2015 MARCH-MALLOWS... Due in March 2015!! Come join us!

[missfrick]

Yay bucherwurm congrats on finding out and welcome to team pink!

 

[mummy_smurf2b]

Congrats bucherworm on team pink

 

[CoffeePuffin]

I've been getting really bad pain/aching in my back and pelvis the past few days. It eases up a bit when I've done nothing but rest. But I have a toddler to take care of and a house to clean so it's hard to not run around doing things. Walking up stairs, bending, picking my daughter up and even standing for more than 10 minutes or so seems to make it come on worse again.

I've tried calling my midwife for advice but I can never get hold of her. And I don't think it's something serious enough to call the labour suite for since I don't think it's contractions and I don't have any bleeding, other than occasional brown spotting which I'm assuming is cervical erosion like last time I was checked for it.

I'm forever worrying. It's definitely not more easy going the second time around, in fact I think I've had a harder time!

 

[chimama]

Had the GTT test done yesterday. Turns out the orange drink wasn't as nasty as I imagined it would be. I didn't need to fast before the test. Should hear back about results by next week from OB.

I tried to schedule some birth/breasfeeding/infant care classes at my hospital but they are fully booked until end of January. Seems there is a high demand for them especially since they are free of charge.

Had a long week at work. Client was asking me if I was giving birth soon - that's how massive my bump is. Got home yesterday exhausted and went straight to bed immediately after dinner. Woke up feeling refreshed - the humidifier is really a life saver! Noticed that I've been able to sleep uninterrupted for the past 2 weeks without waking up multiple times since I started using my humidifier again. Also helps to prevent the dryness/itchiness of the skin that usually comes with winter and which is more pronounced for me with pregnancy.

 

[mommasquirrel]

Congratulations on finding out the gender bucherworm. did you tell family already? And do you have the name already figured out?

I went to my first Blessingway last night and it was amazing. There were 15 pregnant mommas there. I was able to meet someone who is due a week after me. It was so nice talking to people about the ups/downs about my pregnancy and hear their stories as well. I felt at home. We made birth affirmation flags. I am determined to bring mine to the hospital when I go to have this little one. We talked about our hopes and having the ability to accept what our bodies are going through. My most favorite thing was when they said to trust your body because it knows the way. Then we got to hear all the stories of natural births and hospital births from moms, midwives, and doulas. If you have a blessingway taking place near you, I'd say go.

I got to ask lots of questions about issues I have had and am having. I have been having this unbearable stretching/burning sensation going from my rib cage over to my belly button. I thought it was just in my mind one of the pregnant mommas said it's my ABS. I laughed because I thought I was going crazy. I also asked about nipple discharge and what I can do to release the pressure. The answer is to take a warm shower and it should help. I've just been squeezing them in the shower and it helps soo much. There is nothing like walking around in boobs that feel like they are going to explode.

Other than that, I'm excited about next week and eating turkey, cranberry sauce and tons of potatoes. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. All I know is this kid is trying to make a jail break every morning and I'm so over getting kicked in the junk. Looking forward to the day they flip around and start kicking elsewhere.

 

[swampmaiden]

Hello ladies, glad to see everyone has been doing fairly well.
I havent been on much due to internet issues that wont be fully resolved until Dec 15th, but hopefully the internet won't completely crap out again like it did for the last few weeks. Wiring problems. Anywhooooo....

Congrats on the growing team pink members... and heres one more!! I am officially team PINK myself!!! woo hoo baby girl, I had a feeling it was a girl but its great to have it confirmed!! Hubby and I are very happy

I had my GTT test a week ago too.. my nuber was 110 which is really good. Although I may have cheated a bit by going for a walk during the hour wait lol

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving for the Americans.. everyone else, have a wonderful week anyways.

 

[MrsKChicago]

Mommasquirrel, that sounds great! I should see if there's anything like that around here, I could use some actual real life community in my life. Hopefully I'll get some of that from our birth class, too. I'm so impatient for that to start since we had to reschedule. I hope your little jailbird flips around some and finds somewhere more pleasant to kick.

Congrats on team pink and passing the GTT test, Swampmaiden!

I'm starting to get nervous about the birth. I'm reading some birth books that really reinforce the idea that we're made to do this, which I'm finding reassuring, but almost every mom I know in real life had some complication and ended up having a c-section. And these are moms who were just as enthusiastic about natural birth and such as I am, some of them had midwife care instead of OBs, all the "right" things that are supposed to lead to a really low percentage of interventions. Between my preemie nephew, my friend who had to get the baby out NOW before her liver failed, DH's coworker who had to get the baby out NOW because of (if I remember correctly) infection and lots of bleeding during labor, it's hard to convince myself that complications aren't inevitable. I have very few real life friends with positive birth stories. I know it's not the end of the world if I have to get an epidural or have a c section, and the important thing is that Teddy is healthy, but both of those things scare the crap out of me way more than labor and birth pain scare me (I do NOT like knives and needles), and motherhood is going to be a hard enough adjustment without adding surgery recovery on top of it. My intellectual brain is totally confident in my abilities, but my lizard brain is terrified.

 

[CoffeePuffin]

Went to see the Armadillo Flip pushchair in Mama's and Papa's and it's amazing. Folds super quick and easy, my 2 year old DD fits in it comfortably with plenty of room but because it can face either way/can lie flat/is super cushy it's also suitable for a newborn, it's so light and easy to push even with one hand. The hood also goes really far down so no need for an extra sunshade in summer. Big basket. So many good things about this pushchair.

SOMEONE GIVE ME £400 NOW.

 

[mommasquirrel]

MrsK: I am in the same frame of mind about giving birth. I am going to try my best to just beath and surf the waves of labor. As well as prayfor a safe delivery. Forceps scare the hell outta me almoat as much as the idea of a c section. Gonna pray to the vagina gods that baby will go through perfectly and I remain calm in transition. every birth plan is just a plan.. so its never a bad idea to prep yourself for needing to go through surgery if it means saving you and babies life. I say this now knowing I am utterly terrified of needles and scalpels but I will accept it if its my last and only option.

Happy V day to me!!!! Now how to celebrate...mm a big bowl of strawberry ice cream should do it.

 

[MrsKChicago]

Happy V Day!

Yeah, I'm trying to mentally prepare for anything, but all those sharp things are creepy! I don't even want to think about forceps... Hopefully I'll feel a little better after birth class.

 

[bucherwurm]

Thanks for the congrats, and yay for another team pink member!
I don't have a name picked out yet, though we are on the hunt. We were pretty sure about a boy name, but a girls name is harder.

As far as labour and birth go, I am open to having help, whether it is some form of pain relief or needing an emergency something or other. I hope things go well and I won't need interventions, but sometimes you just do, and I would rather have a healthy me and baby. I don't have a dream of what my birth experience should be like, but I am keeping an open mind and hoping everything goes well.

 

[Bookity]

I remember being very worried about labor the first time around. I too felt like EVERYONE around me was having c sections and natural births just DIDN'T happen anymore. Felt more confident with the second one. Afraid my good luck Wong last for number three. It's a nagging feeling. I know in the moment I will do whatever is necessary to deliver baby boy safely. That's the most important thing.

 

[missfrick]

I'm getting nervous about birth too. Over the past couple days I've developed quite painful sciatica, and have had two episodes of spasms at the bottom of my bump. I do not thing they were Braxton hicks because they fricking hurt enough that I had to go on all fours, breathe deeply, and was crying. It was a tightening except it was only the bottom under the bump, not like it was my uterus. Some have suggested round ligament, or another type of nerve. It only happened once yesterday and once today. I called triage and they said it sounded like sciatica and as for the belly pain, as long as it wasn't consistent and in a pattern it wasn't worrysome. But if it hurt that much and it was not labour, I am worrying about how painful labour may be and its making me wonder about my decision to have a natural birth. I think I scarred myself.

 

[frenchie35]

I'm exhausted too, Puffin! This pregnancy seems so much more difficult and taxing because I can't lie down or put my feet up whenever I want. I try to nap at 1 pm when DD does, but I can only sleep on and off for 5 mins at time. However around 4 pm I'm falling asleep almost as soon as I sit down. My bump also seems out of control: I look like I did when I was 7/8 months gone last time!

I know the idea of a natural birth seems like the ideal for so many of you first timers, but please keep an open mind about pain relief. I had an epidural and it worked like gangbusters: I felt totally in control and calm - I even tried to sleep since I was in labor overnight. The 30 seconds it takes them to place it is kinda weird, but once you're hooked up, it's like any other tube - you already will most likely have an IV anyway (which you can see, the epidural you can't). My only concern this time around is that I won't arrive at the hospital in time to get another epidural (that and who is going to watch my daughter while DH and I are away).

Try to remember that some women actually have elective cesarean sections! It's not always a last resort.

 

[MrsKChicago]

I'm not so much anti-epidural as I am terrified of needles in my spine. Creepiest thing ever! My hospital doesn't do routine IVs, either, thankfully - we're encouraged to move around the room and be active and eat and drink, so they only do the IV if it's really necessary. I'd be as freaked out by any surgery as I am by the idea of a c-section. I won't pretend there isn't a slight undertone of "failure at birth" fears, but it's primarily a fear of having bits of me stabbed and sliced and cut open. I still need DH to hold my hand during flu shots It seems like, barring actual complications like breech babies and pre-eclampsia and so on, fear can be one of the biggest obstacles to giving birth without interventions, so I'd hate for my fear of surgery to be the thing that pushes me over the edge into having surgery. I'm not sure what I can do to help me come to terms with the possibility of sharp stuff. I know exposure over time helps to desensitize, but it's not like I can start stabbing myself every Tuesday in preparation

DH and I got the worst sleep last night. I had this weird new hip pain right where the femur meets my pelvis, and I couldn't lie still. The only thing that sounded even remotely comfortable was lying on my stomach spread eagled, and between the bump and the bed full of people and dogs, that definitely wasn't a possibility! I kept poor DH up all night with the tossing and turning - I bet we'd both have been a lot happier if I'd left him on the couch where he dozed off.

In less whiny news (I swear I'm not a big grump today), we thought the Christkindlemarket here opened next weekend, but it opened this past Friday! And we have a nice "warm" spell this weekend, up in the 50s. So we'll go sometime this afternoon or evening - I'm really looking forward to it! Anyone else have fun plans? Anyone doing anything fun with the extra time off this week for the holiday? We're going to take the opportunity to go to one of the few stores in the area that has the crib we like in stock, and see if we really like it.

We're starting to make a Black Friday plan. We don't shop on Thanksgiving, and we don't go out at 3am and stand in line, but we usually go out at a more human hour on Black Friday and get some of the less exciting deals. So far this year it's drinking glasses and pajamas. We're definitely getting old! Kohls has some jeans going on sale that I'm going to order, too, but I'll have to do that online (if anyone still needs maternity, they have some good BF prices on their website). I'm hoping to find some good baby sales, too - anybody hear about anything?

 

[LilFooshFoosh]

We have a small hatchback (and a large truck, but that is for longer road trips) so trunk size was a major factor in picking out a stroller. I want to be able to fit the stroller and still have room for groceries if we have both kids in the car. M&Ps Armadillo fits our needs/wants! We've seen the flip but the "upgrades" aren't worth the extra expense for us and DS never had a parent facing stroller beyond the infant car seat phase, so that part isn't a big deal for us either. DS is 4 yo and still fit in the armadillo pretty well! That was impressive. So we got a car seat adapter & car seat and are just waiting to see what kind of sale price we can get for Black Friday or maybe even Boxing day. I think it is fantastic

Congrats on the new bumps!

I've had sciatica for the last few weeks but it is starting to let up a bit now. Hopefully those were random pains and you don't get anymore MissFrick!

I've had brown discharge for the last 3 days which is kinda freaking me out. I told DH last night that if it continued today I wanted to go get checked out, but I woke up this morning and it was gone. It took everything for me to not totally freak out about it. I had to keep reminding myself of various things my doc has said.

We also got quite a bit of Christmas shopping done, so I feel like we are in a good place and won't be doing too much running around as we get closer to Christmas. We don't have any specific BF plans, but we always check out the flyers... we've never gone and stood in lines though, we mostly just end up getting stuff online.

 

[MrsKChicago]

I hope you get a good price on the stroller! I'm going to see if ours comes up anywhere, but I'm not counting on it.

 

[mummy_smurf2b]

Pictures from today scan : https://s30.photobucket.com/user/sarah18056/library/4d%20scan%20-%20peet%20at%20baby

and happy V-day to me

 

[DrMum]

Congrats to our new team pinks, and yay for the great scans!

My milestone is double digits tomorrow! The last few days are in sight!

Also, I have a voucher code for a free carseatcanopy if anyone else would like to share it!

Carseatcanopy.com

pick your cover and enter code TODAY13CC then it's just shipping and handling fees. Got mine for $18 p&p, free car seat cover worth $62. Seems like a good deal, no idea of quality but their reviews seem ok.

 

[chimama]

i can't believe I'm already in double digits and in a few days I'll be in third trimester. Yay!!

The Armadillo Flip looks nice.