Calling all the Pregnant PS''ers

[E B]

Hi everyone! I have a second so I thought I'd update quickly. I've missed so much! HUGE congratulations to Robbie on the arrival of Desmond (I'm so glad you used that name!) and NYC on the arrival of Sofia!

Cara, I'm so, so sorry for your loss.

Fiery, how are you feeling today?

(I know I'm missing so many people, but I haven't had any PS time (or general 'net surfing time, for that matter) lately. Hopefully soon I'll be able to sit down and catch up.)

Thank you all for the sweet words about my baby boy- we are so in love. I stare at him for hours a day, in complete awe. I can't wait for all of the new parents to experience this feeling.

I've yet to write out my birth plan (it's on the to do list for tonight), but the short, short, short story until I'm able to share a longer version here: I had a (very successful) induction due to pre-eclampsia. As all of you know, I'd had swelling for weeks, and my BP was sloooowly climbing, but the "pee jug" results were what earned me the diagnosis. On the Wednesday before Henry was born, I went to see the doctor for the results and at that appointment, she said "how's today, around noon, for an induction? The baby needs to come out ASAP." It was crazy, but despite the meds I had to take for the Pre-E and hours (and hours!) of very little progress on my own before the Pitocin, I couldn't have asked for a better birth.

Before I go, here's another photo. Sorry for the quality- it's an iPhone photo taken at night when he was super alert. He makes the most hilarious faces.

 

[AmberWaves]

Ebree he is a total DOLL. Really!! Congrats again on your new little love.

 

[littlelysser]

OMG Ebree, he is freaking ADORABLE!!!!!!! I want to squeeeeeeze him! Congrats!!!!

 

[anchor31]

fiery, cello, pandora - Thank you so much for the tips for getting blood drawn. I''ll need to have the tree hours thing done at 24 weeks or so, and I definitely need all the help I can get!

mandy - Those invites are to die for. Cutest ever.

Ugh about the rashes Sabine. Are you any closer to getting relief?

 

[Kaleigh]

Ebree he is such a cutie pie!!!

 

[phoenixgirl]

Ebree, how darling!

Pandora, you are giving me hope. I had my appointment today and am up 25 pounds at 24 weeks. Of course, the nurse thought it was 18 pounds, so she said I was doing well, blah blah blah, and I just had to confess to the secret 7 pounds I gained right at the beginning. She still didn''t seem alarmed though (she did, however, concede that my baby bump was more of a tire than a basketball). Must remain calm, must remain calm . . .

 

[sbde]

congratulations robbie, nycsparkle and ebree!! so thrilled for all of you and your families. enjoy these first few weeks with your little ones - they are tough to get through but SO wonderful as well.

 

[puffy]

ebree what a precious little one he is!!!

 

[lili]

Ebree--
Awwww.....so cute!

 

[Siamese Kitty]

Thank you so much for your responses Fiery, ChinaCat, Vizsla, Sabine (I hope your itching is feeling better!) I think I felt bad enough yesterday to convince myself things are ok. Sounds crazy. But today has been pretty great.

Steph-Hope you’re feeling better, too!

Ebree-What an angel.

Madarine-those invites are adorable!

 

[ChinaCat]

Ebree- Hey there! Henry is so cute. Glad you had a great birth, looking forward to the long version! Don''t be a stranger.

Went to doctor today, am now on weekly visits. All is good, except my fluid is a tad on the low side. My belly only measured 32 weeks instead of 34, so we did an u/s to check size of the baby. He''s over 4 lbs, which is on target to be 6 or 7 lbs at delivery. But like I said, my fluid is low so she''s watching it. It does naturally decrease as you get closer, but mine is a bit low for right now as compared to 2 weeks ago. She said I really need to take it easy and increase my fluid intake, otherwise I may get stuck on modified bed rest or worse, have to be induced early.

I knew she was going to tell me to take it easy, but it''s easier said than done!

Hope everyone else is doing well.

 

[steph72276]

Date: 7/1/2009 5:44:29 PM
Author: Siamese Kitty
Thank you so much for your responses Fiery, ChinaCat, Vizsla, Sabine (I hope your itching is feeling better!) I think I felt bad enough yesterday to convince myself things are ok. Sounds crazy. But today has been pretty great.


Steph-Hope you’re feeling better, too!

Ebree-What an angel.

Madarine-those invites are adorable!

Hi, Siamese! Sorry, I missed your post yesterday, but I am just about a week ahead of you, and my sickness seems a little bit more spread out this past week where sometimes I''m sick all day, and sometimes I''m not sick at all. I know what you mean about feeling better about things when you''re sick! Hope all goes well at your appointment next week

 

[taovandel]

So, I just freaked me and my husband out today in the car.

It hit me that I''ll be 21 weeks tomorrow with only 19 weeks left to go. I''ve completed more weeks then what I have left! It completely freaked me out!!

 

[sunkist]

Date: 7/1/2009 8:59:42 PM
Author: taovandel
So, I just freaked me and my husband out today in the car.


It hit me that I'll be 21 weeks tomorrow with only 19 weeks left to go. I've completed more weeks then what I have left! It completely freaked me out!!

Tao eee! You're on the countdown now

I'll be right behind you! I've been having my eyes opened too realizing that I'll be 20 weeks this Saturday!!!! Ahh! And we've done absolutely nothing to get ready for the baby, besides getting used to the fact that it's coming.

We have no nursery yet and haven't really started talking names yet. We have one on the table. Owen. But no middle name talk at all

Gee, I'm not

prepared at all.

Oh! But actually I did buy material to make a quilt for the bebe! I am excited about that. Maybe I'll start cutting out the pieces tonight.

Ebree Henry is the cutest thing ever!

 

[Dreamer_D]

Sabine I have been meaning to write you for a bit and tell you some things I learned about "big babies" when I was due with Hunter - -they all thought he would be 10lbs but he was 8lbs 7oz. Since you are measuring ahead they will probably do a scan soon to see how big your baby is, or they will just assume you are having a big baby, and it is important that you know some of the research on birthing bigger babies so you can advocate for yourself if you choose to do so. The first thing I learned is that there is *no* medical benefit either to mom or baby of early induction for an anticipated larger baby. Outcomes for moms were not better, outcomes for babies were not better, and in fact rates of c-section and use of forceps and vaccuum were much much higher when women were induced a few weeks early, when compared to moms who went into labour naturally or were induced at 41 weeks (typical point at which the benefits of waiting are matched by the dangers of waiting). Also, you should know that when doctors *think* a baby is going to be large the rates of c-section are about 4x the rates when a baby is actually large but wasn't known to be so before hand -- in that latter scenerio rates of c-section are actually only about 5-10% higher than for average sized babies! This research is important because there is a lot of negativity from heath care providers about the liklihood of a vaginal birth with an anticipated large baby, and it is important to maintain in your own mind that you can do it! Negativity won't help at all! Anyways, I wanted to tell you about those two things because I thought that with your situation, you may have a similar last couple of weeks to me, and I found it helpful to learn these things.

 

[Jas12]

Sabine, i think the vast majority of babies that were predicted to be very big were not. Many examples on here and many with my RL friends.
In my own case, i was told at 40 weeks that Co was quite small and then at 42 weeks i was told by an on-call OB that Co was HUGE. He was 8 1/2 lbs. Which is on the larger side of normal, but certainly not small and certainly not huge for 42 weeks.
Point is, it is very hard to predict weight so don''t get too stressed.

 

[vizsla]

morning ladies! i love short weeks!! today is like friday oh and happy canada day yesterday to all of my northern friends.. my bro-in-law is canadian and i called yesterday to tell him i was eating some poutine in his honor

ebree - henry is sooooo adorable.. i wouldn't be able to take my eyes off of him either. good job mama! anxiously awaiting your long birth story... i'm reallllllyyyy into them lately.. i like to prepare myself for the good and the bad glad yours was good!

mandy - your invites are AWESOME! seeing those inspired me to start our birth announcements. i designed our wedding invitations and wanted the birth announcements to 'echo' those while incorporating our 'charley harper' theme.. anyhoodles all i need now is a baby, photo, name, and 'real information'. i'll post below

china - ick! sorry about the apt. i've been saying to myself this past week that all i want to do is go to the pool and relax - this could be your total excuse for doing that until baby boy arrives it does have to be weird when you go from 6 week, to 4 week to 2 week to every week apts. i freaked out last time when they scheduled me for 4 weeks instead of 6

hoping you have a great relaxing holiday weekend and can manage to stay cool and refreshed. it's actually super cold where i am.. and for july?? it's bonkers... i will trade you a little cold weather for a smidge of your heat if you want

tao - i totally did the same thing the other day.. and what makes it even more scary is what if we deliver closer to 38 or 39 weeks??!! my viability date was this past monday and whoa! that sent me into a complete nervous panic (hence my posts about freaking out about having nothing ready for le babe).

as for me.. DH is totally stepping up to the plate and spending all day tomorrow on the built-ins and trim. now if we can just pick some paint we'll be all set! as for our weekend some friends invited us to the lake to watch fireworks tomorrow on their boat.. so i'm looking forward to that.. something relaxing to do.. and, of course, everyone is super excited for me to go so i can drive them all home

. i guess they should take advantage while they can.

that's all the news that i have... if i don't post again before the weekend have a wonderful one everyone!

 

[steph72276]

Good morning, guys. Feeling sick again today, so I haven''t done much of anything. I just now scanned our first ultrasound pic in, so I''m posting it even though it is way late. This was at 7 weeks, and it is so clear! Hope everyone is having a great day!

 

[anchor31]

Wow steph, that''s amazing!

 

[Sabine]

Whew, what a day! I went to the dermatologist (was soooo grateful to get an appointment so soon)! The derm. was so nice and helpful. She convinced me to get a shot of prednazone (sp?) because it will probably only affect my glucose levels for 24 hours if at all. She explained that it is totally safe for baby, and in cases where necessary, she has given it to those with regular diabetes as well with no negative consequences. And honestly, I can already see/feel a bit of a difference. She said it should really kick in by tomorrow morning.

She also prescribed me a topical steroid cream and gave me a TON of samples of aveeno lotions and oatmeal baths.

THEN...I went to the doctor assigned to me by the Navy insurance to get established as a patient, get a scrip. for my regular allergy medicine, and get a referral for an endocrinologist who can follow my thyroid levels after I deliver. Can I just say, I really should NOT have done the whole oby-gyn and related doctors with my OLD insurance while trying to set up a regular doc. and endocrinologist on the NEW insurance because I am sure confusing tons of people and myself. But honestly, I didn''t know what else to do because if I tried to see an ob-gyn on the new Navy insurance, I wouldn''t have been able to see one until TODAY as the insurance just became active. And if I tried to find an endocrinologist here on my OLD insurance, I would have to change over anyway because that insurance expires at the end of next month. Haha, thanks to any who made it through that jumbled mess, I think I just needed to get it out there.

My third "to-do" thing today was to get the oil changed in my car. Both mine and dh''s cars are both overdue, but we had figured we could find an instant oil change place by just driving around, but we hadn''t. So I looked one up, used the GPS, and drove to Meineke. I find the place (which is a decent way away - odd, I''m so used to have lots of these kind of places around), pull in, and talk to the guy who tells me it would be a 3 hour wait! He said they are a full-service garage, so if I want a quick oil change I should come early in the morning. So now I''ll be getting up early tomorrow morning to try again.

Can you girls tell I''m missing talking to Robbie 24/7? Thanks for giving me a place to air all my trivial day to day trials!

Ebree, love the new pic of Henry! Such a doll!

China, sorry to hear you have low fluid! Drink up girl! Hopefully it will all resolve itself!

Steph, great u/s pic!

Tao, Sunkist, Viszla, congrats on getting to that halfway point!

Dreamer and Jas, thanks for weighing in on the big baby issue. I''ve been doing my research, so I really don''t want to let them try to induce me early. I know the growth u/s''s can be off by a lot, so I''m anxious to see what my doctor says when I have mine next week. I''m actually a big upset because dh won''t be able to be there, and I''m a little nervous that the doctor will bring up early induction and I''ll have to stand my ground on my own. It would be nice to have the support, but I understand that dh''s job is inflexible. However, I''m also a little nervous to see how big he might be...after all, my brother was 10 lbs 11 oz when he was born on time! But at this point I''d like to try to wait to go into labor naturally or wait till 41 weeks to be induced, even if I do end up having to have a c/s.

 

[TravelingGal]

EBree, he is adorable. Too cute for words.

Sabine, add me to the list of women for whom the docs predicted a big baby. At 38 weeks, the doc said 8 lbs max. At 40 weeks, they were talking about induction because he said she was looking to be over 9 pounds. On April 1 (3 days after my due date), I was scheduled for an appt to determine size, but the kid had different plans and made her entrance to the world that day.

She came in at 7 lbs 2 oz. April Fool''s indeed.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 7/2/2009 1:25:22 PM
Author: Sabine
Dreamer and Jas, thanks for weighing in on the big baby issue. I''ve been doing my research, so I really don''t want to let them try to induce me early. I know the growth u/s''s can be off by a lot, so I''m anxious to see what my doctor says when I have mine next week. I''m actually a big upset because dh won''t be able to be there, and I''m a little nervous that the doctor will bring up early induction and I''ll have to stand my ground on my own. It would be nice to have the support, but I understand that dh''s job is inflexible. However, I''m also a little nervous to see how big he might be...after all, my brother was 10 lbs 11 oz when he was born on time! But at this point I''d like to try to wait to go into labor naturally or wait till 41 weeks to be induced, even if I do end up having to have a c/s.

That sounds like a really good plan, and I''m sorry you won''t have the moral support, but keep in mind that the research is COMPLETELY black and white on this issue -- there is no benefit to early induction and in fact, greater costs. So if they doctor is trying to suggest early induction then make his or her justify him or herself.

I was told Hunter would be 10lbs. and it was really hard for me to cope with the negativity that accompanied it. The OBs kept talking about a "trial of labour" which frankly is a very negative term

and even my midwife was not convinced that Hunter would be born vaginally until he has crowned! There were other factors in my case -- the extra amniotic fluid and he was malpositioned up until the very end -- but it was still really hard to deal with the negativity. In the end, your baby will be born and will be healthy I am sure, but I can relate completely to what you must be feeling worrying about a big baby because it calls into question the possibility of a nice, normal, vaginal delivery.

Something that helped me was just trying to keep my faith that my body could do it! Actually, I found it rather easy to push Hunter out at 8.5lbs, and he was born with his arm up next to his head! Somehow I had faith that it would happen especially during pushing. So if you can keep that faith too no matter what is going on, I think it will go a long way!

Honestly, if I could do it all over again I would not have had the scan to assess size. It is no more accurate than simple external palpation, and "knowing" he would be big just made all the caregivers more intervention happy and more pessimistic. But they were monitoring my fluids and I guess they had to do the size estimate at the same time.

 

[ChinaCat]

V- LOVE those announcements. I haven''t even thought of announcements- adding to "to-do" list.

Sabine- Vent away. Seems like everything that would normally just annoy me is making me CRAZY lately, guess it''s the late 3rd tri grouchies! It gave me a headache to even read your post about the dr stuff, hope it works out without too much turmoil. But I''m very happy to hear that the derm was able to give you something. Are you going to get to see Robbie and Desmond at all? Guess you can''t travel, so probably not. I feel for you, all of my BFF''s live very far from me. I got to go visit them and see their babies last month, but very doubtful any of them will make it to visit me anytime soon. Makes me sad to not be sharing this with them, only over the phone. I think your attitude about not inducing is right, don''t see any reason just b/c they "think" he "might" be big. Stand your ground!!!! Am drinking water now, thanks for reminding me.

I got the ok to go away for the weekend, as long as it wasn''t a long car trip. We are off to the river to lounge about and do nothing all weekend, very excited. Hoping the heat isn''t TOO unbearable. I also swear I will take a belly pic this weekend, my belly is way bigger than the last pic I posted.

And next week, I need all of your help on names! We seriously have to narrow it down, so I''ll throw some out there. Speaking of, I know THREE Hudson''s born recently!

Will keep checking this thread today, but won''t be around after that till Sunday or Monday. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend if I don''t check back in.

ChinaCat
34w5d

 

[blushingbride]

Hi Ladies!

Things are so busy for me at work as I try to wrap up before the holiday weekend. However, I thought I'd pop in quickly to let you know that I just got back from my first ultrasound!!! My doctor says everything looks great and all my bloodwork from my genetic tests are normal! DH and I got to see and hear the baby's heartbeat which was SO AMAZINGLY COOL!!!!

Needless to say, we are relieved and thrilled!!! Here's our first pic at 7w3d!!!

 

[blushingbride]

YAY Steph!!! I love the ultrasound pic! It''s so neat isn''t it!!?? I can relax a little bit now that I know everything is OK. My next appt. is on July 22nd.

Nycbkgirl - I think you''re lurking on this thread so, I wanted to let you know that my RE recommended an OB through Weil Medical College of Cornell Univerisity. Her initials are AB. I told my RE that I wanted to deliver at NY Presbyterian and this is who she recommended. Was yours through Weil Medical College of Cornell University or NY Presbyterian? Just wondering what the difference was. I''m assuming everyone delivers at the same place correct? Just trying to learn how everything works.

 

[Pandora II]

Sabine - ditto on the weight estimation...

Everyone was guessing around the 7lb mark for me as I was spot on for fundal height measurements. Then they measured her at 6lbs 10oz at the 35 week scan I had to rule out placenta praevia and off the scale for abdominal circumference... and started predicting nearer the 9.5 to 10 mark.

She weighed in at 8lbs 4oz...

 

[cara]

Steph and Blushing, congrats on your cute little buds! Is it bad that the scientist in me is like, where is the scale bar? Not grey scale but size. I want to know how big these blurry blobs are!

On the big baby fear, there is always the exception to prove the rule. My friend that ended up with an unwanted c-section after two days of fruitless labor had her scan estimate an 11 pounder. The docs threw out the estimate b/c it was so big and scans are so unreliable. Her boy was 11.5 pounds and no way-no how coming out the usual way.

Heck, both these paragraphs involve size on ultrasound. You'd think they'd figure out a way to standardize this. Seems like we need some range finding and more sophisticated imaging technology for these ultrasound machines. This should be a solvable problem! Though estimating mass from surface maps of baby might be challenging - circumference and the like should be doable though!

 

[ChinaCat]

Congrats to BLUSHING and STEPH!!!! That first u/s is simply amazing.

Re: big babies- My former secretary had a 12 LB baby. That she delivered VAGINALLY.

This was probably 20 or 30 year ago, so I guess they just used to let you go for it! Can I say OUCH?

 

[AmberWaves]

Awww, Steph and Blushing, look at those U/S! God, they''re so cute.

 

[anchor31]

blushingbride - Your u/s is amazing too!! We only have one u/s here at 18-20 weeks (unless we have a first tri screening or we want to pay for a u/s at a private clinic), and I can''t wait!