~Weekly Thread - June 18-24~

[brittneyscott]

Okay I'll start this week's post. Do we really have to start another week?!

Hopefully this will be the lucky week and we'll have our babies! I'm hoping to see a lot more birth stories this week, including mine.

Man what am I still doing here?! Due date is today. I have another doc appt today so I'll update later. Its not like they'll tell me anything new though. Last week I was already "soft", thinning out, and 3cm dilated with the baby dropped really low. I mean how much more ready can I get without going into labor?

[wombatclay]

good luck!

We had a big baby boom and then a few quieter days so I think you're right...another boom is coming!

happy birthing all!

[awallrising]

brittney- I'm in the same boat, more or less, today is my due date & I see my MW is a few hours. I hope she'll at least tell me that I'm more dialated than last week.

I don't even want to talk to anyone at this point so I hope that no one calls me today.

I hope I'll be adding my name to the list of birth annoucements for this week. The odds are with me, right? Most women give birth between 39 & 41 weeks so this should be the week.

[momtokay]

i'm still here. waiting, waiting. due last week. so ready. sigh. i do so hope that my baby is in the next baby boom and that happens soon!!! sending out patience vibes to those who are waiting along with me.

[savvybabygrace]

I was just thinking that with all the birthing activity dying down for a few days we're bound to have it pick back up!
A good friend pointed out to me that statistically, more babies are born on Tuesday than any other day of the week (she had a source, I didn't really pay attention, lol). I'm thinking that tomorrow is a GREAT day to have a baby!

I woke up to my daughter yelling for me, then jumped out of bed to get her and everything went black. Thank goodness I landed on my knees and just slumped over and didn't whack my head on anything. I guess I need to remember to take it easier.

I'm reeeeeally feeling like I'm going to be pregnant forever. My hips thighs are killing me and my ankles have swollen to the point they were at after my d@#n c-section (thanks to the 4 hour zoo walk in the hot sun the other day). I would pay someone a million dollars at the point if they could tell me when this child will be born!!! I just want to know that this won't last forever!

[buffybutt]

okay mamas.....

call me crazy but I walked in pnty hose for an hour and then had my boy the next day( guess i should post that hes here!!!!) Its an old myth that it will bring on labor, heard it from a homebirthin mama to four babes and it worked for me. Try it??????????????

Angie

[MettaSutta]

Originally Posted by buffybutt

okay mamas.....

call me crazy but I walked in pnty hose for an hour and then had my boy the next day( guess i should post that hes here!!!!) Its an old myth that it will bring on labor, heard it from a homebirthin mama to four babes and it worked for me. Try it??????????????

Angie

Oh my! I think that trying to get pantyhose on might send me into labor! I can hardly get my leg off the ground to put my pants on, much less get my foot into hose!! : Although I certainly could use a good laugh, and I think this would do it!!!

Today is my due date, and I've been trying to be very Zen about the whole thing, but really, I just want to meet my baby!! I have an appointment with my MW on Wednesday, so we'll see what she says. I admit that all through this pregnancy I felt that the baby would be born on 6/21 so I really should relax about this due date thing.

Good luck Mamas!!! Here's to you and your babies!!

************************************************** ********
“Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’ ” - Kurt Vonnegut

[brittneyscott]

Well no real update at the doc's today. I'm a full 3cm dilated but nothing new. They scheduled a u/s for Thurs. to check baby's size. It looks like I'm still hanging in there.

[awallrising]

Not much of an update here either, no further dialation. Looks like my cervix dropped down a notch & it's very soft. I'm going for acupuncture on Weds, she's had good success with moving things along.

MW also started to discuss what would happen at my next visit; U/S & some other test to make sure I have enough fluid & that baby is ok. I will have my membranes stripped if I go to the visit following that I think. I don't even want to think about any of that. I just want him to come out.

I alternate between moods of rage & feeling like I want to cry. I hate feeling this way.

[borobaby]

I am 41 weeks tomorrow. I will go to the doc and see what's going on. I am glad to hear I am not the only one wanting to totally avoid talking to people. I am so ready to meet my little man! It will be exciting to post a birth story! (can you tell this is my first!) I am so glad to have this site, I don't feel so crazy to be 41 wks. I am really tired of people saying things like " oh, and they are just going to let you go over?" ugg!

[willoLevin]

Post-partum gift meltdown

This is me hormonal at almost five days post-partum... I know I sound like a really thoughtless, spoiled person from this post. I just need to get this out and am not really sure I want to talk to anyone about it IRL...

DH told me he got me a present. VERY sweet of him to remember that it is a nice thing to do for the new mommy. So, first he gave me a pair of nursing pj's that I'd loved from the Motherwear catalog. Perfect, lovely, and so nice. But he pulls out another gift--a small one. He bought me jewelry.

And I...
got hysterical...
sobbing...
VERY upset...

Basically, it was the kind of jewelry his mother buys me every holiday. Lots of small stones in a pointy, decorative pattern--ring and earrings.

I wear very little jewelry, and, when I do, it tends to be very simple and NEVER rings (they get in my way, except my simple wedding band) and almost never post earrings (the threaded posts on the stuff she buys me feel like they tear at my ears) and just very different from her Russian/Jewish style. I wouldn't call her gaudy, but much flashier jewelry (and clothing) than I would choose.

I feel like the world's biggest jerk, but, basically, I have clutter-control issues (I'm a mess), and I have some problem with getting rid of stuff I don't need, especially expensive gifts, and I already feel overwhelmed with a drawer full of jewelry-store jewelry (not costume stuff) from his parents that I will never wear and I have no idea how to get rid of!!! I mean, it seems too expensive to donate, or, at least, like I should itemize it in my tax deductions except that I have no idea how much it is really worth. (This isn't a rich family. I expect we're talking $100-200 for each piece or set. But that really adds up since our 2001 wedding.)

Now, I've asked DH in the past NOT to buy me jewelry, basically because what I like is so specialized and I feel like this is too expensive an area to screw up. He was sort of flabbergasted when I melted down at him, and said, "Well, I'll probably remember next time not to buy you jewelry!"

He wasn't mad at me, just totally floored, because, of course, his parents keep telling him, "OF COURSE she wants jewelry. Women always want jewelry."

He's confused as to why it is so upsetting to me to get gifts that I don't want. I'm sure his feelings were hurt, which is why I almost started to lie and pretend I liked the jewelry, but then I just couldn't COULDN'T let this be such a waste of our money right now. (Remember how I've just spent SO MUCH on our new kitchen this summer...)

So I'm a big jerk. Even the money part of it is starting to seem stupid and trivial to me, and I am afraid I really hurt his feelings and that it was wrong to tell the truth about this. Was I protecting *MY* feelings (and my fear of clutter) or was I really trying to help him do what he actually wants to do with gifts (please me!--he's so generous) or what?

Anyway, I'm up at 4 am and this has been weighing on my mind for about 12 hours now since the miserable exchange of gifts (I gave him his father's day gifts today) and I hope I don't come off like too much of a jerk, but I figured at least some of you guys are bound to understand at least my feelings if not my actions.

--willo
(who really should go back to bed now while the baby is asleep and the sleeping is good...)

[wombatclay]

oh willo...I'm so sorry! I think you really really do/did need to let him know, but I know the whole pp hormone thing (which really hits 3-5 days pp and lasts week or two) warped everything into a mess. It happened to me too (my mom isn't talking to me after I was a bit blunt...and I cried for hours after that last conversation).

You shouldn't beat yourself up...easier said than done, I know. Wait till you've calmed down a bit and then explain that you really appreciate the gifts, and you know he picked it out just for you, but your concerned about expense AND you prefer a slightly different style and feel badly that you know you wont be able to wear the jewelry the way it "deserves". Your DH sounds wonderful and loving and I'm sure he's hurt but I'm also sure he'll understand that pp hormones remove all the "social filters" and make everything very raw...emotions are raw, feelings are raw, words come out directly from the emotional knee-jerk reaction instead of passing through the "brain filter" first. Everything at this time is bigger and louder and harder and faster and slower and all sorts of contradictory things.

For the drawer full of jewelry...could you maybe find a local jeweler or artisan and have things reset? Maybe not even as jewelry, but a jewel patterned picture frame or memory box or mirror frame? Some way to honor the sentiment behind the gift and reduce the clutter by transforming it into a single item that might be more useful? If you have an art school or even a magnet high school with a strong art/metalwork program you may be able to negotiate with a student to do this as a school project/portfolio project. (a lot of Cornell students do things like this to build portfolios).

I'm so sorry though willo...the pp weeks are so hard, and things just happen.

--(my mom pulled a muscle in her back and didn't tell me...she showed up 4 days pp and offered to take dd to the park while Dh was at work so I'd have some time with the babe. They left, dd had an accident and split her chin on the playground and threw a total fit. My mom, since her back hurt, wasn't in a good place to begin with and she started yelling at dd...when they got home my mom was actually using profanity to describe dd's behavior and then she started going off on how she didn't understand our permissive parenting, etc etc. She then told me about her back and how she was "fighting the pain to help me". Unfortunately at that point I, um, called her a martyr and said that if she was in pain but wanted to help she could have just read dd a story while I took the babe to the bedroom...she got really upset, started throwing things around the kitchen and I said something about our family not needing more "psychodrama". Ooops. So other than a few phone messages she's left calling me names, she has refused to talk to me since then. And she wouldn't let me see my dad on father's day It's a total mess, and she has a lot of issues and stress and we've all been expecting the straw that will break the camel's back for months now, but now that it's here I really don't know what to do. I've reached out twice since then and it's gone over like a lead balloon so...well...I totally understand the impact of pp hormones on what would have been a touchy situation anyway.)--

[willoLevin]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

--(my mom pulled a muscle in her back and didn't tell me...s. My mom, since her back hurt, wasn't in a good place to begin with and she started yelling at dd...and I said something about our family not needing more "psychodrama". Ooops. ... she has refused to talk to me since then. And she wouldn't let me see my dad on father's day

Oh boy. That really is miserable. I hope you guys can work this out soon. It has to be pretty draining, even if you are used to things being hard...

I'm doing much better today, emotionally and physically, I think, though my upper back aches (nursing tension, I think) and my tailbone is still sore if I don't sit on a special pillow. I feel far more energetic today, which is very nice.

We had our lactation consultant visit today, and it went so well. I'm almost crying writing this because it was just such a relief after all the struggles with DS#1. DS#2 is weighing in at 7# 7 oz (on her scale, and 7# 8 oz yesterday at the pediatrician's, so probably accurate) compared to his birth weight five days ago of 7# 12 oz. Since the ped would've been content with anything over 7# 0.5 oz, that's excellent news. And the LC confirmed that the noises I thought were swallowing really were swallowing, and he's getting lots of milk, and she helped me get an even better latch (I thought we were doing so well!) and I had perhaps my first ever experience of nursing a tiny baby WITH ABSOLUTELY ZERO PAIN!!!

I feel like, compared to this point with my first newborn, I am in such great shape. Because this baby isn't so hungry, we're getting a bit more sleep. It isn't LOTS of sleep, but neither is it the unending string of painful feedings, torturous pumping, and interrupted mere minutes of sleep that I'd been dreading.

The trip to the hospital didn't make me tired like yesterday's trip to the ped's office did. I think that means I'm healing.

We did another bilirubin check at the hospital lab today, so that part was hard. They really have to squeeze the poor baby's blood out of the foot. Still, considering how incredibly bad DS#1 got with the jaundice, we are being very proactive with testing for bilirubin and getting DS#2 into the sun while we're enjoying such beautiful weather.

Tomorrow, when DS#2 is one week old, I think we're going to try to start taking a daily walk, just DH, DS#1, and me. It might start out pretty darn short, but I think we are all looking forward to it.

Let's see if I maintain all this peaceful goodwill and equilibrium into a new day, huh?

Sending blessings for easy labors to all the mamas-in-waiting, and lots of milky, sleepy vibes to those of us whose babes are in arms.

--willo

[wombatclay]

Looks like we really are having that mini-baby-boom! Good luck everyone on deck!

I checked the list and we're up to 54 babes. wow!

[jbobys]

UGH! willo, i think we were cut from the same mold. what happened with yur husband sounds exactly like something thatd happen in my house! while, yes, he was trying to be sweet, he clearly didnt give his gift the thought that it needed...he should know by now how you feel about jewelry, especially thar style. my dh so wants to buy me jewelry, but he knows hed get the same reaction you gave your dh...and thats not even pp i dont even wear a wedding ring. ive got 2 bracelets, andd their id bracelets, one is leather with a silver piece that has my sons name and the other is a simple pearl and silver one with my daughters name on it. dont feel bad, i know where youre coming from, pp hormones are overwhelming, especailly mixed with the lack of sleep. hang in there, sweetie

wombat~ do we have the same mother? why do they always insist on 'helping' only to throw it in our faces how wonderful they are and how hard it is for them to do it? my mother does it ALL the time, does it with money, too : we hate accepting time, energy or money from hervecause she holds it over our heads for years! i call her a self proclained martyr. youve put out an loive branch, more then once now, if she cant accept it and see where maybe she should offer you one, then its time for you to step back. this is a beautiful, wonderful and overwhelming time for you and you dont need to deal with her bs and her issues. you need to recover and enjoy the beausty of your family

ok, off my soap box

[jbobys]

well, posted that before saw your new post willo glad lifes looking a bit brighter today!

im bored. big, fat, pregnant and bored! i want him out! nothing new to report...due tomorrow and looking for was of getting him out!

[willoLevin]

Minor meltdown this afternoon as I tried and tried and just couldn't get the baby latched on painlessly like I did with the LC this morning. It was hurting and I was so frustrated and my mom kept trying to help but I yelled at her because she was pushing on me and I didn't think it was helping.

So I'd say I've got some hormonal issues still... Oh sigh.

I've just taken an hour's nap, and I also realized right after the big bawling meltdown that I had inadvertently forgotten my ibuprofin by a couple of hours. I had a lot more energy today--but not as much as I thought I did!

I'm definitely going to continue with taking it easy tomorrow. I think, as much for my family's sake as my own, I'd better stay mostly upstairs and out of meltdown range!

Hey, has Sally posted in a while? I wonder how she's getting on with the new baby with her DH still away?!?

--willo

[NullSet]

I just hate feeling like a watched pot all the time, and my dh is the worst offender! My due date was fathers day but I still feel fine with not too much discomfort. Trying to take a lot of walks around the neighborhood to get things going but to no avail. Every night is the same thing, lots of cramping for a long time then poof: nothing! It is so anticlimactic. Eventually this little kiddo has to come, right?

[awallrising]

Willo- Don't be too hard on yourself. You just had a baby & are allowed to have hormonal issues. Even the best guys are just totally clueless at times about what their women want. I know you don't want to hurt DHs feelings, but hopefully he can understand. A little hibernation may help.

I haven't given birth yet, but I've alternating between rages & crying. I feel like I have PPD already. I'm amazed that I haven't blown up at someone yet. I almost got into a fight with someone who was driving like an idiot but was glaring at me. I find that I am cutting a lot of my phone conversations short & am not seeking people out. I just want to stay indoors & sleep.

Wombat- Your Mom needs to chill. She definitely should have told you about her back pain. Martyr was the right choice of words, even if she didn't want to hear it. Yes, a backache sucks but you just had a baby & have a toddler. Yeesh! Hope she can chill out & come to her senses.

Now I am hoping for a Solstice baby! Maybe Ian just wants to wait until Summer is officially here.

[vannienicole]

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