2014 April Rainbows

[Karinama98]

Lisa - Been thinking about you all week and knowing your day is upon you. I pray all goes well and the doctors and nurses will be taking excellent care of you.

Vietmamsie - Did they say any reason as to why you're retaining more fluid? I know everyone is different, so maybe it's just how your body wanted to handle it? Who knows.

Ebony - Glad to know you're still doing okay. Are you being induced because of your blood pressure?

Brieanna - In relation to your comment about medical intervention and a lot of the pregnancies here, even before you made the comment I told DH it's amazing to see how different everyone has been and with all of the different situations everyone has. Not one of us seems to be having the same type of pregnancy, so it's definitely a learning experience through everyone to see how their situations are handled.

AFM, at my 34 week appointment last week I begged my doctor to give me other options for heartburn treatment. Since week 9 it has been constant, and I just couldn't do it any more. I was taking two Zantac and at least eating 4-5 Tums a day with no relief. She then told me to try Prilosec or Prevacid (both proton pump inhibitors). She said normally they don't like recommending those right away because they want to see if any of the regular OTC meds will help. The first day I tried Prilosec (or the generic Omeprazole) and for the first time in 25 weeks...I had no heartburn! I told DH I feel like a regular person again. Normally the meds can take 1-4 days to kick in, but on the first day it worked amazingly.

I also asked my doctor how they can tell if the baby is in the right position since I'm not having another ultrasound. I'm sure some of you have had it where they feel your stomach, so she was able to tell me she is head down. Which if that's the case then she's been in position for several weeks. I only feel movement on my upper right abdomen and my lower left pelvic region.

I still workout about 4 days a week, walk like crazy. I just can't stand for more than 5-10 minutes without my abdominal muscles aching like crazy. We went to the museum on Sunday and saw a new exhibit that a lot of people were at, so there was a ton of standing with no movement. Luckily they had seats throughout the place cause I took so many breaks to chill out.

I'm also looking forward to this weekend where DH booked me a prenatal massage. Soooooooo looking forward to that.

 

[Lindsay109]

Just popping on quickly to wish you good luck Lisa!!! I can't wait to hear your update and see some pics of your little girl

All is going well here, had a growth scan on friday and baby is head down and estimated at about 5.5 lbs OB is still pushing for an early induction for me (38 weeks) so hubby and I have been doing lots of reading up on that - big decision to make. I must say I'm very jealous of those of you who are off work now... my last day is technically the 21st, although I hope to have almost everything wrapped up by the end of this week

 

[Karinama98]

Lindsay - any reason as to why they want to do an early induction?

 

[Brieanna]

Lisa85- YAY for you! You should have your lo pretty soon!

Kasey-resting is so underrated! I feel soooo much better when I am rested, both physically and mentally. We need our rest, after all we are making people, lol!

Lindsay-if they are trying to do an early induction, then maybe some research I have been doing would help you too. I have been doing things to try and get my body ready (she won't induce for a vbac and doesn't want me going over so I am desperate, lol). This week I started eating dates (I just saw this on someone elses post), taking red raspberry leaf tea capsules (to tone uterus), ordered my birth ball and bought some evening primrose oil (to soften cervix). My doctor also suggested lots of sex and of course, walking!

Vietmamsie-Do you think the humidity might be why you are retaining more fluid? I know that even when I am not pregnant my rings feel much looser in the winter than the summer.

karina- A prenatal massage sounds awesome! I have never been able to tell the position of the baby! Sometimes I feel a bit of an idiot, lol. The doctor is like "well, heres the head, of course, ....." when he feels my belly and I am like, "Yeah, I knew that!" even though I have no idea about position, other than I feel hiccups at the bottom left.

 

[IcePrincess]

Good luck Lisa! Can't wait to see pics!

 

[vietmamsie]

Lisa - Hope everything went well! Can't wait to see your baby!

Brieanna - also on Raspberry Leaf tea and eating dates. I just can't walk as much as I would like as I am just so heavy, but have been doing squats and stretches.

Kasey - heres to sleeping in! I love it! Resting is NEEDED in these final weeks, thats for sure!

Karina - Yikes, that heartburn sounds awful, glad you finally got some meds for it! I started getting heartburn at the start of the 3rd tri. Pretty much just once I lay down to go to sleep and then once or twice during the night. Usually tums helps - end up popping 2-4 a day.

About the excess water - after a little internet research it looks like I have polyhydramnios. However, my doctor didn't diagnose me as they don't seem to be concerned. I have had the DS test, and the baby 99.9% doesn't have it. All my growth scans have been good and show a healthy baby. I guess there could be issues with the swallowing, but we have seen it open and close its mouth on ultrasounds, so I guess all is fine. They would have sent me for more tests if they thought otherwise.

Now That I am in the final stretch, I get to go to the doctor every week! Tomorrow we have an appointment and I just can't wait to see how this little one is doing!

 

[Kasey84]

Karina- Glad your finally getting some relief from the heart burn! I've only begun experiencing some heartburn these past couple of weeks and it's usually only if I eat too much or too late at night!

Lindsay- looks like your time could be coming soon too if they do the early induction! Hope you can clue up work soon

Vietmamsie- It must be so exciting to be in the home stretch now! After my OB apt next week I'll be having them weekly as well. Really drives home how close we are! One of the ladies I knew from the ttcal forum was diagnosed with polyhydramnios. She just delivered a perfectly healthy baby girl

 

[Lisa85]

Hey ladies!! Quick update to let you know she's here and perfect!! She was 3.2kg and 50cm long. C section went pretty much smoothly although I'll give you all the details when I'm feeling up to it. I'm in a lot of pain and Elena isn't feeding very well so far. Apparently that's common with c section babies. I'm so exhausted and doing anything is really painful.
She is absolutely affordable and perfect though! Very happy!!

 

[Lisa85]

Pic

 

[Kasey84]

She's beautiful Lisa! So glad it all went smoothly! I'm sure her appetite will pick up soon wishing you a quick recovery! So very happy for you!

 

[Brieanna]

Shes beautiful! It is pretty common in csection babies so i wouldnt worry. DD was csection and i bf and she got it pretty quickly after a bit of a learning curve. Their tummies are only the size of a marble at first so they dont need much. Also i found football hold more comfy because of the stitches. If you have any questions you can ask me! Again, congrats!

 

[vietmamsie]

Wahooooo!!! Beautiful Lisa! I am sorry your in pain, but it will pass in time! Can't wait to hear the details once you are feeling up to it!

 

[Lindsay109]

Congratulations Lisa!!!! She is beautiful!! I hope you have a nice quick recovery and Elena's appetite picks up soon Looking forward to hearing the details when you're feeling better

Karina, I hope you enjoy your massage! They want to induce me early as I have a history of high blood pressure. It has been very well controlled for quite some time now (no meds at all for most of the pregnancy), however in recent weeks has started to creep up. I am on medication for it now (and it continues to be well controlled) but the doctor says that the research shows that outcomes are better for me and baby if we induce early (around 38 weeks), rather than just watch and wait as things can change very quickly. I spoke to the internal med doctor yesterday (who I trust very much), as well as the nurses at the non-stress test clinic and they have also said the same thing and they all reassured me that my OB "knows her stuff" and is very research based and would not induce early without a valid reason.... sooo, I think I'm going to go with the recommendation. It looks like the induction will be some time during the last week of March.

Brieanna, thanks for the tips! I'm going to try those things too I've already been drinking raspberry leaf tea and have bought some evening primrose oil, but will look into the others as well

Vietmamsie, glad to hear your doctor isn't concerned about the excess fluid. I have a friend who was diagnosed with polyhydraminos during her pregnancy and her baby was just fine I'm on weekly appointments now too... probably only have 1 or 2 left before baby comes Really makes it all seem very real!

 

[Karinama98]

Lisa: Congrats! She looks very comfortable with you already, and definitely a beautiful little girl. Here's to you recovering well, and her adapting to our world with ease.

Lindsay: Now that you mention all of that I think I remember you (or someone) mentioning they had the elevated blood pressure. Only makes sense because you don't want to mess with that during pregnancy for sure. And glad to know that many people say your physician is to definitely be trusted in knowing what they're talking about.

I think for me I'll be trying all the teas and such as soon as 37 weeks hit. Only 1.5 weeks before then! We still need to get our car seats installed in our cars and to pack our bag. I might actually start working on the bag tonight, and try to finish organizing some of her room so it looks semi-decent for when she comes home with us.

 

[IcePrincess]

Congrats Lisa! She's beautiful!

 

[vietmamsie]

Just a little update from my doctors appointment. Sort of feeling sluggish due to heat and what not. So just going to copy and paste from the email I sent my Mom about the appointment! I don't really know how I feel about everything, but just have to not think about it until next weeks appointment where we will see if anything has changed.

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We had another appointment with Dr. Hung and it went will. The baby is still high in my uterus, so I need to walk more and do more squats to try to make it drop. Thinking positive and hoping it goes down in the next week or two.

My doctor measured the amount of fluid in there and I have 20cm. Thats is higher than normal (10-18cm is normal), but not high enough to diagnose polyhydramnios. They are keeping a close eye on me and my levels and we hope that they stay the same or drop. Dr. Hung seems to think it is caused by an over active baby bladder! Can't wait to be changing all those wet nappies! Basically what this means is that the baby can easily move around, and it might be able to still flip out of the head down position during labor. It also means that there is some risk to the baby if my waters break early, before I am at the hospital. In that case, I am to go straight to the ER. But under close monitoring, I still might be able to have a natural birth. We aren't going to get too worried about it. Its just good to know that our doctor is keeping an eye on me.

Also, finally a weigh in that didn't end in near tears! I managed to only gain .1 kg this past week! Unfortunately, the baby didn't seem like it had grown much either, so they are going to keep an eye on that as well. There is a pretty large margin of error on the ultrasound weight estimate, so nothing to worry about, unless there doesn't appear to be growth at the next scan.

Sorry if it all seems a little scary... maybe it is, but most likely everything is fine in there. Just thought I should keep you all posted about the on goings. We just have to wait and see how the next few weeks play out, and know that we are in very good hands!

 

[Kasey84]

Vietmamsie- Sorry your having these issues! I'm glad your doc is keeping a close eye on you though. It sounds like you're in very good hands. Hopefully your next scan shows that the baby has grown and your fluid decreased a little. I think they can definitely be off on their weight estimates though.

 

[Lisa85]

Hey Ladies,
Im home and feeling somewhat alive today!! Apologies if anything doesn't make sense... my brain still doesn't work.

So day of birth... we went in for the c section quite early at about 8:30 am. Took a bit longer than a normal c section but everything went well. Everyone was very calm in the operating theatre. The doctors were really nice. There was like 25 people in the room which was a little overwhelming but only a few of them ever talked to me so i barely knew they were there. I lost about 1.1 litres of blood which is a lot but not enough for a transfusion. She barely cried when she came out but she was happy and healthy and i got to see her about 5 minutes later. They tried to put her on me on the table but it didn't really work so Dad held her for the hour i think it took them to close me up. They had a bit of trouble removing the extra bit of placenta but all is fine. The gave me an extra strong drug to contract my uterus which made me projectile vomit across the room (p.s is very hard to throw up laying down with nothing in your stomach!! )

Healing is going a lot better than what i thought. Im barely on any pain meds and they are just weak ones. I have excess separation of my stomach muscles so i need physio for that.

We ended up having to supplement her with formula because she wouldn't latch and my supply wasn't good. I have a few things stacked up against me breastfeeding... excess blood loss, slightly inverted nipples, breast implants and she was very mucousy from being a c section baby. Now on day 5 we have a 1 1/2 hour feeding routine every 4 hours which consists of trying to breastfeed, giving her expressed milk from last feed express and giving her a top up of formula as required and then expressing for next feed. This morning though we have had the best feed yet... first time i got her to latch on the right side and my milk supply is finally coming in good.

And my angel.... well she is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I could not be happier. She is just perfect!!!! Besides for the difficulties feeding she is the best. She just sleeps until feed times. She only cries if she can't latch and not very much. She is so calm and happy and beautiful!!!

I now know i have the best fiance in the world!! He has been so amazing through all of this. He's so hands and and is taking care of everything. Even the midwives were saying how amazing he was. I would be an absolute mess right now without him. Because of him everything is going well and mum and baby and happy!

Heres some pics of Elena Emily!!

 

[vietmamsie]

Lisa - I am so happy you are doing so well! She is beautiful! I think breastfeeding will only get easier as your milk supply comes in. So happy your OH is taking care of you! You will need him a lot in the coming weeks while you recover and take care of your little one. Keep us posted! Can't wait until we can all share our birth stories!

 

[Kasey84]

Lisa- She is just so precious!! So glad your home and recovering well. Glad to hear the c-section went well also.

It sounds like she may be getting the hang of breast feeding, but don't be hard on yourself for formula feeding either. My friends little girl was a c-section and despite he best efforts, breast feeding didn't work out. She ended up formula feeding and she's a very healthy 8 month old. Whatever works for you and your little girl

Glad to hear you oh is so supportive. That makes all the difference It must be so nice watching them together!

AFM- Did prenatal classes yesterday and toured the maternity ward and case room. Feeling more prepared, but also a little more intimidated! Lol.