Calling all the Pregnant PS''ers

[SMC]

Hi, ladies! I'm poking my head in to rejoin ... I'm having my second child in February! Right now I'm 14W 1D, and I just got the results of my genetic tests in ... low-risk, and female. My first is a boy, and I would have been happy with either gender, but I have to admit I'm excited to have a little girl on the way. I can't even quite put my finger on why - raising a boy has been awesome! Maybe just because it's an additional aspect of motherhood to experience. I'm psyched to see so many of you on here - congratulations to everybody, and very much looking forward to participating over the course of the next 6 months!

Welcome Circe! My bff just found out she's having a girl as well (she's 20w now) and she also has a boy who is almost 2. She's ecstatic that she's going to have one of each. Your little girl will get to inherit, inherit, and inherit some more of your amazing collection.

Hope you're feeling well!

 

[ladypirate]

Hi ladies!

AMC, lol about the belly rubbing! I've been rubbing below my belly button but it feels like I'm just pressing on my bladder--doh! Good luck with your OB appt on Monday! I keep hearing great things about pregnancy pillows, but haven't broken down and bought one yet.

Niel, sorry you have to deal with this stuff. Exciting to feel the baby, though!

SMC, 10 minutes!? Wow. I can't believe they spend so little time with you. Good luck on the harmony test. I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother. I hope you have a great trip. My industry is weird when it comes to benefits since most wineries are too small to qualify for fmla. I basically just have to quit and look for another job down the line. :-/

Clairitek, you're so close!!! Can't believe you're going into labor by Monday one way or another.

Mia, thanks for the input. I think we'll go with an infant seat for the convenience factor, but we need to decide whether to go for a 30 lb/30" limit or a 35 lb/32" limit. Our favorite seat is a 30 lb, so we need to decide whether the extra 2" is worth switching. Sorry people are being *******s, I think you look great! How did your Thursday appt go?

Anchor, congrats on full term!

ForteKitty, congrats on team blue! Welcome!

Pancake, so close! Congrats on finishing the renovation and enjoy the next couple of weeks before the craziness!

Dani, glad your sugars have been good--sounds like you're a great candidate to control the gd through diet. Have a great time in Florida!

Circe, welcome and congrats! I would love to have one of each.

AFM, first week at the new job was great! Definitely hard physically, but I knew that going in. I'm planning on not telling them about the pregnancy for a few weeks so it doesn't color their perception of how hard I'm working...I want to prove myself first. The only hard part has been making excuses for not drinking--industry hazard

Luckily I'm not really showing yet, so I'm hoping I can wait until ~20 weeks. Still no definitive movement but I think I'm getting twitches every now and again. I'm getting my second trimester blood draw done in the next week or two then my next appt is mid September. I'm doing group prenatal care, so I'm looking forward to meeting the other ladies.

 

[pancake]

clairitek, just popping in to say good luck for the induction if you have got this far!!!

 

[mia1181]

Clairetek- Sending lots of go-into-labor-on-your-own vibes for tomorrow! And if those don't work, tons of easy, smooth induction dust for tomorrow night! Yay! You will be holding your sweet little boy so soon!

Forte- Welcome!

SMC- OMG on the triplets comment! How awful! I don't know how I feel about sharing a birthday with my baby. On one hand I have never been that big on my birthday being that special. But I have a friend who shares a bday with her daughter and it is a little awkward on their birthday because you don't know who you are supposed to celebrate! So sorry to hear about your grandmother, hope you have safe and easy travel to Hong Kong.

AMC- Ah the snoogle! Lucky you got a new one! I swear mine is a little flattened and just doesn't cut it this time. I add a pillow on top on the part that goes between my legs. Still love it though!

Pancake- I am so excited about your renovations. I just think it sounds so exciting to have all that stuff done and finished in time for the baby. Remind me again when you went into labor last time and how it went. Are you feeling like you will have the baby before or after due date?

Dani- Hope you are enjoying Florida. I haven't been there in years, but I loved vacationing there when I lived on the east coast!

Circe- Welcome! Yay on the "one of each" club. Our first is a girl and I think we both kind of wanted another girl. Alas, we are having a boy and I am thinking about the "getting to see the other side of it" aspect as well. Plus it's kind of funny how people act when they see me with my daughter and I tell them our second is a boy. They get all excited like we hit the jackpot! Just wait, it's funny!

Lady Pirate- I don't think I'm allowed to name names here but you could always look up car seat safety forums and post there to help you decide. I have to admit we got DD her convertible seat when she still had a lot of time in her infant seat because she was fighting us a lot and I was convinced it was that she wasn't comfortable. She fought us on the new seat too but at least she looked more comfortable sitting at a more upright angle. Let us know how the Group Prenatal appointments go, I've heard about that before and it sounded so interesting!




AFM, 33w2d. What happened? I went from complaining that this pregnancy was dragging to feeling like I have no time left! I have a lot to do before he comes and we have a lot of things going on in the next 7 weeks! I'm happy to report that I am getting excited to have this little guy! So Thursday I had my appointment and the doc said my baby is measuring 48th percentile and is estimated to be 4.4 lbs. I know those measurements can be off, but it makes me feel so much better that I probably have an average-sized kid in there!

However, she also said that my amniotic fluid is measuring "borderline low." She didn't give me the number, but said it is within normal range, but at the low end, so they want to have me go in for weekly ultrasounds for monitoring. I'm just not super worried at this point. I know that like the weight estimates, these measurements can be off and can depend on the position of the baby. I also know that since my blood pressure is great and baby seems to be growing, and it's still within normal range, it's just not likely it's going to be anything. Also, how weird is this? When I was having the ultrasound the tech mentioned to me that my fluid looked great, just on appearance alone, before measuring it. I think maybe that's why I got that awkward vibe from her at the end. So my next ultrasound is tomorrow and I'm hoping to be able to come back here and report that everything is fine! This time I am having it done at fetal diagnostics right at the hospital, so they should be able to tell me right away if everything is okay and I'm hoping they tell me I won't need to come back.

 

[pancake]

mia, our #1 has her birthday the day after me (I went into labour shortly after midnight) and 3 days before her dad! It's like a grand birthday festival, lol.

To answer your question about my labour last time and my "vibe" about this time... well, I had a great labour last time! Spontaneous onset of contractions about 3 hours into my due date, we got to the hospital just after 9am and S was delivered just before 5. I had lots of interventions (epi, ARM, syntocinon, episiotomy, forceps), but it was all so well-managed and all done so clearly for good reason that it went really smoothly and my memories of it all are overwhelmingly positive.

I don't really have a "feeling" about when this baby will come. Maybe next week (39+ weeks)? Last night I did have a couple of hours of regular, painful contractions, and I did wonder for a bit whether it would turn into "it" but the same thing happened last time at around 39 weeks and fizzled (I think I had S 4 or 5 days later). I'm "only" 38+1 at the moment so I didn't think it'd be happening just yet. But I think it's fairly unlikely I'll go over...

 

[amc80]

Hi ladies! Well, I hate to put it in writing, because it will likely reverse....but I felt really good all weekend! I threw up my lunch on Friday (at work, awesome) but have basically been fine since. I turned 16w on Saturday and that's exactly when I started feeling better with B, so maybe that's just my thing. I have an appointment today with my OB. I'm guessing I will hear the hb but no u/s.

My insurance finally paid for my MaterniT21 test. It had been pending for a while and I was getting nervous! In case anyone cares, the billed amount was $2762 and the negotiated rate was $820. Huge relief there! Also, when typing this, I tried to spell "billed" as "builed." Pregnancy brain at its finest!

 

[BrightSpot]

C-tek, wishing you lots of luck today for a smooth labor & delivery. You'll get to meet your sweet little boy soon!

I'm getting an u/s today at the maternal fetal evaluation unit of our hospital today because doc said I'm "tall & hiding the baby well" so they can't tell her size. Hopefully all is ok & I'm not stuck here for longer than expected. Our infant CPR class is tonight so lots of baby stuff. 36w & counting.

I'm also recovering from hosting my parents for a long weekend. It was a nice visit but very tiring.

Hope everyone is doing well. I'll post more later.

 

[amc80]

Clairitek- totally forgot that today is d-day. Good luck!!

 

[SMC]

Good luck Clairitek! Update us when you can!

AFM, 17w2d today and went in for my normal doctor's appointment. I got my second trimester screen results back and everything was screen negative. My DS risk is < 1:10000 and so is my risk for T18. Open spina bifida risk is 1:7600. I'm happy with the results.

I also have managed to put on 6 lbs since my last appt. I was prepared for my doctor telling me to cool it with the cookies but she said that I seem to be trending towards the normal 25-30 lbs. I think I'll make an effort to eat a little healthier now that I'm not as adverse to most healthy foods.

I heard about this device called the Epi-No (http://www.epi-no.com.au/) and I asked my doctor about it. It basically prepares your vagina for birth by stretching it over time using this inflatable balloon-like thing. I asked my doctor about it, and she had never heard of it, but she told me that I could try it if I really wanted. However, she seemed a tiny bit horrified about the idea, so I probably will give it a pass for now. I was prepared to go buy it while I'm in Hong Kong if my doctor recommended it. I told my doctor that tearing was my biggest L&D fear and she said that most women do tear a little but even women that tear a lot are able to recover pretty quickly. She said that area was one of the "most resilient parts of the human body." They don't cut routine episiotomies at my practice (I think it's rare to find any doctor that does them routinely).

 

[BrightSpot]

So baby measured 6lb, 4oz & in the 55th percentile for 36w5d (which is based on my LMP even though my dates put me at 36w1d.)
Hopefully that means all is well & on schedule. Now to infant CPR class...

 

[ForteKitty]

I had my second trimester ultrasound today at the perinatal center and man are they rough! (or maybe i'm just a baby, but it felt like she was digging pretty hard) Baby looks fine, numbers are all good. Heart/head/spine are all fine, measuring about 10oz, next OB appt is friday. My OB already made me do the 3 hour glucose test around 10 weeks just to make sure I don't have diabetes, but I will be getting the next one in a few weeks. I'm feeling some pelvis aches and pressure, as if it's already starting to dislocate. My previously fractured tailbone is also killing me when i sit because the baby is starting to push on it, and the chair wants to push it back in. So far I've only gained 3lbs, and this is after a few weeks of vigilant eating. My arms are getting scrawny, but belly is huge though so he must be taking all my fat!

 

[dani13]

C-tek: best of luck girl!!! Major good luck vibes to you for an easy,smooth delivery!!!!

Hi Mia how are you feeling? Hoping your fluid level stays stable! Fingers and toes crossed!

Bright: glad to hear that the babe is measuring on track and everything looks great. Hope you had fun at your CPR class!!

SMC: all my yrs in OB, and I've never heard of this balloon- thingy you've mentioned. Maybe just do some gentle perineal massage as you get towards the end instead. It is true, most first time Moms (especially) will have some vaginal tearing with their delivery. Thankfully, that area heals pretty well ( and quickly too) so you should be fine!

Forte: glad your scan went well and hope you're feeling great!!!

Afm, I'm posting from Florida- we are having a very nice time so far!! My son loves it here ( he is really enjoying the pool) and its just nice to get away. I indulged in wood fired pizza tonight ( I know I shouldn't have, but I was craving it!!), so we will see what my blood sugar is in an hr ( ugh!). I hope everyone else is doing well, and I will check in again soon!!

 

[mia1181]

Just popping in to send more good labor vibes to Clairetek!!!!!


Also wanted to update that I went in to the fetal diagnostics for the ultrasound and was surprised that they also had me do an NST as well! It was a bit nerve wracking because I brought DD (and no one else to help!), because I was told it was only a 5 minute ultrasound. I'm a little annoyed with myself because my usual policy is to have DH at these types of things in case anything goes wrong, but I was convinced there would be no problem! Sure enough baby decided to be in a deep sleep for the NST and there was just no waking him up. My usually active boy was so still and it took forever to get the required number of movements. I was starting to worry, and DD was starting to throw a tantrum! Finally they used this buzzer thing to wake him up and he went nuts and gave me a ton of contractions. When they finally got to the ultrasound, we got to see him taking lots of practice breaths, which was pretty cool! And.... my fluid index was a very healthy normal 13! They are making me come back Friday to be sure! I will not be taking DD on Friday!


SMC- I have a friend who is a doula and she has had a lot of clients who have used the epi-no! She highly recommended it! She said in the clients she's had who used it, it really cut down on the pushing stage of labor (it went faster). I've also read in reviews that women felt it prepared them for the sensation of stretching and the "ring of fire" when the baby crowns. I guess you also use it to practice pushing so when the time comes you know what muscles to use. I would totally get one if I could afford it. It's too expensive for me considering I have a huge chance of needing a c-section anyway.

 

[Clairitek]

Quick drive by to say that they were too busy to take me today so I have to call my doctor in the morning for the next step. I'm only at 41w today so I'm totally ok with the extra day to go into labor on my own.

 

[amc80]

Quick drive by to say that they were too busy to take me today so I have to call my doctor in the morning for the next step. I'm only at 41w today so I'm totally ok with the extra day to go into labor on my own.

Good luck today, then! That happened to me as well except we showed up at L&D at 6am just to be told there had been a baby boom over night.

 

[SMC]

Good luck, Clairitek!

I got my Harmony results back. Everything is normal - and it's a girl! We are excited but somehow we both also knew that it was going to be pink for us.

 

[amc80]

SMC- Yay for normal results! And a girl! Do you have any names picked?

I had my 16w appointment yesterday. I was really scared about getting weighed because I haven't been watching what I've been eating at all. I am so used to throwing up that I sort of just eat whatever. Well, I only gained 4lbs so all is well (and I think I'm at like 5lbs over all). Everything else was fine. I also found out that my doctor would be on call the weekend of Jan 31/Feb 1 (I will be 39 weeks on Jan 31), so I could pick either of those days, or wait until Feb 3, for my CS. DH and I randomly picked Jan 31 (well, the Superbowl is Feb 1 so I didn't want that day). Come to find out, that is the same bday as my aunt who passed away last year, so that makes me really happy. It's really weird knowing the date in advance. Of course, this assumes that I don't have any issues like I had with B (pre-E, preterm contractions).

 

[SMC]

SMC- Yay for normal results! And a girl! Do you have any names picked?

I had my 16w appointment yesterday. I was really scared about getting weighed because I haven't been watching what I've been eating at all. I am so used to throwing up that I sort of just eat whatever. Well, I only gained 4lbs so all is well (and I think I'm at like 5lbs over all). Everything else was fine. I also found out that my doctor would be on call the weekend of Jan 31/Feb 1 (I will be 39 weeks on Jan 31), so I could pick either of those days, or wait until Feb 3, for my CS. DH and I randomly picked Jan 31 (well, the Superbowl is Feb 1 so I didn't want that day). Come to find out, that is the same bday as my aunt who passed away last year, so that makes me really happy. It's really weird knowing the date in advance. Of course, this assumes that I don't have any issues like I had with B (pre-E, preterm contractions).

Well, we were going to go with Caitlin but I think we are deciding between two other names right now. Of course, I want one and DH wants the other! We had decided on one great boy's name - so we will use it if we have a boy later on.

To be honest, I think that we're both suffering from a little bit of gender disappointment. I did want a girl but our families are traditional Chinese and boys are slightly preferred. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have a girl (and everything is normal!), but a tiny bit of me is let down that we weren't able to have the boy that my DH wanted.

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

Swinging by to say hello!! Reading periodically, but... life... you know?

C-tek: I imagine you're holding your sweet babe by now! Hope induction, labor, and delivery went smooth as can be and you're enjoying these early moments with your baby.

Who else is fast-approching their due date? Seems there are lots of mamas in the 35-40 week range! I'll have to take a peek in on the due date thread for updates.

Neil: So sorry to hear of your bleeding and bed rest. Disability IS a total pain in the ass to file for. Why can't the process be simplified and streamlined?! I feel like every HR rep says something different, too. Hope you're feeling well, hubby has settled, and baby keeps kicking away.

Tbaus: Good to see you, lady. Hope you are well. Have thought of you often.

Re: Being huge/big/whatever... or small... Bottom line is people need to just keep their pie holes closed. They may mean well, but it becomes old (quite fast) when all people do is talk about the pregnancy and how big/small one is. Just remember their comments mean nothing about what's really going on- we all carry differently. And we're interesting people, too, darn it! We have lots to say that's not pregnancy related... they'll soon remember that

We're fast-approaching 31 weeks over here, midwife appointment tomorrow. I am large and in charge- I don't know how big baby boy is, but belly-wise I look like I did at 35 weeks with Eloise. Thanks, unhealed diastasis rectis. I've also developed this super awesome condition called pelvic prolapse, specifically a rectocele and cystocele. Don't Google, or you'll forever be scared. Mine isn't horrible, but it makes me absolutely terrified to push out another baby. Our house is almost complete... builder expects we can move in the first week of October. Fingers crossed that moving doesn't send me into labor. Due date is Oct 31st, and while I went 17 days over with 0 signs of labor and an induction with baby #1, something tells me my body wants to eject baby boy, like, ASAP.

I'm finally starting to think about this baby a little more (such is life with a toddler), so I'll be popping in more frequently, especially to read a whole slew of new birth stories

 

[mia1181]

Just wanted to update that Clairetek had her baby boy! I don't have any more details but just in case anyone is wondering. Hopefully we'll hear from her soon!

 

[anchor31]

Congrats Clairetek! I hope the delivery went well and that you are resting at home.

Bébé Benjamin surprised us and made his very dramatic entrance into the world via emergency c-section on Monday, at 38w3d. Good thing everything was ready! He is making up for his traumatic birth with his absolutely heavenly temper. He is wonderful, eats well, sleeps well and cries like a kitten.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

Congrats Clairetek! I hope the delivery went well and that you are resting at home.

Bébé Benjamin surprised us and made his very dramatic entrance into the world via emergency c-section on Monday, at 38w3d. Good thing everything was ready! He is making up for his traumatic birth with his absolutely heavenly temper. He is wonderful, eats well, sleeps well and cries like a kitten.

Congrats to you Anchor!!!!!!! "Cries like a kitten" just killed me, so sweet!

 

[amc80]

Congrats to Clairetek and Anchor!!

 

[SMC]

Congrats Clairitek & Anchor! What awesome news!

 

[pancake]

Huge congrats to clairitek - can't wait to hear from you! - and anchor xxx

 

[anchor31]

How are you doing, pancake? 39w on Monday, right? Is everything ready?

 

[BrightSpot]

Congrats to c-tek & anchor!! So happy for you both!

 

[pancake]

anchor you are amazing and very sweet to be asking about me with a less-than-week-old baby on your hands!!! Thank you, I'm well. Indeed I'm 39 weeks today (Sunday Australian time) and just waiting. Not a lot happening - I had a couple of runs of intense contractions overnight last week but since finishing work and really slowing down, there's been very little action on that front and I've been feeling SO much better. Sleep is better, pelvis is better, psyche is better!

Having some very conflicted feelings at the moment - I would describe my feelings about the new baby as curious rather than anything more emotional at this stage (it's hard when we haven't met yet!) but that curiosity is growing rapidly, whilst I also feel incredibly wistful and more than a little sad that the era of having just our little S is coming to an end. She is just so incredibly SWEET at the moment, and I keep wondering how many more days we will have together, just S, her daddy, and me. We figured this might be our last weekend together as a family of three, so we really made it count and it's been wonderful.

So now I guess we wait...

 

[NewEnglandLady]

Pancake, I'm thinking of you as you enter your final week of pregnancy! I also had a bit of a tough time the last few days leading up to my due date. I felt really sad, actually, thinking about the final days as a family of 3. Funny to think about it now because I find that being a family of 4 is a ton of fun. I thought it would be really tough for about a year, but I've been pleasantly surprised at how quickly things clicked. Anyway, just wanted to wish you lots of luck and give you some encouragement!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Pancake, Just chiming in to say that I was really sad in the last few weeks of my pregnancy about B no longer having all our attention and no longer being a family of 3 (and since E came 3 weeks early it probably would have gotten much worse leading up to delivery!)

The first newborn weeks were hard and sleepless, but really the transition was quite smooth and it's a blast having 2 little boys We were very intentional about including B and doing special things with him, and even telling E "be patient E, we are helping B right now" and it really, really helped. B had a bit of a regression for a few weeks around when E turned 6 months, but now is right as rain again.

Sending you good thoughts and best wishes for a smooth L&D and sweet transition to a family of 4!