35+ TTC 1st Graduates!!! Come on Over!

[rottpaw]

Yay Never! Prayers for a sticky bean!

 

[newmarriedgal]

Afternoon lovelies!

Never - SUPER SUPER hugs and prayers for a sticky bean!!!!!!!

Viv - I'm so sorry about the sleeping issues Cal has! It sure sounds exhausting and I hope things get easier for the three of you.

Thank you all who were so nice about my hopefully positive attitude! The only way I get through it is to tell myself: As crummy as everything is that I have, it won't kill me. Since my best friend passed away from skin cancer 3 years ago (her anniversary is this Sat), I just tell myself: hey, it could be worse, you could have cancer. So that usually gets me through any low times, as well as having Charlie boosting my spirits every chance he gets.

I just found out today that my 1-hour glucose test came back elevated so I must go for the 3-hour test this wednesday morning at 8am. I read that many women fail the 1-hour test and have to take the 3-hour one and go on to not having any gestational diabetes. But if I DO have it, well, I'll reiterate my sentiments above: if this is the worst thing that happens during this pregnancy, I'll take it! It won't be such a bad thing to just adjust my diet..... however, I think I will put off my craving for chinese food until I have the test....I don't want to skew any results!

Going to a childbirth class tonight - it's for 2 hours a night for 4 or 5 weeks.....should be interesting! charlie will be home soon so we can eat first as it's from 7-9pm!

ohhhh! and I got the bassinet in today! I will put it together and take a picture....it looks very frilly and poofy, PERFECT for little poppy!


hello to lava, sunshine, svet, MA, angela, june, viv, skye, ceedee, missmuffet, anna, carole, jules (jules, where are you? Hope all is well!) and to everyone I may have missed (hope I didn't).

hope everyone has a great night!
Beth

 

[MissMuffet08]

Hi Everyone!

This is going to be somewhat short as I am work and up to my eyeballs in it! Speaking of eyeballs I am SOOO TIRED!!!! Viv, I can sympathize with you. It does get better, but I think that Katelyn is going through a growth spurt as she was up last night just about every 2 -3 hours wanting to eat. I am so exhausted I want to cry.

Viv - It does sound like he may be teething. Katelyn has been drooling and putting her hand in her mouth since she was about 3 months old. It got really bad at 4 months. Now that she is 7months, the pain isn't as bad for her, but the drooling is horrific. I gave her Hylands Teething Tablets 2x a day (1 time in the morning and 1 time in the evening) for about a week and even though they are homeopathic, decided that Tylenol (acetometaphine) would be better - my Dr agreed. So you can try giving Cal Tylenol or Advil to see if that helps with the sleep. I am praying that you and your hubby are able to get some sleep soon. As Chris 1said it is important.

Rebekah - Please let us know what happened at your Dr appointment today. As everyone else has said, it is probably just from the bfing. I had a bad clog one time and I could feel a huge lump. For about 3 days 2x a day I would put hot compress on it and massage. What really helped was just having Katelyn breastfeed. She always unblocks my ducts - though poor thing -when that happens she pulls off and milk goes shooting everywhere...Also, I do understand about having the baby blues- ping me if you need to talk.

Never - YAY!!!! WELCOME BACK! Praying for a sticky bean...or two!

Beth - Keep us posted on your glucose. And post a pick of the bassinet! Oh and birthing classes are a lot of fun. A lot of good information as well

Chris 2 - Good to hear from you. We missed you! Glad to hear that everything is going well with you and Hannah. Yes as Chris 1 said...pumping does suck, but I have been doing it for so long that it is now just part of the routine. Rebekah gave some great tips. I almost always pump after I feed Katelyn and get about 3-5 ounces total. If you do want to exclusivly pump you will need to pump at least every 2-3 hours in the beginning. On the Breastfeeding forum there is an Exclusively Pumping thread that has excellent advice on how to boost your supply. I too have the Medela Pump in Style Advance and I LOVE it.

June - I am thinking about you and hope that your medication keeps the depression. Hope that taking it in the morning helps with the insomnia.

Ok so that wasn't quick. I really do need a nap right about now, but don't see that happening ANY time soon. I would totally be ok if she woke up at 6:00am, but it is the 1-3am, 4am, 6am, that is killing me!

To all my other sleepless mommies, I will be wishing you a GREAT night's sleep tonight (and the rest of the week). WHenever you get overly tired and want to cry, just look down at that adorable baby of yours and remember sleep is overated and it is worth being tired to hold and love your precious child. Rebekah is correct - there is a ALOT to be Thankful for. I count my blessings everyday...

Love and Hugs to you all!
Steph

 

[rottpaw]

Hey ladies!

I too need to apologize for being so completely offline. I miss you girls and please know that even if I can't post every day, I am thinking of and praying for each of you!

Quick update from us. We are all well and looking forward to Thanksgiving with (mostly) hubby's family. My Mom will be out of town and my sister and her husband will be at her inlaws, so I think it will be mostly a visit with hubby's family for us. But I am so excited, as we have not seen many of his family for years, as we were mostly spending the time with my Dad (knowing he was ill

So I am looking forward to that. Although, it sounds like my MIL is planning something for just about every moment we are together. Family my husband has not seen in years and years are coming up to visit and see the baby, so I am starting to feel like it will be quite the social whirl LOL! And I've got NOTHING to wear LOL! Still about 10 maternity pounds to go. Eeekkk!

I'm finally well (thank the Lord!) and now need to focus on the exercising again!

Ethan is doing great! Can't remember if I posted his actual Halloween costume photo or not, but will try to do that in the next day or so. He is 8.5 months and SO cute I can't believe it! We are working on crawling (not there yet!) and foods with any texture (not there yet, either - just purees for now, but he eats those well). I can't believe that, as soon as the holidays are over, I will be planning his ONE YEAR birthday party! AHHHHH!!!!

Hugs and love going out to ALL of you, especially those too exhausted to move. I cannot tell you how WELL I understand how that feels, having dealt with insomnnia on top of the usual infant sleep issues for months now. Ethan sleeps better now (as do I for the most part, even if I have to sleep in a different room sometimes!) but he still gets us up several times a night for his pacifier. No more night feedings, and during the day he can put his paci in his mouth quite well by himself, so we are hoping he will eventually learn to locate it at night and do the same then. I need some uniterrupted sleep LOL!

I have been reading every day, just can't get time to respond every day and I am so sorry. I have now got a netbook (much easier to type on than the ipad) so I hope to be able to update more frequently now!

Am so sorry I did not take notes, but want to respond to as much as I can -

Sunshine, SO good to hear from you and so glad all is well! It definitely is exhausting, but it does get better. Hannah is beautiful!

Laura, I am still just so excited about these twins. I know it must be so uncomfortable right now (and getting worse by the minute) but you are doing AWESOME! and it sounds like you had a fantastic shower! Woohoo for baby loot LOL! I know I owe you a PM and will send that tonight.

Bek, please let us know how your appointment went. I too had a lot of "llumps and bumps" while bfing but it all turned out fine... pray it is for you too!

Viv, honey, I feel like you have been through SO much. I can only say, I DO understand as I think I have been getting about 1/4 of the sleep normal moms of infants get, and it definitely caused me some depression or contributed to the PPD I already had. But as hard as I know it can be from day to day, try to remember it WILL, it WILL get better. Callum will start sleeping thru soon and you'll be amazed the difference it makes. He is adorable and I love your new avatar!

Steph Katelyn is already 7 months! WOW! I can't believe how big these kids are getting! So excited! How is she liking the solids? I did work out a recipe to mimic the Ella's Kitchen Broccoli, Pears and Peas that Ethan loves so much, but will go ahead and confess that I could only get the ingredients for about 2/3 the cost of the manufactured product, and after all the cooking, pureeing and straining involved (ethan still can't tolerate any texture in his food yet), I confess I have already given up the idea of making my own purees. It was a nightmare of mess and dishes (and I'm a frequent cook and love cooking!) and in the end even I thought the Ella's was better! but if you ever want to try it, the mix I came up with was equal parts of "finished" purees - strained pea, pear and broccoli - when I used a package of organic peas, a package of organic broccoli and about 4 pears I ended up with about 1 cup of each after cooking, pureeing and straining. Hope that helps!

CJ I hope you are feeling better and I am so excited for you and both Z's! And this is totally off topic, but I was watching a discovery channel special about an ice storm in Montreal and thought of you. I am not sure if you are in Montreal, but if I remember correctly both you and Svet are in Quebec?

Svet Sophie is so cute and hope you guys are doing well! Congrats on the breastfeeding milestone! And I am SOOOOO jealous that Sophie has been sleeping through the night already. It seems she did that at about one month (?) which is about two and a half months faster than Ethan! You are so lucky woman!

Beth, honey I hope they can get you some pain relief and I can completely understand the concerns around the steriods. I do hope you do not have GD but the 3 hour test should tell. I had to go for hte 3 hour as well. It was not bad except the sugar made me sick to my stomach and I had to basically lie down the entire time and just pray not to get sick LOL! But it is over pretty quickly, all things consdiered. Be sure to take some crackers or something to eat right after they let you go, because you will be on a blood sugar crash by then.

Carole honey, how are you!? I know it is hard for you to be online right now. Hope all is still going beautifully and write when you can!

Skye, how is everything with you? You are getting close now! I think you are over 30 weeks, no? So exciting!!

Jules, Anna, Rowan, CeeDee, Terri, hi ladies! How are you all doing?

Okay ladies I hope I did not forget anyone and if I did, it is definitely my baby brain kicking in. I am so sorry if so! Hugs and love to all (and to all a good night LOL!)

 

[rottpaw]

PS for TWINKLE, if you are still on sweetie - I saw a question go by that you asked about obstetric cholestasis, and I am so sorry I could not reply right away. I have not had it or known anyone IRL that has, but there is a big community for that issue on BnB I think - a couple people just in our March group last year had issues with it. I think the general deal is it needs to be caught (obviously) and monitored very carefully, but in most cases can be managed. I hope you have already gotten a better response by now but just wanted to say I am sorry I could not respond right away, and I hope someone was able to help you and your friend! Hugs and I am praying for your sticky bean SOON!!

 

[rottpaw]

And one last post from me tonight - I apologize if I already shared this photo - but here is Ethan's Halloween costume!

 

[Mommy's Angel]

Never, welcome! So glad and am keeping you in our prayers during our devotions at night.

Thanks ladies! Steph...I hear you. Amelia was up until 4am this morning with her feeding. She fed for so long that when she went to sleep I fell asleep and woke up at 5am with bad hypoglycemia. I felt it thank God! I woke Doug up and told him I was dizzy, ready to throw up and pass out. He ran to get my monitor and emergency sugar tabs. Needless to say, I cancelled my appointment because it was at 745am and then Amelias appointment was at 930am. Since Doug would have only had 4 hours sleep. I made the appointment for friday along with my 6wk appointment at perinatal center.

Good news though, Amelia went for her radiology appointment because she was breech they are prone to hip dysplasia. He looked and she doesn't have anything wrong with her hips. We went home and slept afterwards.

I felt confident enough to postpone my appointment to friday because I've had so many of you along with my friends here tell me they had swollen ducts that I'm just not going to worry. I'll try having her suck on that one exclusively for a few days and pump with my other (with maybe a few sucks here and there through the day) and take hot showers while pushing down on the area. We'll see what happens. I'll keep you updated on the appointment on friday.

Angela, Ethan is ADORABLE!

Beth, you get a ton of hug from me with all your going through. You look like a doll in that cute little dress. LOVE it!

Love to you all.

 

[skye2010]

Hi Girls )
Angela Ethan gave me a good chuckle as he always does. hehehehehehe!! What a cutie. I can imagine him penguin walking in that costume. He did § grow so much too I wish babies could stay around being 6 months-1,5 they are just so adorable. Glad you are well finaly

Viv, Callum has grown a lot as well. In fact he looks bigger than his age doesn't he? Is he not almost 2,5 months right now? He is going to be a tall big boy I think How's breastfeeding going? Are you still doing it or did you start the formula?

Hey Steph I don't have the baby yet but I am up around 3-4 am everyday. I guess my body is making a safety stop before the baby arrives just to get used to the sleepless nights! hahahaha How's work? Did you get used to being back or do you miss your little Kateybug a lot during the day?

NMG I'm so sorry about your friend who passed away. The anniversaries are tough. Your illness isn't life threatening Thank God but it needs constant care and management. You are doing great for Poppy. Hope your body cooperate with you a bit more. They did not give me a glucose test I wonder why. Is that a standard test for pregnancy or do you get it if your blood levels are elevated?

JB what happened to your plans of moving and job change? How is the pregnancy? . you are already 17 weeks Waheeey!!!!

Laura 2nd trimester finished. Welcome to the third )When u have your twins I will be nursing Shirin too so you definitely won't be alone since I'll be sharing your bb blues caused by sleep deprivation, exhaustion and bf issues In fact if I wasn't to have a cx we could have been having the babies more or less at the same time. I think you've done great to have arranged a nurse who could help you after the birth. Since they are professionals they would be quite good at establishing a routine for the babies. By the way I am apalled by that rude lawyer woman you mentioned. I hate it when people act like. Some can't coop with the daily stress of living in a city but it's horrible when they hide it all that under arrogance and become rude. At least you still get a lot of pleasant people like the one who gave you a hug.

Neversaynever welcome back sweetie Nice to see you here

Sunshine are there any recent photos of Sunny Hannah??? By the way what was the story of her name? I completely missed that.

Svet same with Sophie, any new photos??? How's your baby friendships coming a long? Are you still seeing that sweet girl you met? I am working on mine. I met this girl from my IVF clinic who is lovely but unfortunately she has moved outside London, 45 mins by train. She got me in touch with a baby coffee group. It was started by 2-3 women on the net and soon turned into a huge group. They meet every Fridays. I'm planning to attend one of them soon.

Rebekah thank you for all the pumping tips. I sure will be using soon. Did you use the breast shield cause your nipples were cracked? Should I buy some before hand just to be on the safe side? Nice avatar photo )

Anna if u are luking : Wooohooooo where are you sweetie, and how's bf'ing going? Hope Josephine has overcome the collick issues.

AFM Finally got my bathroom fixed. It's not super warm but it's possible to enter it without freezing my nose ) Got most of the baby supplies. All in boxes: crib, beddings, steriliser, pump etc etc. The pram has arrived this morning. I set it up and now staring at it which is sitting in the middle of our living room. Dh and I went to a super cheap curtain warehouse where they sell curtain and upholstery fabrics this weekend. It was like a mini heaven for me. So much variety and quality of fabrics. We managed to find what we needed for reupholstering our sofas. My dogs made a right mess out of them (drooling and dirty paws) I just couldn't stand the sight of them anymore. So I'm really happy that will be sorted soon. Apart from all the nesting I went to a midwife appointment today. She was a very pleasant woman and she put me to her team. So next time I go I will be seen by her team. Not much time to go. In fact only 7 weeks if I'm lucky. I have 2 scans and dr appts lined up. i will find out if my placenta has moved soon (not likely but!!!) Than if not will book cx. Bit scared of that. I will also make an appointment with a doula this week. Hopefully she could help after the birth until I recover. Rebekah how was your experience with your doula and cx recovery? UUgh btw I had hip problems when I was born so i have to watch out for that on Shirin. Thanx for reminding me.

That's all for now. i've been away for a long time and been busy so there was so much to write!! Kisses, kisses, kisses all xxxxxxxxx

 

[Junebug_CJ]

Angela! That ice storm was insane! I was in Ottawa at the time, in my 2nd year med school. It's only 1.5 hours away from Montreal and both cities were hit pretty hard! School was out for a week, the back up generator could only supply the hospitals with electricity and understandably the med school wasn't a priority in that context... Brings back crazy memories, we had no heating in the dead of winter for about 2 days. Yikes... Such a cute pic of Ethan

Skye, I am still contemplating the job offer at McGill in Montreal... Hubby is in school 4 hours away until the end of April, so we will stay put at least until half way through my mat leave, and see if they are offering me as good a deal as it seemed. I LOVE Montreal, but I was afraid DH wouldn't want to go, as it is a bilingual city and he doesn't speak French much. BUT he was actually excited at the opportunity and views it as his chance to perfect the language, of course provided he can find employment as a high school math and computer science teacher. So we have more research to do before we commit. I'm not really fond of Toronto, never was, but nonetheless I've grown attached to my patients so despite how much I want to go, it'll still be a difficult choice to make...

Glad you hear your MW apt went well! Don't be too scared of C-sections, my recovery was easy peasy and women who have elective sections tend to fare better than those needing emergency ones as a general rule I have my C-section booked for April 18th as my OB told me there is a high chance (60-80%) of emergency C-section again should I try VBAC. I'm not upset about it at all!

Hugs to everyone, will try to check in more frequently!

 

[lavalux]

Junebug,
It is good to hear your feelings about c-sections. I thought we would probably schedule one as we got farther along, but turns out that yesterday we tried to do the 3D sonogram session and the boy who was transverse under my ribs somehow flipped so that he is now head down like his sister, the two facing one another, cheek to cheek. If they stay that way, and there are no other complications, my doctor will want me to try a vaginal birth even though Baby B may turn after A is out resulting in an emergency c. I'd hate having to heal in two places at one time and for some reason, I'm scared to do a vaginal birth. Anyway, I'm only 28 weeks on Friday so I've got a ways to go, I guess, before we need to worry about that.

Unfortunately, we couldn't get good 3D pictures of the babies' faces because they were so close to one another they were blocking each other's shot. At one point, Lily tried to push Liam away so that she could get her photo op, but he just ignored her.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Angela,
Ethan is adorable. I owe you a PM & will write you back right now.

 

[Junebug_CJ]

Ahhhh Laura I had no clue you'd named the twins already! Love the names!!! Liam is on my top 5 list but DH vetoed it, as he did most of my suggestions Hey if both babies are placed right, definitely try the vaginal route!!! Good on Liam for turning for you

 

[lavalux]

We are naming the boy William Alexander but calling him Liam.

The girl will be Lillian after DH's grandmother and we will call her Lily.

We cannot decide on a middle name. Top names in consideration in no particular order of preference include:
Elena (meaning light or bright one)/Alaina (meaning rock)
Sophie (meaning wisdom)
Sabine (after a favorite book series "Griffin & Sabine")
Jean (my mom's name)
Hope (DH's mom's maiden name and middle name of DH's sister who passed away)
Grace
Rose (but lately I've just heard of too many babies with this middle name)
Athene (after Athens the city where DH & I went to college and after the Greek goddess Athena)
Louise (feminine form of Louis which was both of my parents' father's names, but DH is not a real fan)
Faith

What do y'all think?

 

[svetayasofiya]

Hmmm lava, obviously i'm partial to Sophie, lol

Ummm, I think Lillan Elena or Alaina sound beautiful.... Lillian Jean is cute... and I think Lilliane Athene is cool because its different and I like the meaning. Sophie's middle name is Victoria which is the city I grew up in and where my family live. My vote is for Athene

 

[lavalux]

Svet,
I didn't know Sophie's middle name is Victoria. That is very pretty and I love the meaning behind the name. One of my best friends is named Victoria. Did you know that in the States, Sophia/Sofia is currently the #1 most popular girls name according to BabyNames.com and the Bump website? Amelia/Emilia is #6 (are you reading this MA?) and Lily/Lilly is #6. Somehow, Liam is in the top 10 for boy's names. DH and I read this in a magazine at the OB office yesterday and just laughed b/c we don't typically pick the trendiest things. We like old-fashioned names usually. We picked Lillian b/c it's a family name and Liam b/c we liked how it sounded with McDonald and we both have Scottish heritage (and ok, so Liam Neeson is sort of hot IMHO, LOL). I think I want to go now with a middle name for Lily that isn't in the top 10. Athene, Sabine, or Jean sounds good to me and Alaina has a nice ring to it. At this rate, we will just need to start flipping coins!

 

[Mommy's Angel]

Skye, I LOVED our doula! She calmed both me and Doug. Doug felt faint and she intervened for juice to keep him from passing out, she held my hand, told me what was normal and advocated during the surgery.

As for the shield, Amelia wasn't latching properly and has such an agressive latch that after awhile my nipples are flat. She does the same to bottle nipples! I don't recommend them unless or until you actually need them because it leaves space between nipple and shield which causes air bubbles they swollow causing gas. We're trying to ween her off as she grows!

 

[Mommy's Angel]

Svet,
I didn't know Sophie's middle name is Victoria. That is very pretty and I love the meaning behind the name. One of my best friends is named Victoria. Did you know that in the States, Sophia/Sofia is currently the #1 most popular girls name according to BabyNames.com and the Bump website? Amelia/Emilia is #6 (are you reading this MA?) and Lily/Lilly is #6. Somehow, Liam is in the top 10 for boy's names. DH and I read this in a magazine at the OB office yesterday and just laughed b/c we don't typically pick the trendiest things. We like old-fashioned names usually. We picked Lillian b/c it's a family name and Liam b/c we liked how it sounded with McDonald and we both have Scottish heritage (and ok, so Liam Neeson is sort of hot IMHO, LOL). I think I want to go now with a middle name for Lily that isn't in the top 10. Athene, Sabine, or Jean sounds good to me and Alaina has a nice ring to it. At this rate, we will just need to start flipping coins!

No, In fact I picked it because I hadn't heard it in awhile. Then found our friends daughter is named Amelia. It's interesting ppl are going back to older names!

I LOVE the name Lillian! Amelia and Lillian just remind me of the great ladies in our lives who are Matriarchs! Just very loving and strong names!

 

[svetayasofiya]

Lava, I knew about the sofia/Sophia popularity but I don't feel Sophie is the same name. It's like my name Christina is not the same as the name Christine. Anyway we named Sophie after my grandma and because we love the name. It's also perfectly bilingual

 

[lavalux]

I like Sophie better than Sophia. And you are right, they are two different names entirely. I love the family connection as well.

 

[Mommy's Angel]

I agree, I prefer Sophie too. I just love the strength in the names though.

 

[svetayasofiya]

Thx girls! I really love the names you both chose too. Actualky everyone on ths thread so far has picked really solid names.