Well we know something is happening! That's good

Hi ladies-

Ashley, it sounds like Af to me. Oftent he first after either labor or mc is a bad one as far as cramping, etc...Motrin helps and I think you can take 2 and 2 with Tylenol.

Steph- my first dd labor started with very mild cramps about every couple hours. But my labors "rush" e.g., they start slow but then BAM! There it is. Once BAM! hits I got about an hour if I am lucky! My first took two hours and the second took 29 minutes. So I am going to try and get to the hospital before BAM! hits with this one

Coy - Will they let you stay in hospital if you get in early before the rush and aren't in established labour? In the UK you're sent home if you're not at at least 3 cm.

Steph - I'll let you know what the midwife says tomorrow. Slept with a pillow between my legs last ngiht which helped a little but still been sore all day.

Ashley - I'm thinking AF too. I used to get O pains each month but they were very mild. Hopefully it is AF arriving naturally so you can start TTC again.

Patrice - Has AF finally left?

AFM - Well my gender guesing sklls are back to being totally wrong. I was convinced my SIL was hacing a girl but nope, 20 week scan today confirmed it's a boy!! It really seems to be a year for boys. It'll be great though as our little boys will only be a couple of months apart and will hopefullly grow up really close. My only small concern is them and their development being compared or too much competitiion being made between them by some of the family. It's harder to do this with boys vs girls as the develope at such different rates.

Laura- Yeah, it's hard not to compare. Even with boys/girls the same age. Actually my family members don't as much comparing as I do, although I remind myself that all kids are different and especially girls develop faster than boys in most areas. Nicholas has a cousin who is the same age (girl, 3 months older) and she has always been light years ahead in her development. She has intellectual conversations and is much like a little adult... (probably like your girls Coy)! They don't even interact with each other because they are in totally different worlds. Hopefully for you, with 2 boys the same age, maybe there won't be as much comparisons because they'll be quite equal in their development. Of course personalities are always different, but are aware of that.

Coy- You must have some great relaxation/pain coping techniques in order for your labor to go so fast. I know that when the body is relaxed it responds quicker. I am trying to study hypnobabies again like I did last time (I still have the binder and dvds) but it didn't work for me last time... well it did in early labor, but as I progressed the contractions were so intense that nothing worked. I want to be more relaxed this time and let my body do the work, and hoping that my labor isn't as long as last time because I think the hypnosis will work as long as I'm not totally exhausted and delirious.

Re: Ashley-- I hope she doesn't mind that I update you guys, but according to what she said on fb, she was having the pains because she has some leftover blood/tissue from the m/c...I guess she had an incomplete d&e... so hopefully it gets taken care of

Laura- yes, they will probably let me stay in the hospital because we are a very small town and the odds of two of us having babies on the same day is pretty small Also- I don't think I'll have any problem hitting 3 cm - hope it goes that fast again anyway!

Steph- I didn't have any relaxation technique. I tried all of them, even the breathing. The nurse tried to "show" me (like I didn't know already) and she was huffing and puffing in my face and made me very angry (I hate breath on my face) and I yelled at her... and when I am in that much pain nothing works! Lol, I do apologize for my language and possibly hurting someone's feelings by the time it's all over though. A few offended nurses and one very confused doctor!! They tried to get me to accept a doctor I didn't know and he started to "look" down there and I yelled I would kick his face in and to get me my doctor! Since I still had my boots on he just ran out of the room
My dh told me to hold my breath and push as hard as I could and baby just popped right out! Two pushes. The doctor said "you want the stirrups?" NO! "You want me to use suction?" NO! "Forceps?" Just back off doc! He said it was the easiest delivery he ever had lol.
I hope Ashley is feeling better- often the residual mc tissues will spur or act like AF and throw her cycles into a regular flow. My mc acted like AF and I returned to normal pretty fast. I think what may have prevented her from doing so could have been the birth control?? Since this happened within a few weeks of her stopping the bc it has me wondering. Thanks for the update Steph!

Here I go again- procrastinating. I am down to the last minute on my asignment again, but seem to pick up steam when I get to crunch time Anyway, hoping I don't have to type "Exclusionary Rule" too many more times... In fact I forgot what the heck it was called so just put my fingers on the keyboard and my finger memory carried out the words!

How's everyone doing tonight? I am exhausted and full (homemade tacos- nom nom )

O btw, I did talk to my doc today about the progesterone and he said it is okay to go cold turkey. I am glad I had a week or so to wean off of it though. He told me all of his mothers that were using it just went cold turkey at 12 weeks and did wonderfully. Good to hear!

Just wanted to update you guys... I got the report today, but unfortunately it doesn't tell me much. The tech gave me the exact measurements, but when I talked to him he said he searched everywhere but couldn't find what the reference range is. So I'm wondering, how do you know it's large then?? I hate that he gave me this info and left me hanging. He just said that the 3rd ventricle measured 9.4mm and appeared "prominent." He recommends a follow up u/s. I also called my dr because apparently he had already faxed the report over, but I could only leave a message and who knows when they'll get back to me. It's so frustrating. And I can't find any info online about it, some things say that the 3rd vent should be no more than 3mm... but I don't know if that's right.. I hope not, that would be such a huge discrepancy!

Steph-
considering the shallow information that the tech has given you please try not to stress too much- I think everything is okay. Wait and talkto your doctor. If you are really worried find a heart specialist that could tell you more. Still, this is the developmental stage and I think there are a lot of variables to deal with. I think it is okay, your baby seems active and happy inthere! Hopefully you can get word form your doctor and I say do the follow-up U/S just for comfort if nothing else! Put your mind at ease

It's the 3rd ventricle in the brain that's the issue. Don't know yet if it's related to the head circumference being 4 weeks ahead, but both of those things worry me. If it wasn't a big deal, he shouldn't have acted like it was... and if it was a big deal, he should have given me more info. But that's just my opinion. Ugh, the waiting is the hard part.

Am I really 31 weeks already? Seems like this past week went by fast. I'm in the single digit week countdown now!