[Willowrose]

So, what's new mamas?<br>
My appetite is back....I haven't stopped eating all day and now I'm craving chocolate!<br>
I did some shopping for the baby, how different to go to the pink section of the stores!<br>
We are thinking of names and nursery themes. Even though the baby won't sleep in a crib at night, we hope she might nap in it, as I will be homeschooling.<br>
***my 4 year old took clippers to his hair this weekend and now I have a boy with a shaved head <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/yikes.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="EEK!"><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/bigeyes.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="bigeyes"><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/scared.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="scared"> I hope it grows back soon!

 

[ocindyz]

This is my 21 weeks, I havent start shopping for my baby yet. We just found out that Im having a baby boy ... My paretnts n parents in law are so excited about the result <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> Dunno y but Im craving for chocolate too !!!

 

[megpaw]

We had our one and only u/s last Friday....baby is perfect and measuring about a week ahead. Apparently I have an anterior placenta which is why I hadn't been feeling much movement, but the bellybean made up for it today! I've been feeling kicks all day long, and it gives me such a warm, fuzzy feeling, LOL. Everything is pretty much the same. I'm feeling pretty good during the day, and then I crash around 8:30pm....I stayed up late tonite for the finale of Six Feet Under, though. I'm also starving all the time, but my big craving isn't chocolate, it's Mexican food. YUM. I can't get enough.

 

[SMR]

Nothing exciting over here.. Friday I have a second ultrasound - we're hoping the baby is a bit less modest and gives us a show this time! haha<br>
I had a dream the other night that the baby was born with a diaper on, and we were all thinking, wow it looks like a cute little boy.. then my dh took the dipe off and it WAS a boy! (strange, cause not for one second have I ever thought it was a boy...) THEN I was taking him to show my mom and I dropped him right on his head!! he was crying AND I was crying!! I also nursed in the dream, which was really cool... it's almost like I could feel it!? (even though I have no idea what it will really feel like!) Anyhow, I woke dh up and said, <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"> I had a bad dream.. and told him about it, and he said, You won't DROP the baby... cause you'll be wearing it in that carrier thingie! :LOL<br>
hmmm whatelse.. I've had lots of fun movements, DH can't consistently feel them yet though. and I've still only gained 5lbs since the beginning.. I ask the midwife if that's okay and she said it is fine.. as long as I'm eating healthy foods and stuff! (and my ultrasound last month showed that the baby was EXACTLY the age I said it was - so it's not too small or anything) I figure when you start out with extra lbs, you just don't always NEED as many! haha<br>
I feel really great though!!

 

[Stargirl]

Hi gals,<br><br>
Week 20 here and we had our first and only ultrasound on Friday. It was an unforgettable experience!!! Everything was great!!!<br><br>
I have been researching cloth diapers this week. Man what a daunting task- who knew there were so many to choose from! Any thoughts?<br><br>
Hope everyone is feeling great!<br>
~Stargirl

 

[Persephone]

Everything is going great as far as the pregnancy is concerned. Still midwife hunting. I'm picky, and we're poor, so that really narrows the choices. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> I'm feeling the baby move several times a day now, usually after I eat. I haven't gained any weight in several weeks, so I'm due for a jump soon. But I've been eating really well, so I feel really good. (Anyone else feel like unless their diet is perfect their baby will be deformed? I worry too much about my diet I think.)

 

[MamaTaraX]

Shiz, if a bad diet will deform my kids then my two already here should at least have three arms <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/wink1.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="wink1"><br>
more to come...<br><br>
Namaste, Tara<br>
mama to Doodle (6), Butterfly (2), and Rythm (due at home 1/06)

 

[Wilhemina]

<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/wave.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="wave"> Hi all.<br>
All goes well here. Felt baby kick. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> Have been pondering testing. (It's keeping me up tonight :LOL ) I am officially of advanced maternal age I guess (36), though my midwife has certainly never said that, and I think it is making me feel differently about this pregnancy.<br><br>
With my last I had no qualms about turning down many of the routine tests(afp, ultrasound), but this time somehow it feels not quite so easy. The afp boat has sailed as I am at least 17.5 weeks now (though my due date is not very precise as I don't know my LMP). I don't feel very good about that one anyway, but somehow spina bifida and other neural tube defects are worrying me. I can't quite tell if its my normal insane pregnancy paranoia or if my intuition is telling me to check into things. It wouldn't make a difference to me if it were Down's Syndrome or some other disorder, but neural tube defects can sometimes be corrected or helped with fetal surgery, so I *should* find out if I can.<br><br>
What a nightmare that would be - fetal surgery, definately a high risk hospital birth...But I'd walk into the nightmare willingly if it was best for baby, yk?<br><br>
On the other hand I'm not very comfortable with a second u/s. (I had one earlier to help determine due date.) There is the slippery slope factor and all the worry if some other "problem" were to be detected. I am of the opinion that maternal worry is a grossly underestimated factor in pregnancy and birth difficulties. I feel certain it was a primary factor in my 1st pregnancy pre-eclampsia (long story).<br><br>
I guess I'm leaning toward trusting God, the baby, and my body's ability to grow a child.<br><br>
Thanks for listening to my early morning/late night rant here.<br><br>
Peaceful and prayerful thoughts to us all.

 

[kellywhalen]

Feeling pretty good.<br>
I am getting bigger, which makes it harder to move in the same ways I did pre-pregnancy.<br>
I have gained somewhere around 17 lbs. so far (into week 20), which I'm okay with.<br>
We are still nursing (17 month old) 2 or 3 times a day, sometimes less.<br>
We are house hunting, thinkign of building, and our settlement might be after baby! ACK! (one place would be settling right near my due date! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/jaw2.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="jaw2"> )<br>
I have a HUGE sex drive, DH can't keep up! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/wink1.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="wink1"><br>
My appetite is okay, but I am tryign not to eat EVERYTHING I crave, otherwise I'd be on an all chocolate diet! :LOL<br>
Hope everyone else is feeling well!

 

[Nature]

Nothing terribly exciting here. I'm feeling the baby move quite a bit now, kicks are getting harder and I'm positive I can feel her when she changes positions and rolls around. Its already starting to get uncomfortable! I get huge "Superbelly" when it happens. (BH contractions :LOL my nickname for them)<br><br>
I'm still in awe at how much my oldest loved watching my last ultrasound. I wish she could be at the birth because I know she'd love it, (and my hospital allows it! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/thumb.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="thumbs up"> ) but its a hard thing to plan because I don't have her 100% of the time. Chances are good she'll be with her father (my ex husband) when I go into labor, and he wouldn't be too up on the idea of her being there even though she's 7 and could handle it quite well. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"><br><br>
We found out its a girl and will most definatly be our little "Piper." Now to settle on a middle name with 4 syllabals... not easy! Estatically happy that we don't have to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe, but now it makes every purchase we make seem selfish..because now we don't really NEED it. (I moarn that the Britax marathon carseats went up in price because I know I'm going to buy another one...the yellowed flowered ones are gorgeous. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/love.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="love"> )

 

[beachcomber]

I'm recovering from my parents visit this past weekend. I love them dearly but they're a stressful bunch, to say the least. Yesterday they took me baby stuff shopping and the marathon nearly did me in. I'm not a great shopper - usually peter out in an hour. This took 5 hours. Whoo. But they were wonderful! They bought us a car seat and a selection of onesies, sleepers, receiving blankets, crib blankets, wash cloths, a diaper pail, etc. Just fantastic! I managed to steer my stepmom away from too much pink, but we did get a very sweet pink blanket with daisies on it and a pink sleeper with a teddy bear embroidered on the front.<br><br>
Getting back to the pregnancy, I'm having a bad time with allergies and chemical sensitivities this week. All the stores yesterday made me a bit sick. So I'm tired and sniffly. But I'm eating well - very healthy appetite. I'd eat more if the baby would make some room! I'm hungry all the time! Heh. Sleeping really well, too. Our power went out last night so I was in bed and asleep by 9:30!

 

[gethane]

*wave<br><br>
My belly seems to have exploded in the last week and a half. I'll be 18 weeks Thursday. I started getting BH this last week. And feel some more flutters if I pay attention.<br><br>
My allergies have been bothering me, and I went to my allergist today and am taking pulmicort now for my asthma. I haven't had too much asthma trouble lately, but during hayfever season, he wants me to take the pulmicort. As he says, "If you aren't getting air, neither is the baby." He asked what # baby this was for me and I said, "Don't laugh, but its #5." And he said he also had 5 kids <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">. So he wasn't laughing.<br><br>
My lvl 2 u/s is next Tuesday. I'm nervous, and excited at the same time. I want to know the gender, but I can't help but worry about things due to my age (37 next month) though I'm still sure everything will be ok. Hope the baby isn't modest because my daughters might try to torture me if I don't come back with a baby gender <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">.

 

[anarchamama]

Hey Everyone,<br><br>
I am doing really well, happy to be moving into the slower September season, and get onto a realy schedule. I am feeling the baby move regularily now, though still only from the iinside, but I am still only 18 weeks. The great baby stuff collecting has begun.lol. Babies turn me into a baby cloths horse. I am pretty commintted to gender neutral cloths etc so tis baby will wear all of ds's hand me downs, I have given some stuff away but have kept lots, and have about three friends with babies a little older who are passing stuff on (including one with twins), so we have way to many cloths already, and the family hasn't even started buying yet! I am trying to sort through it all and get rid of some. I went and bought a few maternity pants at value village and dug out my old maternity cloths today, so hopefully I'm set. I can still fit most of my stuff and with ds I crammed myslef into my old cloths for a long time as I hate maternity fashion, but I am going to try not to wreck so many t shirts this time! Anyway I am mostly set for cloths now and may actually start wearing them soon, I wouln't really say I'm showing, but my fat is getting very firm and harder to cram into my old cloths. It's amazing how pregnant you look when you put on mat cloths!<br><br>
Holy this was a novel! sorry. Anyway we're great!<br><br>
Heather

 

[zjandosmom]

I am 20wks and had my 1st appt. with my new midwife this am. She is awesome. Her nurses are b#@ches from hell. After being weighed and questioned and sent to my room to wait I am able to overhear 2 nurses outside in the hallway discussing me. They were loud enough for me to hear with the door closed and so I assume the entire office could hear as well. They had me in tears and about to walk out the door. I called my dh in tears and he convinced me to wait for the midwife. I am glad I did as she is wonderful. She was not happy to hear how her nurses were acting and assured me she would talk to them and to pay them no attention. HOrrible horrible women.<br><br>
I heard the heartbeat with the stethascope (and some kicks) and all is fine and healthy! My weight gain has only been 2lbs (4, but I lost 2 in the beginning) this is normal for me though.<br><br>
All is good!

 

[dogmama]

Hi all, this is week 21 for me. I took a bath last night and my belly got cold because it was sticking so far out of the water. I feel huge, and there's a long way to go! Baby is plenty active, I finally have a break from constant peeing, and it's great to feel good for a while. I'm hungry!<br>
Peace,<br>
Mary

 

[phaeon]

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<div>Originally Posted by <strong>Wilhemina</strong></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">: With my last I had no qualms about turning down many of the routine tests(afp, ultrasound), but this time somehow it feels not quite so easy.... somehow spina bifida and other neural tube defects are worrying me. I can't quite tell if its my normal insane pregnancy paranoia or if my intuition is telling me to check into things. It wouldn't make a difference to me if it were Down's Syndrome or some other disorder, but neural tube defects can sometimes be corrected or helped with fetal surgery, so I *should* find out if I can.</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
I am having a lot of weird paranoia this time around, too. Nothing I can put my finger on, but I've been extremely concerned about the health of this fetus. I keep dreaming that it's born with a bizarre deformity. Now that there are more kicks and movements, I feel a little more reassured. My MW has been a great calming force- so has MDC. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/love.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="love"><br><br>
Happy pregnancies to you all!

 

[gethane]

You know, i have to laugh, even though I expressed similar concerns above.<br><br>
Every pregnancy I worry about every little burp, kick, lack of m/s, too much m/s, not enough miserableness, too much, constipation diahrrea. And everytime after I've given birth, and I go to forums where women are expressing their worries, I not only SAY "Oh, its ok. Every pregnancy is different and most turn out just fine," but I really believe it!<br><br>
Until I'm pregnant again <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">.

 

[MamaTaraX]

*waving hi*<br><br>
Life's good here. The puking is tapering off,thohg I have a feeling it's not going away completely this time. Other than that, I'm good to go. Big and loving it, outgrowing everything at the speed of sound. I eat enough for a few people <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> I still get sleepy halfway through the day and take a daily nap (almost every day). I'm toying with the idea of an ultrasound. I really didn't want to do anything this time around but all these ultrasound posts are just making me wantone. And of course I feel like I'm depriving this baby of pre-birthpictures as both of my boys have a few to their names each. Eh, I probably won't. I'm 19 wks and some change. If I don't decide soon, I'll have put it off long enough to not want to do it anymore <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"><br><br>
Baby dances a lot, which everyone loves. I'm ordering a fetoscope so I can spy on the little one whenever I want <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> I have BH that are showing how my uterus is obviously bigger than it was a few weeks ago <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"> I mainly have them when I don't drink enough or have been moving around too much, so I get a big drink and stop moving and everything's cool.<br><br>
I have horrible fears of peoplenot loving my baby if it's a boy (I have two boys). I know they are unfounded and I am working to get over them so I dn't hold on to negativity or to the pregnancy even. I know I don't want to be sitting around many weeks "overdue" just because I can't let go of a silly fear like that. We're still nursing, though sometimes I really feel like calling it quits, whereas others I'mlike "I can do this!" and know he's not ready. I keep making goals for myself like "We can nurse to 20 wks..." Well, that's Sunday. Then I'll be saying "We can make it to 22 wks..." <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/wink1.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="wink1"> I thinkt hat about covers everything for right now<img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile"><br><br>
Namaste, Tara<br>
mama to Doodle (6), Butterfly (2), and Rythm (due at home 1/06)

 

[Raisingarrows]

Hello! This is actually my first time checking in b/c MS had the better of me until now.<br><br>
I'm 18 wks and had a sono a couple of days ago. We always look but always ask that the tech keeps her opinions to herself. But hey, after 4 kids we're pretty much cheating! Pretty sure it's a boy. So, now we're concentrating on a middle name for Keian. What baby's name means is really important to us, hence the next funny story...<br><br>
Just for fun my 7yo and I sat down w/ the baby name book and came up w/ a girl name. We decided on Sally Mora which means "Princess Blueberry" <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/bouncy.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="bouncy"> We laughed so long and so hard we could hardly stand ourselves.<br><br>
So....if we're wrong about this being a boy, we'll have a princess blueberry on our hands! tee hee hee!<br><br>
I'm not nearly as big as I have been before, not sure why--eating better maybe? I'm feeling a lot of flutters, but no strong kicks yet.<br><br>
That's all for now...

 

[GreenMommy]

Feeling good - having some bad leg cramps. Doing my stretching and all but wow! Have been keeping me up at night. I am definitely big and I can no longer bend over comfortably - feels like a big ball in there.<br><br>
Alicia