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

[lavalux]

You are adorable, Chris. Those scans of your baby are unbelievable! So detailed. She looks so pretty & peaceful! Thanks for sharing!

 

[AustinGurrl]

Hi girls! Long time, no post...
I will try to catch up....
Chris - Pics are so cute!!!! You are just precious, hon!!!! You got some good shots of the little princess!!!! And the bump pic is totally "Yummy Mummy"!

Anna - Hope you're feeling better and had a good camp trip! I don't know how you do it, girl!

MA - Hope you and Dh are both better and had a relaxing weekend trip! Congrats on the new ride! Are you finding it hard to drive the van? I feel like I am driving a school bus in the 'burban!

Viv - Holy Cow!!!! Almost there... I bet your curtains will be fabulous!!! Hard to even imagine snow and winter clothes right now.. Austin, Texas = 106 today... So excited for you!!!!

Angela - Hope you have had some improvement with the sleep! Piece of advice I received that I will pass on... A happy mom makes a happy baby, so do what you need to do for rest. Hire help, take the meds... I know it is probably easier said than done... prayers and a big hug to ya!

Lava - Good luck at the NT scan today... will look forward to hearing your news! On the pillow front - I bought a crappy imitation of the "boppy" body pillow from bed, bath & beyond. It sucks. I wish I just got the bigger, better one from the get go. My advice, go get the "U" shaped one by Boppy (I know they sell it at Pea in the Pod) and bite the bullet. Its kinda $$$. But I would gladly go back and do that now... you will definitely get your use out of it as you are going to be bigger more quickly than a singleton prego gal... I remember thinking, "I wish I would get a bump already..." around week 15-16 or so... Ha! At my last dr appt, my "bump" measured 43 weeks!!!!

Skye, NMG, Never, Lucy, Code... and all the girls -

AFM - Not much new... Babies are all good... Moving like CRAZY!!!!! I swear, I have a gymnast or two in there, and maybe a soccer star! All good at the drs visits last week and sonos... it is just a monitoring game from here... but, (knock on wood!) no signs of PTL, no protein in urine and blood pressure is great! We are starting to realistically hope to get 35/36 weeks, which would be a home run for trips!!! They would all likely be over 4lbs then...

Having a bit of depression over this weight gain... I am now well over the 200lb threshold... and will "hopefully" have the opportunity to keep gaining (see above.) For the girls, that is awesome, for my ego, not so much... I am just terrified of not being able to lose it afterward... I know in my head I do not have a normal pregnancy... but just seeing that number! I admit, I am vain, vain, vain and feel like this paybacks for being so smug about my weight "before".... Not to go on and on, but does anyone else have feelings like this?? I feel so selfish and guilty for even thinking such things, as I want WHATEVER is best for the babies.... sorry, just a vent...
Whatevs... please excuse my lamentations...

Hope all you gals have a great Monday!!!!

 

[pablo797]

good monday mornng girls!

first, sunshine, how fricking cute are you?! Love the 3D photos of the bambino! You and baby are just too cute! Hope you are well. how goes the office training?

Lava, good luck on the NT scan. Thinking of you today! As for body pillow I have one but don't like it. I turn in my sleep and found every time I switched positions I had to haul the pillow with me which woke me up pretty good. Good luck in your search, maybe others have had btter success.

Neversaynever, six weeks! Hang in there girl!

Lucy, I was wondering how good the "what to expect the first year" was. Good to know you liked it, think I will pick it up.

Vivienne, I consider you a bump budy and you're only 3 weeks away from due date!! Holy crap it's getting close. Envious of the snow. It's not as hot here as the rest of the country, but i'm still unhappy. Glad you did dry runs!

MA, sorry to hear about Doug. Scarry, but Skye is right, try not to jump to conclusions. Hope the beach was fun! That sounds fantastic to this land locked girl.

Skye, yes, we were camping in forest, but we have a travel trailor with great queen size bed, running water and hot water for showers so we're not roughing it too much. I think the classes are great. I think I have five classes on the birth thing, then a breast feeding class and infant CPR too. However, we paid for our classes.

AFM, camping was fun and I pretty much chilled out,put my feet up and read books all weekend. That is when I wasn't taking care of the fur baby or DH. Made me realize how desperately we need a good first aid kit in our trailor. Fur baby got into a nest of some kind of biting ants and was bloody all over his stomach where they bit him. He got several bites on his face that made him swell up and he looked like a charpee (sp?). Anyway spent one afternoon with hydrogen peroxide and aloe trying to allieve bug bite burn, then gave him a claritin to try and allieviate the swelling. Wish I had taken a picture, he looked so funny and so sad at the same time. Broke my heart. Then sunday DH fell off a step stool as we were packing up and magaged to fal on the sharp end of a piece of metal and took a good piece of skin off his back. Good thing one of us was fully functional. Also good a friend we were camping with is a nurse with a fuly stocke first aid kit. Good news is I feel good and this week and this is my first week of four days a week. Woohoo!! Yoga tonight.

hope all is well!! Sorry for the novel. Anna

 

[pablo797]

austin, you posted while I was creating my novel. I think it's perfectly normal to feel the way you do about weight. I feel it too. We spend all our lives trying to live up to anideal, it's hard to let that go. I've always struggled with my weight, but with lots of exercise and ok eating habbits, manage to keep it in check, but now that I can't exercise like I used to, get tired more quickly and am not entirely in control of my food likes and dislikes, it's hard. I keep wondering how much is baby and how much is fat? I think with trying to take care of triplets you will drop the weight before you know it! However I know it's scary, all the weight, but in the end worth it. I know you know that too, avoid mirrors? Like I said for me 40 years of mind trips on not gaining too much weight is hard to let go of, don't beat yourself up!

BTW, advice please . . . Had dinner with my parents last night and I am now terrified of my parents being grandparent day care. They are looking at renting a condo two blocks from us and taking care of the baby one or two days a week. But now my mom is talking about doing dinners and spending all this time together. As some of you may recall we don't get along very well and I fear this is a recipe for disaster, and will destroy the very small relationship we have. I have talked about boundaries, but I fear all she hears is baby, baby, baby. HELP!! I would rathehr suck up one more day in day care. I'm trying to alleviate all excess stress and I feel this sinking sensation that this is going to blow up in my face. HELP, HELP, HELP!

 

[lavalux]

Anna,
That sounds like my kind of camping!!! You, Viv, & Sunshine are in the homestretch, with Austin not too far behind! It will be so thrilling and inspirational to watch you all deliver healthy babies!!

Austin,
I got that book, When You Are Expecting Twins, Triplets, Etc" and started reading about the how much food I need to consume and weight I need to gain to give the babies their best shot of being born term or close to term at a respectable birth weight. I'm not sure if I can follow it to a T, but I am going to do my very best. Even if that means that I've ballooned in size. I don't look pg, but I look like I've eaten too many donuts since I've lost my waist and I have some bloating in the lower abdomen. I am supposed to gain 20 lbs by 20 weeks. Should be interesting! You don't sound like you started showing early. I'm a bit jealous. You look gorgeous now, though!!!

AFM,
Just finished with the NT scan. We saw the babies, getting bigger, and moving around alot. Baby A was sucking his/her thumb and Baby B was waving his/her arms, legs crossed in front! We got some great U/S pics for my dad's birthday card. The heartbeats were great, thin nuchal folds, normal nasal bones so now we just wait for the blood test results to come in this week. I was up all night imagining the worst so I'm so relieved! Will keep y'all posted on the final numbers.

Happy Monday! Hope everyone has a great week!

 

[sunshine71]

Austin, I know exactly where you're coming from on the weight thing! Please don't feel bad about it - it's a very hard thing to deal with when you've been so careful about it prior to your pregnancy. It's not vain - it's normal. EVERY woman has a hard time dealing with the weight gain, and you've got it times three. You WILL loose it afterwards, because it's important to you. Plus - not to make excuses - but you're carrying a ton of extra water weight right now with all the extra blood & fluids pumping through your body. Way more than the rest of us. That'll all go away on it's own shortly after the birth.

Have faith in yourself, my friend! You've accomplished so much in your life already (you're a lawyer, for heaven's sake!) that the weight loss will be a piece of cake.

Ooh... bad analogy...

Anna - what a situation you're in with your parents! I wish I knew what to say - I'm going through the exact same thing only with my in-laws. Which makes it much easier, because they're my in-laws and I don't like them to begin with. I can't imagine trying to tackle that with my parents. Good luck to you - if I come up with anything that works with the in-laws I'll pass it along.

Okay - time for me to go back to training...

to everyone!

 

[skye2010]

Wwwwwoooooooow )) Chris both you and your baby looks gorgeous. Can't believe how realistic it is. She looks so prefect. Touch wood touch wood. I hope you would have your last leg of your pregnancy smoothly and have an easy birth. Than we would be cooing over her outside photos once she is out

Charmaine You will have the biggest weight loss of your life on the day of the birth. You have triple amnio fluids to go, 3 beauties and some fluid retention to settle in the comings months.
Saying all this I can't stop feeling the same thing though. It's not so much the weight gain that freaks me out but my boobs are on the way to Samantha Fox's standards and my face is really rounded and I'm yet on my 14 weeks. I still have like 6 months to go Maybe it's just an overwhelming feeling of pregnancy? Who knows?

Anna, woow your trailer sounds like a 5 star hotel on wheels ) I'm so sorry about Dh but mostly poor doggie. How is he now? What a bad luck with the bees. Don't panick about parents move but just refuse it every time they pick up the subject. Say you already arranged daycare and both you and your DH believe that it is better for children to spend time in daycare with other children socialising in an educational environment. Say it helps a lot when they start the school which is true. On the other hand that you will bring their grand daughter to them in every possible opportunity to see and socialise. (Well u can think over this promise once she is born) That they will be great grandparents and you don't want to tire them at their ripe age running after children. U can also add that you are already thinking of having a second one so that it might be really too much to handle. ))

Lava great news on the scan. Weren't they adorable? Little 6 cm human beings with perfect little hands fingers etc... ) Pls post the photos.

Ma how u doing hon? Have you been to the wedding or the beach this weekend?

xxxx

 

[AustinGurrl]

Awwwwwwhhhh... you girls made me cry! Thank you for the support!!! I feel like the whiniest baby in the world and guilty, guilty, guilty because I know how truly blessed we are... I do. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement... HUGS** HUGS** HUGS*** all around!!

Lava - That is such AWESOME news, my friend!!! Are they separate sacs? Can't remember if you have said... You are ROCKIN'!!!!
And no, I didn't "show" early, just got real pudgy looking... was in maternity slacks at the office very early, like before 12 weeks!! But I was able to wear my normal tops (just not fitted ones) and jackets... jeans had to go, too...

Anna - What a dilemma with your folks... On one hand, parental baby care is much more worry-free than daycare and FREE... on the other, more time and interaction, which I know can be frustrating... Do you think there is any chance your little bambino could be a healing factor between you and your mom?? For now, why don't you suggest that they hold off on any big decisions, condos, etc., until you all have time to adjust after baby.... ???? I don't know, hon... sorry you are feeling stressed!! BIG HUG!!!!

PS - I LIKE the idea of covering up all the mirrors... )

 

[pablo797]

Lava, great news on the scan!! So excited for you. When are you telling people?

Thanks to all of you for your words of advice. My parents stopped by my store today and they decided on the condo in town which is further from my house. That's the good news, bad news, they've decided to take it and told the landlord, so it's a done deal. I think I will have to have a very frank discussion with my mother about boundaries and needing my space. I'm sure she'll turn it all around and make herself out the martyr, but the talk needs to be done. I also feel a little less anxiety, think I just got myself all worked up.

Ok, have a good night. Went to yoga tonight where I am obviously the furthest along. There was a girl in the class that has a killer body and she's all of 15 weeks. Talk about feeling like a whale. Oh well, five more weeks and it's game on!!

Sleep well, Anna

 

[svetayasofiya]

Hi girls!!! Just a quick post before bed. I got all behind again but I'm finally caught up. Just had to say two things: Chris #2 cute you be any cuter??? Wait!! Yes! Youre baby is!! Lol What fantastic scan pics!!!! Its funny, I always pictured you as some tattooed biker chick you're absolutely gorgeous.

2nd- I officially became a card carrying member of the 200 club today so you girls are not alone!!! In the grand scheme of things it's not such a big deal. I'm 5'8'' and ny total weight gain to date is 36lbs. Austin you've got three bambino's in there and like someone else said think of all that fluid and water weight. You'll drop it in no time. And Anna, you just look way to svelte in your avatar to be anyone with a weight prob so I'm not worried about you!! xo not long now for us eh???

I'll give you a novel tomorrow because man I have a story to tell you all. I think for minor (as in not serious) pregnancy ailments I most certainly win that top honour!!! a demain my lovelies.

Sleep tight!!

 

[Vivienne]

Chris #2 could they be cuter photos!.

Hey Anna don't worry, I'm sure I will go waaaaaay over and then we can labour together!!!!! Haha. Baby showing no signs of leaving here anytime soon!
So sorry about fur baby too. Don't they just get into things that don't concern them!!!

Lava so cute to hear of waving babies, mine did sweet fanny all, just blobbed!

Austin I hope you aren't too uncomfortable. I thought one gymnast was bad enough!

AFM, we are snowed in. It was my birthday yesterday and we couldn't get to the dinner we'd planned BOO.
I am fairly bored now so today I shoveled the drive and knocked the snow off the gutters of the house. They have ploughed the streets this afternoon so should be able to leave house tomorrow, as I am going nuts sitting around.

Love to all.

PS We are hearing all about the heatwave over there and while I wouldn't want to be THAT hot I am not a fan of being this cold!!!
Please take care ladies and remember you and bubs always come first!!!!!

 

[svetayasofiya]

Happy belated Birthday Viv!!!!

 

[sunshine71]

Happy day after your b-day Viv!!

Lava - woo-HOO on the scan!!!! I must not've seen your post when I posted yesterday. I'm so happy it all went well!

Thank you everyone for your kind comments! Unfortunately I'm back to training now, but hopefully soon I'll get my privacy back and will be able to address everyone properly. Have a great day!

 

[lavalux]

Happy Belated Birthday, Vivienne! Hope you & DH can celebrate in style tonight! Stay warm in the snowy weather.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes about my scan. Waiting patiently for test results, but pleased so far, so good. DH came with me to the U/S & he keeps talking about it. He was blown away seeing them move around. Will start telling family next week & co-workers & friends the following week if all continues to go well. I am most excited about telling my dad on his birthday.

 

[pablo797]

happy birthday vivienne!!! So sorry you spent it snowed in! No body knows that feeling better than me.

Lava, what fun it is to te family! And on a birthday! Best of luck.

svet, can't wait to hear all the details of your story, i'm on pins and needles. As for the 200 club i'm 5'8" too! Thanks for the kind words, but my avatar is from my wedding and EVERYONE looks good in wedding photos!

not much to tell today,have a good one! We have class tonight and get to tour the birthing center, i'm excited! Anna

 

[AustinGurrl]

Happy Bday Viv!!!! Shoveling the walk???? You go, girl!!! I couldn't bend over to pick up a shovel if I wanted to!!! Hope you get to get out to have your fantastic bday dinner!!!

Anna - have fun tonight! It was cool to see the hospital & NICU (for us) as it made it easier to visualize how it will all go down... And I hope your furbaby is better! Poor thing!!!

Svet - Getting close girl!! As for the 200 Club, I am only 5'3 and small frame, so look rather ridiculous carrying all this weight! Oh well, I am getting over it, just had a bad day yesterday... You seem in really good spirits!! Yay!

Lava - That is such good news! I am confident you will get some good news on blood tests, as well... We went ahead with the amnios for peace of mind.... The peri is who did it. Have you seen one yet? As far as the Dr. Luke book, everyone I have talked to (multiple moms) said they tried to loosely follow it, but don't get hung up if you can't eat enough! I eventually gave in and just started eating what I wanted, when, and how much... And these babies are right on track so far! I do think there is something to her theory on early weight gain, tho... As you get farther along, you just don't have ROOM to eat that much, so theoretically, your body uses that early weight (mine is stored in my arms & boobs!) ... I went from a 34D to 36 G/H really early!!! Now, its just crazy.... Good luck telling your news!!!

AFM - Had a ROUGH night! Man, these boogers get riled up at 10pm when the news comes on and I am in bed... Was up reading til midnight waiting for them to settle down! DH fell asleep with his hand on my belly, just smiling and chuckling to himself...

Off subject - I am reading "The Red Tent".... very interesting story of biblical times women (not a religious book, tho) childbirth, etc... not my usual type of read (I'm more of a murder mystery/serial killer type girl...), but I recommend for any of you on "house arrest" and looking for new reading material!

 

[sunshine71]

Morning ladies!

I have a couple minutes before my replacement gets in so I thought I'd stop in to say hello.

Austin, I had to smile when I read about your DH falling asleep w/his hand on your belly - how sweet is that! And I'm with you on the reading material - I'm a suspense/serial killer book fan myself. Those, and terrorist-type books. Vince Flynn wrote a whole series of books about an American bad-a$$ dark opp kind of guy names Mitch Rapp. I swear I'm a little bit in love with that guy... I'll have to check out The Red Tent, too. I've always been fascinated with ancient societies/how people lived way back when.

Lava - have fun telling your dad on his b-day! That's exactly how we did it, (sonogram in the happy b-day grandpa card) and it was awesome!

Anna - how was the tour? I loved it when we toured ours - it really solidified the whole "holy crap, we're actually having a baby!" thing.

Okay, Chris #1... let's hear the story!! You made me laugh about the "tattooed biker chick"! I must admit, I DO have a tattoo, but not where anyone's going to see it. Unless I show them...

Viv - still snowed in? What a heck of a way to spen your birthday! Hopefully you'll have your birthday dinner soon, if you haven't already.

Junebug - hope everything's going okay for you! I know you're going to Switzerland soon... if you don't get a chance to post beforehand, have a great time and tell us all about it when you get back!

to Angela, Skye, Terri, and anyone else I've missed (I know I'm missing a few... sorry!)

Have a great day, all!

 

[svetayasofiya]

Ok, here it is……… it’s gross so I probably shouldn’t be so willing to share it with the world, but we tend to share everything here don’t we? Plus I could use some good old fashioned sympathy

Well… a month ago I started itching really badly remember? It started on my feet, then spread to my arms. I chalked it up to heat rash because it’s been an unbelievably hot summer and everywhere I read online it can be a real problem when pregnant because our bodies are already overheated. Ten days later it was getting worse not better and mentioned it to my OB at my doctor’s appt. At this point it was mostly on the insides of my arms, but soooooo bad. The rash was red and scabby from scratching. I thought maybe I had picked up a bug or something from gardening, because it literally appeared days after I spent the afternoon elbow deep in dirt. She said not likely and diagnosed me with PUPPS. Google it. Apparently it can afflict 1 in 200 people in their first pregnancy. It’s an excruciatingly itchy rash that usually starts on your belly and can spread all over your body. There is no cure, just maintenance until you give birth. I never really felt like my rash looked like those I had read online for PUPPS but I’m not the one with the medical degree. Anyway, so she prescribed my Cortisone cream and Benadryl cream and I continued to pop antihistamines so I could fall asleep at night. It started to get better, and actually completely healed up on my arms… until it spread to my back, legs and butt! The itching is an absolute nightmare I can not even begin to tell you the agony I have been in. I started taking the antihistamines again, because the Cortisone would only work temporarily and the Benadryl cream was pretty much useless. I spend a lot of time with ice packs all over my body as it’s the only thing that really helps with the itch. I really try not to scratch but when I do, it makes it worse and inflamed and I literally need someone to tie my hands behind my back to not rip off the top layer of my skin. All this and being 9 months pregnant. Anyway, I spent all weekend trying not to tear my skin off, popping antihistamines and applying ice packs, reminding myself it’s already been 4 weeks… I can endure this for 4 more.
Monday I had my 36 week doctor’s appt. and she asked me how I was. I told her if it wasn’t for the PUPPS I’d be ok. Sure I suffer from bouts of insomnia that aren’t itch related, swollen feet and hip pain, but really, that’s child’s play in comparison to the agony of my rash. I showed her how it cleared up on my arms but has spread to my legs, back, hips and bum. She called in another OB for a second opinion and *drumroll* I no longer have PUPPS. What I have been suffering from is scabies. How horrifyingly humiliating! She assured me it has nothing to do with hygiene. I looked at her and laughed, because I am seriously probably one of the CLEANEST people you could meet. I shower twice a day (especially in the summer) and my house is always immaculate you could eat off the floors most days. I asked her how? How the hell do you get this??? Then we both remembered the gardening story. She said I most likely got it from gardening. GROSS. Apart from prolonged skin to skin contact you can get it from fabrics, bus seats etc… I also went for a pedicure about a week before the symptoms started, so I am skeptical of the cleanliness there. In any respect, how I got it is irrelevant, the fact that I have it is awful. So Monday night I filled my prescription, took my shower and lubed up with the medicated cream head to toe and crawled into bed hoping for a better day Tuesday. My husband had to do the same, even though he wasn’t experiencing any symptoms, but just to be safe.
I spent the night cleaning my house. I had a total mental breakdown and cried hysterically for an hour. Got into a huge fight with my husband. It was just the cherry on the cake of a long, hormonal, increasingly uncomfortable 36 weeks. I just couldn’t take it anymore and the humiliation on top of the agony I was suffering from was the last straw. We made up and then were even able to laugh about it later that night as we creamed down each others backs. My nickname now is scabby. Niiiiice.

Two days later I am still in agony, but I have to believe it will work soon. I read online you can still itch for up to a month after treatment. I am hoping relief will come to me sooner. Gross gross gross gross gross!

So yeah, that’s my story. :sigh:

On a happier note, we finished painting the nursery Sunday night. Just getting it cleaned up so we can put out the furniture and start to decorate. I hope to have it completed by the end of the weekend, minus some decorations. As soon as it’s ready I’ll post some pics.

Next Tuesday is my last day of work, thank goodness! The lack of sleep and 6:30am alarm is really starting to take it’s toll.

I re-booked my last and final attempt at my exam for August 10th. I’ll be 38 weeks + 3 days. How insane am I???? Pas de choix! I HAVE to get passed this and put it behind me so when my beautiful little girl is here I can devote all my time and attention to her.

My MIL threw me a baby shower on the 17th. We are sooooo spoiled! I can’t believe how lucky we have been. My boss threw me a luncheon/baby shower on Friday too and I got more presents! This time for me The pièce de résistance was a beautiful leather COACH hand bag. I have never had something so elegant before!!! Then just yesterday, at 4pm I was going into a meeting at work, and it was a surprise celebration for me with cake and everyone chipped in and got us a gift certificate to Costco. It’s nice to feel so loved. I am a very lucky girl.

Hope everyone is doing well. I have been following all your posts. I don’t mean to make this all about me and not comment on your recent posts but I got soooo behind it would be nearly impossible to comment on everyone. I should have more time soon to stay on top of everyone. I can’t believe how close so many of us are!! It’s going to be a very exciting thread in a few weeks. xoxoxo

 

[sunshine71]

OMG, Chris - you poor thing!!! Here's hoping your new script brings you much needed relief!

 

[pablo797]

morning all!

Svet, that is one CRAZY story. You told it so well!! And I am sooooo sorry you have been sufering! I find it interesting that they just assumed it was PUPPS just because you were pregnant. How frustrating! I had friends that got scabies in college from an old couch sitting outside. I think it cleared up in a week, so crossing my fingers for you! You must be miserable! I have a bunch of misquito bites from last wekend and i'm going out of my mind with the itch, can't imagine your agony.

as for the exam, I was wondering when you were going to take it. Maybe the examinor will take pity on you. I know being as smart as you are you will pass!!

best of luck on the nursery, can't wait to see pictures!! An IKEA store just opened in denver ( closest one was in utah). So we are doing the happy dance and going down to pick up some last minute items.

Sunshine, I love the whole girlie girl side / motor cycle side persona! I am a total prepie, but really love riding a dirt bike. You go girl! Thanks for asking, our walk through the birthing center was awesome! Hope you have a good day, good luck with training.

Austin, the fur baby is fully recovered thanks for asking. DH on the other hand looks like he got clawed by Fredie Krugger. And I agree with you, going on a tour of the birth center definitely brought it all home, wow this baby is coming! And soon! It is fun that so many of us are so close. The breast feeding class and infant CPR class arre aug 27th. Do I sign up? Or will I go before then? Who knows. Last day of work is the 26th.

ok I forget, who got the coach bag as a baby shower gift?? Awesome!

hi to all others, ma what's going on?

AFM, like I said class was good last night. I have my baby shower this weekend. The best present is that a friend from utah is coming as is a friend from Deleware. Old girl friends that I am so excited to see! Hope evryone has a good hump day! Anna