introductions? - Page 5

[ArwenA]

I'm Arwen, 28 year old mom to three girls and expecting twins in late June. It took a long, long time to conceive ( about five months) this time, but I'm getting two! This is my first pregnancy with my soon-to-be hubby and I'm hoping all goes well.
After having a homebirth with my youngest I never want to do it in a hospital again but I think that I will be this time as I have yet to find anyone who has homebirthed with twins.

Arwen

[elisharenee]

I have been lurking a while, and I have made a few post but I guess I should actually post an into!


My name is Elisha. I am 27 wife to Stephen..We have two boys ( Dillon 2-99 and Brenden 4-03) and a our third baby is due June 19th ( my birthday! )
Stephen and I are highschool sweethearts and have been married almost 7 years. I look like a child myself so I get lots of weird looks from other parents. :

My boys were both born at a hospital with way to many annoying people around and I hated it. I had horrible episiotimies and the nurses made a joke of me when I tried to go natural. This baby is being born at a lovlet birthing center with a great midwife. I plan on a waterbirth as well. I hope it all works out. Glad to be apart of this group!

[franjapany]

here we go again...

So, I wrote this really long introduction the other day and then the system broke down or whatever - it got lost. I guess it was just too long anyway ...

I'll try to keep it short and sweet this time:

I'm Franziska, 29, German/Austrian, partner to Joi, 49, living in Thailand. This is our first baby and it was kind of planned. I'm an ex-waldorf student (all the way from kindy to A-levels) and graduated in psychology in '06, Berlin. At the moment I really miss Berlin... though not the weather. I don't miss the weather at home

We're going for home birth/ UC. There is just no way I'm gonna trust any Thai doctor with my birth, sorry! And I will have support from a wonderful fairy whom I met on MDC

Okay, I think that should do for now (after all the juicy details got lost in cyberspace ). I just coincidentally stumbled over this commune (never read the magazine) so I'm only slowly starting to get the hang of it (and all the abbreviations). That's why it also took me until now to post an introduction...

Anyway, I'm glad this community exists and I can be part of it! It can get pretty lonely over here, so MDC has already been a great support.

[beanmakes3]

Hi, I'm Tracy! I've just joined up at the recommendation of my sister who was a member of the due date club for her DD's birth in '05. She loved it, and so I thought I'd join.

I've been married to my husband for 7 years, and we have two beautiful boys ages 6 and 3. This pregnancy was planned, but has been a bit of a challenge given how our lives have changed in the last 2 years. I graduated last year, and am just started to practice as a clinical psychologist independently. Since I was a grad student when I had the boys, I seriously underestimated how tired I would be just from working full time and being pg, nevermind having two active boys thrown into the mix.

Things I like to do are scrapbook (not in the nutty way...just baby books for the boys that might look different from what's available for purchase out there)...running is a new thing...althought I haven't done much since getting pg this time, since I had a previous mc, and was anxious.

Another reason I joined is that I'm finding that being pg w/ my 3rd that there aren't many ways to connect w/ other moms who are having their 3rd, etc (or sometimes even their 2nd). I find many services for pg women are geared more for first timers, and I learned w/ my second that some of those groups are not a good fit, especially if one does not parent in a mainstream way. E.g., DS#1 has anaphylaxis to multiple foods (milk, egg and peanut), so we are very conscious about what we eat on many levels including an interest in vegan baking and cooking.

That's about it...Looking forward to getting to know the group.

Tracy

[mamaspirit]

So I posted my own thread introducing myself before I saw this thread. Like I said I'm pregnant with my 3rd baby, although I have had 3 first trimester m/c. I'm due with this one June 9. I have 2 boys ages 8 years and 16 months. My husband is a nurse, and I just finished nursing school, but am now a SAHM.

With my first I had a natural hospital birth. With my second I had a c-section, the cause is a LONG story that has to do with the incompetencies of several doctors and nurses, etc. We are planning a home VBAC with this one, which we are very excited about.

We are organic vegetarians, cloth diapering, green, energy healers, getting crunchier by the day.

Looking forward to sharing this journey with all of you!
Tara

[topmom]

Hello

I have been lurking for a while and finally decided to register so I could post.

I am Lori 41 years old and expecing our 5th little bundle in mid-June.

I have been married to Joey for near 21 years. He recently retired form the military, and now works for the PO.

We have 4 beautiful Children so far...Zach 19, Ashleigh 17, Michaela 7, and Liberty 3. Yes they are all ours ... Michaela, Liberty and baby "pancake" are reversal babies.

My first 2 were hospital babies with whatever military doc/CNM was on-call. Very medically oriented births. As they got older I started educating myself due to problems my son was having. Michaela was a hospital birth with a CNM who "talked the talk" of natural childbirth but "when push came to shove" (pun intended) turned out to be a MEDwife. It was a very traumatic experience for me. By the time Liberty came along DH consented to a homebirth and it was the best experience ever. We are planning a homebirth this go-around too.

We are a Christian, homeschooling, breastfeeding, non-circing, non-vaxing family. (among other things)

I enjoy scrapbooking and my family.

Y'all probably won't see too much of me but I thought it would be nice to have a place to hang out and have people supportive of our birthing choices.

[hmberhalter]

Hi! My name is Heather, and I was over in the July DDC, but after an u/s today, I've been bumped up to June! So, I'm a little late coming to your group, but I am elated to have a month knocked off my pregnancy in just one short office visit!

I'm 35 and have been married to my husand Jay for 3 1/2 years. We have a 2 1/2 yr old son who is currently running around the house half-naked w/a paint brush in hand, so I'll have to keep this short. He was born naturally in a hospital. It was a nice quick birth--4 hr labor and 2hrs pushing, but my hospital experience was not great. So, if I can convince DH, we'll be having a homebirth this time. I'm currently seeing a homebirth midwife--so unless he gets really freaked at some point, homebirth it is. I'm also hoping to try hypnobabies or some similar program this time around.

We're a mostly vegan family. We do it primarily for health reasons, so I have occasionally had some egg whites on the days when I feel like I just can't get enough protein. But generally, this is a vegetables only household.

DS was nursing a lot up until recently. Now my milk has completely dried up, and he and I have struggled a lot with the transition. I have to say that has been the hardest part of this pregnancy. It's been 36 hrs though since he last "nursed," so I guess that's the direction we're heading.

otherwise, things are good. I am completely shocked about being moved to 6/21 from a 7/18 due date, but hey that means I'm that much closer to meeting the new little one, so yeah!

[noahandlinasmom]

Hello, Donna here. Wife to wonderful husband Cody and mom of two little ones, with of course one on the way! Due June 11, husbands birthday. We are having another boy.

[blessedmom68358]

Hello! I posted a basic intro on the main June DDC board before, but thought I might as well here, too. Being new, I don't have all of the MDC lingo down yet, nor have I worked out a sig.

You can call me Meli. I'm a blessed wife of going on 13 years to my DH and we have four, great kiddos together (two boys and two girls, consecutively)...with our fifth beautiful baby bean EDD 6/25/08. We are pretty sure of what we're having (but keeping it our happy secret) and also excitedly planning our first hopeful homebirth!

As for me, I guess you could say I'm not 100% crunchy nor am I mainstream. I'm kind of all alone (so it feels sometimes...lol) in the middle somewhere. I breastfeed (25mo still nursing when she wants to), co-sleep early on (until they're ready to move), and for the past year, we have decided not to vax...undecided yet if we'll ever do any selective ones again down the road? My DH and I also homeschool ("officially" began with oldest in 2001)...been more 'unschool-y' than not this year...and we're a Christian family. We're new to our area so working on making friends locally (not easy...but finally making progress!). I also like to connect with mamas out here on the WWW.

I'm already active on another board and quite busy, so may be more of a lurker here, but wanted to say, "Hi!" I hope you all don't mind if I jump in sometimes.

[SonyaG]

Hello!

Hi, my name is Sonya. I am 35 and this is my first pregnancy. I am due on June 20th. My DH and I have been trying for so long, and we finally broke down and went for a consult at a fertility clinic. We were scheduled to come back to start lab tests the following month- and when we came back- I was pregnant!

I still can't believe it- except the morning sickness (which I still have) is all too real : )

Glad to meet you all!

[Tiffanoodle]

DDC Straddling

Hi ladies! I thought I'd introduce myself, since I've been kind of lurking here and in all likelihood I will be delivering in June.

You can see most of my info in my siggy, but my name is Tiffany. I've been married for 8 1/2 years to a wonderful man, Matt. We have 2 children, Samantha and Tevin. Plus, we have a cat and 2 big dogs. Sage is a 100 pound purebread German Shepherd and Casey is an 80 pound Siberian Huskey/Lab mix.

We met in college, got pregnant 3 months after we started dating and got married when I was 6 months pregnant. Needless to say, she was very unplanned and we conceived VERY quickly. That's why it was a huge surprise when it took over a year and a half to conceive #2. I had done 3 rounds of the depo provera shot. If there's ever a lawsuit against them, I'm first in line because I truly believe it screwed me up forever. We got our boy and we were elated. However, I never felt our familiy was complete. I've always wanted 4 or more children, but that's still under debate with my husband who until we had ds, only wanted 2. We never did any form of birth control after having ds, and it took us 2 years from the point we started actively ttc this time. It was long and depressing with many very faint positives and high hopes with miscarriages before implantation. This time, though, I'm 19+ weeks and still goin' steady.

Dd was born via emergency c-section at 41w4d weeks. It's a long story, but I went into labor, contractions stopped, had Pitocin, she got stuck because her head was too big, she was posterior, and she went into distress. So the labor I wanted to be done completely unmedicated ended up being done with me unconscious (no time for an epidural, her stats were dropping too much) but she was healthy, so I guess the end justifies the means?

With ds, my water broke at 37w5d. But again, the contractions weren't progressing anything. After hours of walking and jacuzzi, breaking the water more, and all kinds of fun, we went for the Pitocin. A few hours later my little man flew out after a few pushes.

This time, I'm very fearful of going too long. I don't seem to go into labor on my own nor can I apparently handle a big baby. During my d&c this summer, the Dr. said something about my cervix or uterus being "off" or something. I'm not sure, but that could have something to do with it. My OB said she would be comfortable trying induction at 39w this time if I'd like. I think I'd feel more confident that way. Hopefully we won't need Pit, but if we can go for a slightly smaller baby (or more importantly, a slightly smaller head) it will be more likely that I will be able to repeat VBAC. I'm thinking we'll induce on June 27 and in all likelihood have the baby June 28.

Sorry this got very longwinded. I'm just so excited to be pregnant again, I feel like I could talk for days.

[Qerratsmom]

Welcome Tiffany!

[UKMum]

Introduction

Hi,

Just thought I'd post an intro even though I'm a bit late to this board. We moved to Ohio from England last summer and I have to admit to being a bit stuck on my UK forum, but seeing as we're here to stay I thought it was about time I moved my virtual life too, and thought a Due Date club would be a good place to start.

I have a 21 month old daughter who was a home water birth at 40 + 11 and is still BF although I did nightwean her before Xmas. I am due again on 18th June but fully expect this one to be 'late' too, and we found out last Friday that it is a boy. I would dearly love to have another home water birth but with the current situation for midwives in Ohio I have decided to go for a hospital birth this time. I have found a natural birth friendly ObGyn and a great doula who is really helping me to understand how it all works here, and how to get around the system. I won't be able to have a waterbirth at the hospital but can use the tub for labour. I decided that an hour's drive to the nearest birth centre where they do waterbirth could be too much, as my first labour was 12 hours total.

Anyway, look forward to getting to know you all.

Gail

[sunmamma]

[meenajo]

Howdy

I'm Amoreena, 29 yo homeschooling mama to Lilly 1/03. Although I'm not pregnant, we're expecting #2 in June per the miracle of adoption.

We're doing a domestic open adoption so we've been getting to know the Bmom and been able to be involved in her pregnancy and already know we're having a boy. Been busy talking to lawyers, social workers, trying to re-lactate, etc.

Look forward to chatting w/ y'all!

[Eloise1980]

Hi, I'm Eloise and I'm 27 years old and pregnant with my second child due on 18th June. I work as an artist from a studio at home, my DP of 8 years is a graphic designer and we have one DS who is 3 and a half. We live in London but will be relocating to Scotland in the summer to live on DP's parents farm in view of taking it over. Both of us have a lot of country experience despite being city types and manage to live a fairly self sufficient life even amongst the smog.

I had a very successful homebirth with DS (despite him being almost 10 pounds) and hope to do it again with number 2, whose sex will be a surprise. It's been an exhausting pregnancy this time round and I'm looking forward to it being over.

I did have an account a while back but I have totally forgotten the login so here I am again, anyway nice to meet you!

[Anna GS]

Hi Everyone!

Hello!

I'm new to the Mothering forums.
My name is Anna and I am expecting my first (and maybe only?) with a due date of June 23rd. My husband is a graduate student at UCSD in Computer Science, and I have an MFA in Fine Art, but I work as a Faculty Asst to a group of professors in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

We are both vegan and have been for many years. In fact, we found each other through a VeggieDate. We've been married for a little over three years.

We have two cats. One is a mellow chubby old black cat named May. The other, Cayley, is a small feisty calico. She's full grown, but still has a kittenish look.

If all goes as planned, we'll have our son at a local birthing center. I'd love a home birth, but it doesn't seem right to have the baby in our apartment knowing that 1) we will move out of here next year (I'd be more willing if it were our own home); 2) Our neighbors are right on the other side of the wall and would probably hear the entire labor; and 3) the birthing center has nice big tubs for labor and delivery if I should feel like using one.

I love to sew (I'm not very good at clothing, though, so I tend to sew handbags and other similar items) and I love to cook and bake. I read a lot- both fiction and nonfiction. In the past few years I've become a huge fan of all of Joss Whedon's tv shows, although I have really hated television for most of my life (largely due to my aversion for commercials, so dvds have helped).

I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone here!

[SunnieP]

I love this club! Thought I'd formally intro myself even though I've already been posting and hanging out a little...
Live in Pa with DH and DS who is 2.6. Took year off work with #1 and plan to do the same with this one, sex is unknown. Plan birth center birth and having lots more aches/pains/illness {colds/flu/pneumonia} with this one. But I'm starting to see the light at the end and this community helps, too. Big on lactivism, gen. integrity, and all things Peggyesque. Also nutrition and astrology. What else? 3 cats and a mutt.

[bookofsnow]

Hello! I'm also new here!

I happened on here by accident and was excited to find a group that could be of so much use to our family!

I'm 28 years old, and American. My Dutch husband and I are currently living in The Netherlands. We have one son who is 5 in May named Sebastian. He has PDD-NOS but very mild. We're expecting our 2nd child, a daughter who we are naming Zoë on June 25 this year!

We feel like this is a second chance to do things differently. We are not vaccinating, we've discovered BPA free bottles although I'm still debating about trying to breastfeed her if I can. I suppose right now I'm taking it as a 'if God wants me to, he'll give me milk' thing. I had a breast reduction in 1999 and I didn't get anything with my son in 2003 so don't expect to this time. While I'm not into cloth diapering (can admit my limits!) we are planning to use Nature Baby diapers which are available worldwide I think. They are supposed to be better than reg disposables. They also make other products without chemicals and I plan to get those as well.

I was an attached parent with my son and will be with my daughter as well. I have never been comfortable with cry it out, maybe just because I'm weak. I tried cosleeping with my son and he didn't like it and we actually didn't sleep well with him in our bed so we aren't planning to this time. I make up for that with sling time of course!

I wanted a homebirth with my son but once you are 2 weeks overdue here it's not allowed, and you can't have a midwife anymore either I lost too much blood to birth at home this time but I am hopeful that at least the midwife can do the delivery!!!

I'm so glad to be joining you all and I love all your emoticons! I will have to make a signature with them soon!

Laura

Mom to Sebastian (5/16/03) and pregnant with :Zoë due 6/25/08
Brayden (11/12/01) :

[Desert Rose]

Hi, my name is Aisha, I'm 28 yrs old, I am Pakistani-American and I've been married to Ziad, a Lebanese-Egyptian Trekkie, for 10 years. We began TTC 5 yrs ago and I am now expecting our first baby in mid June 2008.

I have been living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for the past 10 years. I continue to practice the habits I learned as a kid while growing up in California, like conserving resources where possible, recycling, and making use of local resources like food and clothing rather than rely on imported stuff. My cousin gave birth to her first child last June in California and she really opened my eyes to the world of natural birth and attachment parenting. I am now working with a British midwife at the local gov't maternity hospital to be the first woman to deliver there w/o drugs, episiotomy, enema, and practice skin-to-skin contact, breast-feeding from birth, and "rooming-in".

Following Dubai tradition, I also look forward to the perks of hiring an Indian woman to give me and the baby daily massages at home during the first two months. Recognizing my limits, I do not plan to cloth diaper, but I do plan to breast-feed, co-sleep, and wear my baby in a sling.