Calling all the Pregnant PS''ers

[Blenheim]

Date: 9/30/2009 11:18:20 AM
Author: Mara

speaking of food and ''after baby''...i was reading online that someone''s doula was recommending that after the baby comes the two parents have different jobs. the mom''s job is to eat, sleep, feed. the dad''s job is to make sure mom eats, sleeps and showers and gets out of the house once a day for 10 minutes without the baby. a bunch of people said this worked well for them. the idea was that mom should not be responsible for feeding herself or making food for others or making any real decisions at first, the husband was ''support'' and mom was the primary. anyway kind of interesting...i like this idea of not having to worry about food HAHA.

Mara - we did something similar (our version was that I took care of baby and DH took care of me, the dogs, and the house), and I loved it. The early newborn stage was so much easier than I was expecting it to be, and I really think that not having to worry at all about food prep, cleaning, laundry etc was a huge part of that.

 

[steph72276]

Mara, that's a definite must, especially if you end up with a c-section. Luckily if you have lots of friends/family nearby most people will offer to bring food (I think we had people bring us meals for the first 2 weeks or so). Or you can make freezable things ahead of time to be able to just take out and microwave after the baby arrives. My husband and I did kind of a schedule thing (he had to go back to work 1 week after the baby was born, this time he will get to take longer). I would take care of the baby during the day, and when he got home from work around 6, I would go sleep for about 4-5 hours, then be up the night with him (Andrew had his days and nights mixed up at first and refused to sleep at night). Luckily, we didn't have to do this long, as Andrew learned to sleep through the night at 8 weeks, but it is great to have some sort of teamwork system in those first few trying weeks!

 

[Mara]

ha ha Mandarine, girl you DID NOT just enable me by telling me maybe i could get cheaper bedding for the stokke on etsy, did you? hahaha. i love it. there is a stokke on ebay for $550 so far. but 2 more days on the auction....pandora i cannot believe you got your stokke for $120 on ebay!! That is crazy good.

now i am looking at bonavita's... i like the peyton classic (looks like PB kendall to me) and a store local to us has it and the combo dresser for great pricing. and i think i recall hearing bonavita was pretty reputable and i know TG got a bonavita crib from a friend that she loves. the prob is there are so many types and styles of cribs and SO many varying reviews from people. anyway hopefully i am narrowing it down.

re: the 'after baby' first days or weeks, yeah i think it's a great idea to split duties and i think it will also help to not have confusion or 'what should i be doing now' kind of thing for the new parents. luckily for us we have cleaning ladies who come every 2 weeks and my mom will definitely be helping out as well. it's good to hear that some of you gals with kiddies already found this works pretty well for you. btw steph i am totally going to make frozen meals ahead of time (lasagna, spaghetti, mac and cheese, mostly pastas).

re: eating and weight gain, i just tend to think...if i am eating fairly normally and not gorging on too much crazy stuff then chances are the weight gain will not be as hard to get off as if i was having cheeseburgers and fries and shakes EVERY night (mmmm). i def don't want to eat for two when the kidlet is barely 1lb in there... and i know prob better than most how hard it is to lose weight after putting it on..it took me about a year to drop 15lbs almost 4 years ago. and i have heard that your body might not bounce back the same, could take longer, etc and i am almost 35 so the ole metabolism is not as fast as it used to be

. so for me i just try to make 'mostly smart' eating choices but i also am not being as fanatical about control as i used to be. if my body wants ice cream, it probably needs calcium so i drink 1% choco milk instead.

i am eating real butter and real sugar whereas i used to do more of the 1/2 fat and things like that. i figure i can enjoy that while i can!!

you gals who feel your nuggets so early are lucky! it took me until week 16-17 to really think maybe i was feeling him and it was only this week that he has become a lot more active where it's obvious it's him. i would have loved to feel flutters at 10-11!

 

[KimberlyH]

Thanks, everyone, for sharing thoughts/information about weight gain. My OB wasn''t didactic, but se made it clear I need to watch what I eat, especially as we enter fall/winter and the body stores more. I lost a significant amount of weight 7+ years ago and have worked hard to keep it off, so going the other direction is not the easiest thing about pregnancy for me.

Mara, I''ll be the miserly voice, I can''t fathom spending that much money on a crib. The idea of eating for two cracks me up when one rarely weighs more than 8 lbs.

Vesper, your thinking about weight gain/loss is in line with mine, which is why I''m bothered by knowing my OB thinks I''ve gained too much. I''m pretty regimented w/ food and have let that go a bit, but I''m certainly not eating dessert every night (or many nights at all, for that matter). Keeping weight off is a conscious thing for me and it''s something that is important to me, but I have to let go of that a bit.

Meresal, I hope you found the information you were looking for.

Cello, glad the flight went smoothly and all is well. Take care of yourself and let your mom and husband do the same.

 

[anchor31]

Re: Weight gain... I think that the key is pretty much the same thing for pregnant women than everyone else: eating well and staying active. I don''t know about all of you, but I feel like I have enough stuff to think about and I don''t need to start monitoring everything I eat or start limiting myself. Most major weight gain stories I''ve heard were water retention anyway, and it went away pretty fast. My own weight gain seems to be a bit erratic, slow in the first trimester, crazy in the second and now slow again (that might answer your question GingerB... At first I was growing a lot but not gaining much too, and everything was fine).

Re: baby movements... I started feeling kicks at about 20 weeks. I''m not sure about flutters... I''m guessing maybe a couple of week sooner, but I wasn''t really trying to notice them either. The baby moving thing sort of freaks me out, I have to admit, so I try not to pay too much attention to it. As the baby''s growing though, I''m starting to feel more than kicks, like parts moving around and stuff, and it''s really weird. When it bothers me, I do try to get him/her to shift, but it doesn''t always work!

tao - Any update on the pains?

meresal - Great u/s pics!

cello - I''m glad the move went well!

MP - I''m having crazy nightmares too, so I''m sorry you''re going through that. The weirdest thing is that my nightmares are''t even baby-related.

My 3-hour glucose test went well yesterday, considering it''s so hard to get blood from me! The nurse had to fish around for my veins and I was hungry and cranky (plus I have a nasty bruise in the crook of my arm today), but I didn''t faint or throw up or anything, so I guess it''s a good sign. I''ll probably get my results at my next appointment in two weeks.

In other news, I started online classes this week so I''m keeping busy! I hope you''re all well.

 

[vespergirl]

Mara, it''s definitely a good idea to try to figure out a schedule that works for your family before the baby comes regarding household/baby responsibilities.

I don''t work, and my husband works full-time, so when we had our first, he stayed home with me for a week, but then he had to go back to work. He also works very long hours and has to get up at 5 am, so I knew I would be doing most of the night feedings (I BFed and supplemented with formula). We worked it out so that if the baby ever woke up at night before 4 am, I would take care of him, and if it was 4 or after, DH would feed & change him, & put him back to bed before he went to work. That way, there was no power struggle over whose turn it is to get up with the baby.

Also, I definitely recommend a cleaning lady, which you mentioned you have - I kept one until my baby was sleeping through the night. The frozen meals are also a great idea. I was in the hospital for 4 days when I had DS, and while we were there, my parents cooked up a storm and filled both freezers with a month''s worth of frozen meals, and my in-laws scrubbed the house and did the laundry. Then, at our request, they all left the day after we got home with the baby (I wanted time for us to bond as a family). When the baby was 3 weeks old I felt I was ready for company, so my mom came & stayed for 3 weeks to help out, and my in-laws came up for a week after that. It is really nice to have someone else to do the cooking and cleaning so that you can just focus on the baby.

Now that we''ll have a 3 year old at home when this baby is born, I know that it''s going to be much harder on me, since I don''t want to just push DS off on the in-laws so I can take care of the baby. I may have my MIL come and stay for a month or so after the birth just so I can recover & adjust, but I really want to keep spending as much time as possible with my son. I''m going to have to talk to DH about cutting down his work hours, too. Now he only sees DS for about an hour a day, but he''s going to need more attention for at least a few months after the baby arrives, so that he knows that he''s still important to us.

 

[vizsla]

nat - mandy - pg - me... it''s GO MONTH!!!!! i turned over the calendar today and almost lost it! it''s OCTOBER GIRLS... OCTOBER!!!!!!!

and ummm so cal??? update?!?!?!?!?!?!?

re: weight gain... yeah, i stressed about it for most of this PG (and you can probably all find the posts where i ''complained'' about my weight gain my midwife even mentioned to me that i would go over the recommended 35lb gain... thing is, i still don''t *feel* that ''big'' - and i don''t know if it is b/c i''m tall or b/c people are being nice to me, or i just don''t care anymore... but i know i''m going to gain close to 40lbs with this baby.... and well, i''m ok with that. i haven''t been eating awful.. but yes, i do enjoy a 5 guys burger now and then. and yes, i do eat carbs and cheese wayyyyy more than i should, and yes, bagels and peanut butter sound better in the morning than oatmeal... so.... i know i''m going to have some work to do after baby. just like bringing a healthy baby into this world is my goal and focus now... being healthy and getting my body back will be my goal after baby.... something to do i guess

so work has be AWFUL... i''m so so so so so busy i almost can''t believe that i can make it to the end of the day without collapsing. if i can just make it to next friday it will be smooth sailing after that. and coupled with this deadline i''m training someone to do my job when i''m on maternity leave... that''s weird!

so, bag packed... strep B negative

no internals yet, so i have no idea what''s going on down there probably next week... not that it really matters....

this weekend we are installing the car seat (for real, doing our big grocery shopping trip (for non perishables), and making/freezing food. OH, and a cleaning lady is coming on friday

tick tock tick tock tick tock......

later ladies!!

 

[KimberlyH]

MP, woke up this morning and thought of you, because I had an icky dream last night about delivering the baby. I''ve been having strange dreams the whole pregnancy, so it''s not just you it''s part of the process.

Vis, how fun to be ready to go.

 

[NovemberBride]

Just dropping in with a quick PSA - two friends of mine who are L&D nurses at hospitals told me that their hospitals are instituting new visiting policies based on CDC recommendations to avoid the spread of swine flu. The new policies provide that the only visitors allowed in L&D and maternity are significant others and everyone else will have to wait to see he baby until you are discharged (including siblings and grandparents). I don''t know if every hospital will follow this recommendation (I hope not, it seems ridiculous to me since there is a flu season every year). But you may want to check with your hospital to see if they are going to be following the recommendation so you can plan ahead. This is especially important for people like me, whose parents live far away and were planning to come as soon as I go into labor. I don''t want them sitting around the house for several days. I am also not sure how this would affect someone planning to have another person (mom, doula) in the delivery room. It''s a brand new recommendation, so it may take a while for hospitals to institute the policy, but I thought I''d let you all know.

 

[steph72276]

Nov, thanks for the info. That absolutely stinks

. Both sets of our parents are flying in from out of town and I know I will be in there for at least 3 days with a c-section. That means my son would have to wait until then to meet his baby brother, oh man I hope they don''t do that where I am.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 10/1/2009 9:21:29 AM
Author: KimberlyH
MP, woke up this morning and thought of you, because I had an icky dream last night about delivering the baby. I''ve been having strange dreams the whole pregnancy, so it''s not just you it''s part of the process.

Ack! I''m sorry

I have had multiple dreams that were about delivering then losing the baby, but last night I managed to remain dream-free. Maybe you had my dream for me lol.

 

[anchor31]

NB - I know that my hospital has a policy for L&D that only allows for two people to be there with the delivering mom. They''ve had that for a while; I''m guessing some people would go overboard and invited their whole families, which in some case could probably be cumbersome and disruptive. They also recently instated a "no visitors under 18" policy in the entire hospital because of the flu thing. So it is definitely a good idea to check with the hospitals what their policies are!

 

[Mandarine]

YES VIZ!!!!!!!! Happy October!!!!!!!

I love October, always have...but now it''s even a better month!. I can''t believe the time is here...just 3 weeks to go until my scheduled date!!!. I can''t wait. I''m so ready to meet the little ones!

35 weeks today

Feeling huge, not sleeping much, getting a pain in my butt (literally) and weighing more than I care to admit..but so happy and so ready!. We''re also installing the car seats this weekend and building the bassinet!. Tomorrow my glider arrives and the nursery will be finished

AND both babies passed the NSTs again! That''s like four in a row! Go babies!

Yesterday the email went out to my team at work to talk about the plans for when I''m gone. It made it feel so real. I still have to finish my darn yearly review...but all I think about is BABIES!. I don''t think my boss is looking for "be the best mom I can be, keep my cool and enjoy every second of it" in the goals section...hehe.

**

Mara, yes, I was a total enabler

Let me know if you need the info for the bedding from my friend...hehe.

 

[vizsla]

Date: 10/1/2009 9:22:16 AM
Author: NovemberBride
Just dropping in with a quick PSA - two friends of mine who are L&D nurses at hospitals told me that their hospitals are instituting new visiting policies based on CDC recommendations to avoid the spread of swine flu. The new policies provide that the only visitors allowed in L&D and maternity are significant others and everyone else will have to wait to see he baby until you are discharged (including siblings and grandparents). I don''t know if every hospital will follow this recommendation (I hope not, it seems ridiculous to me since there is a flu season every year). But you may want to check with your hospital to see if they are going to be following the recommendation so you can plan ahead. This is especially important for people like me, whose parents live far away and were planning to come as soon as I go into labor. I don''t want them sitting around the house for several days. I am also not sure how this would affect someone planning to have another person (mom, doula) in the delivery room. It''s a brand new recommendation, so it may take a while for hospitals to institute the policy, but I thought I''d let you all know.

OMG... someone has been listening to my prayers

only slightly kidding... it''s awful that they have to go to these extremes .... but possibly a blessing in disguise for those people (*cough cough* ME) who didn''t want people at the hospital anyway... i know ours is saying no visitors 13 and younger b/c they are the biggest spreaders of the virus.. but i haven''t heard about all visitors..... yet....
if it is for our health and our baby''s health i''m all for it!

mandy- i *know* i love october... DH and i got married in october, his bday is october, it''s fall (and oh so chilly today where i am) the leaves changing... crip clean air.... ahhhhhhh .. oh yeah, and babies! WTG boys!!

 

[jcrow]

speaking of october... today''s my birthday!! kinda sad that i''m not feeling well enough to celebrate. we''ll probably celebrate [go out to eat] when i start feeling better, though!

 

[Mandarine]

Happy birthday JCrow!!!!

So I know it;s not Friday yet...but I''m so excited to be hitting my 35 weeks that I thought I would post my pic today
Hope you guys don''t mind!

Here it is, my twin belly at 35 weeks in all it''s glory

(same shorts as always...my options are very limited these days!)

 

[Mandarine]

and to show you I really am very happy

I skewed down to get me head in a shot

 

[jcrow]

mandarine - thanks!! and gosh, you look FANTASTIC. i can''t believe you''ve got twins in there!

 

[Mara]

Mand, yay for NST passing. Do you do those every week now? You are so cute with your belly shots and your big grin. I am not going to be posting any naked belly on PS methinks..hehee.

MP, hope your appt goes well and you are feeling better.

Kimmy, those dreams are the worst. I used to have them at like 12weeks that the baby was coming early. As in like RIGHT THEN. Blah. Hope they desert you too soon and you can relax.

re: the hospital policies... I saw on the news that a lot of hospitals are cracking down, but so far ours is just going to do the 'no kids under 18 allowed in L&D or nursery areas' and they might start restricting # of people in the room which is FINE with me. But I do want my family to see the baby before we go home, so hopefully they don't get all strict and crack down.

Happy Bday Jcrow... you'll feel better soon, one day! Hope you have a good day regardless of feeling blah.

Viz, yay for being ready! My coworker had a scare at 35 weeks with a lot of BH contrax and she got all ready and it's week 39 and the baby is like 'dum dum de dum' and just hanging out. She is like I knew it!

 

[Mandarine]

Thanks JCrow!!

Mara, yes...I get those TWICE a week since like week 28 or so. Kind of nuts to have so many tests, but they do that with all twin pregnancies in my specialist''s practice.

Re: hospital policies. In both the hospitals where we could deliver, no children under 18 are allowed unless they are your kids. They also have a maximum number of visitors per room, which I think is a good policy.

 

[qtiekiki]

Happy birthday jcrow! Hope you feel better soon. M/s is no fun.

Mandy
Looking fabulous as usual.

Hospital policy
I''ll have to check on it. Last time, there was no restrictions on visitors. But if this L&D and recovery is like last time, then we will be home after one night stay at the hospital (not including the night when I actually gave birth).

I have an appt with my dr tomorrow, hoping he will check the sex of the baby for me.

 

[AmberWaves]

Happy Birthday, JCrow! Feel better!

Mandarine: you look great for double trouble! I''m sorry you''re uncomfortable, though.

MP: Good luck in your appointment!

November: I''ll also have to check my hospital stuff, I want to make sure my mom and dad will be able to see her when she''s born, their first grandbaby in this country!

Today we have a meeting with a pediatrician. I''m so confused what to do after, if we like her. Like, do we shake on it? Sign a form saying she''ll have full doctory control over our baby? She''s got dibs, so the practicing hospital doc has to lay off? No idea. After that we have an ultrasound. THEN we have a meeting/checkup with the OB who is taking over for my OB who went on maternity leave. Busy day for us!

 

[taovandel]

I came on here expecting to hear from So Cal!

The pain has completely gone away! So woohoo!!

Had a hugely stressful evening last night though with problems with my sister. Not sure if you remember me mentioning it on here before about how she lived with us and couldn''t really afford the bills that were hers for the apartment. Well she moved out---we supposedly settled all the bills and brought the ones she was paying up to date (Electric). Received the bill yesterday--opened it up and it said we owed about 200 over what the bill should have been. Apparently she thought she had caught the bill up but she hadn''t really. So we got into a fight on the phone and I wound up in the shower crying my eyes out because I''m so pissed. She can''t afford to pay the bill and I have a baby coming in a few weeks--so I hadn''t really budgeted for having to pay a 400 bill! UGH!!!

Hopefully everything will work out soon enough though....and we will be making sure to take her name off of all the bills (Electric and Cable).


Mara: I would not spend that much on a crib! Does that even count a changing table/dresser/bassinet or anything? I struggled with my idea of getting a combo crib/changing table/dresser that was like $400.00. We wound up not getting it because that money could have been better spent elsewhere for us. I mean if you have the money and it''s a crib you are in love with--go for it--but wow--that price shocked me!

 

[Burk]

Mandarine~You look terrific!!

Jcrow~Happy birthday!

I may post my belly pic today, too. I won''t be at work tomorrow to do my typical bathroom pic since it''s our big u/s and I scheduled a hair appt after!

 

[Kaleigh]

Happy birthday JCrow. Sorry you aren''t feeling well, that stinks.

Madrine... You look terrific!!! Love that belly!!!

MP, I hope your appointment goes well today and that you hear the heart beat load and clear.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 9/30/2009 3:14:29 PM
Author: vespergirl
Regarding the weight gain, I just wanted to mention that it''s better to watch it during the pregnancy, because it can be SO HARD to take off afterwards. I was a healthy weight when I got pregnant with my first baby, and gained 35 pounds. After the birth, I was already down 15, and lost the last 20 by the time the baby was 7 months old, but I was working out 5 days a week and doing weight watchers - so it definitely did not just melt off by itself.

...

I would like to ditto this. Obviously, you shouldn''t obsess on it or diet, but really focusing on being active and having some notion of healthy eating goes a long way. I didn''t really watch what I ate when pg. and was not very active, particularly in the last 2 months when I had evil crotch pain. I gained close to 60 lbs., and although like Pandora a huge amount was water gain -- I lost about 30 lbs in a couple of weeks -- the rest was good ol'' FAT that I have had to lose by my own means. A lot came off with only BFing and moderate excercise, but it was only in the last 6 weeks when I started keeping a calorie journal that I started losing the last 10-15lbs.

I am about 7.5 months pp and have only about 5lbs to go now

, but next time I will be seeing a nutritionist and keeping a food diary so that I don''t have to deal with this again. In some ways my memories of the early weeks are tained because I don''t like looking at photos of myself weighing so much

 

[meresal]

Mandarine, thank you. I love gummie bears!

Yay for less peeing during the night. I am NOT looking forward to that. I''m at the point where I wake up about 15 minutes before my alarm, have to go to the bathroom, and then get a few more minutes of sleep. Congratulations on the nursery being so close!! I''m sure you are just so excited! I can''t wait to meet your little ones! You look incredible!

All you Oct ladies are going to look awesome. Yay for BPF tomorrow!

Mara, thank you for the reassurance! I''m very glad to know there is more room available!

GingerB, MP, qtiekiki, anchor, - Thank you! MP, good luck at your appointment tomorrow. I hope the HB comes thru loud and clear!

Fiery- Thanks!!

How is everything going? Are you doing ok being back at work?

Kimberly- I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to drag your weight question out. I just saw that you posted that, and was wondering about some questions of my own.

NB- Those restriction probably won''t last after flu season is over? right? It seems kind of odd, considering that by the time they get them instituted, that flu season will most likely be coming to an end.

jcrow- Happy birthday Julie!!!! I''m sorry you aren''t feeling very weel right now, but if you get to feeling better, I would suggest lots of cake and ice cream... I''m sure the baby would like to celebrate as well!!!

Tao- Congrats on no more pain!!

I''m sorry to hear about the bill. Maybe she could pay you like $50 monthly until it is paid up. AT least you''ll get back what you had to pay over. It will all work out.

Burk- Adorable new pic in your AV! Love the beanie!

 

[phoenixgirl]

I''m back from my 37 week appointment.

I went from:
0 to 2 cm. dilated
20 to 80% effaced
-3 to -2 station

Good job, baby!

My doctor "feels much better about my pelvis" now. I really tried to relax before she came in the room, and the cervical check was not painful like last week. Yay pelvis!

So my sister says with her first child she wasn''t dilated at all when she went into labor, and she was only 2 cm. with her baby born last week when she was induced at 3 days before her due date. So she seems to think I must be going to go early. What do you guys think? Can''t women walk around several centimeters dilated for several weeks?

She also told me to stop taking Tamiflu until I know that I have definitely interacted with someone who has been infected. I''m happy with that.

When you are dilated, should you avoid DTD? It seems like you should, but I haven''t read/heard that anywhere.

I''m having more uncomfortable and frequent period-like cramping these days but nothing that feels like uterine squeezing/contractions.

 

[phoenixgirl]

I forgot to mention: I''m also Strep B positive.

 

[Kaleigh]

Yay PG!!! You''re doing great.

I don''t know about DTD. I have heard it helps to speed things along.. But don''t take my word!!

Heck I never made it to one CM dilated.. I was a clam...

Good luck sweetie. I hope all goes smoothly for you. Sounds like it won''t be too long now!!!