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Calling all the Pregnant PS''ers

Good luck, LC! Excited for you and your DH! :appl:
 
Delurking to congratulate Pancake, Sylvie is a stunning girl like her mama! Well done you clever lady!! :appl: :appl:

GOOD LUCK LC!! Sorry about the meal, I hope they bring you some non-fasting food as soon as Ethan is here!!
 
Good luck, LC!! :appl:


CONGRATS Pancake!! Sylvie is beautiful! :love:
 
Happy Friday lovely preggo PSers!

NEL, sorry things aren't going well with handing things over to your replacement. It seems like you have more than done your part training her, so hopefully she will get her footing soon and not create a giant mess! Can't believe this is your last baby-free weekend! Have any fun plans?

choro, you're so tiny, I can imagine it's already hard on your body just being only 22 weeks! I bet you look adorable though, post a bump pic!

Missy, how sweet your DH felt your LO on Valentine's day! Glad the shower situation is coming together. Your bump looks great!

S&I, I bet you guys have tons of great stuff now from the showers! I have heard of a website called "spinning babies" that has lots of ideas on getting baby to turn, but you still have some time! Enjoy your babymoon!

China, thanks for the advice on getting measured for nursing bras pre-baby. Good to know that works, I was worried about having to go out and get some post-baby. I'll probably live in the tanks at first, especially since it will be summer.

PG, that's so frustrating that you are still waiting to have your VBAC consult. I hope you are able to fit it in! Glad the midwife was so responsive to your questions.

Pancake, thanks for sharing your birth story! Glad everything went well, and I just have to say again how gorgeous Sylvie is!

Muffdog, sorry you had such a frustrating day dealing with the stomach pain, but glad everything looks ok.

AFM, 22w today! I'll attach my bump pic I took yesterday. My baby has the same great timing as Missy's, because DH was able to feel her kick for the first time on Valentine's Day. He will put his hand on my stomach all the time when we are laying in bed at night anyway, but he did it then and she delivered two of the hardest kicks I've felt so far, he thought I was just messing with him at first!

I've been picking up maternity clothes here and there on sales since Christmas, and just throwing most of them in a bin in my office, but I've been going in there and digging out shirts most mornings now, since my regular shirts don't cover the waistband of my maternity pants. Hilariously, I discovered that I had bought two t-shirts from Target, and then a month later, two more t-shirts from Sears, both times in the same two colors! So I have two purple and two green plain t-shirts. Luckily the receipts are still in there because I'd like a little more variety. I guess that's the problem with buying stuff only to throw it in a bin and not look at it! This weekend I'm going to sort through everything in there and currently in my closet to take stock of what I have, put away the stuff I can't wear anymore, and maybe pick up a few things to round out the wardrobe during President's day sales.

Hi to everyone I missed and I hope everyone has a great weekend! I know I'll be checking in all day waiting for your update LC, hope you are already holding Ethan!

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Steph - You look adorable! Yay for our babies having good timing! DH tried again last night and I said "I think I put him/her to sleep while walking around getting ready for bed" and he said "Ohhhh man!" haha. I usually have to relax a little while laying in bed before baby "wakes" up. That's funny about buying the same color shirts! Sounds like something I'd do. I haven't bought many shirts yet. My sweaters still cover enough for now.

Afm, I checked yesterday and there have been some purchases from the baby registeries :bigsmile: I felt bad for looking but was excited at the same time. I told my friend about it and she said "You didn't tell me where you registered!!! I'm going to go shopping online now, don't peek!!!" and then proceeded to tell me what she bought haha. So I know the invitations haven't went out yet or she would have known! Still discussing names. Ahhh, it's so hard! We're second guessing Carter Anthony now too! So we're stuck on both boy and girl names!
I got a raise at work on Thursday! :o SO wasn't expecting that. I guess I'm not totally hated here like I thought I was!! I wish it was a little more, but I get $14 more in my paycheck each week now!

I'll check back later for LC's updates!!
 
LC, sending you lots of easy labor vibes! Can't wait for pictures! :wavey: :appl:
 
OMG LC!!!!!!!!! I am late to the party and I reckon you'll have had Ethan by now - so excited for you my preggo buddy!!

Will post more later, have been up 2-3 hourly for feeds overnight (battling with enforcement overnight - thankfully little Slvie has been very cooperative with my desire for frequent feeds!). Thank you all so much for your congratulations and welcomes for our little Dot. She is heavenly!
 
Finally a few minutes to catch up!

LC, I'm thinking about you and am hoping that Ethan is here and you've had more to eat than soup and jello!

Missy, so exciting that things have been bought off of your registry! And I don't know a single pregnant lady who didn't look at her registry, so it's not like you're doing anything wrong :) Congrats on the raise--it's always reassuring to know that people appreciate the work you do!

Steph, cute little bump! And so funny that you bought shirts in the same colors a month apart--that totally sounds like something I'd do. As for last baby-free plans, we don't have much planned. Just a date night tonight.

Muff, I"m so sorry you spend the entire DAY at the hospital with no food and in pain...and had to go home hungry and still in pain! That's awful!! How have you been since?

AFM, only a half of an hour left at work...and then I'm not back until 5/30. It's so odd! Crazy busy morning, but as the afternoon went on, it became peaceful. Now I just have to leave the OOTO message on my phone. I hate making those recordings.
 
You pregnant ladies are so adorable!! Such cute bellies!

Bobbin: Sorry I didn't post earlier, but I am SO glad your husband's job is secure. Phew. What a relief. Sorry you had to deal with that stress... I hope things are smooth sailing here on out. There's enough to worry about during pregnancy besides job security. Other than that, how are you doing?

LC: #1- You may be holding your darling son RIGHT NOW. Oh my gosh! I hope labor is going well!! #2- Your DH needs to sneak in some real food, STAT. Hospital food is just ridiculous.

Missy: Tisk, tisk. No registry stalking, missy!

Steph: I feel ya on the shirts not covering the tummy thing. Old Navy has a really great sale going on- 30% off much of their maternity, plus an additional 20% if you spend $100 or more. I bought a bunch of things this afternoon.... to the tune of $200 :o ... But I plan on returning most of it. I hate that lots of maternity things you can't find at stores. ON really does have the best prices, though!

Everyone else (like 50% of the group... sorry :(sad ) I hope you are all doing well. I have a hard time keeping up here. Must try harder!

So... I had about three missed calls from an odd number today. Turns out it was one of the midwives from our birth center. My quad screen results were not ideal. Down Syndrome was 1:126 and it should have been at least 1:1000 for someone my age. They asked me to cancel my 20 week scan with the regular OB and reschedule with a perinatologist. We're going to have the ultrasound per our original plan and then decide to (possibly) have the maternal 21 blood test or an amnio. I know 1:126 are low odds, and that quad screens are notoriously inaccurate, but it was still jarring news. I *just* had a talk with a pregnant friend today about this scenario and now it is coming to be. Inconclusive results are just the worst. If the u/s shows markers for DS I will probably opt for the amnio. DH and I would likely act on the results, if they are not favorable.. but at the same time, if the amnio resulted in a m/c but the babe was 100% healthy, I would be beyond devastated. Right now I'm just wondering WHY we even bothered with the quad screen. This is the stress I wanted to avoid. Bah humbug.
 
Duplicate, sorry
 
Good luck, LC!!

PilsnPinkysmom, the SAME exact thing happened to us. We had the Level II ultrasound at 20 weeks with a perinatologist to check for soft markers. They will do a very thorough ultrasound looking at a variety of things--generally babies with Down syndrome will have some other markers. Most of the time everything ends up being fine and there's no need to worry. Our baby was born perfectly healthy without Down syndrome. Do you know if they saw a nasal bone at the NT scan?
 
Laila619|1329530535|3128509 said:
Good luck, LC!!

PilsnPinkysmom, the SAME exact thing happened to us. We had the Level II ultrasound at 20 weeks with a perinatologist to check for soft markers. They will do a very thorough ultrasound--generally babies with Down syndrome will have some other markers. Most of the time everything ends up being fine and there's no need to worry. Our baby was born perfectly healthy without Down syndrome. Do you know if they saw a nasal bone at the NT scan?
Click to expand...

We didn't have the NT scan at 12-ish weeks :wink2: I'm wishing we would've. Hindsight...
 
PnPsMom, I'm so sorry you're in the midst of this right now. You don't realize how stressful a potential problem could be until you're faced with it and then have to make decisions about more tests. At our 18-week scan the doctor noticed an ultrasound abnormality that was an indicator for down's syndrom among a few other (life-threatening) things. Anyway, I'm not trying to go on about myself, it's just that we had to decide if we wanted to do the amnio and it was soo difficult because I wanted a definitive answer, but if (in the very, very, very slim) chance we had a healthy baby and something happened as a result of the amnio, it would have been devastating as you say. We ultimately decided that because there were no other down's syndrome indicators, we would not do the amnio.

To be honest, even though the rest of my pregnancy has been uneventful, the stress we went through in those weeks was not a fun time at all. We still think about it and it's been frustrating me that the worry is always in the back of my head. So I'm just sorry that you're in this situation and even though I'm sure that everything will be fine and you have a healthy baby, navigating through all of this is tough!
 
can't wait to hear more LC!!!!!
 
I can't wait to find out if Ethan has arrived! :appl:
 
I keep checking for news from LC!!!!

PPM, ugh, sorry about the nerve-wracking results. I know that less than a 1% chance is tiny odds, but that doesn't mean you can turn off the nagging thoughts about the unexpectedly higher risk. I'd never heard of the blood test you mentioned and googled it -- it looks like it's something you can have done privately at any time? How much time do you have until the anatomy scan? If I'm reading it correctly and it's just a blood test that you can get done yourself, I'd probably do that before the amnio, unless the scan shows markers. And if the scan were a long way off I'd be tempted to the do the blood test asap. In any case, it sounds like you have a very good attitude and plan for finding out more. Hugs and keep us updated.

AFM, I don't think I'm close (38 weeks tomorrow). DH keeps saying that he thinks I'll go into labor this weekend, and I was like, um, WHAT???? I just want my pelvis to have opened up like it did last time . . . I know that at 37 weeks with Claire it was still too narrow. I'm also not entirely sure of DD's position -- she was posterior at the 36 week ultrasound -- so I'm trying to lean on my exercise ball as much as possible. Plus it's really helpful for the back pain. We walked around town, maybe two miles, this morning, and by the end my feet and back were toast. The ball fixed me right up.
 
PPM, I'm sorry you're going through this. I think the key thing you said in your post is that the results of any definitive testing (ie an amnio) would change the outcome for you - and the amnio is the only test that is definitive here. That is not to say that I think you should do it if it doesn't feel right, but the other thing that you should know is that the quoted risk of miscarriage with both CVS (not applicable here) and amnio is only a general figure and in fact it depends on the centre where you are having it done, eg. the risk is much lower at the large tertiary centres in my city than the quoted risk, because they are so experienced and do so many. The other thing to consider is what the numbers mean to you, and to the medical profession. The threshold risk at which amnio is offered here is 1:250 to 1:300 (depending on the centre, but that's around about where it sits), and couples can seek counselling on making choices about it - perhaps this would be a good thing for you to pursue? But I agree, 1:125 is still pretty low in my brain, although I'm sure if I were in your position I would be going through exactly the same thought processes and anxieties. Hugs and thoughts to you, I know you and your husband will come to a decision that feels right.
 
LC - I was so excited to read your post, since I don't read the "Pregnant PS'ers" posts as often as I used to! I hope your labor and delivery go smoothly, and that both mom and baby come out happy and healthy. I can't wait to see pics of little Ethan.

PPM - I'm so sorry to hear about your anxiety regarding your test results. I know exactly how you feel. We decided to do the screenings since I am/was 35 when I had my daughter. The initial blood tests showed that we had a 1 in 87 chance of having one or both twins (originally a twin pregnancy) with DS. I was uneasy enough with these results that I leaned towards wanting to do an amnio, but was not dead set on it. DH, however, was not comfortable with the potential risk of miscarriage (even though our doctor/hospital had significantly better than average odds) because we had gone through 5 rounds of fertility treatments to get pregnant in the first place. Our NT scans looked great, but our second round of blood tests increased our odds of having one or both twins with DS to 1 in 3. At this point we felt the need to know with certainty one way or the other, whether it meant opting for a selective reduction, or mentally preparing ourselves to have a special needs child. The amnio was uneventful, even though it was slightly more complicated with two babies. The doctors are so careful, and keep such a close eye on your baby throughout the whole procedure. One of twins moved suddenly after the needle had been inserted, and the doctor was able to withdraw it and reinsert it with no issues (except for a little discomfort on my part). Fortunately, even with such bad odds, both babies showed no signs of chromosomal abnormalities. Today we have a sweet, healthy baby girl.
 
Laila, NEL, PG, PT and Pancake: Thank you all for your reassurance, support, and insight. I went back to find some of your past threads about results and considering amnios (or other tests, in some cases), and found them helpful. PT, I am sorry you went through the stress of such abysmal odds for the twins. It really does seem that the stress of an amnio depends largely on the experience of the doctor performing the test. I am so happy that all was well.. and now your little girl is just the picture of perfection!

Our window of opportunity is closing quickly. I'm hoping that come Monday we can schedule our level II u/s, and that it will be completed later in the week. I think it will be helpful for us to talk with a genetic counselor. We're feeling more at peace about this, as 1:126 isn't normal for someone my age, but the odds really aren't terrible. It will allll be okay. I also think we'll do the MaterniT21 blood test no matter what, and if that + the ultrasound indicate higher risk for DS, we'll go for an amnio.
------------------

But enough about me... Where is LC?! LC, I hope you are safe and content, snuggling with your new little son! I can't wait for some updates! :))
 
PPM, I'm sorry to hear about your LO's quad screen. How stressful! I'm thinking about you and your DH. I hope your Level2 U/S can be scheduled quickly and you have all the help and support you need.

AFM, Sorry for being MIA for so long!!!!

Ethan Gim (FIL's name, pronounced with the hard G) was born via c-section on Feb 17 10:51AM. 8lbs,7 oz and 22 inches long.

I'll pick up where I left off from my last "supper" post (LOL)

So I had my "Dinnner of Champions" then DH and I decided to try to get some sleep. The nurses had my Pic at 10, and contractions were getting squirmy but not too bad. I slept on/off for maybe an hour. Around 9PM DH woke up and heard me breathing aloud and came over. Asked how I was doing. I told him it's OK, but getting uncomfortable. We got up and started trying different positions. Standing, swaying breathing. DH was great, he helped rubbing my back and squeezing my hips a bit to help with the contrx. A nurse gave him some heating pads which were also nice but short lived. He cracked maybe 3 or 4. I labored without drugs for about 2 hrs, from 9PM -11PM Thurs Feb 16th. My brother called around 10PM and I spent a few mins chatting with him and was kinda like "Uh, huh.... (breathe breathe breathe), Uh huh (breathe, breathe, breathe) Here talk to James." Around 11PM the contrx were getting pretty bad, where it was deep breathe in and audible groans out. I told James to ask the nurse for an epi. The docs came by pretty quickly. I was "locked and loaded" by shortly before midnight. Legs felt like they were asleep, but I could still lift them and move them. I was about to roll from side to side and had to to keep the baby moving. I finally got a cervical check and was 5 cm.

(Typing one habded now eating lunch) Slept from midnight on. In the middle of the nuight, nurses, ana docs, ob etc came in because Ethans HR was going down because the contrx were upsetting him. They put me on oxygen and dialed back the Pic. It was pretty scary, but they said things were OK and not to worry. Then throughout the night, my MW would pop in and check the monitors and check on me. I had prgressed to 7cm some time during the night. Then by sunrise she checked again and I was 8. A little disappointing, but she said we'll see. Daytime MW came by and I was checked again and was 7CM. The 2 MWs and the OB discussed and they said that Ethan's labor was regressing, probably because my cervix was swollen. About 10AM the doc recommended a c-section. I was kinda bummed but it as most important that E was healthy and at that time it was a non-emergent C-section, so the best we could hope for. So they prepped me (shaved public area, increased Epi, etc) and told DH to collect our stuff. Gave DH a gown and wheeled me off. They set up the OR, gave me bunch of drugs and hung the drape. DH came in after the drape was hung and the drugs they gave me made me horribly cold and gave me the shakes BIG TIME. Teeth chattering and shivering. Ana Doc kept checing me wiht a toothpick maybe to see what I could feel. And DH kept telling me we were doing great etc. We heard Ethan cry, and the doctor was like "WOW look how big his head is!!! He's got a HUGE head!" Where upon DH (who also has a big head) apologized to me, a lot.

OK going to feed Ethan, but I'll post more on recovery.... :)

babyE.jpg
 
LC, You're labor story is pretty much the same as mine!

Congrats!! So happy for you!
 
OK not going to feed him yet, we're going to wait another hr or so.

Anyway, so C-section, the nurses brought out Ethan to show DH and he was all blue and gooey. Then they took him to get cleaned up. Took DH around the "non-sterile" way to stand by Ethan as they were cleaning him. Then they handed Ethan back to DH and he and E were next to me while I was getting patched back up. I was shivering like mad and was SO cold. My MW stayed with me the whole time while DH was with Ethan. SO glad I went with the MW's. Apparently I lost more blood than expected, 1300 units(?) so they had to keep me under observation in the OR recovery room. As I was being wheeled out of the OR, they asked if I wanted to hold Ethan. But I was shaking too much I didn't trust that I'd be able to hold him. In OR recovery, just me in a gurney, Ethan in a medical bassinet and a few chairs for DH and our stuff. DH stayed with me for that time I still had the shakes, and my shoulders were getting tired from shivering so much. During the whole time I kept asking the nurses if I could have some warm water to drink, but I wasn't allow to drink anything. Sis came by around 2:30PM and stayed with me for a while. Then they called to have us transported up to the reguar recovery rooms. We were probably in the OR recovery room for a good few hours, and I had nothing to drink. I was PARCHED!!!! I was finally allowed to have some ice chips but still very thirsty.

We were moved up to the regular recovery rooms sometime around 4PM. DH called his sister, she had left him a message. I helped myself to the water I was dying for. SIL and I chatted for a little while, then she put her husband on the phone. SO I chatted with him for a minute or two then realized I felt really puke-y, handed the phone to J, turned to my sister and was, "Where's the puke basin?" then proceeded to puke up the liter of water I just pounded 15 mins before.... Well, because I lost more blood than expected they took my CBC and have been monitoring my blood count/re-vival rate?

So in the OR recovery room, we tried to get E to breastfeed, but he just unable to do it. And he was crying and screaming so much, he was wearing himself so DH and I gave him formula. We tried feeding with him again in regular recovery and again he was not breast feeding again, the nurses checked his blood glucose and said he'll be OK to just try again later. I was realy discouraged and called one of my friends who BF her son, and who also had trouble getting it started. She talked me off the ledge, it was really helpful. We supplemented with a finger feed, where they tape a tiny capillary tube to your finger and the baby sucks on your finger and gets formula through the tube. So we did that Ethan's first night and most of the next day whenever he had to eat. I still tried to offer the boob, but he'd get so pissed it just wasn't working.

Finally at about 3AM, after they brought Ethan back into the room, I got him to latch. But by now he's been spoiled by really large formula meals so he's been a cranky pants because he wants to eat more. So now we do both boobs and a little bit of formula. Which works out because he's down 9% of his birthweight and needs to poop out some more billirubin (starting to jaundice), so it's still time consuming (boob feed then pump) but at least he's breastfeeding.

That's it for me now. Going to catch about 15 mins of ZZZ's then going to feed Ethan again. Adding a few more pics. One of Ethan, and one of our AWESOME lakeview sunrise in the delivery room (before the OR csection room)

~LC

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ESunrise.jpg
 
Hard to type as am on iPad and feeding little Sylvie, but OMG LC!!!!!!!!! congratulations, lady!!! Well done all three of you! Ethan is so big and just gorgeous, O'm so thrilled for you :love:
 
LC, a million congratulations!!!! He's just gorgeous, big head and all. ;)) (So funny about your DH's comment.)

Brrrh, I'm feeling cold for you just reading about all the shivering you had to do. Glad you are warm and snuggly with your babe now!

I had a difficult time establishing breastfeeding too (Claire went from 8 lbs. to 7 lbs. 1 oz, which is a loss of 12%, and didn't regain her birthweight until 3 weeks). If you are wanting to continue with the BFing, my advice would be to do as much as you can now to up your supply and establish that as his main source of nourishment (because I wish I'd saved myself the next few weeks of worrying about it and doing the nurse/pump/formula cycle around the clock). But if you find that it's just not working out and you want to try doing both or just using formula, that's OK too. The important thing is that you just birthed a gorgeous baby!!!!! But anyway, for upping your supply, I'd pump after each nursing session, drink tons of fluids, take any supplements your LCs recommend (and drink beer, hee hee) and if you have to give formula or pumped milk, do it from a harder to get source, like you did with the finger feeding. If it's flowing quickly in a bottle, it's hard for your boob to compete with that.

In the end, I was able to BF successfully for a year, and Claire only got maybe 4 ounces of formula total in those early days, a half ounce here or there. I looked back at my old PS posts, and my milk came in at 4 days PP (and boy was THAT memorable . . . has it happened for you yet? :naughty:), so I think there's still time for him to settle into his groove. Of course, with the jaundice concerns you've got to do what it takes to keep him hydrated too, so do what makes sense to you and do NOT feel guilty if things don't go exactly as you envisioned. Your babe's health is what matters.
 
LC, congratulations to you and DH! Ethan is adorable, and you're looking absolutey gorgeous mama! Sorry that things did not go quite as planned, but you have a healthy baby and that is all that matters!
 
Congratulations, LC!!! :appl: :appl: :appl:
 
Oh, LC, he is PERFECT! :love: And mama, you look totally radiant in that first photo. That'll be one to treasure for a long, long time. You are a trooper. Sounds like you're doing all you can with BFing. It's great that you have a btdt mom/friend to lean on. Keep at it- I know nothing about the trials of BFing, but everyone pretty much agrees that it gets easier with time.

Enjoy this time with Ethan and your DH! :love:
 
Congratulations LC! Ethan is just gorgeous, and you look amazing, I can't believe you just birthed a baby! Sorry the BF is getting off to a rough start, but I hope things turn around soon.
 
LC, the main thing with breastfeeding is that you get enough support from people who can help you do it. The fact that little E has had a bit of formula at the beginning is no sweat - you need to have faith and perseverance and the two of you will be able to do it! The example I often use with mums is that so many babies in NICU start with no feeds, then IV nutrition, then nasogastric feeds, often for months, but still end up being successfully breastfed - it is ALL about the support, guidance and determination of mum! In your favour also is that your C/S was not a "cold" one - ie. you were already in labour - so your body's signals to switch everything on are already there and your milk should come in at a reasonable stage.

Sylvie lost 10% of her body weight (and at 6lb 11oz was only little to begin with) and I had to feed, express and top up (by bottle, with EBM and with formula) for a day or so, then my milk came in (oh boy, has it come in! Engorgement is so gross!) and we are doing well now.
 
Congratulations LC! Ethan is gorgeous and I :love: that first photo of the two of you! I'm sorry your recovery was a bit awful and that you are having difficulties with getting breastfeeding going, but I am sure you and Ethan will settle into it over the next few days! Congrats again!
 
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