November Sparklers 2014....22 boys, 22 girls born! Please update us!

[GeralynB]

Here's my 30 week bump

 

[GeralynB]

Last night when I couldn't sleep I starting ordering things from Amazon for my hospital bag. I found some helpful links on Pinterest. I also plan on starting to stock up on household items so I don't have to worry about them when baby gets here…paper towels, toothpaste, shampoo, toilet paper etc.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208713763956479212/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208713763956479205/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208713763956479122/

 

[MarieMo7]

eyemom, you can't influence your gestational diabetes testing by your diet - so please don't worry about that! You can't "cause" yourself to pass/fail. It's just a matter of how your body processes sugar during your pregnancy, and it's kind of pre-determined. I have extremely healthy/fit friends who failed horribly, and I know someone who passed but gained 100lbs during pregnancy, half of which was before the test! It's just "luck" - the part that can be influenced is how you handle your diet after you know, to minimize the effects.

And regarding iron - I've always been slightly anemic, and pregnancy makes it worse. So at my 28 week appt with DD1, I wasn't surprised to get that call - I just had to start taking an iron supplement in addition to my prenatal. I'm fully expecting the same thing with this baby, so I've been taking a supplement since the start of 2nd tri, just to head things off!

 

[MarieMo7]

Last night when I couldn't sleep I starting ordering things from Amazon for my hospital bag. I found some helpful links on Pinterest. I also plan on starting to stock up on household items so I don't have to worry about them when baby gets here…paper towels, toothpaste, shampoo, toilet paper etc.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208713763956479212/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208713763956479205/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208713763956479122/

For your hospital bag, remember chapstick and socks/slippers! It's cold and dry in there!

 

[MarieMo7]

Here's my 30 week bump

Congrats on 30 weeks / three quarters of the way there! You look great!

 

[Missyann]

Thanks for the reassurance about the glucose testing, MarieMo. Mine is on Monday.

 

[cncem]

Side note, apparently it's difficult to find adult cough medicine without alcohol. What?? I've got a head/chest cold I'm battling through, and I really suffered last night. All the coughing is causing contractions, and I'm desperately just wanting to get comfortable at night. Finally found some without alcohol. Hallelujah. Looking forward to sleeping tonight!

MarieMo you also may want to try some vic's vaporub on your chest and maybe abit right under your nose on your top lip. That really helps me when I have a cough at night. To me it's a better cough suppressant than any cough syrup or medicine. Hope you get a good nights sleep.

 

[MissyLissy]

eyemom, you can't influence your gestational diabetes testing by your diet - so please don't worry about that! You can't "cause" yourself to pass/fail. It's just a matter of how your body processes sugar during your pregnancy, and it's kind of pre-determined. I have extremely healthy/fit friends who failed horribly, and I know someone who passed but gained 100lbs during pregnancy, half of which was before the test! It's just "luck" - the part that can be influenced is how you handle your diet after you know, to minimize the effects.

And regarding iron - I've always been slightly anemic, and pregnancy makes it worse. So at my 28 week appt with DD1, I wasn't surprised to get that call - I just had to start taking an iron supplement in addition to my prenatal. I'm fully expecting the same thing with this baby, so I've been taking a supplement since the start of 2nd tri, just to head things off!

Thanks for this post, MarieMo! You actually made me feel better about my GD dx! . I was higher risk from the get-go because of multiples and PCOS, but that didn't stop me from beating myself up and feeling bad about some of my diet choices when I got the diagnosis. You are absolutely right that it has very little to do with your diet, and more to do with the placenta interfering with your body's natural rhythm.

 

[Jalanis22]

Last night when I couldn't sleep I starting ordering things from Amazon for my hospital bag. I found some helpful links on Pinterest. I also plan on starting to stock up on household items so I don't have to worry about them when baby gets here…paper towels, toothpaste, shampoo, toilet paper etc.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208713763956479212/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208713763956479205/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208713763956479122/

You wont need pantyliners at all, you will need pads trust me its like a period you've never had before lol

 

[Twinklie12]

Eyemom - was wondering about you, glad you are back! And no worries, I think if you passed, you passed!

Geralyn, your bump looks sooo great, happy 30 weeks!

Missy - I'm sure everything will be just fine. Take a few deep breaths before they take your BP, that is shown to help.

PK - have an awesome vacation!!! So exciting!

As for me, I'm feeling larger lately, but still feeling good. I'm up 15 pounds now, and hoping this more rapid weight gain in the past few weeks doesn't continue until the end!

 

[MissyLissy]

Blech. My BP was still very elevated. I need to go in once a week now for extra monitoring. My doctor said it's extremely likely I will developed pre-eclampsia at some point and bed rest may be in my future. But she was also very positive and told me there is not much I can do about it and that as of now, I'm still fine, I'm being monitored closely and we will just have to deal with whatever comes. Her goal for me is now 35-36 weeks. Honestly, I'll be happy if I can make it to 32-34 weeks. At that point my babies will be premies, but if I make that long at least their risks of long term disabilities will be very small. Regardless, I walked away from the appointment with the impression that I'm going to end up with October babies (hopefully late October!!) instead of November Sparklers.

Diabetes class was fine and what I expected. Lots of information. I'll need to test my blood 4x/day, follow a pretty strict diet that revolvers around carb intake and check in in one week to see what my numbers are doing and to see if insulin needs to be added. It was a busy day... Feeling surprisingly ok even though things aren't going exactly how I want them to.

 

[cncem]

Missy what was the reading, if I may ask? Mine has been elevated lately, on average about 130-133/80s, it has me worried.

 

[MissyLissy]

Missy what was the reading, if I may ask? Mine has been elevated lately, on average about 130-133/80s, it has me worried.

Today my BP was 144/86 (the highest it's ever been) the first time they tested it, and it went down to 142/84 later in the appointment when I asked for a recheck. I still think part of the elevation was nerves about having a high reading. I tested it at home with my FIL's blood pressure cuff when I got home and got WIDELY different readings 150/98 the first time and 132/82 like 10 minutes later, so something must have been not working with the cuff and I'm hoping that first reading was incredibly wrong. Usually my BP is 120ish/70ish. It's been elevated since my appointment at 24 weeks. So far no protein in my urine though, and my labs at 24 weeks didn't show any signs of pre-eclampsia yet. I'm just going to try to relax about it, not obsess, and take it week by week at my check ins. I also think I need to avoid checking at home since I don't know how accurate the monitor I was using is and I don't want to give myself undo worry. My doctor still won't consider BP meds and says I'm not at that point quite yet.

 

[eyemom]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and information about the glucose test and the anemia stuff.

I didn't hear back from the Dr today, so I guess everything was borderline enough to make this momma worry, but not bad enough to need to do anything. At least nothing urgent enough that it can't wait until my next appt in 2 weeks. I was told no phone call = good news. So I'm relieved about that.

Re: hospital bags. YES to the chapstick. No to the pantyliners...sorry but those won't be of any use for a while, haha.

 

[apple_20]

holy leg cramps batman!!

what a way to be woken up.

 

[Rhapsodi]

Leg cramps are the worse! I fought those all last week. I took a little extra magnesium and they are better now.


Today my belly hurts! So sore! I don't feel like doing much it hurts so much. My ribs hurt too.

Just the start of being uncomfortable....

 

[apple_20]

I thought I got away with it this time around but no I've got low iron again... Back in the pills.

 

[cncem]

Missy what was the reading, if I may ask? Mine has been elevated lately, on average about 130-133/80s, it has me worried.

Today my BP was 144/86 (the highest it's ever been) the first time they tested it, and it went down to 142/84 later in the appointment when I asked for a recheck. I still think part of the elevation was nerves about having a high reading. I tested it at home with my FIL's blood pressure cuff when I got home and got WIDELY different readings 150/98 the first time and 132/82 like 10 minutes later, so something must have been not working with the cuff and I'm hoping that first reading was incredibly wrong. Usually my BP is 120ish/70ish. It's been elevated since my appointment at 24 weeks. So far no protein in my urine though, and my labs at 24 weeks didn't show any signs of pre-eclampsia yet. I'm just going to try to relax about it, not obsess, and take it week by week at my check ins. I also think I need to avoid checking at home since I don't know how accurate the monitor I was using is and I don't want to give myself undo worry. My doctor still won't consider BP meds and says I'm not at that point quite yet.

I have found that with my bp cuff at home the first reading is always way high so I throw that out and go by the second reading. I was out of town on vacation all last week and my readings were always between 130 and 140 over 80-85, on my medicine, which it usually is about 125 over 80s. I hope it was just the stress of being away and not a bad sign. I go to my specialist appt on Friday so I'll see what they say. Then on Tuesday I see my regular OB who checks my urine for protein every appt so I'll see how that goes. I have my GTT test on Tuesday so fingers crossed I pass, but realistically I don't think I will. I've always passed the second one though, so here's to hoping all goes well. I think we both just need to take it easy and try to relax. Do you work? Thankfully my husband has been great, doing things for me around the house, cooking etc. I wonder how long that will last, lol. I bought a maternity belt thing from walmart that goes under your bump and holds it up so hopefully I'll be able to stand and do things better.

Anyway, third tri today, yahoo!! The countdown begins

 

[MissyLissy]

Missy what was the reading, if I may ask? Mine has been elevated lately, on average about 130-133/80s, it has me worried.

Today my BP was 144/86 (the highest it's ever been) the first time they tested it, and it went down to 142/84 later in the appointment when I asked for a recheck. I still think part of the elevation was nerves about having a high reading. I tested it at home with my FIL's blood pressure cuff when I got home and got WIDELY different readings 150/98 the first time and 132/82 like 10 minutes later, so something must have been not working with the cuff and I'm hoping that first reading was incredibly wrong. Usually my BP is 120ish/70ish. It's been elevated since my appointment at 24 weeks. So far no protein in my urine though, and my labs at 24 weeks didn't show any signs of pre-eclampsia yet. I'm just going to try to relax about it, not obsess, and take it week by week at my check ins. I also think I need to avoid checking at home since I don't know how accurate the monitor I was using is and I don't want to give myself undo worry. My doctor still won't consider BP meds and says I'm not at that point quite yet.

I have found that with my bp cuff at home the first reading is always way high so I throw that out and go by the second reading. I was out of town on vacation all last week and my readings were always between 130 and 140 over 80-85, on my medicine, which it usually is about 125 over 80s. I hope it was just the stress of being away and not a bad sign. I go to my specialist appt on Friday so I'll see what they say. Then on Tuesday I see my regular OB who checks my urine for protein every appt so I'll see how that goes. I have my GTT test on Tuesday so fingers crossed I pass, but realistically I don't think I will. I've always passed the second one though, so here's to hoping all goes well. I think we both just need to take it easy and try to relax. Do you work? Thankfully my husband has been great, doing things for me around the house, cooking etc. I wonder how long that will last, lol. I bought a maternity belt thing from walmart that goes under your bump and holds it up so hopefully I'll be able to stand and do things better.

Anyway, third tri today, yahoo!! The countdown begins

Yay! Congrats on third try! I'll be joining you in like five days- can't come fast enough! Also thanks for the insite on that first reading. I feel like it had to be wrong. All other readings yesterday were in the same ballpark, and that one was randomly crazy high.

Yes, unfortunately I work a full time in a high stress, very demanding job. I have officially given notice (not going back after babies), but my last day isn't until October 10th. I'm especially worried about next week because my two co-workers will be on vacay and I'll be left all alone (with my supervisor) to monitor our whole area + I'll be on call the whole time so work doesn't even end when you leave the office. I'm sure my job contributes to my stress and my BP as well. I talked to my supervisor today and told her to hurry up with hiring someone (we are already down 1, if I leave early they will be down 2). If I need to go on bed rest or something happens, screw work. I will drop it like a hot potato!

 

[Twinklie12]

Hope you get some stress relief Missy!

Do you all get your urine checked every appointment? I haven't had mine checked in like months, maybe even only one time this whole pregnancy...is that normal?

Went for a walk with DH after dinner last night and had to cut it short... ws just so uncomfortable and perhaps having Braxton Hicks. He set me up with my ipad connected to the TV we just put in the bedroom (not connected to the cable/satellite boxes yet), so I watched "What to expect when you're expecting" chick flick in bed and then went to sleep. Good cheezy chick flick, and getting to right to sleep after was wonderful!

Today baby is kicking up a storm and generally being very distracting while I am in meetings at work. haha. Very busy and stressful at work and I feel like shouting to people "Can't you see I'm making a baby here! And that baby keeps kicking my constantly full bladder... yet you expect me to concentrate!?"