Feb. 21 - 28 UPDATES! - Page 2

[newbie_mary]

Hey Mary, which of the hotslings did you get for your shower? I was interested in buying one of those but wasn't sure which fabric would be good. They look perfect for the little babies, although they show them being used for older children, too.

I got a stretch cotton one. It doesn't seem super stretchy, which I would think is a good thing!!

I'm so irritated, because we're in the process of trying to find a delayed-vax/AP friendly ped., and one was recommended to me. So I just called to try to set up an appt. to meet/interview her, and the receptionist told me that when you set up a prenatal appt. you don't know which doctor you will meet with, you just get one of the ones who works there. How dumb is that?? I don't give a crap what the other docs have to say, I just want to meet with the one that I want to have!!!! I really didn't know what to say to that, so I just hung up.

Mary

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by newbie_mary

I got a stretch cotton one. It doesn't seem super stretchy, which I would think is a good thing!!

Did you try to stretch it width-wise rather than length-wise?
I had a stretch cotton Hotsling for a short while (it was too small), and it took me a few weeks to discover it stretches width-wise to cover more baby butt than length-wise to stretch to fit mama's shoulders.

Lanna

[2+twins]

Originally Posted by Citykid

Rynna and love_homebirthing, don't you find that a baby-naming ceremony/baptism or whatever you do is a good opportunity for people to buy you gifts? And every baby has to have one. Or maybe it's just that I'm Jewish so people wait til after the birth to buy stuff anyway.

Well, in our case we're not religious so there's no expected ceremony. We just do the meet the baby thing since no one does anything FOR us, kwim? Not for the gifts (although people did give us clothes after the birth of our 2nd dd whether they came to the party or not) but just so that baby gets to be celebrated like our first.

Originally Posted by Citykid

Is it weird that db is not getting an entire room dedicated to him/herself at the beginning? Currently our little bedroom is our office, and there's no other place for our desk, computer & file cabinets. We figure it's ok since db will sleep with us for the first few months at least anyway.

Not at all. When we had our first dd we were living in a 2 bedroom apartment. We went all out and had a full-on nursery in the 2nd room for our new baby. It was a year before she used it. What a waste! If you co-sleep then I really see no reason to give a baby it's own room upfront. If it makes you feel any better these 2 new babies won't have a room either. And we just finished setting up our bedroom closet with closet organizer drawers for their clothes and I'm using our old changing table (which I only used for dd1) to hold all their diapers & slings.

Anyone else have a dc who isn't sleeping through the night yet? My younger dd isn't (although she's making it to 5am most days now which is a HUGE improvement) and even my older dd has been showing up in our bed a couple nights a week for the past 5-6 months I'd say. I need them to sleep! I don't know how I'm going to manage night parenting twins when I have to leave them alone to sit for 45 minutes with their sister to get her back to sleep. And she's NOT happy if she's not cuddled up with me, so putting a mattress in our room won't work (we tried it - she wants mama). So I've pretty much GOT to get her sleeping through the night. I'm afraid that I'll be cornered into letting her CIO, which I'm totally against, but I'm really scared that I won't have another option, kwim? Oh, dh works 24 hour shifts so he's regularly not home at night so having him get her back to bed won't be an option a lot of the time.

[boovert]

Questions~Drooling- week dragging on and on.

This week seems like it has dragged on and on- its only wednesday. :
I still have a bladder infection but mw wants to wait 2 more weeks before doing another test and finally getting some meds. (I must have had this thing since january! ). I'm feeling very tired; can't stand drinking water or even trying to find food to eat.

Has anybody else had a bad drooling problem at night? Ever since I found out I was pregnant~ I've been having this problem while sleeping. Last night, I had to have my husband get me a drooling cloth-Yuck!

This week I'm suppose to be getting my Dr. Christophers prenatal tea, a few last items for my birth kit.~ 24 4x4 gause pads, ginger root and where does one find individually sterile wrapped gloves sized 7 at?

I've been drinking my raspberry tea~ up to 10 glasses a day. I just LOVE the taste of that stuff. Also has anybody heard of squaw vine tea?

Over the weekend, I had one of my baby showers (1 out of 5- which I wish I could get people to combine into 2 but Nooo ). I mostly got stuff for the months of 6 to 12 in clothing, only 3 bottles and a few baby wipes/powder/lotion etc... I didn't get any pacifiers, bath items or even booties. I thought these were the typical baby shower gifts. I guess I'll wait and see what happens. My last month is when the rest of the showers are to occur. 3 even in one week Uuuugggghhhh. I may have to ask my MW if she has any really poor mommies out there who aren't receiving showers, that I can donate clothing to or whatever else I get to much of.

Anybody watching the Olympics? If so what did you think of the Italian dance couple?

Well, I'd better sign off- hope I didn't drag you gals down with what I wrote or blabbed about.

Only 6 more weeks to go! Yippie, ~ boovert

[lmonter]

Originally Posted by Citykid

Is it weird that db is not getting an entire room dedicated to him/herself at the beginning? Currently our little bedroom is our office, and there's no other place for our desk, computer & file cabinets. We figure it's ok since db will sleep with us for the first few months at least anyway.

I don't think so - especially if you're NYC where you usually don't have a lot of space to start with (right?).

When ds was born, we had a bassinet in our room, pack'n'play in the living room (so he'd just sleep wherever I was at the time, if he wasn't asleep on top of me), used the top of a low dresser in our room as his changing table, and had stacking baskets on the table and in dh's computer room (the second bedroom) with ds's clothes and diapers. Oh, and we had a small bookcase in our room stacked with receiving blankets, extra clothes, my breastpump, and a few other random baby things. It was a bit cramped, but worked okay when ds was small.

Luckily we were able to buy a house, so now have more space to spread out in. But this babe and ds'll probably be sharing a room in some way for a while (regardless of babe's sex) for a variety of reasons - like to have all the diapers in one place, kid clothes in one place, ds's room doesn't echo like the current guest room does, if they're both up or having issues I only need to be in the one room, etc. Not to mention I want to keep the guest room open so my mom can come up and stay with us after the baby's born to help out.

[2+twins]

Originally Posted by boovert

and where does one find individually sterile wrapped gloves sized 7 at?

Lots of places, but I just ordered mine from here (medium would = a size 7):

http://www.1cascade.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=0162

I guess their online store is pretty new (you used to have to call to order) b/c they emailed me after I placed my order to find out what size I needed even though it asked me there on the page. Just an FYI (expect that).

[celestialdreamer]

Finally making a little progress on getting stuff done around here. I still have absolutely no energy but I'm making myself anyway I have a really crazy day planned for tommorrow, not really looking forward to it. We have a chiropractor appt about 25min away at 7:30 am (dd doesn't normally get up until then), then drive DH to work about 10 min from there, then I have to go back to the town we live in for dd's pediatrian appt at 8:45 (we've decided to have a speech/hearing eval done), then back to the other town to pick up DH from work at 2pm so we can go to my MW appt an hour away. I think we are having pizza for dinner tommorrow Only one more MW appt left until my homevisit! Still have lots to gather before then and need to order our birth tub too. Hope everyone has a nice evening!

[Carley]

Originally Posted by newbie_mary

I'm so irritated, because we're in the process of trying to find a delayed-vax/AP friendly ped., and one was recommended to me. So I just called to try to set up an appt. to meet/interview her, and the receptionist told me that when you set up a prenatal appt. you don't know which doctor you will meet with, you just get one of the ones who works there. How dumb is that?? I don't give a crap what the other docs have to say, I just want to meet with the one that I want to have!!!! I really didn't know what to say to that, so I just hung up.

Mary

I had a hard time getting through to "meet & greet" pediatricians too. Likewise, most receptionists I talked to were unflexible in what they believed the new patient "process" to be. I requested a nurse call me back instead & had much better results. Not only were the nurses familiar with "meet & greets" (opposed to the "prenatal visit" the receptionists were attempting to arrange) but they were very flexible and allowed me to make an appointment to meet with the provider I was requesting. I finally found my pediatrician... I love her! She even gave me her cell so I don't have to go through the clinic receptionists for our newborn screening to prevent any confusion related to my homebirth.

[newbelly2006]

oh I hear you on the gawking. I was just talking to DH about that last night. We went from, "wow, you're pregnant" to just this stare as if to say: "man, I hope that's not contagious." I like being pregnant, I don't like being a freak. and yes, I know there's two in there; and, yes, I know i should ignore the idiocy of strangers but it's still no fun to be stared at.

And the aches and pains are settling in. I want to be excited; I am excited. but I also hurt. And no shower over here either. It's not a german custom. All of our first baby stuff (the stuff that would work as these guys are 6 months off season-wise from DS) was sent back to america or sold. Not very smart.

The cribs aren't here; the co-sleeper isn't free yet (we're renting it); the one on-line order I placed for bedding and other "frivalous" stuff appears to have gone MIA; I'm not done with unputting the final changes on my work and I need to finish a wolf costume for my oldest son for carnival on Tuesday. Basically, I'm tired, hurting and ready to have these babies out although I know it's too early. After 3 weeks of working hard to stop contractions, it appears we did just that (passed the NST with flying colors) and somehow now even that is discouraging.

sorry for the whine.

[nighten]

We're registered for cord blood storage! I'm so relieved to have that one out of the way. At some point fairly soon (I know it's early but I just have it stuck in my head she's coming early) am gonna pack my suitcase for the hospital, if for no reason than to stick the cord blood kit in it -- am scared to death I'll forget and leave it at home. Ended up going with CBR -- they are super nice and have a great payment plan. I highly recommend

Started week 34 today and baby's dropped even more it seems. I get that electric buzzing often and her hiccups are just...bizarre. Been doing the perineal massage too though honestly I haven't a clue if I'm doing it right. But I figure at least I'm not doing it wrong, per se....

We've gotten most of the gear from the shower put together -- still need the glider and DH hasn't figured out how he's gonna do that and drag it upstairs without me helping (he won't let me). For those with kids, how early did y'all put the car seat in your car?

Got the rest of my CDs yesterday -- they are so cute! I've read you don't have to prewash Fuzzi Bunz a ton the way you do CPFs, etc., as they're already absorbant, so you think one wash in cold with Charlie's is enough beforehand?

Got my Kozy mei tai in as well and it's a lot bigger than I expected! It fits DH fine (he's 6'2") but it feels huge on me (I'm 5'2"). Hopefully once there's a baby in it, it'll be a better fit but I was honestly surprised. It's extremely well made though and will be great for my back, so I'm def keeping it, but am thinking of a sling for when she's itty. Any recommendations on a SMALL sling that's not too expensive? That won't kill my back?

Still waiting on the crib mattress, but it's in progress, so we just have to finish setting up the gear, putting things away and hang the letters in the nursery. I used the last of the gift cards and ordered valances and a crib skirt and have finished all my sewing projects!

Now if I could just get some more energy (that's the most frustrating part -- having to sit down or rest all the dang time. I hate it!) I could finish up everything and relax.

Ugh. Or cook. I'm so anti cooking right now. I baked a cake yesterday but the last thing I want to do is cook a meal. I'm eating small portions often (lots of yogurt/salad/fruit) and the thought of precooking freezer meals is just irritating....

[Mel38]

Originally Posted by nighten

Got the rest of my CDs yesterday -- they are so cute! I've read you don't have to prewash Fuzzi Bunz a ton the way you do CPFs, etc., as they're already absorbant, so you think one wash in cold with Charlie's is enough beforehand?

Are you the person who recommended the Charlie's recently? I ordered some, too, just after checking out their website, and it came like super-duper fast in the mail. I've already used it several times for prewashing my cds. It's amazing that you only need one tablespoon for a load of laundry!!

This is my first time with cloth diapers, and so I have a bunch of used and maybe 1/3 new stuff. I've been washing the new stuff about 3 times in hot (for the cotton pf) and drying once. Not sure if that is going to help because if they are anything like towels, it's also the drying that helps make them absorbant (I think). I guess I'll find out soon enough! I also only washed the fuzzibunz once. I read somewhere that it was the cotton oils that make cotton less absorbant at first, and I believe the FBs are something like fleece. My next chore is getting all these stacks of diapers organized.

I'm fighting off a sinus infection and bummed about that!! I've been telling people for years that my beloved neti pot has kept me from getting an infection, and then yesterday I woke up with that telltale throb on the left side of my face. I'm steaming and compressing and rinsing to beat the band, because I totally do not want to end up having to take abx!!

On the slings topic - I also ordered a Kozy and it's beautiful, but my feelings exactly on the size for a newborn! That's why I was asking about that Hotsling pouch thing - it looks great for a tiny baby. Any other recommendations out there for the littlest ones? I totally can't sew anything so I'm pretty much going to have to buy something.

Sorry so long - but I have one more great piece of news that I have to share - I finally got my records from the mw's office and am now officially in the care of a licensed midwife for a homebirth. Well, half-official, because I still have to go see that OB next week to get a referral, but she (the midwife) has already verbally agreed to take me. I'm so excited and also feel so calm to have this decision made. It has been bugging me for months.

OK, I'm going to get back to work now. Have a great day everybody!

[nighten]

Grats, Mel on the MW

Yep -- I'm a huge Charlie's fan -- it's AWESOME! And so much cheaper than Allens. I use my old plastic coffee scoop for it -- even though I got the pump (for like $1) and it makes me chuckle everytime I use it -- doesn't even fill up the tiny little scoop. But cleans like crazy.

I've been incredibly impressed with that company.

My concern with Hotslings is they're not adjustable. And my size is so screwed up right now -- am 5'2" but was around 100lbs and a 32A pre-pregnancy. Now I've gained nearly 30 lbs and am in a 36C.

No clue how much of that will change nor how quickly following birth so no clue what size to get. :

Was assuming I'd find one with a ring or something so it'd be adjustable but I'm at a loss honestly. I don't want something with a crap ton of fabric, so the Hotsling looks ideal but the whole size thing throws me. Any advice?

[2+twins]

Granted I haven't used one for a newborn YET, but I the Kangaroo Korner adjustable pouches. They aren't cheap new but you might be able to get a good deal on a used one on the TP or eBay.

I don't think I'm going to prewash my new cd's. One type I got recommended a prewash just to close up any sewing holes but they said it wasn't necessary for absorbancy. As far as prewashing the cpf's go, yes, drying several times in advance will help too. Where did you all buy the Charlie's soap? I'd like to give that a try.

[hannahi]

So if you don't have to worry about prewashing Fuzzi Buns, would the same go for Kissaluvs? I will prewash them at least once anyway. Will it be okay to wash them in All Free and Clear liquid detergent, or would that leave a residue? My diaper stash consists of a whopping 8 NB Kissaluvs. I do plan to buy about half a dozen few Righteous Baby FLAMs and a few dozen hemp or cotton PFs.

Hannah

[FarmerCathy]

celestialdrmrmama - sorry taking so long to reply. I don't think the baby dropped, but got in a more fitting position, we didn't notice any drop, but now that it's been almost a week I've had a growth spurt and I've been measuring around my middle about 39 1/2 in. and now suddenly I'm at 40 and we really noticed the belly protruding more. I ate all day on Tuesday (I think hubby was trying to keep up with me) and I told him I think I'm having a growth spurt and yep that's what it was. We grew!

Anyway, so feeling better about that and finally started officially nesting this week, almost 33 weeks. Now I know what nesting really means. Your back hurts and you still try to get stuff done for the baby's arrival. I even put the car seat in my car. My dh has to take it in tomorrow to get the tires rotated and I want to see if it freaks him out that the car seat is in there. I just love doing stuff like that to him just to see his reaction. I also bought some cloth diapers from barefoot babies and they are on there second washing at the moment. So excited to get everything ready. I've got baskets stationed at every sitting place and next to the bed for extra blankets and diapers. I'm so excited. Don't have a baby room to get ready since were co-sleeping so I'm getting everything else set-up. Got the baby soap and shampoo in the shower already. I got the California Baby soap. Everybody with babies I know uses that stuff, it's all natural and mostly organic. I've got a cabinet coming to hang above the toilet for more storage so I can put baby washcloths and towels and extra dipes up there. I still need to get the rest of the stuff ready for a homebirth. Like cutting the drop cloth I bought for the bed and washing it and then making sure I have two clean fitted sheets for the bed. One for under the dropcloth and one for over it. Want to put my darkest sheet on top in case it gets messy.

Right now I just want my goats to have thier babies so I can stop worrying about them. One is due today and the other is due a week from tomorrow. I just want to know if I'm going to have more work if I have to bottle feed one or two if they have too many. Hoping they have the right amount so I don't have to.

Anywho, that is me. Sorry for the

Cathy

P.S. What is the pouch all about. Maybe will have to go to Kangaroo Korner to check it out.

[Carley]

Originally Posted by hannahi

So if you don't have to worry about prewashing Fuzzi Buns, would the same go for Kissaluvs?

http://www.kissaluvs.com/diapercare.htm

I ended up washing/drying mine about 5 times before they absorbed liquid.

[Citykid]

Everyone, I'm so behind you all in preparations (although I'm just 30 weeks now so I hope that's the reason). I'm going now to buy the Sears baby book to finally start reading about what happens AFTER db comes out.

We are thinking of going with the Ergo carrier - any reviews or comments? The only friend of mine who has a baby uses the Bjorn and loves it, but her babies are really tiny (under 6 lbs at birth). Also she lives in the suburbs so she doesn't do much walking. We looked at the Kozy but dh nixed it saying "that would be great if we lived in a more hippie environment."

[duckat]

Citykid: I have an Ergo carrier and love it. I got it when ds was about 4 months old, so haven't used it with a newborn, but I good friend used it with her ds (#4) from birth. She had used every carrier known to mama and couldn't believe it had taken her to her 4th to get an ergo.
It's great because it's so adjustable. Your DH should be able to wear it easily.

If you want more details or have questions about the ergo, feel free to ask.

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by CityKid

Rynna and love_homebirthing, don't you find that a baby-naming ceremony/baptism or whatever you do is a good opportunity for people to buy you gifts? And every baby has to have one. Or maybe it's just that I'm Jewish so people wait til after the birth to buy stuff anyway.

: Well, it would be a great opportunity... if anyone gave a hoot. We didn't get any gifts at BeanBean's bris or his Pidyon Ha'Ben, and for girls... well, things are different. I'm Jewish, but Mike is not; therefore, he cannot do the thing where you go to shul on Shabbos and name the new baby girl. My brother ends up doing that for me, and he's on the other side of the country right now. That's all there is to naming baby girls. Mike and I aren't really part of a religious community like that. No, people don't think about it. BeanBean was exciting, even for the IL's (who have major issues with Mike and me having kids together, even living together because we're not married enough for them) just because they'd been waiting so long to have grandchildren at all. It was irritating to them that we weren't married, but they had to take into account that this was their first and best shot at a grandchild. Mike was 34 when BeanBean was born, so his parents had been waiting a *very* long time (they got married young and had their two kids right away) and they were so excited to see him that it was almost enough for them to forget that he was concieved and born (and about to be raised) in sin. Once, however, could be an accident (if a happy one). Twice? Not a chance. When Mike told his parents that we were TTC BooBah, they didn't believe him and his sister pretended it wasn't happening. When he told them that we'd succeeded, his sister expressed concern over the state of his soul. Seriously!

So yeah, we're going to hell for having kids. They know that we want at least four, and I think that they're just holding their breath until we finish. MIL loves babies, and I know that they'll love all of the kids, but they can't even pretend to be excited about the births when each one is just one more symbol of our heathen lives together.

My mom just doesn't think about these things. Neither do my sisters, really. After the baby is born, if we need things they'll help out where they can, but they won't buy anything before the baby comes. They'd much rather get excited about Skinny Punk's baby, who will probably have tons of clothing initially but is being raised by a punk. I guess what I'm saying is, they feel like my kids are already better off than most of the babies they know because they have two parents who are both real live grownups. My kids are the only ones around who are being raised by two parents who both love them and are sticking together to do this whole child raising thing; I guess everything else is supposed to magically fall into place. Sadly, they are totally correct in this assessment; my kids are probably much better off than most of the other kids they know. Despite the fact that we have no money, my children cannot really be called "underprivileged" because they've got parents who actually want them, and not just because they're novel.

Renee-- I'll send you a PM. I've got a medium sized Maya which is not super pretty (just plain denim) but it's *incredibly* useful. I'm a short person, but not skinny; it fit me with a medium-length tail with a newborn BooBah, and would probably fit you comfortably. I wore it *constantly* when BooBah was new, but since I got Sarita's sling I'll probably be wearing that one a heck of a lot more. Then again, you might want to PM saritasmile about a sling... they're so pretty! I'm sure she could make you one with a shorter tail, too, since you're petite. As to the size you want to look for, you need to take into account that even if you keep every ounce of your pregnancy weight and never regain your pre-pregnancy form, you're still going to fall into the x-small/small range as far as slings go. With ring slings, you can probably order a medium and just have a longer tail (unless it's constructed/padded--- then you'll have to get a small) but overall, you're *tiny*. I'm 5'1" and fat (though I "carry my weight well") and still take a medium in most slings. I tend to go for large-sized slings because Mike is 5'11" and fat, too. He could never wear the Maya I'm talking about at all, so if I used that sling it meant that I and only I could carry the kids.

As to other slings for newborns: the Maya, like I said, was *very* useful. I also wore the Kozy Karrier (? I'm always confusing the name of this pouch with Kangaroo Korner. It's one or the other... fleece, with snaps to adjust it? ) with BooBah much more than I thought I would while she was still newborn-sized (she was petite at birth and grew *very* slowly due to GERD and maybe her kidney problems), i.e. less than 15 pounds, able to lie down and sleep in it. It was super comfy, like wearing a sweater with a warm water bottle in it. If I had one made of wool rather than polyester fleece, I'd probably wear it a ton with BellyBean, too. As it is, she'll be a whole person by the time it's cold enough for me to wear the KK. I'm not concerned that she'll be "too big;" after all, BeanBean is still small enough to sling quite comfortably (32 pounds, 38") when I'm not in agonizing pain for other reasons...

No new baby preparations here, just trying to get through daily life. It's depressing as hell. Today, for example, on top of having to wake up at 5 am (I have to do this whenever I need the car to get to other appointments; that's meant every single day this week so far), we discovered that we'd run out of oil in the middle of the night. All of the seedlings that I started since the week of the accident are now dead or dying, because I was unable to transport them down to the IL's last week (we don't have enough room for that in the Saturn). We have no hot water, because our hot water comes through the furnace. I'm in agonizing pain, but I couldn't take a vicodin today; I was already exhausted from having to wake up so early and being in so much pain, so I knew that taking one would make me too tired to drive. I could go on and on like this; I really, honestly wonder if there isn't some kind of conspiracy against me going on. Loads of things have gone wrong today, to say nothing of the "old" issues... I'm so sick of it all. I just want to quit, to give up, but what the hell would that accomplish? Nothing... it'd just make more work for me later.

The Olympics-- We've watched a fair bit. BooBah *loves* hockey, she just thinks it's the most amazing thing ever. She giggles and claps and jumps and cheers. I called her, "BooBah, hockey's on!" and she *shrieked* "HOCKEY!!" and flew into the room. BeanBean found the hockey amusing for a few minutes, but then he wandered off. Anyway, last night we watched the ladies giant slalom and BooBah said, "I yike dat! Wanna go! Wanna go 'lalom!" I said, "You want to do the slalom?" "Yeah!! I yike dat!!" The things this child enjoys! She was hilarious, I'd love to take her skiing sometime. In fact, I've always wanted to learn to ski.. it's just not an opportunity that ever came up for me. (surprise, surprise). One of these days, though, I'll find a way to go skiing and bring the kids along...

BeanBean likes the figure skaters. He loved watching the ice dancers, but when we watched the ladies short program the other night, he asked, "Where's her partner? Did he hurt himself? Is she lonely?" Isn't he just a doll?! Anyway, he watched some figure skating with me and said, "I want to try that. Can I go skating?" "Would you like to be a skater, Bean?" "Actually, I'd like to be a little boy, I just want to wear skater clothes, and skate." I know, I totally deserved that, right? What a great answer. He's such a neat kid. I thought he'd like the hockey a lot more than he did, but his favorite thing about the Olympics this year definately seems to be pairs figure skating and ice dancing.

[eilonwy]

Oh yeah, I forgot something; I lost a fair bit of my mucous plug today. This doesn't mean much in terms of the pregnancy. I mean, it's my third baby, so it's entirely possible that I'll dialate to 4,5, or even 6 cm a month or two before the baby comes. In practical terms, this is one more reason to be irritated that I can't take a shower (no hot water, remember) and it means that I can't do the most helpful exercise for popping my hip back into place when it slides out. How freaking depressing...