Sept/Oct Mamas-to-be (Feb 15-21)

[mamarsupial]

good morning mamas. this is the thread for mamas expecting in september or october 2003. if you are due around then, please feel free to join us!

i know said i would start a new thread yesterday, but ended up spending the whole day in bed with a head cold. it has cleared up a bit since, so here i am. here is the roll call (thanks to shane):

BABY # 1
Lisa - Sept 17, #1, Hospital
Priya - Sept 25, #1
Sarah - Sept 25, #1?
hypatia - Sept 26, #1, Home
Ravin - Sept 28, #1, Home
Glittergal - Oct 9 #1
Daria - Oct 21, #1, Hospital

BABY #2
Kris - Sept 11, #2
Emma - Sep 12, #2, Hospital
Shelly K. - Sept 17, #2
Eman'smom - Sept 18, #2
Ladylee - Sept 24, #2 VBAC
Amy - Sept 26, #2
Christine - Sept 26, #2, Hospital
Shannon - Sept 27, #2
Domestic Goddess - Oct #2
Mamaley - Oct 1, #2, birth center
Angela - Sept/Oct, #2
velryba - Oct 2, #2, home
Mamarsupial - early Oct, #2, Hospital (CNM, Doula)
Alexandra - early Oct, #2
Muslimomma, #2, Home (Unassisted)

BABY #3
Tammi ? Sept 18, #3
Carolyn - Mid/end Sept, #3, Home
Ashley - end Sept, #3
Shane - Oct 1, #3, Home
Czen - Oct 25 #3

BABY #4
Kelly - Sept 9, #4, Birth Center
Deb - Sept 19, #4
TreeLove - Sept 27, #4
Britt - Oct 8, #4, home
mamapenelope - October, #4, Home
Cori, #4, Home

[mamarsupial]

oh, and i thought i should add that we are birthing in a hospital, but with a certified nurse midwife and doula. maybe we could add ob-gyn, cnm, trad midwife, unassisted, etc. to the list?

[Eman'smom]

Add me in, the farther I get into the pregnancy the more confident I am that it will stick, this will be baby number 2, our current plan is a birth center ( located in a hospital) with a midwife, maybe a doula, of course if we buy a house we are concidering a homebirth, but I'm not planning on it.
My due date is 9/18 (our anniversary)

[Mommiska]

Thanks for starting this thread mamarsupial - hope you're feeling better.

Still queasy, still eating for waaaay more than two...same old, same old.

[ladylee]

yes, thanks for compiling this list, and I'm jumping on, too. My second, due 9/24, let's say VBAC, uncertain where at this point.

[mamarsupial]

welcome and congatulations eman'smom and ladylee!

thanks should go to shane for the list, she's the one who started keeping track of us (all THIRTY of us!)

morning sickness: my head cold is much better and my morning sickness is well in hand. i'm tellin' ya -> seabands! they really help. i think keeping hydrated and napping when i can helps too (and going to bed at 8pm).

cravings: salt and sweet today. vanilla yogurt with mango, then i wanted eggs and toast. at lunch, i had some chicken, then a chocolate peppermint luna bar, then chips and salsa, then a big pear and a raspberry popsicle. i had lost 3 lbs from the time we found out we were pg, but with all this eating i'm back to where i started

belly: according to the baby books, my bun is about the size of a pinto bean now...but it seems like my belly is already starting to pop. i can feel it when i lay on my stomach, and when i zip up my pants. may need to start wearing my post-partum stretchy and baggy clothes.

nursing: breastfeeding dd is going well, but my nipples are getting sore. anyone have any tricks? (besides weaning!).

btw, i know we talked about some birth trauma a bit, but i'm curious to know what people will do differently this time around. i know it would be helpful to me, and maybe to everyone else (especially the first time moms). for me, the big changes will be:

+ healthful, organic diet (we ate well before, but i as bad about ice cream, occational fast foods, etc.)
+ avoid induction (also through diet)
+ less weight gain (for health reasons, not vanity)
+ yoga and birth ball throughout pregnancy
+ labor as long as possible at home
+ just dh, doula, midwife, and nurse in labor room (last time we had my parents and dh's mom along).

i'm also thinking ahead to the small things like aromatherapy and music during labor. small details that really helped with my labor with dd. nothing like a peppermint food rub during labor!

[StarMama]

Lisa - Sept 17, #1, Hospital

Ok, ok, I KNOW that most likely we will end up in a hospital birth, so I'm not crying cuz my posts were interperted like that. I'm crying cuz I really really DON'T wanna have a hospital birth. My OB/Nurse Practioniner won't even be there, I will have NO idea who will deliver me, so I can't even go over a birth plan really.... the only ONLY thing that makes it bearable for me is that I WILL have a doula if I have to have a hospital birth. No ifs, ands or buts. There, ok I feel a little better!

Lots and lots of queasyness for me still. Have only thrown up once... so thats good. But I feel queasy before I eat, and then when I eat I have to kinda fight the food for it to stay down. So I'm not really feeling like eatting much these days.

According to our ultrasound from thursday our baby is 2.5 cm long. So itty bitty! I just can't wait until I can feel him/her moving!!!

I just had a renal ultrasound done yesterday because I've been spilling blood in my urine (nothing I can see, its microscopic amounts) and its not a UTI. My kidneys are fine, but I have gallstones. Fun fun! At least they don't hurt, so I'm thinking they will leave them alone unless they do. I guess its a good thing fatty foods makes me feel at least its easier to avoid foods that could make them worse.

And I'm glad that at least my Nurse Practionier is nice. Still very on the medicated side of things, but at least she's pleasant. I'm overweight, and she didn't make a big deal out of it. Well except the "watch your diet or you'll get chubbier during pregnancy"... which I think was proably her trying to nicely tell me to not eat like a cow. :LOL Which I already knew.

Oh yes and one more thing. She did a pap and I have vaganosis... (probably butchered the spelling) so at 14 weeks I have to take metronidazole for a week, because I guess the vaganosis can cause pre-term labor? Anyone know anything about that? Either the infection, or the medication, or the pre-term labor? I've filled my script, and I've got another 4+ weeks to look into all of this, but thought someone here might have some info too!

[mamarsupial]

Originally posted by Lisa_Lynn
I'm crying cuz I really really DON'T wanna have a hospital birth. My OB/Nurse Practioniner won't even be there, I will have NO idea who will deliver me, so I can't even go over a birth plan really....

lisa - you can and should STILL have a birth plan! we went to a practice with 10 cnms, so we had no idea who out of the 10 would deliver dd. we made sure that there were a few copies of our birth plan in our file, asked each midwife we met with to go over it with us, made sure we had copies in our bag for the hospital, and our doula was very familiar with it. i was induced, so i assumed many of our goals were unachievable, but the cnm who attended the birth made a point of sitting down, reviewing the birth plan, and saying "we can still do nearly everything you had planned for." this was so comforting! birthing in the hospital doesn't have to be awful, but so much of has to do with how you prepare and having support (a doula is a great place to start!).

[Eman'smom]

Lisa I agree, still do the birth plan, and have either your doula or your dh go over it with your nurse and who will deliver (if you are like me, when I was in labor I couldn't form a clear thought,) having a non laboring person talk really helps. I had a hospital birth and other than a few little "issues" I have it was really a very good experience. I also want to make clear it wasn't them, it was how I handled labor, just being to hard on myself.

This time around at 9.5 weeks I'm horribly ill, who ever called it morning sickness, I'm also so tired I can't stand it.

I can still button my pants, but I don't, anything touching my stomach makes me ill.

Due to the recent miscarriage we had an ultrasound earlier in the week our little guy was moving all over the place it was a great site to see.

[Glittergal]

Lisa Lynn -

Don't worry at all about the vaginosis. It is a normal bacterial overgrowth in the vagina that is VERY common in pregnant and non-pregnant women - many have no signs or symptoms. If untreated, it can cause preterm labor. Metronizadole is prefectly safe in pregnancy - just take it with food because it might upset your tummy. Good luck!

[mamarsupial]

morning sickness - i know i sound like a broken record, but for those who are suffering, please try the sea-bands. i had awful m/s with dd from week 7-14. threw up almost once a day and always felt awful. we are in week 8 with #2, and for the last week i've woken up feeling sick...barely able to brush my teeth even. i put on the sea-bands and 10 mins later i feel 99% better.

[Viola]

I'm feeling pretty good here, almost worrisomely so, but my boobs still hurt so that is a good sign. I'm still always cold, and I did take a nap yesterday and a short one today. Kind of queasy, but now I can eat a lot more things. For awhile I was eating nothing but junk. I still am eating too much junk, come to think of it. I can't seem to eat vegetables--anyone else? I'm trying to eat fruit, and I'm craving orange juice.

I went to the OB to have a pap done, and he "discovered" my pregnancy and now I am seeing the OB. I was trying to decide if I should go to the homebirth midwife instead, but I guess I'll stay with this guy. He wanted to do an u/s at my last appointment, which was actually my first pregnancy appointment. Since I had a miscarriage last time, I was curious. He didn't see anything other than a sac with the regular u/s machine, so he used the vaginal wand and did see a heartbeat in a little 14 mm body, so I was pleased with that.

I'm still kind of torn about the homebirth thing, because I really wanted to do that in my last pregnancy, but my husband just won't go for it and I don't feel like trying to win him over on the subject. My plan at this point is to stay at home as long as possible.

[StarMama]

mamarsupial & Eman'smom thank you! Yes I will still have a birth plan written, and share it in detail with Dh and Doula, but I'm just bummed I can't have at least my own doc or at least my own rotation of a few of them so I could go over my plan beforehand. I just so so SO want a homebirth... so I'm still looking into that, but I'm trying to not get my heart set on it, because it just might not be possible.

Glittergal thanks glad to know its normal and the meds are fine too. Yeah I read the insert and it says to take it with food. Definatly will! Won't be taking it for another month yet though... but at least I'm all set to go!

And I'll pick up some seabands when I go running around in the next day or two. Hopefully they help! Thanks for the idea

[Czen:)]

Please add me to your list! I tested positive on Saturday. According to my calculations our due date will be October 25th. I am calling to set things up with my midwife and doula as soon as DD goes for her nap.

As far as MS I first felt it at 4 dpo. I almost thought it was my imagination playing tricks on me because we wanted to concieve. However its not been all that bad. Usually I get all day MS starting in a week or two. However, my diet is the best it has ever been with this pregnancy, I also feel in the best shape physically of my life. Keeping my fingers crossed that helps!

Mamarsupial, I'm curious how you use diet to avoid induction? I've been induced twice and my goal is to do everything I can to avoid it again! I'd love to hear any tips you have!

[velryba]

I also crave orange juice these days. Normally I really love veggies but now they don't seem quite as appetizing. (amywillo-I totally am in the same boat!) DH now wakes up early to cook me a nice omlette in the morning and that seem to help stabilize my m/s conditions for much of the day.

Yesterday when I was cleaning up after lunch, dd (2 yr) started running in and out of the kitchen, throwing some "imagined/pretend" thing into the garbage. So I asked her what she was doing. She told me that she is helping her motorcycle give birth to baby motorcycles (the motor cycle happens to have a little hole at its end) and she is cutting the umbilical cord and throwing it.
maybe if she keeps up the interest I'll have her cut #2's umbilical cord!

Regarding food and induction, I have read that evening primrose oil (or borage or black currant oil)help with cervical ripening because it contains the oils that are precusors to prostaglandins, which soften and ripen the cervix and prepare it to dilate. My midwife recommended 500mg daily starting at 36 weeks gestation and continue until birth. If this interests you, it may be a good idea to just double check with your midwife/nurse/ob.

Have a good week everyone

[kel]

The main things that I am doing differently in this pregnancy are to eat more healthfully, and most importantly - in moderation!! I gained way too much weight my last 2 pregnancies, and although it didn't cause any real health problems I sure didn't feel great about myself either. So I am also going to diligently exercise throughout this pregnancy, which I have been bad about letting slide in the past. As far as during labor, my main thing is just having someone to watch the kids - last labor when I was around them my labor almost completely stopped! The midwife said that for *some* moms, having the kids around can stop or slow labor because you're focusing on taking care of them instead of your labor. It certainly seemed true for me.

I guess I'm around 12 weeks now and doing good. My breasts are starting to get fuller and a bit tender, and I get really tired some days - that's about it so far.

xo - Kelly

[mamarsupial]

diet: i had pregnancy induced hypertension during the last few weeks of pregnancy with dd. my blood pressue was and has been fine otherwise. anyway, things like cucumbers, celery, leafy greens (good all around thing to eat), and high protien foods are all supposed to help. my goal is to avoid pih and therefore, avoid induction. hopefully, by eating healthful and in moderation, i will avoid the problems i had last time around. foods to stimulate labor if you go overdue are evening primrose, red raspberry leaf, and i think black cohash (something only to take at the VERY end). spicey foods, sex, long walks, massage, and chiropractic adjustments are also supposed to help. check with your ob/midwife/doula about what things may work.

[Shanghaimum]

I am about 10.5 weeks along... I am feeling a bit stressed about how 'big' I already am. This will my second, but still... I haven't gained any weight, but my tummy is really getting noticeable. My evening I look like I am 5-6 months along. At the moment I can't wear maternity clothing, yet my real closthing feels so uncomfortable. I can't seem to feel uncomfortable unless I am wearing sweats...

i feel a little disillusioned with the birthplan idea. I had a great birthplan with my ds and we (my doctor and Dh) were all in agreement, yet once labour really started, I feel it all went out the window...

Sorry I am just feeling a little blue today,


Tired Emma (mum to a darling little boy who hates sleep)

[Glittergal]

Hi Everyone!
I guess I am joining your list. We just found out we are pregnant with our first, due 10/9 - it is a huge surprise but we are very excited! Happy to have found all of you!


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[shanetedissac]

Welcome to all the new to be mom's!

Thanks for bringing the list over here! You've got the ball now.

Things are going along like the throwing up was never around. I'm back to how I felt with my past two. Still checking the cervix though

We are using a CNM for formal blood work and having a CPM for the birth. I guess for a while untill I get all the blood work results I will be seeing both at the same time. My CPM said to ask if the CNM would provide backup in the need of a transfer. I need to get the blood work results in hand first. Just incase there are hard feelings about my homebirthing. KWIM? THere is a bit of termoil going on in CT about homebirthing. My CPM is actually being charged by the state medical board with practicing medicine without a licence. Bogus charges but non the less she is in legal hell

My clothes are still fitting well. Can even button them. Even not pregnent I had time when I could not do this I could feel a little bump also if I lay flat on my back and press really firmly on my lower tummy. The best was to make it easier to feel your uterus is to have an orgasm THe uterus will tighten up.

I am also planning on having two differnt people at the birth to provide sibling support for my boys. Like said before I don't want to worry about them when in labor. I really want them there for the birth and individual support is very helpful.

Hope all are well-

PS. We bought a treadmill to have at home so I can excersice again