[laurata]

Since no one else has started one, I thought I'd begin a new weekly thread.

How is everyone?!

I'm doing OK. Today is my birthday

. We celebrated yesterday with a lovely dinner with a family we're good friends with. Unfortunately, I had to take my dd to the doctor's this morning, and she has strep throat! She is SO SAD and uncomfortable.

Our families are now in on our secret, so I guess it's not a secret anymore. They were very nice and didn't start an Inquisition at all.

They loved the ultrasound pictures and the card I sent, and were just tickled to be expecting a new grandbaby. My mom expressed surprise that I kept my pregnancy a secret so long, and my MIL wanted to know if I knew the gender (no, not finding out) and if I had started quickening yet. I told my mom, "It wasn't hard. My life is so busy and full, and this time everything is so normal. It's like peeing or breathing. Nothing much to comment on!" I'm just so relieved that they were so pleasant and excited.

 

[ladymadelon]

Happy Birthday, Laura!!

Feeling pretty stressed here. A little background...dh has been laid off for 4 months, we are renting after being forced to sell our home to avoid foreclosure over last winter, and I want to quit my middle of the night job delivering the newspaper.

But great news...my mil has offered to buy us a house!! Yep, a house of our own again. The big decision now is WHERE. We have a very limited budget, and the tricky part is what to find first: a house or a job. We either have to move further north (we live about 35 miles north of Seattle) or way south to Tacoma (40 miles south of Seattle) to find a liveable, big enough house in our price range. So, it's like either or...There is no way dh could commute from one end to the other. We've been focusing our job search here in the north, because we are already here, church, friends, etc., but there TONS of houses in our price range in Tacoma, and its of the biggest cities in the state, lots more jobs than the small city we live in. But it's daunting to think about moving to a new city without either of us having a job...even though my MIL says she would be a very generous landlord, eventually we need to be supporting ourselves.

So...after all that, what should we do? is the question we are praying about and talking over and trying to make a good decision. Find a house first? Find a job first? There are pros and cons to both. House first would get us closer to the jobs and help narrow the search, plus I could get dd#1 registered for school. Job first is what dh is leaning toward, mostly (I think) because he is just stressed over being out of work in the first place.

Wow, this turned into a novel.

The pregnancy is the easiest part of life now that most my all day sickness has passed and the heartburn that will plague me for the remainder hasn't started yet.

 

[KoalaMommy]

I'm so glad you started this, I was thinking I was going to!

We had some friends stop by this week, they were on their way to and from Bonnaroo, which is a woodstock-esq music festival that takes place near us. Hard to imagine that anything within 30 miles of my house (middle of no where) would draw a crowd of 90,000! In any case, we were so glad this year to be blessed with a visit of a couple of dh's friends from college. They brought us a gift of baby socks, 6 pairs from Old Navy. This is the weirdest thing, but somehow, looking at those tiny socks, I was struck with the reality of becoming a mother. Now I've been reading about it, thinking about it, planning etc. I've heard the baby's heart beating, I've seen the baby in an ultra sound, but for some reason it wasn't until I saw those socks that I realized that I was going to have a tiny baby to fit those socks in another 6 months.

We enjoyed the visit and now I just have to find a place to put the socks, we don't have a dresser yet for the baby!

 

[Jessviola]

: laura! thanks for starting the thread. i'm glad your family reacted well to the news and didn't start bugging you about your birthing choices. i hope dd feels better soon

 

[laurata]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessviola i'm glad your family reacted well to the news and didn't start bugging you about your birthing choices. i hope dd feels better soon

lol! Yeah, but I talked to my dad today, and he nervously asked about the benefits with my dh's new job. "So, uh, does it come obstetric care or a midwife of something?" LOL! (To get this, you have to know that I had a UC last time, and my parents were really upset.)

 

[Jessviola]

:LOL

i'm guessing he even stayed up late at night trying to come up with a clever way to just work that in.....

ok, to finish up from last night...

rebecka,
i'm sorry about your stress. that's awesome of MIL to help out with the new house. i wish someone would do that for us!! :LOL good luck with the job and house hunting!

hilary,
i remember when i was pregnant with dd a friend gave us a 3-6 month outfit and i would look at it and think "somebody this size is going to come out of me!!?!" of course it was huge when she was born, and she was 9lbs, but just the realness of knowing your baby will fill out those clothes soon is crazy

 

[Kristeen]

I'm doing ok. I had my second midwife appt. yesterday. It was an RN instead of my midwife and she stressed me out by using a BP cuff that was too small. First reading: 139/110, second reading with proper cuff: 104/76!

She wasn't able to find a heartbeat. I was 14w5d. Before she tried, she warned me that she might not be able to because both handheld machines were broken so she used this big honkin' other one. It still upset me though as I am paranoid about this baby since I lost my first to m/c.

 

[EnviroBecca]

We heard our baby's heartbeat on Saturday!

It was so loud and strong, MrBecca said it sounded like I had a galloping horse in there! Very reassuring. I haven't gained any weight, but at least I haven't lost any.

We're going for a genetic consultation to find out what we're at risk for and how the various tests work. We're nervous about the idea of finding out that something horrible MAY be affecting our baby but not knowing for SURE--if a test has much of a false positive rate, we'd rather not have it. OTOH, I have a strong feeling that everything's okay.

I'm still feeling queasy pretty often, but I did go SIX days in a row without throwing up, so maybe it's starting to get better? (Please?) Yesterday was another totally sleepy day for me; I couldn't keep my eyes open for more than an hour at a stretch until late afternoon, even tho my neighbor across the street was CUTTING DOWN TREES w/noisy power tools! I noticed, but I kept falling asleep again before I could move to a quieter room!

We received our first cloth diaper--I had ordered it (and some clothes) because I saw a great sale. So cute! So plushy!

But what I really need now is new undies for me--I have mostly high-waisted, close-fitting ones and am beginning to find them very uncomfortable. I don't know when I'm going to get to the store, though, with sleeping and work taking all of my time.

Happy birthday, Laurata!

Great news about the house, Lady Madelon!

Kristeen, I hope your baby just has a quiet heartbeat due to its calm temperament.

 

[laurata]

I'm going to a pool party on Saturday. It will be in the 80s, so definately swimming weather. I will want to go swimming. I have a one peice that is "slimming," but I'll definately look chubby/fat in. I also have a VERY cute two peice black and white bikini. BUT. Do I dare to bare my belly? Pale skin, stretch marks and all? I'll be 15 weeks, I guess. Tough call, it's such an in-between stage. Will people run away from me screaming? lol! (FWIW, aside from my belly, I wear an 8/10 in pants and a 14/16 in tops. But my belly isn't toned AT ALL. It looks ok as long as I'm standing up.)

 

[supervee]

12 weeks, woohoo! No more m/s or lethargy. Gone, vaporized.

We heard the heartbeat this morning. DS was so excited.

I've started telling folks now that we're past most of the 1st trimester.

My midwife really annoyed me this morning and I might be switching if I can't resolve my feelings about the situation. Do you think it's weird that she would have no idea what the newborn procedures are? She actually said to me that, well, most people don't come to a tertiary care hospital looking for a home birth. (Again, I don't have much of a choice, and I told her that from the get-go!) Oh, and that babies generally go to the nursery for 2 hours, but she didn't know why or what they did in there. wth? Not. Well, I tour the hospital on Thursday evening and get a chance to ask about their procedures.

Wear the two-piecer, Laurata! Go for it!

Welcome, dallaschildren. What everyone else said, welcome.

 

[KoalaMommy]

I just love Wednesdays, that's when the baby is a week further along and a week closer to getting here (not that I'm quite ready for that).

Dh has started reading to the baby, he thinks it's great fun. We all lie down (our precious pup tries to make sure she's in the middle of the action) and he reads, right now we're doing Dr. Seuss. Dh is taking it a bit too seriously, he's afraid that he's going to somehow ruin the babe if he reads it the wrong way or does the wrong voice. It's very cute. I doubt future babes with get this much attention pre-birth!

Laura - I say go with the 2-piece and do it with pride. I got a hand-down maternity suit but it's way too big right now (unlike with the maternity clothes I have). I guess that it's because swim suits are so stretchy, but I've been using my pre-pregnancy ones. I went out in a 2 piece last week, it was very liberating, and dh thought it was very sexy! If I get another maternity suit, I think I'll go with a 2 piece. It's the first time in my life I've enjoyed how my belly sticks out, so I'd like to savor that a little!

 

[Jenelle]

I'm so glad to hear that most of us are feeling better! I actually felt good enough yesterday to get on the treadmill. It had probably been an entire month (or more) since I had gone for a walk. I made it almost a mile, and decided I better work my way back up slowly. But I am so excited that I feel good enough again! From weeks 6-9 I felt like I would never exercise again.

 

[nikirj]

And I feel...crappy. Still. But yesterday I only barfed once, that's got to be worth something.

OK, for the last week or so I've been obviously showing. I mean, to where people I don't know could tell I am pregnant and not just fat or anything. Does that coupled with a ton of morning sickness mean trouble for me? Or is this just a third-child thing? Whatcha think? I still don't have medical coverage so I haven't even seen anyone yet - but I'm not much for prenatal "care" anyway, if I was going to be turning down ultrasounds, medication, testing, etc, what could they do for me anyway? I'll be covered soon and looking for someone sympathetic to my no-you-don't-need-to-do-that thoughts on prenatal care. I think at the heart of my hesitation is that I really just want to UC, but know that it is impractical - even if DH agreed to do it (and I do feel like I need his agreement), I am pretty sure my mom and MIL would call CPS and I really don't need that.

Laurata - I've been swimming several times recently, I just wore my one-piece. But like I said I am looking obviously pregnant and am not so worried about people thinking I look fat. DH actually laughed at me at the pool yesterday because I did the "pregnant bend" when I picked up DD's slippers - "what?" I asked - "well, you moved your feet out, and then crouched down instead of just bending over". Hmmm.... Anyway, back to you...I'd probably wear the two-piece and if you have one, a nice cute and light sundress over it. Little spaghetti-strapped dresses were my best friend during my first pregnancy (but during my second DD was still nursing too much for me to wear dresses).

 

[kazmir]

Feeling much better this week. My appetite came back with a vengence over the weekend. I ate 2 sandwiches on sunday for lunch! We were at the lake all weekend and had a great time. Floating in the water and relaxing in the sun. My DD loved it and is now a water baby (who can't swim but thinks she can!

) I spent much of the time dragging her back to shore and getting her to wear a lifejacket in the deeper water (fun). But we all survived and DD started swim lessons last night so we should have a swimmer soon!

Laurata - What the heck - wear the two piece! Its your chance too!

Dallaschildren - Welcome!

Take care all

Robin

 

[gristastic]

Hi Everyone. I've missed you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAURA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to hear you're all doing so well.

Our first trimester screening came back "low risk for downs syndrome and trisomy 18" and it's still early, but they seem to think we're having a boy.

(I'm still wondering what the heck I'm gonna do with a boy)

I am having alot of trouble with water-retention. I gained and lost 10 lbs in one day, this week, and I've been getting really puffy by the end of the day... that says water retention to me. My stick-thin midwife just seems to think I'm fat. Maybe she's right, but with the exception of the occasional pizza or vanilla milkshake, I really haven't been eating alot, this last month. I drink at least 64oz of water per day, too... So who knows?

Well, I hope I can logon and check in with you all a little more often than I have. I'm trying to get over all this tiredness.

 

[shalena]

I had my first prenatal appointment with my OB on the 10th which went well. I had a physical and he said every thing was looking good. I go back on the 8th of July for a checkup where I'll hopefully have an ultrasound and find out what we're having!

I thought my m/s was fading away, but it came back with avengence this week.

: If I let myself get hungry at all, I'm asking for trouble. At least I have my appetite back and can cook with out having to run for the bathroom. I made a nice big loaf of banana bread this afternoon.

Since I'm Canadian and my df is American, we are waiting for the immigration to go through so we can get married. This should happen either the middle of November or some time in December. It was pretty stressfull for me because I thought I would have to have the baby in Canada and go through all the immigration stuff again. Our immigration lawyer let us know today that its okay for me to get medical down here so i'm incredibly relieved! I can have the birth I want and not have to stress about it. The hospitals around Seattle offer exactly what I am looking for (midwifes and waterbirth) and I don't have that where I live in Canada. Its like a weight lifted off my shoulders!

A few times a day I have cramping around my uterus that I'm wondering about. Everything seems fine, so I'm trying not to worry about it. I'm wondering if I should mention it to my OB or if I'm just over reacting?

I'm glad to read everyone is doing well. I hope it continues!

 

[michray]

13 weeks, 4 days..

Feeling pretty good here. I am no longer fighting the urge to sleep ALL the time and am sooo excited to finally go see my midwife next week. I just cannot wait to hear that lil heartbeat!
I've gained about 7.5lbs, but I swear 5 of it is boobs!

 

[KoalaMommy]

Shalena,

I think you're having round ligament pains. Very normal. I started getting them regularly right around 13 weeks, usually they bother me the most right when I stand up after sitting or lying down for a while. It's just that silly baby stretching and growning! For me, I find it very comforting because at this point it's the only regularly occuring symptom I have to let me know that the baby is still developing okay in there.

Of course you should mention them at your next appointment though, just to be sure.

 

[Past_VNE]

Hilary,

I just love Mondays for the same reason. They are the one-week updates I love so much....of course, that's just assuming I got my last AF on March 15, which I (sheepishly) forgot to record.

Anyway, for lack of memory, Mondays it is...I love 'em!!!!!

 

[cosmos]

I'm glad to hear everyone is mostly feeling well!

I am back to being tired again. I had a chiro appt yesterday (and felt the baby move for the first time during it!) but got so sleepy on the way home I let the kids watch a movie and I sacked out on the couch for over 2 hours!!!! the kids were playing together really well when I woke up

I just go into a deep deep sleep immediately these days!!!

I had my first appt with a FP doc and we did not click at all

I am checking my next in line and if he doesn't check out I am going to look into the *only* HBM in the "area" she is still 2+ hours away from here and having a winter baby could be a huge problem as far as her being able to make it. Plus, our house is tiny and I can't imagine trying to labor with the kids here. I am a "dark cave" kind of birther and do not think I could handle the stimulation. I would totally LOVE to have them see the baby be born though.

I got to hear the heartbeat