[HoneyTree]

Woohoo! We are IN the new house! I've even managed to harness the short but intense bursts of pregnancy energy to unpack about half the boxes. The dogs follow me around as I bustle from box to closet to trashcan and back to box a few times, then we all three collapse for about 20 minutes to catch our breath. It's not necessarily speedy, but it is a system.

The BEST thing about the new house is that it has a porcelin tub, which I've been using every night. The warm baths, coupled with a few drops of lavender oil, seem to be helpling me sleep better at night.

Aided by my topsy-turvy schedule these past two weeks, and the attendant eating of junk food and lack of regular exercise, I have begun to notice a little extra padding in my hip region. I'm telling myself this is a natural part of being pregnant, but my pre-baby brain still balks a bit at the mirror, wondering how much those Cheetos had to do with it!

I'm still battling my UTI, but am trying to make friends with my urethra and to rally my white blood cells. (This whole talking to your body thing is way cool, if you ask me! I've been telling my uterus every day what a good girl she is and how she's getting SOOOOO big.) (OK, not every day, but enough that she knows I'm not taking her for granted.)

So what's going on with everyone else?

Teresa

 

[*Amy*]

Yay, BTE, you did it!! I'm so happy for you that it's all over.

I've suddenly put on about 3 pounds in the past few days, yet it took me the entire first trimester to gain a good 5 pounds, so I'm starting to think all of those therapeutic potato chips might be going to my hips too! But you know, I swear, they did settle my stomach right down (and damn they are good!! I haven't let myself eat chips in years!). I think it's time to say goodbye to them though.

My wonderful news is that we met with our doula last night, for the first time, and we all clicked perfectly so we've decided to hire her. And her name is Amy too, so that's got to be a good sign! We talked for over an hour and a half, and she said everything I wanted to hear and put my mind at ease about the negative experience I had with the nurse at my midwife's clinic. Overall, I feel like everything I have been hoping for in terms of this birth is falling into place!

Oh and last night I had a dream that I was at the midwife for my 38-week visit, and I suddenly went into labor. I think I had the baby very quickly (with no pain!

) and it was a little girl. The funny thing was, after we were all cleaned up and gazing at her, I was like, "she doesn't look anything like either of us...." and she had strawberry blonde hair, which doesn't run in either of our families. Honestly I wasn't sure if I thought she was cute at all! :LOL I also had a completely terrifying dream that someone broke into our house and came upstairs to our bedroom. I woke up (in my dream) to hear my dog barking and growling, and I saw this figure dressed in all black, with a black ski mask, at the foot of the bed. DH woke up and they were struggling/fighting just above me and I tried to be helpful by biting the guy, but then I realized I was wearing my retainer (for TMJ; I'm a bad teeth grinder) so my teeth were all covered and I couldn't bite. The guy kind of took off and ran down the stairs, and I heard the front door open, and thought "thank god, he's gone" but then I heard him come back in the house and stomp back up the stairs. Apparently DH had gone back to sleep while the guy was downstairs, so I was shaking him, screaming "he's coming back!! He's coming back!!" and then I woke up. It was SOO SCARY, I think because it was so real. My heart was pounding and I cuddled up to DH and pressed my body as close to his as I could and had a hard time going back to sleep for a while. Ugh, I hate dreams like that!!

Last night I found this really nice webpage with a ton of ultrasound, belly, and labor and birth pics. The birth pics are amazing - I have really never seen anything so honest and personal. If you want to check it out, it's called Amazing Pregnancy Pictures.

 

[snugglebutter]

Still battling a bit with nausea at almost 16 weeks, but it seems to be fading! I am finally able to cook (and usually eat) dinner again - which thrills Dh. :LOL Overall, I feel like I am returning to a normal functioning level again! The only trouble I have is that my sciatica flares up if I am on my feet too much - but sitting on my birth ball helps that a ton.

I had a consult with a new CNM on Friday that went really well. (my previous midwife just moved

so I am looking for someone new) I have two additional consults this week and will then make a decision. My first perinatologist appt is tomorrow.

Teresa - that tub sounds great! Amy - I'm glad you found a doula that you really like.

 

[AmyGirl28]

I am in my 16th week and finally have my energy back. Although at night I get ligament pains when I turn too fast, and I've even had a couple of braxton hicks contractions. I was really surprised to be getting them so early. It must be the Rasberry Leaf Tea. Everything else is going well. I have been so busy that this pregnancy is just flying by. Can you believe we are almost half way there ladies? Wow!

 

[samsmamma]

Had an OUTSTANDING weekend - took yesterday off, too - and being back at work just stinks! It finally feels like summer here, and I'm loving it, even with my big belly. The bit of swelling I had last week seems to mainly be from humidity and simple weight gain, because when I am in a/c, I can move my wedding band with no problem. So I'm trying to watch the salt a bit and just be good about what I eat. I have a lot of extra padding on my hips, too, but I'm not worrying about it for now. I just got called for jury duty on 7/5 and I postponed previously, so I have to do it. But I have my 20 week sono on 7/7, so I'm hoping that will help me to get out of it. No one wants a grumpy pregnant woman on the jury, anyway, I don't think.

I keep feeling what seems like little phantom kicks, but nothing consistent. MW says I should be feeling it within the next 4 weeks, but she expects me to feel it in the next 1-2. I hope so - I really love that!

Sam still insists the baby is a girl and doesn't even want to hear boys names! I sent some names I like to DH, but he hasn't given any feedback yet. I need some input from him because I am just out of ideas.

Lots of business stuff coming in the next few weeks...a dinner next MOnday, a trip down to DC next Thursday, then an overnight upstate the week after. Then things should calm down for a while, which will be good. We should get our annual raises with the first July paycheck. It won't be much, but every little bit counts.

Stay cool everyone! It's 90 degrees here!

 

[gonnabeamom]

I had an eventful weekend, travelling with DH to a road race, and having a really nice time.

I may have had my first kick in the airport after arrriving, but I'm still not sure I can distinguish baby movements from ligament strain, from gas pain. It's my first and I'm about week 17.

Still morning sick and more tired this month than I was most of first trimester. Brain is shot, boobs are sore, etc. I'm obsessed with my belly, rubbing it constantly to make sure it's still there, poking it, trying to guess if it is bigger,etc.

We did midwife interviews last week before we left and it's down to two very good choices. I'm really torn, cause I like all of them (one is a practice with 3 midwives) the other is a mostly solo with a partner and actually has a backup OB, which is completely rare here, and nice because if you do have to transfer you come in as a Drs patient, and they don't mess with you as much. Got to make a decision soon though.

 

[memory maker]

I am really anxious this week. today was the orginal day my ultrasound was set up for. But because of dhs work schedule I have to wait until thursday. I am really excited to see this little one who is moving so much!! It is getting some very strong movements too. Please keep us in mind, we have to have a level 2 ultrasound done to check for heart defects. My older brother died when he was 3 months old because of one, so our MW always has us check for problems before hand. Hopefully everything will be normal

 

[PicnicBear]

Well, sounds like a busy, but mostly good time for posters so far. I have had a rough couple weeks but I am optimistic that things will improve. I finally saw a doctor for what I thought was acne but was a staph infection and having been taking meds and it's clearing, then he switched to me to a cheaper one and it "didn't agree" with my tummy, if you know what I mean so I will be switching back. Also I have had a chronic headaches for the last several weeks. We have plans to leave for a 2 week vacation to Greece this weekend and I hope to feel up to it. I had been feeling pretty well through the earlier part of the pregnancy and stayed pretty busy/stressed. I guess the baby/my body is telling me it needs some time now and I am being forced to rest. Each day at a time . .

 

[Awaken]

Hmmm, where to begin? sounds like a lot is going on with you ladies!

I had to leave work early today- ds had a temp of 103. Then he took a very short nap so I have to entertain him all afternoon! Made oatmeal cookies which took a while and he had fun.

Sometimes I think I feel movement- sort of a squirming movement- not really a kick or flutter. Like it's flipping over. It's not consistent though so I'm not really sure. My next appt. is Friday so I'm looking forward to hearing the hb and then scheduling my u/s for a few weeks from now!

Amy- so glad to hear you found a doula! It must give you a lot of peace of mind. Just curious- what else to they do throughout the pregnancy and how often would you meet and talk prior to the birth?

Plagio- so sorry to hear about your infection

Wow, your trip to Greece sounds awesome!! Tell us all about it!

Samsmama- So glad you had a great weekend and took an extra day off! It's always nice to have a little breather

Have fun in DC- that's where I am

Sorry about the jury duty- hope you get off without too long a service and it doesn't mess things up for your u/s. I was on jury duty for a MONTH over Sept. 11th, 2001- in downtown DC as it happened- let me tell you, that was just a lovely time!! We have lived in a different county for 2 1/2 yrs now and I still haven't been called! Although I can't do it now since we have no backup childcare and I'll soon be nursing.

Well, best wishes to everyone still interviewing and deciding on practitioners- hope you find someone who is a great fit! I have having some upheaval regarding that in my own mind, but I'll write more about that later....

 

[DreamsInDigital]

Ugh I am so emotional today! Every thread I open today has brought tears to my eyes for no reason. Every conversation I've had today has brought tears to my eyes. And the baby has been kicking up a storm and I'm almost in tears because he/she finally has a name and I felt so relieved sharing it with you guys.
I am completely nuts.

 

[Kavita]

Dreams in Digital, sorry you're getting all teary! Hopefully it's a sorta good emotional, not just the totally crazy kind!

Sounds like everyone else is having a good week so far, at least for the most part!

Things are really good here, lots of change but good change! Our exchange student is leaving to go back to France. I'm both sort of relieved to have one less responsibility and expense, and have it be DH and I again, and have another room of our house and our extra dressers back again, so we can start getting it ready for the baby. (We will have the baby in our room but still have a room for the baby--sort of Baby HQ!) But I'm also sad to see her go, I'll miss her and we've had fun and it is kind of making me sad that she won't be able to see the baby when it's born because she's really been one of the first people who's known I was pregnant and has been there to witness the whole thing so far. I also feel a little bad because I would have liked to be able to do more stuff with her, traveling and so on, but some of those things didn't work out, in part because I was pregnant.

Anyway, she is supposed to be at the airport at 3 am!!!! Should be kind of interesting trying to either stay awake, or wake up at 2 to take her. Tonight we're all going to a French restaurant in town for a farewell meal.

We got tile and are having most of our house tiled, and the installer wanted to start tomorrow, so I am taking a vacation day tomorrow to stay home and oversee the tiling (not so much the actual tiling part but just having a crew of folks in my home) since I figured I would be pooped anyway from being up in the middle of the night.

Hope you all have a good rest of the week!

 

[MamaFern]

wow, so much going on!

congrats on the move teresa.. im all about the lavender baths too

stuff is going great here.. i went to visit a friend with a 10 week old baby on the weekend and then got to see my good friends new baby ( 2 months) they are from the dstates and i raraley see them. it felt so good holding new babies.. its been a while.. elwynn was sooo good with them, he was weet and gentle and it made me feel really good and he kept looking at them and then saying " there is a baby in mommas belly too!"

this baby of mine has GROWN! the top of my uturus went from beling a few finger widths below my navel on tuesday at my MW appot and now its at least one above! isnt that the 20 week mark??? its lovely though. i love feeling this baby and the bump that i have. *sigh*

*amy* thats rad that you found a doula! im so excited for you!

and everyone else, hope you have a relaxing evening...

 

[*Amy*]

Hey mamas! Everyone's so chatty and has so much going on!

Kavita, I'm happy and sad for you that your exchange friend is going to be leaving. I'm sure I would feel a mix of relief and sadness too. "Baby HQ" made me laugh, by the way! That's kind of the idea we have too. It's funny, actually - we live in a 3 bedroom house and the Baby will have the biggest room of the 3. :LOL DH told me yesterday that he's excited about filling up the baby room with furniture and things, but he said, "don't tell the other guys I said that." Hee!

Mamafern, sounds like you had fun! I wish I knew someone with little babies but all of my friends here have kids who are over 1 year. They are still fun of course, but not the same as a wee one.

Awww, Ashe.

I've had days like that too. Sometimes it feels good to just let it all out though and cry over stupid things like credit card commercials.

Itsybitsy, sorry to hear about your DS. Is he feeling better today?

Plagio - GREECE!! Wow! I hope you are feeling up to it too. That's great! We are leaving in about a week and a half for a week trip to Texas (DH's high school reunion and his cousin's wedding all in one weekend) and then we come home for a week, and then we're off to Hawaii for 3 weeks! I can't wait. DH is going to be teaching at a conferece for the first two weeks so most days I will be at the hotel myself so I plan to just lounge at the pool and read books. The last 7-8 days, DH will be done teaching so it will be like a real vacation; we're calling it our second honeymoon (we just had our first anniversary on Sunday). I've never been anywhere tropical so I'm totally thrilled about it!

My only recent development has been the really bad aching and sometimes cramping in my legs. Anyone else experiencing this yet? The cramps are usually in my calves, but my quads feel like I've been working out and lifting heavy weights every day. It's not horrible yet, but it definitely makes it more difficult to go to sleep every night. I'm having a hard time getting comfortable anyway - I'm a stomach sleeper, and over the past week it's just gotten impossible to lay flat on my tummy. I've devised a system of laying my entire torso and head on a pillow, and then another pillow under one hip, so that I'm kind of laying on my front-side, but the belly has a little gap between the two pillows, so there is no pressure in that area. It's working so far, but I'm not sure how long I will be able to get away with it!

Oh and Itsybitsy, you had asked about my doula. Basically I can call her anytime during the pregnancy with questions, or just for support. We meet two more times before the 38th week, at which point she goes on call. I think she said around week 34 we start talking frequently, like once a week, so that she can get a feel for how I'm doing and just make sure I am feeling OK. Then when I go into labor she will either meet us at our house or at the birth center. She also does prenatal/newborn massage and prenatal yoga, and she's planning a couples' retreat this fall, but I'm sure that will be extra money. So I won't be seeing her all the time or anything, but just knowing that she is there gives me a huge amount of comfort. She's attended births at the center where I will be, so she knows all of the L&D nurses there and she said that when they see that she is with me at the birth, they will probably just let us do our own thing unless we tell them we need something. I really like that idea. She hasn't done Hypnobabies before, so she's really excited to learn about that as well. I just really felt a great connection with her, and I think it helps that she is my age (and has two daughters) and that she and I have very similar life philosophies. So I'm stoked!

Hey Amygirl, did you have a good birthday?!

Well have a great day everyone. I'm going to try to stay cool. It went from Winter to "New Orleans" in like one day here. UGH!! Too hot and humid for me.

:

 

[BensMom]

I like reading these updates. It's fun to hear what everyone is up to.

Let's see...what's going on here....

Pregnancy wise, I seem to be developing PUPPPs, which is causing all these little bumps to appear and they itch like crazy. I did not have this with my first pregnancy and it is rare for it to occur in a second pregnancy and also this early. Lucky me. It has gotten progressively worse since I started noticing it last week. (I thought we had a flea infestattion LOL but then started seeing the little bumps everywhere). I sent an email to my MWs, hopefully they will have a solution. But based on my internet research, I'm not holding out much hope.

I might have felt my first kick this morning. I was lying in bed trying to eek out a few more minutes of bed-time, with a full bladder, and all of sudden felt this sharp feeling down low. LIke someone kicked my bladder. Who knows. It could have been ligaments too, since I was half asleep when I felt it.

Is anyone else running HOT? I wake up every morning with my blankets completely kicked off. I've always been a little hot blooded, but not like that! It's kinda freaky.

Otherwise, we are dealing with DS's special needs a lot lately. He has not talked in 2.5 weeks and it gets me down a lot of days. I am trying to find a new therapist who has experience with autism, since his current therapists are all about "tough love" and not responding to him so he has to talk. I don't think it will work and one therapist even compared what he have to do to "cry it out" methods of teaching a child to sleep. Uh...no. So hopefully I can find a new therapist who will make me feel more comfortable.

And last but not least, DH has had three interviews for a new job that might allow me to quit work! He asked for $15-17K more than he makes now and they called him back for a 3rd interview after that. With that raise, things would be tight, but I could justify quitting sooner rather than later. So keep your fingers crossed for us. We should hear something by the end of the week

Whew, I typed a novel!

Oh and *Amy*, I was having calf cramps last week (and had then during my last pregnancy) and started eating a banana a day. No cramps since. I swear by my banana-therapy!

 

[beachbaby]

Hi, everyone! Sounds like we are all having a busy week so far! I love hearing the updates every week as we get closer to meeting our little ones

Looks like we are finally going to be able to starting moving in to our new house this weekend! I'm going to take it slow, though, and get lots of help so I don't over-do it. Looking forward to setting up our own Baby HQ, too... :LOL

It's finally hot here and starting to really feel like summer. For all those going on summer vacations, have fun! Summer is the busy time at work for both me and DH, so we aren't able to get away any time soon. We live near a beach town, though, so I'm looking forward to at least floating in the ocean a bit.

Take care of yourselves and enjoy the rest of the week, all!

 

[trmpetplaya]

Great to hear about your weeks, everyone! Not much is happening here... the baby is kicking like a fiend sometimes, mostly while I'm at work. When do they start being able to hear? Things I should already know, I know...

My job involves using a quite noisy proof machine and I want to get a pillow and a speaker and let the baby hear music

instead of machine noise

(it's not so loud that we have to wear earplugs or anything).

I'm now 18 weeks 1 day! Which is very exciting!

I'm worn out because of a(nother) UTI

:, but I think I'll start another thread about it because that's a long complicated story and I need some good advice from you Mamas!

love and peace.

 

[*Amy*]

Good morning! I'm 16 weeks today!

Time for another round of belly pics. My belly has gotten huge the past few days, and I have been feeling the baby so much more frequently since night before last. It is so cool!!

I'm glad I will be actually showing and looking pregnant when we go to see DH's family & friends week-after-next. Oh and I had a dream last night that DH's best friend's mom bought us all of the cloth dipes on our registry! It was great. That's definitely a dream I wish would come true! :LOL

Bensmom, I took your advice and ate a banana yesterday and I didn't have leg cramps at all last night. Thanks!

By the way, is anyone else having trouble feeling their fundus? I press around on my abdomen daily, but I just can't feel it from the outside. I think my uterus is a tipped backward a bit, but still, you'd think by this time it would be more obvious.

 

[gonnabeamom]

DOWNER POST WARNING

I am having crappy day number two. Yesterday, I was depressed and sad most of the day, and today seems set to be a repeat. DH and I just can't seemed to connect and it's got me so depressed that with pregnancy mood swings on top I cried more than a handful of times. Once after DH got home I couldn't really stop crying for about 20 minutes.

This morning I rolled over and DH was all cuddly and we were having a perfectly nice time, and I started thinking about something that bothered me between us, and pretty soon I felt completely devestated. Even in the middle of it, I knew it was a bad thing to focus on, and a bad time to focus on it. After he left I had another 5 minute sobbing jag.

I don't really understand why I feel this way, when for the most part things have been good. I just seem so fragile.

MIL's upcoming visit is not helping things. She's really jerking us around about what her plans are, and DH's attitude is that if she doesn't tell us then we can just make our own plans, but that is much harder for me to do.

It hasn't helped much that it rained over the weekend for our getaway/race weekend, and now is uncharacteristically cold and stormy here at home.

Hope all of you are having better days than I am.

 

[3for3hb]

Hello, hello!!!
It feels like forever since I've been online... guess I kinda have become addicted to the internet again. It happened last time I was pregnant too.
Anyway, haven't had the time or the energy to read everyone's posts so far but it looks like you have all been busy.

SO WE ARE IN OUR NEW HOUSE !!!

:

:
It's a townhome and it's so much nicer than our in-school sh** rental that we were in before. I hadn't seen the house before our move so I was really looking forward to seeing whether dh picked a good one or not and to my great pleasure he came through again and picked a great one. All the rooms are so sunny, the kitchen has a good flow to it so it's much nicer to cook in, we actually have an office, and oh, yeah, closets (our last house had 2... in the ENTIRE house). And we have a basement and garage for even more storage. All we really need are some extra shelving here and there so stuff isn't just sitting on the floor. I'm really in the nesting mood and not the unpacking mood so it's been slow going. Well, I'm just sick of seeing cardboard everywhere. I'm still recovering from the 20 hour drive (by myself with our 16 month old). Yeah, it took 8 more hours than normal to get here. Thankfully no real complications. One detour because a bridge was out and dh scaped the bumper of my car but it's okay. Other than that, we got her in one piece. Family showed up within the hour of our arrival (1 pm) and started unpacking the truck... which was helpful except for the fact that they really weren't paying attention to anything we were saying and were ignoring the labeling on the boxes. So the garage became a HUGE mess of boxes and miscellaneous unpacked big stuff that we had to wade through and sort once they were gone. We found "fragile" boxes on the bottom, you know, stacked under heavy boxes with books. We haven't yet unpacked everything, (it's hard with a curious 16 month old to get a lot done when he's awake) so we haven't yet been able to assess the damage completely.
We live so close to so many beautiful natural preserves and parks. We took Tuesday off and went exploring/ on a three hour walk. Then we got up early yesterday and walked for another hour then went for an hour long bike ride at night. IT has been great.
gotta go baby is up!

 

[kel]

gonnabeamom, I'm sorry you're having such a hard time right now. I've actually gone through some crying spurts this weeks, too - just dealing with things that are very difficult right now. Take care of yourself. I know what you mean about the weather, too; it is finally sunny here today and I'm so much happier.

*Amy*, Are you lying down when you try to feel it?

trmpetplaya, I think it's around six months that the baby can hear outside sounds clearly, but that they can startle at loud noises at around five months.

I'm having a good week. I actually went to the thrift store and bought three basic, not foofy, maternity shirts yesterday and it is *so nice* to be able to walk around without having to pull my shirt down to cover my stomach! Still no luck with maternity pants - I hate them! I am down to my last pair of stretchy, low-waisted pants that still fit. This is my favorite time of pregnancy 5-6 months along and still being able to wear maternity clothes that are small enough to look cute instead of tent-like!