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July Chat Thread

6K views 192 replies 26 participants last post by  BennyPai 
#1 ·
Here is a new chat thread for us. :)
 
#2 ·
So... how is everyone doing?

My m/s is getting better, thankfully! I think this is the sickest I've ever been while pregnant, and #1 was pretty bad!

I am still super busy with summer school, but this is my last week of one of my classes.

I'm looking forward to finding out the sex of the baby in 3 more weeks!!! I'm really, really hoping for a girl. My DS1 is telling his friends that his mommy has a little sister in her belly... so I'm hoping he is psychic and right about it. lol
 
#3 ·
Glad to hear the m/s is settling down, and school is almost over!

My son has chicken pox... he's had the vaccine but apparently it didn't completely protect him. My daughter has a cough, so I think she's coming down with it, too. He wasn't sick, just the cough and lots of spots. Maybe they'd have had a really bad case of it without the vaccine. I had chicken pox when I was a kid, so there shouldn't be anything for me to worry about. I think I just go into the Dr. at the first sign that I'm getting it, to get anti-viral medication. I'm sure I won't get it though.

This morning I felt the top of my uterus and it's all the way up to my belly button now! I just showed SO where it was about 4 days ago and it was an inch below where it is now!! I just decided that I need a pillow under my knee when I sleep, too.
 
#4 ·
Yeah, I'm starting with the pillow between my knees too. DH even mentioned he can literally see that my hips are already spreading. I told him I'm not surprised, I can feel the difference in how I walk. I've done a lot of gymnastics and dance growing up, so I'm fairly aware of my body and my carriage, and I've felt it change pretty dramatically the past few weeks, already. Hopefully the hips moving bodes well for a quick labor!

For anyone who didn't catch in the last thread, my DH is officially unemployed for an undetermined amount of time right now. He has a term job with elections starting mid July for about 2 months, and it will range from crazy overtime to part time depending on what stage they are at... but other than that, it means he has time at home to clean, reno, and fix our yard. We have a huge list of things we wanted to get done this summer, and none of them we had time for, so it's a huge relief to have him at home and able to accomplish these things now. He'll start looking for other jobs soon as well, but I'm hoping we can be productive in the meantime to get especially some of our basement reno done. We're trying to sort out the baby's room, but it's hard with no storage space downstairs at the moment (there will be TONS when we're done).

I'm feeling good, tired, but considering I have chronic fatigue, I've been laughing. I was worried it would get really bad, and it hasn't been. I still have crash periods where I go from 100 to 0 in a few minutes, but for the most part, I'm feeling "normal".

First OB appt tomorrow... but don't know that it will be all that interesting. This OB will be transferring my care at the end of August to someone else in the practice... so it doesn't make a lot of sense for me to go over birth plan, etc with her.
 
#5 ·
SierraBella, hooray about the sickness getting better! It must be SUCH a relief!

Mummoth, I can't believe what craziness you've been dealing with lately! Lice, face bumps, now chicken pox! I'm exhausted just thinking about it all.

Im feeling pretty good. My stomach feels so tight and tender, and doesn't want anything touching it, and isn't happy with any sitting position but straight up and legs perfectly out. And food is still difficult, because I know I need to eat more, but nothing sounds good, so meal planning around here is pretty nonexistent.

That said, the biggest thing in my life right now is my uncle's death. Suddenly on Wednesday, after talking with my mama abou the details of it all, which are truly awful, the whole thing sunk in. I woke up that morning and thought, aren't pregnant women supposed to cry a lot? When will that happen? Then spent most of the day sobbing uncontrollably into a stuffed bear, crying for my uncle and my family and myself and the child I'm bringing into this insane world. I've been kind of a mess since then! But I have been talking to my cousin (my dead uncle's son) a lot, and because of some crazy things in my past, I've actually been able to help him. That, at least, feels good.

Would you believe it, the descendants plus spouses of my two grandparents add up to 85 people! They sure did their part in (over)populating the world!

And I'm so happy now, when the world feels weighty and sad, to check in here with you all about these much simpler events like babies moving and tender tummies and impending motherhood. I'm so happy for you all!
 
#6 ·
Jeninejessica~ since you guys are actually happy about DH having time off work, I bet he'll get a great offer before he gets to everything on the list done!

Azadehhast~ I'm glad you're able to help your cousin... and with a family that big, your little one is sure to have someone to turn to for support whenever he or she has troubles.

I just had to pop back in to say my kids came back from a visit with XH's parents, and DS who is 9 (and seems a lot less interested in the pregnancy than his sister) had asked to bring home some pringles-type chips for me, because he read on the nutritional information that it has 6% of the daily value of iron! I am borderline anemic, so I've been cramming iron as much as possible. Anyway, it just made me happy that he thought of me :)
 
#7 ·
The holiday weekend was a blur. Saturday we took the kids to the library to sign up for the summer reading program, then 5yo dd had soccer followed immediately by a birthday party and then a going-away party. DP took the kids to the birthday party because I was so exhausted I was feeling light-headed. I slept until the going-away party. (That's right, ladies: story time and watching dd play soccer wore me out to the point of exhaustion!)

We packed a lunch and went hiking on Sunday. We weren't being overly ambitious about the hike; it was supposed to be .8 mi. It wound up being 1.5 mi each direction. My energy level was fine, though, and our kiddos did well. A new pregnancy symptom arrived halfway back, though: Crazy aching in my pelvis! It felt like it was going to break with each step for the rest of the day. I had to go home and sit or lie down for the entire evening. I guess it's the hormones softening the cartilage to allow the necessary spreading, but OUCH!!!! I was in so much pain, I was walking "like an old lady." DP took pity on me because it was so obvious. I was waited on hand and foot for the rest of the day.

You would think after going through three pregnancies, I would remember these discomforts or when to expect them...

On a happy note, one of DP's high school classmates had a beautiful 4th of July home birth story published in the paper. It was attended by our midwives. I'm SOOO thrilled to be living here after our struggles with home birth in NC! http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/04/news/downeast/independent-down-east-mom-gives-birth-at-home-on-fourth-of-july/
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#8 ·
We had a fun family weekend- and took the kids to see a parade yesterday morning. I wound up wearing my youngest for about an hour in a carrier other than my Kinderpack. Oh My Gosh- I missed the Kinderpack! I love my Oh Snap, but my hips are happier with the KP these days. Almost 30 lbs of toddler gets heavy when you are just standing around watching a parade. He feels weightless when we hike though...

I'm feeling pretty tired, and napping more again when I am able to, but overall I'm hanging in there. I keep telling myself 'just a few more months...' I am still able to wear my normal clothes and sleep on my stomach, so we haven't yet gotten to the point where I really dislike being pregnant yet... (Oh my gosh, I'm just a ball of sunshine!)
 
#9 ·
We've started packing for the big move. We packed up a lot of stuff, but we haven't touched our storage room in the basement...not looking forward to that. It's a slight disaster. It's definitely exhausting packing. Plus the whole sciatica problem makes it unpleasant. Although, at work yesterday it didn't hurt that bad. So, that was exciting! My husband is finishing up his thesis for his masters degree and he's been super stressed out. At least he has a deadline of the 15th to meet now. Hopefully then he can really focus on finding a job once he's done.

I am definitely growing now! I'm so excited to be showing. I'm officially in maternity pants. My shirts are getting a little short, so I'm wearing my maternity shirts mostly. My friend already asked if she could throw me a baby shower. I think she's more excited about it than I am. I guess that's good since I'm not one for planning events. I'm glad she's going to be closer once we move. She's going to be a big help.
 
#10 ·
Cross-posting my hullaballoo at the doctors office yesterday:

We had our first OB appointment yesterday. Wowwwweee! Ok so first off, I'm so disappointed because the doctor is absolutely amazing. A total grandmother type feel, where I felt listneed to, and respected, and comforted. But she's retiring at the end of August and will be passing my care on to her replacement (who she says follows all her same practices, but of course you don't know...). But anyways, she said normally they would do bloodwork at the appointment to test a few things, I said I was terrified of needles, and she said ok. That was that. I asked about the GD test, and she said they normally do it in that practice along with your 28 week bloodwork, and that it is indeed done by blood draw, not a needle prick, which I said was good.

And then she had me hop up on the table to check out the belly... I lifted up my shirt, and right away she kind of paused and was like "oh... well... that's a little bit bigger a belly than we normally expect to see at 18.5 weeks..." Well let's get the doppler and see what we can find. So she dopplered me, and you could tell she still wasn't 100% that she was hearing a second heartbeat, so she was like "well... we don't normally ever ever do this, but I do have a portable ultrasound machine... is it ok if I grab that and we take a peek real quickly?" At this point DH I swear has turned white, and I was a little bit in disbelief (all our friends have been joking about twins). So we got an impromptu ultrasound... she did confirm there is just ONE in there, thankfully. I didn't realize just how badly I didn't want twins until we were trying to find a second baby on the screen and I was holding my breath. But anyways... my gosh. It's so weird to see it and know that is YOUR baby in there, not some picture on the internet. We've really wanted to limit ultrasounds, so we are planning for the 21 week one, and then a second 'fun' one that my sister won a gift certificate for, as a way to confirm the sex, at that's that. So this one was a bonus, and total surprise. It was very neat to see all the little ribs, and the baby's bent up knees and everything. So little!

Anyways... DH and I both thought we saw what could be boy parts, so I think he's totally on board now with finding out the sex on the 21st, which will be good. I can't wait now, especially since we've gotten a tease!

Back to work today after four long glorious days off with DH. And this week he starts hardcore on our yard, and organizing the garage (so he can empty out the basement to finish reno'ing it). I'm so exicted!
 
#11 ·
Jeninejessica: I'd say, if you're tummy is that big, we need a new picture on the belly thread! You must have been so nervous! OMG OMG, what if there's two! I'd probably wet myself....:) Yay it's only one!

I've noticed my uterus kind of stretches upward when I sleep, and every day I wake up and it's really high, I kind of panic for a minute. Then it goes down as soon as I get up, and I decide there is only one. :) But yesterday, when I woke up, my left tummy was almost flat, and there was a big hard bump on my right side, and then it moved when I sat up. Little alien baby!
 
#12 ·
It's so weird how some days I feel absolutely pregnant and other days it's like nothing at all. Sometimes I get paranoid that the baby is gone. Sometimes I think that I never really was pregnant (although I have 2 ultrasounds that beg to differ!).

In general my symptoms have only been an insane need to pee and a general stretchy-growy feeling in my abdomen. I've been able to feel my uterus for a few weeks now and it's definitely growing. It's pushing all my other bits all around. Some days it makes everything else stick out a lot and then I look pregnant. Other days all that stuff seems to have found a new place to settle in and I look pretty flat tummy-ed again. I'm still wearing normal clothes except for the bigger bras that I caved in and bought.

Running has been rough on my pelvis and lower back. I don't want to give it up yet though so just trying to keep my muscles strong and hope that helps. Soon I'll spend more time in the pool, but I want to hang on to my runs for as long as I can.

The last 2 days have been the toughest so far. Physically very tired. I was happy to not have to work. But emotionally - holy cow! I was eating breakfast with my husband and during a conversation just started tearing up! It was all I could do to not start sobbing in the restaurant! What the heck?? It was a very slightly strained conversation, but nothing to start crying about. I wasn't upset, just suddenly crying! Good lord, I'm hoping it's just my hormones readjusting.
 
#13 ·
cwill - I was reading a Judy Blume book to my daughters and couldn't stop myself from crying. I tried to pause and collect myself, but I was on the train and it was leaving the station no matter what. My girls are probably nervous about my sanity ... Fudge swallowed Peter's turtle and it died. That's enough to shake me to the core.
 
#14 ·
re: crying... I was listening to a recording of a friend singing (she blew the roof off, SO great!!) and started BAWLING. Sobbing. Couldn't stop. It was completely rediculous. And I said as much to my DH and sister who were in the car with me, who had a good laugh. Which of course made me laugh. So then it was alternating sobbing and laughing. Oh, it was a treat. I hope those episodes are few and far between. It was crazy.
 
#15 ·
I've just re-calculated my EDD based on the more recent Mittendorf-Williams method. It is said to be twice as accurate, and I have always had my babies more than a week past the EDD based on the standard method.

So: my new EDD is 12/26. Time will tell which method is more accurate for me...

If anyone else is interested, here is how to use the Mittendorf-Williams method: (Copied & Pasted from Jan 2012 DDC "Informal Study" sticky thread)

Quote:
(From January 2012 DDC "Informal Study" sticky thread)

To calculate using the Mittendorf-Williams method take the first day of your last period and subtract three months. Then you add fifteen days if this is your first baby and you are Caucasian. If you are not Caucasian or this is not your first baby, you will want to add on ten days.
I found more info on this method here as well: http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/961107/pregnancy.shtml
 
#16 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by BennyPai View Post

I've just re-calculated my EDD based on the more recent Mittendorf-Williams method. It is said to be twice as accurate, and I have always had my babies more than a week past the EDD based on the standard method.

So: my new EDD is 12/26. Time will tell which method is more accurate for me...

If anyone else is interested, here is how to use the Mittendorf-Williams method: (Copied & Pasted from Jan 2012 DDC "Informal Study" sticky thread)

I found more info on this method here as well: http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/961107/pregnancy.shtml
I think this would move me from Dec 11 to Dec 16. I was guessing the 18th, so we'll see!
 
#18 ·
That gives me December 7th. Right now the doctors office is working off of November 30, and I'm going off of December 1st... but honestly I'll be a little sad if we have a November birthday, since I've gotten so used to thinking December. December 4-5 seems perfect to me. The 6th is DH's mom's birthday and she's really rooting for that.

Emotional: I got a graduation card from my mom a few weeks back, and I couldn't even open it while at the restaurant, she was angry, I could tell- but I was like no, trust me, it's better if I do things like open sappy cards in private, not in a crowded restaurant! lol

I do have a new belly photo, I just haven't pulled it off the camera yet... I need to start doing them more often though. I'll be 19 weeks tomorrow guys, that's insane! FWIW, I don't think most times the belly is really that big -on average-, but there are days where by the end of the day I look at myself in the mirror and am like "holy crap!" but then by mrning it's back to normal. But it WAS a little unnerving to have a 30 year veteran OB take one look and gulp! I think a lot of it is to do with my pretty sad lack of stomach muscles, so there's not much to hold the belly in.

In totally frivilous news, DH and I also went Monday to the expensive baby store downtown to walk around and take another look at our stroller (it's the only store in the city that stocks it), and I'm convinced that a/ there's nothing else in that store that I want, and b/ I am hopelessly in love with that stroller, and it's a done deal, I just need to decide on color. It will be absolutely our biggest purchase, but I'm soooo excited for it.

Right now we've narrowed our baby purchases down to $500 for the stroller, $300 for the crib, $60 for the pack and play (we're looking used), $400 for a rocker... and then just little things that we'll mostly get from showers etc I think. Since all those big purchases will last for multiple babies, it doesn't feel too bad. The stroller for instance carries up to 75lbs. And my mother is already itching to buy more stuff, so I think we're going to steer the in laws and my parents toward paying for the crib. It's nice to kind of lay out in black and white what we have left to spend (as best as you can really guess of course...)

How is everyone else doing with acquiring 'stuff'? I know I'm more on the "lots of stuff" end of the spectrum, so I imagine some of you are almost done already!
 
#19 ·
I haven't even started looking for stuff. I have a list of stuff I want but nothing picked out. I don't want too much stuff before we move. So, it'll probably be October before we buy anything large at least. I think my in-laws are getting us a stroller. Maybe I can talk my parents into getting us a crib. My husbands brother has finished having his babies and says he's giving us his canoe crib(hangs from the ceiling), car seat, swing, and bouncy chair. I'm not sure how this is happening since his little one is only 4 1/2 months now. So, I'm not counting on that stuff too much. I have been snooping around the baby departments when I'm out looking for clothes. It's hard not to just buy something, but I really want to wait and see what we're going to get and wait until after the move.

My husband is a twin and he really really wants twins. I'm am not so much on board with that. So, I understand. We had a quick ultrasound at 8 weeks and there was definitely only one. I was so relieved. I think he was disappointed.
 
#21 ·
M-W puts me at 1/6 vs. 12/27 and so is obviously highly inaccurate and unscientific, lol. I'd rather be early, but whatever.

I'm glad I'm not the only emotional one right now. It's been ok again the last few days, but I honestly felt like I was possessed or something. I really was not sad or upset or anything. Just crying like a ninny.

I don't think I've bought a single baby-related thing yet. I haven't really even started looking, though I did start a wishlist. My mom took me to a baby-crap store while I was visiting and I lasted about 5 minutes before I was like, this is a terrible place, please let me leave. :) I'm such a dork. We're getting a good bit of stuff from friends - a crib, a wrap, some diapers, some clothes, other stuff... I don't really want it yet. We have a very, very small house and are anticipating guests later this summer so I don't really have space. We're going to have to do a lot of rearranging. I started looking at diapers, but I won't buy anything but disposables until after baby is here.
 
#22 ·
We had our ultrasound on the 30th and found out it was a boy. It was also nice to find out that I know my body better than the OB I was originally seeing thought. Based on my last period my due date is November 21st. I told the OB that I was absolutely sure of the date of conception and my due date should be December 1st. He completely ignored me. I switched over to a midwife shortly after and she believed me and changed my due date. My ultrasound showed my date exactly right on at December 1st. I was concerned because they would be ready to induce me before I barely reached my due date. I was 8 days past my due date and was induced with my first. I want to avoid that if at all possible this time around.

Ok...we have come up with a name that DH and I both like...it is truly a miracle. Lennon Edward.

I had posted something just a little while back about my MIL, who is crazy. Things over the 4th did not go so well. DH decided to approach her and she started calling him a liar. I stepped in and truly gave her a piece of my mind. I realized quickly there was no rationalizing with her and I ended up being a bit brutal. Unfortunately, it makes not one bit of difference because she hates me either way although I'm still clueless as to why. Fortunately, it felt REALLY good to get it all off my chest. 8 years of bottled up emotions can be hard to hold in once it starts coming out. Maybe I can hold it in for 8 more years...lol.
 
#26 ·
That new method gives me December 12th instead of the 8th, so not much of a difference for me. DH will be disappointed though, since he really wants this baby to come on the 7th(Pearl Harbor Day). He wants to send out birth announcements that say, "A day that will live in infamy." Yeah, we're nerds.
 
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