybody doing!? And just for fun: what kind of weather is everyone having? I know there are people from all over. Anybody expecting a White Christmas? Come on in and postand say hello! (I mean, really, somebody else has to post around here besides me LOL)

Namaste, Tara

[cathynmatt]

I'm here ~~ darn insomnia keeps me from getting more than two hours of sleep a night. Even tried Unisom but that just made me feel drowsy and not able to sleep. *roll eyes*

Anyhoo ~ weather here (nebraska) is cold! I don't think we are going to have a white christmas, all of our snow melted with a warm streak last week. We should actually be in the 40's for Christmas weekend! Not bad!

[zjandosmom]

I have my 38wk check up this week, Wed. I am BIG and finally having some bh. This is the 1st pg I haven't had bh through=out the entire pg. Odd. I am slowly getting ready for the holidays and the birth. Being this pg and our personal situation has made me much more relaxed this holiday season and I am thinking that's not a bad thing . Babe is not as jumpy as s/he has been...running out of room. I must say I am surprised that we haven't had any births yet! Linsay had her twins and that's been it. I am glad we haven't had any real preemies. I really thought we would have had some babes by now though. Hope this doesn't mean we're going to be a "late" bunch!!! I wanna go now!

I am in Atlanta so not much of a chance for the white stuff!

[SMR]

Well, Thursday is week 39 for me! I can't believe time has gone so quickly - it seems like just yesterday I was thinking we would NEVER get pregnant!! and now mommahood is just on the horizon! I'm in my last 4 days of work - which for some reason is freaking me out a little! I'm not the type who likes working.. but now that I'm almost done, it feels weird!! People are starting to take guesses on when this lil' babe will come out... so far 12/31 is winning! I think she'll arrive between January 4 and 8th!

As for white xmas!? Oh yeah.. without a doubt!! I live in Michigan, we've got plenty of snow already!! FUN FUN!! Too bad I won't be sledding for a while!!

[Hollin]

I'm with Cathy on the insomnia thing. I'm so tired but sleep just isn't happening for me for some reason. I have an appointment with my doctor this afternoon and then I'll start going once a week! My baby is more active lately than he has ever been before. My husband is fascinated by my undulating belly

As for weather, we got a little bit of snow/ice yesterday and people were freaking out. No one knows how to drive in weather like this here, but it's supposed to warm up again today so everything will go back to normal soon.

[Persephone]

Hmm... well, I have a cold. And this morning, I woke up to the first bloody nose of my life. Apparently, they're pretty common in pregnancy, because of the increased blood volume, and even more likely if you have a cold, or blow your nose really hard. (Both things I did.) It was scary, but thankfully, not serious.

I'm 36 weeks today! OMG! To me, 36 weeks is FAR along... baby could come at any time! In one week, I will be full term! Eek!

Baby is moving a lot, and boy, his feet are sharp!! Midwife came for the home visit a few days ago, and told me my baby is ROA! Woohoo! No posterior babies for me! (Thank God!!) I think the baby has dropped, or something, cause last night, I had a lot of pelvic pain... shooting pains in my bladder region all the way back to my tailbone... is that what mamas mean when they say "pressure?" Cause that sucks!

I have basically no energy, and no lung capacity. And I'm still running around like crazy getting things done for Xmas. People won't recieve their gifts til after Xmas, but that's just too darn bad. My baby comes first.

As for the weather, it's crisp and sunny here, and there is snow on the ground, so things are all sparkly. Barring any warming trends, the Xmas should be white, but who knows if it'll snow again before Xmas or not... I'd like it to, I think it'd be pretty with a fresh layer on the ground.

Our Xmas plans involve lots of coziness at home... a fire, gifts on Xmas morning, and a brunch instead of Xmas dinner. And the main dish is a crockpot meal, so I can do it Xmas eve, and not have to worry about cooking all day.

I think that's all the news here... no ctx yet, or anything of that nature... I think this baby has got a good three or more weeks on the inside yet to go.

[jayayenay]

[megpaw]

I'm 35w+2d today, and things are just chugging along. I finally bought most of my birth kit and baby stuff, so I'm pretty prepared for this baby to make his/her appearance! Just as long as it waits until the fishy pool gets here! I still have to buy a couple of Christmas gifts, but MIL is watching DD's today, so at least I'll get to do the shopping on my own. I'm planning on wrapping everything this evening, and then I am DONE with Christmas. Woohoo!!!!

The baby is doing great, rolling around and putting on a show for everyone. The only bad part is it's keeping me up all night! I finally caved last night and took some Tylenol PM. It really sucks being soooo tired and unable to sleep. I just can't get comfortable. I tried sleeping in our big comfy chair, but DD woke up and made me go back to bed, LOL. Oh well, it's not like I'll be getting a lot of rest after the baby comes out, right?

My IL's are driving me crazy. They keep saying I'm so big that I'll never carry to term, but I'm pretty sure I'll make it to term and keep going for at least a few more days. I don't mind the "You're so big!" comments, because I am pretty big and I like being big. I just hate the expectations everyone has. I'm probably being too sensitive....but my IL's have a special knack for making me nuts!

I doubt we'll have a white Christmas, although it is really cold here today. We may get a dusting of snow, but probably not any accumulation. Last year we had about 12 inches and a temperature of -7!

[ScotiaSky]

For those having trouble sleeping I am finding Skullcap in a glass of water before bedtime..if its too much before bed to drink a small glass of water..sip through-out the night even with a toddler getting me up all night at least the skullcap ensures I am back to sleep quickly too quickly in most cases I crash in his bed.

Had a appt with my midwife on Thursday normally at this point I would be seeing them every week buta s I am a second time Mama with no problems they are acomadating the fact that we live a 40 plus minute drive away and so I see them every two weeks.

Good news baby is still head down and now in a better postion will see the Chrio again next week sometime to have another adjustment(will do everything in my power to make labour as easy as possible thsi time around.)

Also told my midwife that we had Doula's..had been delaying telling
then until the Doula's were paid just in case...she did not seem too keen on them..its not the norm to use Doula'a and midwives here she really seemed concerned that they would interfer medically which I assured her was not going to happen.
I explained that everyone would be working to ensure that I have the best possible birth outcome and all in their own ways.

I also told her how I felt abandoned by our midwives emtionally and phyically at our last birth and wanted to ensure that it did not happen again by covering all our bases...perhaps the midwives I have now are more hands-on but I can not be sure of that until labour and I know that my Doula's will be hands-on with me..what ever it will all work out.
I told the Doula's later at our last prenantal and they said no problems they do not do medical and they would make sure that all went smoothly between the midwives and the them when the time came.

We had a snowstrorm on Friday almost 38 CM'sof snow...lucky DF did not work that day as we had not yet put on winter tires, once our building's parking lot got cleared he went and had them put on.
Had to cancel yet again our pregnancy photo's due to the strorm...rebooked for this Thursday.

My belly botton is now an outie which is odd as I was so much bigger with my first pregnancy and it never popped yet this one where I am smaller it popped.

My cat Poe which I adopted while in college(he was sent home to live with my parents when a roommate said it was either me or him as he was destroying her things)died of heart failure Friday evening..he was only 8 yrs old but the vet said it was typical of his breed..which we think was a Maine Coon Cat. He had not been well for the last week or so and so my parents took him to the vet where he was put in a H2O tent and made comfortable. My parents are devasted..they considered him their other baby(besides me)

I finally found the 0-3 month clothes and see that many are not gender specific(which is a relief) so plan on washing all the clothes we have on hand(treat all the stains) but only keep out the 0-6 months.
Then sort the rest of the clothes sized into different boxes and once the baby arrives and we know the sex, go through them and pick out what to keep and what to sell or donate.
I was really having issues with this as all the clothes we have especially the clothes for an older child are so boyish and I am having a hard time letting go of the boys wear planes and trains and basketballs.

The new apartment we were looking at is on hold until the owner has a chance to have someone come in and do an estimate on how much it would cost to get it back to a liveable condition so for now we we are first on her list of rental canidates. But I am not holding my breath on how long it will take her to get around to having the estimate done.

Christmas is coming and well we have yet to put up our tree..plan to do that Thursday or Friday.
My MIL has down it once again, she means well but does not undestand that I want my son to open some presents are our home on Christmas morning.

Other years including last year for our DS first Christmas since they do the unwrapping of the gifts on the night of the 24th we would go, wait while they attend church, have supper with them, then unwrap the gifts and then because we lived over an hour away stay overnight, get up do a brunch and then we would head out to some of my familes that live near-by for more food and gifts.
But my dream was always for my son to open his gifts from me and mine on Chirstmas morning in our own home complete with stockings etc you know my traditions.

So fast forward to this year when we live 5 minutes away...do I get Christmas morning at my place nope.

Her new plan is for DS to unwrap his gifts in the afternoon of the 24th after his nap...they go to church and we put DS to sleep there...we do the supper thing, watch the nephews unwrap their gifts and then DF and I head home while DS stays at their place, that part I love but it means that we still do not get to stay in our PJ'S on Christmas morning.
We have to get up get dressed, get packed up and go back over to their place for brunch and then head over to my extended families for the day.
So where does that leave our gifts being unwrapped under our tree yup for either that night when we get home or Boxing day morning.
Df reasoning on why its best that DS stays overnight there is while if we woke him to take him hoem its going to be a pain to get him back to sleep and we will all be tired for the next day true but then why for New Year's Eve you plan on dragging us to some strangers home(friend's of his that I do not know well)where is it going to be a big fight to get home to sleep at a reasonable hour and who knows what conditions as we have to put him in a bed and lay down with him to make him sleep and then is the room he will be in child proof doubtful and then wake him later to bring him home and guess who is going to have to be the one to deal with his sleeping problems that night ME who will be 9 days away from my EDD. I would prefer to be as well rested as possible in case labour starts.

[MamaTaraX]

My cat Poe which I adopted while in college(he was sent home to live with my parents when a roommate said it was either me or him as he was destroying her things)died of heart failure Friday evening..he was only 8 yrs old

So sorry about your cat!! RIP Poe

==============================
I really shouldn't be sitting here but I ordered something and needed to see if it shipped. Lo and behold, I contract as I sit and I'm even in a different chair! I've put myself on a computer hiatus until the house is super clean because if sitting realy does bring on labor, I can't have anyone over in the current condition.
I'm 36 wks 1 day today. My tub comes one week from today!!! I'm so excited about that! I'm sitting right now about 10 feet from where my tub will be this time next week! Yippee!! Baby moves a lot, especially since all this contraction action has started. I can tell she's trying to get in a good position already. GOod baby My pubic bone kills me on an hourly basis. I'm just gonna cave and say I have SPD :/ It's all good though. Tomorrow we go see the back-up OB for the last time. Kind of a bummer because he's really cute If I make it to 43 weeks, I guess I'll go see him again for NSTs and BPPs (at my own request) but chances of me making it to even 40 weeks are slim.

I have no energy and too many things to do for a person with no energy. I have cooking to do and freeze, hours of housework (including regularl cleaning in addition to more sorting and the like). Today I'm mustering whatever energy I have and doing housework because tomorrow we'll be gone all day and Wednesday our midwife comes. We're slowly getting the house cleaned and organized the way I want. The baby clothes that I washed a few days ago are sitting on a chair waiting on me to sort out a drawer for them to go in. My DH has a box of books sitting in our bedroom floor that he serously needs to move that is driving me batty. It's a huge box. Ugh. I planned to call the cleaning and organizing quits when I hit 36 weeks but it looks like the best laid plans are foiled yet again. I'll be 37 weeks on Christmas Day. Since we have no money and no gifts, I'm hoping we can at least go to church since we have't been since um...September. I'm not particularly religous or anything, I just miss the people a lot.

My mom's car got repo'd last week, which puts that church thing on the back-burner actually. In fact, her car thing really screwed up a lot for us. She's our main source of transportaiton. I was going to go have pictures made of my boys and the belly this week and now I probably won't be able to. I have to finish getting stuff for my birth...I now have to go shopping with my MIL tomorrow to do it, which wouldn't be so bad except that we have to go see the back-up OB too, which is a 35-minute trip each way. Yuck. Ah well, I'll hve all the birth stuff ready. That's so exciting to say!

My toddler has started saying "Baby stay inside...baby no come out" recently I'm not sure what to do with it. We talk about how the baby has to come out and how he will still be important and special, how I'll still hold him and read to him just like before. He is interested in the baby actually coming out still and loves the book our midwife let us borrow about a birth. Speaking of the toddler, he's holloring my name, so I have to go. If I don't post for a wihle, it's not because I'm having a baby, it's because I can't sit more than 10 minutes without having contractions. (though I know I'll be standing up to check and see when Alice has her baby!!)

Namaste, Tara

[anarchamama]

Things are going well here, thogh I feel so far behind most of you as I am only 35w4d and expect to be late. So while it's exciting to see others gearing up and even more excititng whne they actually have their babies, I don't really feel "there" yet. We had an appt with our MW on Sat, I am still measurig about 4 weeks beihind, but with regular growth increments, so just a small and low baby. If this baby really is small it will be a whole new thing for me, I have to admit I am just preparing for another DS. He was 8"11 when born and 17 pounds by three months, so he was never really tiny. It would be nice to have a lighter baby to carry around, but I don't know if I have enough small diapers and cloths! All DS old stuff is so big.......

I am having regular contractions (well regular/sporadic). I never got an internal with DS and didn't lose my plug untill almost transitin. But my labour did start with my water breaking, and immediate progresing contractions last time, so I'm curious to see if it will happen the same way again. It's interesting this time, when i have a BH I feel winded, which I never had with DS...........I'm mostly feeling well though.

My biggest problem this prenancy, and I'm sure some of you with other kids can relate, is I'm just having trouble keeping up with DS. Also having trouble enforcing anything, which of course means he is just getting a little more bratty every day, making me even more tired. I know its a bad cycle but I am having a lot of trouble breaking it. And with DH working so much I feel like I should be doing an even better job to compensate for him not being around, but just can't, and then I feel guilty etc......

I know my body is gearing up for labour though as the random crying jags have begun . So far they are about once a week, DH says if its like last time they will increase regularily and once it hits twice a day I will go into labour.

We definatly have a white christmas! I live in Winnipeg and its cold as heck here. Yesterday was -30C! It's a little better today, but man you should see how ridiculous I look in the giant oversized coat I have to wear.......

We are gearing up for christmas, I am trying to finish my shopping today and tomoro.......and then DH is done work on friday and we will start the christmas shuffle so that every relative get sto see DS! I will have everyone over here for bruch on christmas morning to watch DS open his gifts......It should be nice, I feel like at this point I can handle anything if Dh is along to help.

We spent yesterday putting together the nursery/Rohan's room. So far Rohan never had his own room and while he will still sleep with us I figured it was time for him to have a room to put all his toys and crap in, especially to keep the chokables away from the main floor. We have this loft bed which my old roomate built which is like a 6x4 platform with a latter up the side, so we added rails to the top and then put a single bed underneath to form a sort of bunk bed, of course it immediatly became DS personal climber, buthe's very excited to have his own room which is great. And having the dressers and stuff set up is finally kicking my butt to get the baby stuff together! My MW brought me the list of stuff I need for my birth kit, so I am going to try to have it mostly together by next week. Whoohoo! then I will try to stop thinking about it.........

Yikes this is a novel....sorry about that......guess maybe we should be chhecking in more often

Cheers
Heather

[anarchamama]

Oh I almost forgot, DS and I watched birth videos together over the weekend. I must say, fast forwarding through all the labour and dialogue so DS could see just the birth, after about the fifth one I had had enough! He was pretty into it, I couldn't find a single video with a woman making a lot of loud noise though! Damnit, its unrealistic for him to expect me to be all quiet and meditative like these damn super hippy tantra mama's. When he was born I HOLLERED, and I want him to know its coming, I try to prep him but he just laughts at me. But at least now he fully gets the biology part and hopefully won't be freaked by the blood or the crowning or anything. He keeps confusing the word birth with boring, and telling everyone about the baby being "boring" which is pretty funny. Hey Tara you have a two year old, are you planning on having him attend if he wants?

Heather

[gsmom]

36 weeks and counting. My Dr. said that any time I go, I can have this baby. My husband has this uncanny 6th sense about some things and swears the baby is coming early and that it will be a girl. Who knows? I don't think that I will believe him for my own sanity. My dr. is on vacation next week and part of the week after, so if life works out the way it usually does, baby will come then. I go back in tomorrow, so we will see how everything is going.

I have only 3 pairs of pants that fit and my shirts are getting too short. I like the under the belly pants, but those are not appropriate for work ( I am up and down on the floor with kids all day). It makes for a lot of laundry during the week.

We pulled out and washed the baby clothes this weekend. It is hard to imagine that Griffin was that little. I have a hard time thinking of the "unisex" clothing as being cute on a little girl, if that is what we have. Oh well, at least this baby will have something to wear. Griffin's job after the baby comes is to go and pick out an outfit for him/her to wear home, but I packed something anyway.

I am anxious to hear when Alice has her baby. I know that I havent' posted much, but your posts have really been reassuring!

Good luck to all! I hope to hear of more babies soon!

[hottmama]

I am 39 weeks today, and down from 5cm to 2cm thanks to incredibly painful, thrombosed hemorrhoids. I honestly have never been in this much pain in my life, and I have gone through natural childbirth, mastitis, and have chronic migraines. I haven't left the house in two days, and rarely leave the bed (where I'm laying now).
I think that once this pain lessens (should be another 1-3 days), my body will loosen up and this baby will come. Hopefully not on Xmas!
The weather here is fairly warm for this time of year, we haven't had snow yet (well, we had about 1/4" that melted within a day), and I haven't even needed mittens yet.

[OhMel]

It is snowy and cold here -- we're on record for the coldest ever December. I'm not from here but it doesn't bother me as it meets my expectations of a Cleveland Christmas. Little boy has a cold today so we've just been lying around, watching videos and knitting! This is good because I am in a knitting panic to get stuff mailed tomorrow, other stuff done for Sunday and then on to the baby knitting! The only gifts I bought are for ds so there isn't much to wrap or do otherwise. I had offered to have Christmas dinner as the ILs bowed out, but luckily SIL offered. Bless her.

I have a chiro appt next Tuesday (just to get the hips in line) and then my home visit on Wednesday. The mw that will be assisting won't be able to make it (she wasn't free until January and I feel that that is pushing it this time) but I'm not concerned -- they're the same two who were here with ds. I do feel that this wee babe will be earlier than ds (he was born 1 day after his due date) and so am trying to be ready whenever it happens.

[Willowrose]

39 weeks here and the u/s Friday confirmed that baby is head down and ready to go! Yippee! And no longer posterior! Glad this little one has decided to turn
I've had some contractions on and off for the last few days with lots of pressure. Maybe baby engaging.
A very busy week ahead full of Christmas activities so this week should fly by. Its hard to believe I only have a week to go before my due date.
We have tons of snow here and should have a white Christmas for sure!

[pinkmilk]

I'm 34 weeks today and I don't think I can stand another 6! I'm trying like crazy to talk my husband into an unassisted hb but so far no luck...there may be hope afterall because my sister is flying from British Columbia on the 19th of Jan. to help us have this babe...I just have to keep educating him and hopefully he'll come around. And I have to keep this baby in until the 20th. My due date is the 30th sooooo as long as the doctors don't try and scare me into an induction(I'm diabetic and they may think baby is too big) and as long as my "irritable uterus" doesn't put me into labor early then there's no reason why I can't hold on till my darlin' little sister gets here.(She helped me deliver my two older sons and I helped her deliver her son 6 yrs ago).All our boys will be present at this birth too so it really is very special.
Christmas is coming too fast, it's hard for me to do any shopping (because of my bitchy uterus) and I am in nesting mode; a million things to do;the motivation to do it but physically incapable!! What a bummer... so I cry alot out of frustration with my body and I find myself being very bossy and having alot of high expectations on my dh and ds's. I know this isn't fair to them...I just don't know what else to do. . Anyway all I can do is try to have the best possible Christmas and to give my kids a wonderful Christmas too.
Thank God(ess) I discovered these forums, it's like having a new best friend! My dh is so shocked I'm on the computer, I'm sure he is a little jelous because I don't ever do this! I'm glad though because it has helped me ten-fold in all sorts of ways. I'm sure you know what I mean. Thanks. And Merry Christmas

[ehsclt]

Doing great here. The one thing that's new for me this time is prodromal labor. So far, I've had three sessions of what, during either of my first two labors, would have been "real" contractions. Yet, they've lasted for 3-4 hours and then gone away. I think they may be prompted by the baby being SO low and also being aggressive down there. My cervix feels bruised.

My mw estimates the baby at 7.5 lbs (just by feeling its body). That sounds right, since my last two were 8-9+ lbs at birth. I kind of wish it would just come out so I could push out a 7+lber rather than a 9-10 lb babe, but I also hope the baby stays until its due date, when my mother will be here to help with the older dds.

Usually I am amazed at how great I am feeling right at the end of a pg. I've even been sleeping well, although I was up most of the night thinking/dreaming about labor. I guess my mind is really getting ready for it.

Go Alice!!! And to those of you who celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas!!

Emily

[AAK]

Originally Posted by anarchamama

Oh I almost forgot, DS and I watched birth videos together over the weekend. I must say, fast forwarding through all the labour and dialogue so DS could see just the birth, after about the fifth one I had had enough! He was pretty into it, I couldn't find a single video with a woman making a lot of loud noise though! Damnit, its unrealistic for him to expect me to be all quiet and meditative like these damn super hippy tantra mama's. When he was born I HOLLERED, and I want him to know its coming, I try to prep him but he just laughts at me. But at least now he fully gets the biology part and hopefully won't be freaked by the blood or the crowning or anything. He keeps confusing the word birth with boring, and telling everyone about the baby being "boring" which is pretty funny. Hey Tara you have a two year old, are you planning on having him attend if he wants?

Heather

I know what you mean. I liked the "nice" birth videos as an introduction but today I asked my midwife specifically for a video in which the momma makes some noise! It is what I am most nervous about since Kayla seems really sensitive to anything that makes noise. To her noise is often equated as scary.

Had my mw appt today, I am a little over 35 weeks. I haven't gained any weight in a while which strikes me as odd. mw not concerned though. I have gained 30 total, just nothing recently. Baby measuring right on, bloodwork looking good. I am always concerned with not getting the tub set up in time to use it and this week mw said that none of her other patients that are due around me even want her to bring the tub so she is letting me have it in two weeks--she will bring it at the home visit. The tub is a big deal for me so that made me very excited.

Really wish dh and I could agree on a name. I still think this baby will be nameless for a while. That sucks, I like to have a name right away. Not sleeping well either but at least I can fall asleep. I am just up every two hours. Baby is LOA and settled so I am happy. I expect a quick labor/delivery. My parents are going out of town Jan 10-19. I would love to have the baby on Jan 18th or 19th. That way, they would already be on their way back home but wouldn't be here. They want to know when I go into labor but I know that my mom still has a hard time with the homebirth so I would like her to be unreachable--like on a plane. That way she wouldn't have to worry and I wouldn't worry about her. Although to be honest I don't think I will worry about her -- unless she thinks about dropping by!

I spoke with my mw about taking one of the birth tinctures around. She is fine with it as long as I wait until 37 weeks. They aren't supposed to induce labor, but just in case I would like to be able to stay at home still. Several people I know think that the tincture made a big difference in their births. I don't know. My last birth was quick and simple--just 10 days post date. I don't want the baby to come too early, we have lots of plans this next month, but it would be nice to be at least NEAR the due date.

Amy

[beansavi]

I am thirty six weeks and every time I have to pee now it gives me Braxton Hicks contractions.... was up late last night, but probably because of coffee in the a.m.