WEEKLY UPDATE/CHAT THREAD *Aug 27-Sept 3*

[celestialdreamer]

Here's the new weekly thread! Tell us how you are doing and what you've been up to!


Can someone else think of a question of the week? I'm having a placenta brain day :

[celestialdreamer]

Link to last week's thread so we don't miss any of the last posts: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...=1#post9015758

[Ironica]

Since we're mostly feeling pretty crappy (or if not, we're feeling not entirely pregnant), maybe we can talk about

What are the BEST things about being pregnant?

Sorta gets some positive thoughts going and gives us stuff to look forward to. ;-)

And I don't mean the obvious stuff like "Having a BABY!" ;-) But things like... for me, my body image gets a whole lot better when I'm pregnant. I remember last time walking down the street to my yoga class, wearing stretch pants and a t-shirt, and feeling totally unselfconscious... because I'm SUPPOSED to look this way. It's kicked in a lot earlier this time around, too, which is good since I can't really hold my stomach in or wear tight waistbands anymore!

[3for3hb]

My body image totally skyrockets when I'm pg, for sure. And with that I guess I get a better sense of well being and acceptance. And gosh darn it I love maternity clothes... until the last month of course. I really enjoy pregnancy, other than the tiredness (having my adrenals checked this time if it's an issue), and my curly hair going straight (which is a pain... I haven't had "normal" hair for years), and all the extra secretions. But this is supposed to be about what's best about pregnancy, right?

Back on subject, I think the best thing about pregnancy is birth. It is so empowering to completely lose it and let go. The physical process of dialating and opening your very innermost part to the world makes me feel vulnerable and powerful at the same time. During my first pg I really psyched myself up about how birth is a rite of passage. I didn't so much my second time and wish I did. Because even though I was already a mother, it was still me earning my "rite" (not right) to be my second baby's mother. Every birth is different and I am so looking forward to seeing how this birth plays out and how my experience and mental/emotional preparation/introspection will influence me.

[celestialdreamer]

For me the best thing about being pregnant is feeling the baby move. I love being in a crowded room and having the little one bounce all around and only I can feel it. It seems a little bit like a secret and like I get to have the baby all to myself. It really helps me connect and really enjoy imagining who the baby will "be".

[blizzard_babe]

Best thing about being pregnant? Hmm... I'm in a stage where I go through whole parts of the day forgetting that something quite major has changed. Then I feel queasy, or see a baby, or just happen to think of it, and I remember... and that moment of remembering is exciting each time.

I've decided I don't have morning sickness... I have hungry sickness. If I let my stomach get down to empty, I feel icky until like a half hour after I've eaten. If I can keep it just a little full, I'm OK. I'm just hitting five weeks, so I'm guessing it might get worse, but as of right now, a box of crackers at my desk is keeping things do-able.

[ChristyH]

Hmm, the best thing about being pregnant. Well I know it is only going to get better and there are so many things I'm looking forward too later, like getting a pregnant belly, feeling the baby move, wearing clothes and not caring that my stomach is sticking out because its supposed to!

Right now I'm just enjoying being pregnant in a sense that this will be my last so I am trying to savor everything, even the morning sickness. The thing I love the most right now is that not too many people know about it and its my little secret right now.

[christinespurlock]

I just love this question. So many good points have been posted so far. I love getting to tell the big news. It's just so fun. I loved my blessingway last time and hope to have another. I would love to have another homebirth. I guess feeling the baby move and that deep connection with the little soul riding inside you is the best for me. Great idea for a question.

[carriebft]

I couldn't pick just one!

- The way I feel when I'm sitting alone in a room and the baby is moving inside me and I just hug my little bump and am so full of joy

- meeting and talking with so many new people--pregnancy seems to bring a lot of people together

-cravings- welll, not the cravings exactly, but the way I feel when I satisfy them

[jeomom3]

I love almost everything about being pregnant except m/s and being too uncomfortable to sleep at the very end. But I have to say I absolutely love feeling the baby move and I love the feeling of being special..."Look at me world, I'm gestating!!"

[Ironica]

Ooooh, yeah, that special feeling... everyone gives you their seat on the bus, wants to bring you food, etc. (at least after you LOOK pregnant... not now, when I need it most! ;-)

No worries about not being able to pick "just one;" I originally phrased it as the (singluar) best thing... but changed it to plural after realizing there's lots of neat things!

[emcare]

I love so much about being pregnant. I just feels like this is what my body was meant to do, you know. I guess that's the best. Feeling that this is my destiny--I'm here again.

I love the way I look when I'm pregnant--I never feel better about my body than when I am 9 months prego.


And, I love feeling connected to a baby that I don't know yet and can't feel yet. I love the feeling, right after I take the test, that "I love you" feeling. The feeling of my heart expanding.

[3for3hb]

:

[thomlynn]

It's such a special time, two souls in one body. I love it. I just feel so special, no one else in the world knows what it's like to have this wonderful person inside of them, she's just mine, kwim. I thank God that He made me a woman b/c I think being pregnant and being a mother is the most wonderful thing in the world.

[My3babes]

Oh wow... I too love my body when I am pregnant. I also love my body when I am nursing.. there is something empowering about being the only life support for a human being for 9 months and then being its single source of food for another 9+ months.

I too am savoring this pregnancy because it is to be my last. I really thought once I got pg and had this baby that I would just KNOW I was done. but there is something so final about saying it. But I am sure this will be it unless I do surrogacy for someone else in the future!

[blizzard_babe]

Weirdest thing (well, OK, maybe not the WEIRDEST thing, but funny nonetheless) happened last night...

We were rearranging our bedroom, and had to move the big dresser. Now, bush Alaska teacher housing is funny. You end up inheriting a lot of the former owner's posessions if they move back to the Lower 48. The guys who lived here the year before us... one of them is now living in our old place, and the other moved back downstates. We're using the Lower 48's bedroom. When we moved the dresser, we found four pairs of his socks, plus a random ivory carving.

Now, ivory carving is fairly common up here. What's weird, is that it's in the shape of some kind of what looks like a fertility charm. A woman with big ol' breastfeeding breasts, and a spiral around where her uterus would be. It's odd because the Native people are VERY Christian. I have no clue who made this, or what kind of symbol it really is, but it sure looks fertile to us!

This has been sitting in our bedroom since we moved up here. Now, yeah, our baby-in-training was technically conceived before we moved up here, but WEIRD, huh?

(I'm carrying her in my pocket right now)

[GISDiva]

This is my first, so I can only make comments on "so far"...

We just moved into a new house and the whole reason we did move was to have room for a baby and get into a better school district. So the first few months in the house, trying to conceive, I felt like our lives were on hold or we were working towards this big "event" but we didn't have any idea when it was going to happen or how. So now that I'm pregnant, I feel like everything is finally "right" - or at least it will be in 8 months...so I guess my favorite part so far is feeling like the planets have at last aligned!

ETA: Oh yeah, and having an excuse to cram any darn thing I want to down my cake hole...that's nice too. (Within reason of course...)

[paphia]

Ooh a fertility carving! What a cool find!

Hmm, last pg I was not loving being pregnant at all. I was very stressed and scared about labor and birth and I was afraid of my care providers, I just didn't trust them. I didn't eat well and I didn't feel good and I feel like I missed out so much on everything I was supposed to enjoy about being pregnant.

So this time I am loving every second of it. Last night my nips hurt when dd kept nursing all night, and I was like Oh boy! Nipple pain! And then this morning I felt crummy while I was eating my banana and my oatmeal and my chocolate milk and I was like Oh boy! Morning sickness is getting stronger!

This time I am loving taking the time every day to pay attention to what I eat. I have set up a food diary so I can follow the Brewer Diet and I am looking forward to putting on 50 pounds so that I don't go down to a skinny size 2 while I am nursing. I feel so healthy and capable of bringing forth a new life and then sustaining it and my dd and nurturing them. I feel very strong and powerful.

I'm also looking forward to my pregnant body when it is really showing. In my town there are a lot of Hispanic men and they just *stare* at women they think are attractive and they love bigger women and pregnant women, but I've even noticed young, teenage white kids checking me out when I am big. It's so weird, but I guess I appreciate knowing that most people think the pregnant woman is a beautiful thing. Dh always teases me about it and then tries to get some, he loves my body no matter what shape it is in.

I'm also looking forward to labor so much. I enjoyed it last time until I was getting exhausted. I think it wouldn't have taken so long if I had been at home and more comfortable, so I will really be loving my homebirth.

[blizzard_babe]

Originally Posted by GISDiva

ETA: Oh yeah, and having an excuse to cram any darn thing I want to down my cake hole...that's nice too. (Within reason of course...)

We got an ice cream maker for a wedding gift... I'm dangerous.

[3for3hb]

I feel like I can't really chat here because everyone is still answering the QOTW but I don't feel like starting a completely new thread.

I couldn't sleep last night and was wide awake by 3am. So i got up, made and drank my protein shake and watched Matrix Reloaded. Somehow it made more sense to me than any other time i've seen it (once, maybe twice before). I feel queasy when I'm not pg and don't get enough sleep so it's no wonder I'm feeling it today. And after the movie was over i turned the tv off and got comfy on the couch and was just falling asleep when the kids woke up.

Anyway, I wanted to take the boys peach picking before the end of the season but apparently there are aren't peach tree farms in western pa, or at least not for a couple hours drive. I finally got a recommend for a farm but they do fall berry u-picks with raspberries
So we went this morning because I didn't have any patients scheduled and felt like playing hooky. We picked about 3 pints worth and we really bared the bushes (the season is just beginning so there were lots of unripe berries left). Willem was dead set on his idea of making a berry pie. (yeah, he's been watching a little too much Little bear on the Noggin channel this past month when I was couch ridden).

So... tonight I'm making raspberry tarts (in muffin tins with phyllo dough) and canning the rest of the raspberries as jam. Yum. I think I may even treat myself to a scoop of the butter pecan carmel ripple with chocolate covered carmel pieces mixed in ice cream (clueless on what it's actually called ) on top.

And now I'm at work, on mdc hd taking a break from working on my juice cleansing talk I'm doing at the local co-op (hopefully sometime in september).