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I went all baby-crazy a few weeks ago, and got pregnant immediately after deciding that my husband and I should wait another year at least, get some money in the bank, etc. We've got a good situation for the most part, but waiting was the right decision for us. I've been in shock since I found out yesterday morning via pee test. I'm only a "little pregnant", as in I just missed my period a few days ago, so I have approximately 8 months to get my poo poo together. I'm freaking the gently caress out: 1. How can you possibly keep being pregnant a secret until the 2nd trimester? I'm a huge blabbermouth, and can't keep a secret to myself for almost any reason. I've already managed to spill the beans to the 3 people closest to me besides my husband (my 2 best friends + my brother). Plus, the minute someone sees me turn down a margarita or a glass of wine, the jig is up. My poker face is no good unless I'm literally playing poker. 2. I'm somewhat ambivalent about this pregnancy, and it feels false to pretend that it was planned and that I'm loving over the moon about it. Obviously, that makes people uncomfortable, since they want to say "Oh, Congrats! You'll be the best parents ever, etc." I'm sure I'm not the only pregnant person that feels more overwhelmed than overjoyed. Am I really just supposed to put on a happy face? 3. I can't sleep. Insomnia ahoy. I just keep thinking about how I'm going to tell my parents, how my to-do list just keeps growing exponentially, and how I need to find/buy baby stuff I don't hate, etc. Is there something I could safely take to chill out, or is it time to brush up on my meditation skills? 4. I'm waiting to get started buying baby stuff until this summer, so what all do I need to be doing right now? I'm switching to prenatal vitamins, and taking supplements, and all that jazz. I've got some health care stuff to work out, but I'll make an appointment pretty soon and meet my midwife. 5. Any baby-related websites that don't make you want to throw up? If it helps, I'm on board with the whole cloth diapering, breastfeeding, natural-childbirth-if-possible motherhood track, and I hate those DD/DS/DH acronyms and the idea of a truckload of plastic crap invading my house. I hope this post doesn't make me sound too cranky. I've got a great life and a great husband, and I'm looking forward to figuring out how a kid is going to fit in our life together.
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Mar 17, 2011 14:58
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Thanks so much for your advice and support. I'm feeling much better about being pregnant, and starting to feel like being a mom might be something I'm going to be good at. I also feel super-lucky to be pregnant while we're living in Canada, since apparently I'm not going to have to pay for a drat thing. Also, it's fun to tease my Tea Party relatives that not only are we going to have a Canadian in the family, we're going to use public health care to do it. Ha!
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Mar 18, 2011 15:55
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A Serious Woman posted:[b]MoCookies[\b], our daughter was very much planned and very much wanted and yet, I was extremely ambivalent about being pregnant and at times, I pretty much hated it. And I was NOT a silent sufferer. Some people handled my honesty well and others didn't. I figured if someone couldn't handle my not being elated about being pregnant then they weren't the type of person I would noramlly seek support from anyway and their opinion didn't really matter much to me anyway. The best advice I can give you is just to try to roll with it and enjoy it for what it is. I never thought I would say this but at times, I actually miss being pregnant! We're in Quebec, so we'll actually be using QPIP instead of EI. I was shocked when I found out how much money we'll get through Quebec's parental insurance. We've been here less than a year, so we're still figuring out how all this stuff actually works. I do love that they (QPIP) is so generous to dads too, not just moms. It's nice to know that we should be able to make ends meet even if he needs to stay home for a long time to help take care of me and the baby. I'm curious how long other families use EI and QPIP.
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Mar 19, 2011 02:08
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I've been thinking about getting the Hypnobabies course. Have any of y'all done the classes or home study course? I'm pretty sure I want to do natural birth, and I think laboring and/or birthing in a birth tub is something I may to do, too. But - I'm not religious, or spiritual, and I've got little patience for psuedo-science dressed up as actual science. However, I do 'meditate' semi-regularly to help myself relax and to quit thinking so I can get to sleep. I'm hoping that the Hypnobabies scripts will help me do the same sort of thing, just more powerfully, and while I'm attempting to push a person out of my hoohoo.
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Apr 8, 2011 16:55
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The stories from this thread have really cemented it for me that I don't want any family at my house for at least the first 2 weeks after I have my baby. (They all live 2000+ miles away, but our moms are dying to come 'help' for a few weeks.) It sounds so loving stressful; no amount of cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry is going to mitigate the fact that people are milling about in my house when I just need peace and quiet and a goddamn nap. I'm wondering if maybe I'll feel differently as the birth gets closer, or is it time to start perfecting the "no you can't come until December" conversation?
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Apr 11, 2011 14:03
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Whitey Ford posted:My wife is at 8 weeks too.. have you told anyone? I'm at 8 weeks as well! We're going to have a bunch of goon babies in November, I guess! I've already told all of the parents like two weeks ago, and gave them the go-ahead to spread the good news (with the caveat that if I have a miscarriage or something, it's their job to go back and spread the lovely news too). We're waiting to tell most of our friends and coworkers for another few weeks since I haven't been in yet for my ultrasound. I may wait until Mother's Day before I start writing about it on my blog or mentioning it on facebook.
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Apr 16, 2011 02:40
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yawnie posted:I'm also due in November - Currently 11 weeks pregnant. My morning sickness seems to be getting a tad better finally, but my daily routine has had to change too. I feel like I'm constantly snacking on something; the longer I go between meals the worse I feel. If something needs to get done, I have to do it immediately after eating. I'm usually useless after dinner though - nothing seems to help in the evenings. When it's too awful to deal with, I just put on a Hypnobabies track and try to fall asleep.
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Apr 19, 2011 04:33
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limegrnxj posted:Anyone have any running while pregnant experience? Awesome! Based on what I've read, you should be in the clear. If you look around on the running forums, you'll find a few people who have run marathons when pregnant. Your body is used to running serious distances, just keep taking really good care of yourself and listening to your body. Maybe you'll get lucky and not suffer too much with 1st trimester hormonal symptoms and all that BS. Pregnancy symptoms might make it more comfortable switching to a half-marathon, though. I'm thinking mostly of all the morning sickness making it hard to eat right, seriously tender boobs, and intense exhaustion. I just hit 10 weeks, and I'm finally feeling well enough to get back into my semi-regular running groove.
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Apr 26, 2011 01:23
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Tesla Insanely Coil posted:Now I have a question for the thread: Good luck with your mental health; it's hard to say how all these new hormones will end up effecting you. But I was pleasantly surprised by how its affecting my mood. I've suffered on and off with depression and anxiety regularly for years, and for whatever reason, my preggo hormones have really helped even me out and the last few months in my head have been pretty great. Pregnancy symptoms sure do suck though. I'm not sure there's anything you can do about the exhaustion other than just listen to your body. If you can't possibly work a nap into your day, perhaps you can time your daily caffeine intake to coincide with your sleepiest time of day. Mine always seems to be 3:00 on the dot, so it's just part of how I schedule my day now. I either take a straight up nap, or just chill out and listen to my HypnoBabies tracks. I'm now in my 2nd trimester, and even if I don't use Hypnobabies at all during the birth, it's been more than worth it for helping me relax at nighttime and especially for getting back to sleep after peeing for the 5th time during the night.
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May 12, 2011 22:15
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I love the name Fiona! It's on my shortlist for girls names. I'm with your wife on the issue of picking such a similar name to the neighbors' child. If you plan on moving in the next year or two, then it's probably no big deal; if you're good friends with these neighbors or planning to stick around in your house for a long time, I'm guessing neighborly relations will be better if you go with another first name. I really love the name 'Olivia', but my husband's coworker/friend (one of the only ones with a kid) had a 'Livia' last year, so I feel like if I used it it would be weird for us, them, and probably our mutual friends. Also - whole milk tastes SO freaking good today. WOW.
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May 20, 2011 15:43
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I've been looking at various cloth diaper 'starter kits' online, trying to figure out what I need vs. what would be useful. I'm looking at prefolds + Bummis, and trying to figure out how much stuff I need to have in the newborn size. How does the following sound: 2 doz newborn-size prefolds, 3 doz infant-size prefolds, 6 covers each in newborn and infant, and ~4 doz wipes. Overkill? I'm lucky that my husband is completely on board with cloth diapering; all I had to do is show him how much money we'll save over disposables. If I can get along fine without the newborn size stuff, I'll probably just spend that money on wool covers. Since I have no way of knowing what size baby I'm having, how can I know ahead of time what we're going to need at first? Also - we're living in Canada in a drafty, hard-to-heat house, and I'm worried that our baby will be cold, especially at night. Co-sleeping isn't an option for us. 60-64 degrees is pretty normal; I just have a rockin' feather duvet for nighttime and a pair of Uggs for daytime. I've been looking at woolen sleep sacks, but they seem awfully expensive. I'd love to know if they're worth it, hold up even with daily use, etc. I guess a hat + swaddling is the other option?
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May 26, 2011 22:30
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limegrnxj posted:Suddenly my pants don't really fit anymore. I'm only 10 weeks, things should still fit! I have heard lots of good things about belly bands, but during the work week, I have a bunch of stuff on my belt I have to get at, so I'm not sure how that would work. Guess I will have to find a couple pairs of bigger pants, til I can move into the world of maternity clothes. Kind of frustrating. I know at this stage, it's not even baby, it's just gross bloating that never goes away. Around 8 weeks or so, all my fat around my hips and middle started migrating to my front. I didn't start gaining any actual weight until weeks later, but looking at my stomach, you wouldn't have guessed it. Are dresses an option for work? I'm not into full-on maternity clothes just yet (16 weeks and wearing my "fat" pants), but sundresses have been very forgiving and comfortable on my expanding gut. I have a belly band, but it doesn't seem to stay put on me; it kept trying to roll up my hips. edit: My favorite pants so far have been my jeans that have a wide, soft, stretchy waistband. It's not visibly elastic or anything, but it's been nicely forgiving. MoCookies fucked around with this message at 15:39 on May 31, 2011 |
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May 31, 2011 15:36
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Ben Davis posted:I just got my positive test yesterday at 11 dpo, but I've been feeling like I'm pregnant for over a week now. Sore breasts, waking up ravenous, needing naps, and semi-constant strange feelings in my abdomen--I don't really know how to describe it, but it feels like something's going on there. I'll feel little twinges and aches and pains. I always heard that the beginning of pregnancy was a period of detachment because of the lack of symptoms--is it normal to be feeling everything this strongly so early? I knew I was preggo way before I took my test, and before I even missed my period. My boob-symptoms were like nothing I had ever felt before. I think if you know what's normal for you, then you can certainly 'just tell' pretty early. Now I'm 16 weeks, my body is being taken over and nothing ever feels normal anymore. Now it's a good day when I go 24+ hours without puking. This baby better be super-cute!
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Jun 5, 2011 04:37
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CubanRefugee posted:So is it normal to have "good" days where the nausea isn't kicking your rear end? She was hanging out with friends yesterday, so the hope is just that she was distracted enough to not notice it. The symptoms will come and go for a lot of ladies, and plenty of women have very few of the unpleasant symptoms at all. I started feeling a TON better once I figured out that I need to eat every 3 hours, fit in a nap in the afternoon, and have a popscicle when I start feeling nauseated. I would encourage you/her to stay away from baby forums like BabyCenter because so many of those women are loving crazy drama queens, and it seems like most of the posts early on are all about miscarrying and other various horror stories. It's best not to read too much into any one fleeting symptom or lack thereof. Like the previous poster already said - the range of what's normal for a pregnancy is enormous. Hypnobabies (the birth course I'm doing) has this great track of positive pregnancy affirmations that I really love listening to. There are a lot of really negative attitudes, stories, expectations, etc. that we're bombarded with about pregnancy, and it's really nice to have a daily dose of positivity. "Pregnancy is natural, normal, healthy and safe." A little dorky, maybe, but nice to hear. It also helped me to stop worrying to realize that the majority of 1st trimester miscarriages are due to genetic problems. I have no control over any chromosomal abnormalities that happened at conception, so worrying about something I can't change is useless, especially since stress IS something that can affect your pregnancy. I just focus on the stuff I can do - eat well, sleep well, exercise some, and remember to take my prenatal vitamin.
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Jun 5, 2011 18:03
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I have some questions for y'all about practical pregnancy nutrition. I'm now 21 weeks pregnant, and everything is going pretty smoothly so far. Baby's growing fine, my midwives are nice, I've mostly stopped puking, etc. However, I'm a little concerned about my weight gain, since I was overweight to begin with (but had lost ~40 lbs over the previous 8 months). So far, I've gained 12 lbs, and roughly a pound a week for the last 6 weeks or so. I keep seeing 11-20 lbs as the recommended weight gain at my BMI, and it just doesn't seem like that's even possible for me at this point. I know I need to be getting more vegetables in daily (I tend to get 4-5 servings of produce a day), but all I can think about is eating carbs and fast food. Most days I manage pretty well and my eating isn't out of control, but I still seem to be gaining faster than I 'should.' I'm eating plenty of fruits and dairy, at least. I'm a good cook, which is part of the problem - I can whip up something delicious and high-cal really quickly, which is not helping my dietary self-control. Trying to get excited about eating whole grains and steamed veggies is pretty tough when I can't even see a picture of a cheeseburger without fixating on it for the rest of the day. I'm keeping a food journal again to help keep me honest and motivated, but I'm still struggling. How did you ladies manage? Did you gain the 'recommended' amount for your weight? I'd love some tips, hope, encouragement, and/or a reality check.
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Jul 6, 2011 18:19
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Thanks, y'all. I'm just going to try to keep the carbs to a minimum and stay as active as possible, and hope the rest sorts itself out during breastfeeding.
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Jul 7, 2011 18:40
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Tulip Candy posted:I'm not pregnant, but I'm debating trying to become so in the next few months, so I have some questions for ladies that have already gone through it. In my opinion, you need to have some sort of contingency plan for your life. If nothing else, I've learned that just because things seem stable right now is no guarantee that your life isn't going to change drastically. What I'm saying is, if you don't finish school, and if something should happen to your family (husband gets laid off, becomes disabled, or dies, or you get divorced, or have to move somewhere that you need 2 incomes to get by, etc.) how are you going to support yourself and your child? I'm not saying I've got this all figured out; in fact, it's something that I worry about a lot now. I guess I sort of made the "mommy track" decision that you're contemplating. Despite having a degree, I have almost no job options (language barrier) where I live now, and the last few years of my life have felt like I've just been on hold anyway, waiting to figure out "what I want to be when I grow up." (I'm 27, so I'm not sure I'll ever have an answer to this.) That said, my decision to get pregnant was overwhelmingly driven by a crazy short-term hormonal urge to procreate. By the time I came to my senses and realized logically we had a lot of poo poo to get in order before we ought to make a baby, it was already too late, and I was already knocked up. I've come to grips with the situation, and am pretty excited about being a mom to this new little person. It also is at least some sort of "plan" for what the next few years of my life will look like, which is comforting in a way. Now I have something concrete to work on instead of just twiddling my thumbs waiting to move back home. You don't really say that YOU want to have a baby, just that your husband wants to get crackin'. If you're not ready, you need to honestly say so to him, not just opt into it because you're not sure what adulthood and a work-life looks like for you. At 22, you still have a lot of time and opportunity to figure out who you want to be and what you want your life to look like. On the other hand, I feel like once you have a kid, I think you lose a lot of that me-time because all of a sudden, it's your job to be a responsible, stable, role model for your kid and to help them figure out their place in the world. MoCookies fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Jul 8, 2011 |
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Jul 8, 2011 19:53
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I'm totally cranky this morning because the girl's name I had my heart set on, is now officially a celebrity-baby name. drat you, Posh Spice!  I knew the name (which is Harper, by the way) was sorta one of those "up and coming names" popular names, but now I'm wondering if I need to go back to the drawing board. We've got a fairly common last name, and I wanted a less common first name for this kid. Would you change your unborn baby's name if a major celebrity just used it?
MoCookies fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Jul 11, 2011 |
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Jul 11, 2011 16:07
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You guys are making me feel way better about the naming thing. So far, picking out names has honestly been one of the most stressful parts of being pregnant. Maybe because I feel like people are judging what I think is cool? (I'm definitely not cool.) Everything else has totally fallen into place and the decisions were easy to make (cloth diapers, natural childbirth, birth center 3 minutes from my house, etc), but for some reason this has been so much harder.
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Jul 11, 2011 18:23
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Grayscale Rainbow posted:TL;DR - I'm 20 weeks and still nauseous after having rather bad morning sickness. Can I expect to be nauseous throughout the rest of the pregnancy? Just a few weeks ahead of you, and I'm still puking anytime I smell my husband's farts. Usually I find farts hilarious, but right now, bodily odors of any kind make me gag. I have to be careful about when I eat, because the longer I go between meals, the more likely I am to puke completely unexpectedly. I don't have the 24/7 nausea as much as I did in the 1st trimester, but I'm still puking just as much. Popsicles are my go-to food when I start feeling pukey, and it seems to reset my puke timer for another 108 minutes. My mom had terrible morning sickness with my brother for all 9 months, so I figure this is just how my body is when it's pregnant.
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Jul 12, 2011 19:19
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Number19 posted:My wife is about 22 weeks pregnant with our first. We've had a scare or two along the way but everything's tested out well and it's hopefully going to be smooth sailing from here on out. I've been trying to figure out how to get the cloth diapers I want to Canada, too. There are several brands that are made in Canada, and in Montreal specifically. Bummis, AppleCheeks, and I'm there there's another one I'm forgetting at the moment. Costo.ca also sells GroVia bundles. I think we'll still be buying our prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers; they have a special policy for shipping to Canada, so some things are available and some aren't. I've also browsed a lot for cloth diapers on ByNature.ca, though I haven't actually purchased anything yet.
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Jul 12, 2011 23:56
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I'm a fellow pregnant rager. Having to smell other people's terrible breath or body odor really just ruins my mood, and I just can't seem to let it go and get over it. I'll go from perfectly fine to wanting to seriously suffocate someone if I have to smell one more stale, reeking breath. A few weeks ago, I got stuck in a middle seat on a 6 hour flight seated between Mr. I-Haven't-Brushed-My-Teeth-in-2-Years and Mr. I'm-Going-to-Sleep-and-Invade-Your-Personal-Space. I was about to stab someone by the time we landed. I'm avoiding travelling and public transportation until I pop in November. I also frequently dream about beating the poo poo out of people; about 30% of the time it's my husband, 30% is my little brother, and the remainder is zombies, rude strangers, and various celebrities.
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Jul 17, 2011 22:23
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Janelle posted:Wow, I feel horrible. I stopped breastfeeding at six weeks. With the older kids' schedules and activities, not to mention all the regular chores and such, I couldn't nurse him. I don't feel comfortable nursing in public and whenever I've been pumping I never got enough to fill him for one feeding. I talked to the pediatrician and he was thrilled I even went for 6 weeks. Kudos to all the women who go for longer. I've been lurking around the forums at TheBabyWearer.com, and there are some warm-weather wraps I've been looking at getting for my best friend down in Texas. Some of the ladies recommend the cotton gauze wraps for summer and warm climates, like the Bali Baby Breeze - http://www.wrapsodybaby.com/shop/breeze.php
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Jul 19, 2011 22:25
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car dance posted:Yeah, I am nauseated all the time but I never feel close to puking. It makes it really difficult for me to eat/focus/do work or activities, so I need something that can make it lessen. Thanks for all the help. 7 Up has been helping a little, but I'm going to try some ginger products. I also had some success this afternoon with eating a ton of altoids (I guess the mint cleared up other scents from going into my nose). I managed to eat dinner tonight and eat until I was full, which is something that hasn't happened in a while. You might experiment with cold foods. I found that a Popsicle was the perfect thing for nausea relief. I got a giant box from Costco and it saved my sanity. Nothing else, besides eating protein frequently, ever seemed to help.
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Jul 21, 2011 21:06
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Brennanite posted:My husband and I have been discussing after-birth care. It was going to be my husband and me for the first two weeks, then my mother for a week, and my MIL for a week. This seemed perfect, since I have to go back to class two weeks after birth and leaving a two-week-old with a sitter seems wrong. I've been doing a lot of hemming and hawing over my own after-birth care plans. It's hard to know what I'm going to want, but my goal is to keep things simple: keep myself, the baby, and our pets fed + get as much sleep as is possible under the circumstances. I'm with you - the whole family of in-laws descending on your house screams "Bad Idea" to me too. I don't see how you won't end up completely exhausted from feeding the baby at night, taking care of the baby during the day, and then fitting in school somehow too, AND adjusting your normal routines to deal with an influx of visitors. Some families are more considerate than other, but I'm left wondering if they're going to be helpful and useful vs. demanding and disruptive to the new living-with-a-baby lifestyle. Also (and #1 on my priority list) are you going to be able to nap at all with all those people in the house? I know I wouldn't, and I would be cranky as hell about it. I've discussed with my post-baby visitors that it would be great if they would stay nearby but elsewhere, and they would be more than welcome to visit/help/clean during the day. I feel kind of bad about requiring that they spend the money for a hotel/B&B when they (my mom & her husband, and MIL & FIL) just want to come help and celebrate the baby, but I think it'll be best for everybody's sleep needs. I turn into a total ogre when sleep deprived, so I have to say, I'm really not looking forward to turning into an angry zombie from breastfeeding every 2-3 hours for weeks and weeks.
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Jul 22, 2011 15:58
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Awesome Kristin posted:I'm supposed to be 10 weeks today going by my last missed period. I had my ultrasound today and they measured the uterus and it's only the size of a 6 week pregnancy. They didn't really have any answers and I have to wait over the weekend to hear from the OB. I guess they're going to do some bloodwork or something to measure how far along I am chemically? I'm not sure. I wish I had an answer for you, but I wanted to say that I'm sorry you're having to wait the entire weekend to find out WTF is going on. I imagine that they're going to measure your HCG levels on Monday, and possibly a second time to see what direction it's moving.
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Jul 23, 2011 18:25
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Bodnoirbabe posted:On friday I'll be 12 weeks and announcing on my facebook that I'm pregnant. Any funny, not sentimental, cheesy, or weepy statuses you can suggest for myself and for my husband? I didn't announce on FB for the longest time because everything I could think of to say either sounded cheesy or annoying. I ended up just saying, "Sometime around American Thanksgiving, I'll be having a Canadian baby!" (btw: we're American expats in Canada) That's not too bad, right? I just didn't want to be one of those annoying moms on Facebook from day one. As far as buying baby stuff goes, I have very little bought for this fetus, and I'm like 25 weeks now. I try to remind myself to quit worrying, and that they don't really need that much stuff. Someplace to sleep. Something to poo poo in. Enough clothes and blankets so they don't freeze. Car seat. I'm trying to limit the baby stuff to purely essential items. Not that it stops me from constantly comparing various babywearing devices and cloth diaper brands. I'm currently waffling over whether to buy a $220 cashmere Didymos. Any babywearing nerds want to talk me out of it? I'm having trouble balancing my usual tightwad nature versus my "ooooh! cashmere!" instinct.
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Aug 4, 2011 04:39
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Bodnoirbabe posted:YES! I am having the most vivid dreams every night. They seem so incredibly real but they couldn't possibly with how weird they are. What about anyone else? Tons of crazy rear end dreams here. Lots of them are about me fighting various people in my family, and occasionally strangers and zombies. Good times. Last night, it was something along the lines of beating the poo poo out of my dad for criticizing my cooking. Preggo rage, indeed! I've also had several awesome dreams about theme parks.
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Aug 4, 2011 22:30
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Nice to hear other people say that their 2nd trimester isn't all double rainbows and unicorns, either. I'm ~26 weeks now, I think, and my pelvis has been so achy the last few weeks, it really makes getting out and doing anything fun WAY less fun. I've been excited for months and looking forward to this 3 week film festival we have every summer (last summer I saw like 25 movies in 2 weeks). I'm know I'm a huge dork, but it's one of the highlights of my year. This year I can't get comfortable at all in a theater seat, and have only managed to suffer through a handful of films. I almost starting crying when I realized I won't get to see many movies next year either, because I'll have to find a sitter and I should still be breastfeeding at that point, too. I'm sure I'll figure out something because it's important to me, but the concrete example of just how much everything is about to change really hit home. It reminds me of some really good advice I recently got from another young parent. He said make sure to figure out how to keep what's really important to you a part of your routine, even after the baby arrives. He's a really chill, involved parent, (and a great musician) so it was nice to hear someone say it's okay to be 'selfish' in that way, even after you have a baby. Definitely my favorite baby-related advice so far. MoCookies fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Aug 7, 2011 |
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Aug 7, 2011 18:48
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Philosopher King posted:So where does everyone stand on the 3d/4d ultrasound? I've heard a few conflicting things in the past and I'm not sure what to believe. Is there a strong possibility of danger to the fetus? Danger - not so much. Other effects? Possibly. There's been a few studies associating left-handedness and ultrasounds, which kind of freaks me out about the other possibilities. We decided to skip it because I find the pictures creepy, anyway.
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Aug 11, 2011 22:30
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Ben Davis posted:I think I see what you mean - the two vertical white marks would be the femurs, and there's a bright white bit in between them, in what could be the crotchal region? Not sure I'd be buying blue baby clothes just yet, but I'm guessing the tech knows what to look for. More baby penis all up in this thread! Here's my fetus a few weeks ago from our level II ultrasound, around 23 weeks. I'm keeping this thread classy with a straight up crotch shot.  baby penis - 23 weeks by TXQuebec, on Flickr
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Aug 16, 2011 03:25
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Doom Catcher posted:I have a pair of jeans that do this. They're the most comfortable pair, minus the sag-crotch and that they fall down a lot on the second wear. I've been having this problem with my maternity jeans, too. So I started wearing my belly band on top of the jeans around my hips, and that really helps my pants stay up. As a bonus, I feel like the extra smushing/support helps with the aches and pains I get by the end of the day.
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Aug 18, 2011 23:11
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Fire In The Disco posted:I had lots and lots of aversions, especially to meat, during my pregnancy. I ate a ton of eggs, cheese, brown rice, fruits and veggies, and drank almost a half gallon of milk a day. Not very interesting, I know, but it tasted SO good while pregnant! I have never gained back a love for red meat, either; I can tolerate it now, but I don't crave it ever. Something like this is a really good idea, and has worked well for me too. I've found the more protein I eat, the better I feel. Greek yogurt and milk have also been go-to foods for me the last few months. Getting enough veggies into my daily meals is probably the toughest thing; it seems to be easier if I work it into breakfast (like an omelet with lots of onion, peppers, etc.) and I try to eat veggies for snacks as much as I can. Mostly, I just want to eat tacos, cheeseburgers, and coffee cake, though. It's a daily struggle. Still - if something turns your stomach, don't force yourself to eat it. When you're pregnant, you're much more susceptible to food-borne illnesses, and the whole sense of smell pregnancy superpower is protective, from an evolutionary standpoint. 
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Aug 23, 2011 02:03
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Dr. Octagon posted:I have to say, all of the comments we've received when we mention cloth diapering ("oh, we'll see how long that lasts" and the like) only make us MORE determined to stick with it. I've also gotten comments from my husband's side of the family about how I shouldn't even try to breastfeed, and that our decision not to circumcise will "cause problems later." I just have to sit there with a forced smile on my face as I watch these people give their babies and toddlers sips of beer. It's pretty overwhelming trying to figure out which product(s) are going to work for you, but I'm in the same boat with annoying comments from my family. I find it really obnoxious how people who know nothing about cloth diapering, other than that they're diapers and somehow involve washing cloth, feel completely free to tell me I'm stupid, CD is stupid, and that I'll never stick with it. Luckily, my husband is totally on-board and is pretty much the only other person who will be changing diapers on a regular basis anyway. I've heard from tons of people who like cloth diapering, and very few who have said, "It's a good idea, but just didn't work out for our family." For what it's worth, I think we're going to use prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers with Bummis covers, and maybe half a dozen pocket diapers from Applecheeks.
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Aug 25, 2011 01:58
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yawnie posted:Like everyone else has said, just be as supportive as you can. She's going to be feeling her entire body change very suddenly, and she can't even cope with changes the way she normally would because her hormones will be changing her emotional responses and she may not even be aware of it. It goes a long way just to be sympathetic to those changes and tell her you know it's hard and that you're there for her. Be involved. Offer foot rubs. Don't be upset if she needs you to get her a watermelon at 3am. Offer to help out around the house more. Tell her she looks beautiful often, because she's going to feel fat and frumpy. THIS. So much. More advice: Tell her she's gorgeous and awesome everyday. Tell her that her rear end looks great in her maternity jeans. Sex her up enthusiastically. Leave the room to fart while she's in the nauseated/sensitive to smells stage. Realize that some crazy hormonal poo poo is happening in her brain, and there's nothing she can do about it. I know that the intensity of my reaction is totally nuts, even as I'm having it. I should add that my normal self is really even-keeled and low-key, but around week 6 of pregnancy, the crazy showed up. As an example, here's a conversation I might have with myself over the course of 5 mintues: "Oh, there's that pregnancy book. I'm slightly annoyed that <husband> still hasn't read it, since I asked him a week ago." --> "God drat it! I'm going to be raising this kid all by myself, and dealing with a loving lazy man-child for a husband! Argh!" --> Sobbing + "I have no idea what I'm doing. He has no idea what he's doing. I'm a terrible parent already. I'm never going to sleep again, and I'm going to be a frumpy, fat, uncool person forever, and my kid will be a horrible person because of me." ---> "Hmmm, I'm hungry. I should probably eat something healthy, like those nectarines, but those oreos and some milk would be really good. Okay - nectarines and milk first, and then oreos later if I'm still hungry. I'm awesome at being pregnant."
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Aug 25, 2011 18:38
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netally posted:This post is probably going to make me sound a bit crazy. But do you think it's possible to have a phobia of breastfeeding? I've always been a bit grossed out by it, but now that I know it's something I'm going to have to do it terrifies me. I'm pretty chilled out about the labour, looking after my baby etc. But I can't even look at a photo of a baby latched on a boob without feeling sickness and dread. I agree with FITD and think that it would be good if you could talk this out with a professional therapist of some kind. You don't HAVE to breastfeed, no one can force you to do it, and millions of smart, healthy kids were raised on formula. Perhaps I'm reading too much into what you've written here, but whether or not you choose to do it, breastfeeding is a pretty normal human function, and to have that level of dread and anxiety just from thinking about it makes me wonder if there's actually something else that's really bothering you. I'm curious though - does it gross you out to think about how you're already feeding your kid with your body during pregnancy, or is it specifically the nipple-boob-mouth aspect of breastfeeding that bugs you?
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Aug 29, 2011 01:06
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Even though we're in Canada, we really depend on my husband's full salary to make ends meet, so instead of taking parental leave, he's taking all (3 weeks) of his 2011 vacation and 2 weeks of his 2012 vacation days to stay home with me and the baby after the birth. Honestly, I think he'd probably drive me nuts if he was home full time for 3 months and not working at all. I think he's actually going to end up working ~2 days a week starting in mid-November until he runs out of vacation days, which I think is a better situation for everybody involved, plus his projects at work.
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Aug 30, 2011 00:39
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vanessa posted:Yes. I'm taking a night course for work, and I got a B on an assignment, and I almost started crying because it wasn't an A. Hopefully you won't need too many blood tests. I think the only one I had was for STDs and whatnot towards the beginning of my pregnancy. I did have blood drawn again during the gestational diabetes test, but that test wasn't required, I requested it because of a family history of diabetes. Is that unusual? It's my first pregnancy, and my midwife/birth center is really non-invasive when it comes to tests and exams. (Maybe this is also weird and unusual, but I'm really hoping to go the rest of this pregnancy without any internal exams.) edit: I also almost went psycho on my husband this morning because his alarm clock kept waking ME up, and the jerk just kept going back to bed over and over. My fuse is extra-short lately when I feel like my husband is being lazy. At least the flip side of these hormones means that food tastes AWESOME. MoCookies fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Aug 31, 2011 |
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Aug 31, 2011 16:26
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Banana Cat posted:Same here! At work the other day, I mentioned being tired and immediately got a nice long lecture about how this was just the beginning and I have SO many more sleepless nights ahead of me and if I thought pregnancy was bad, wait until I have my baby! Well actually, I'm pretty sure being tired had way more to do with staying up until 1am dicking around on the internet rather than being pregnant, but whatever. I can't believe all those people giving lectures about how much worse being a parent is than being pregnant - STFU already. It's like they have to one-up you or something or they're not the superior parent. I enjoy blaming random poo poo on the baby, but I also don't have a bunch of well-meaning assholes giving me lectures about what it means to be a parent, and how tired I'll be, and blah blah blah. Its mostly just because I want my husband to go up and down the 2 flights of stairs to get whatever stupid thing I forgot so I don't have to. I can deal with the stairs or BH contractions, but both at the same time is no bueno. Just hit 3rd trimester, too. That cervix punching and kicking is awful. Have you tried the inversions and whatnot from spinningbabies.com yet? Thankfully, I've found it gets my little dude to move elsewhere at least half of the time.
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Sep 1, 2011 16:04
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Tesla Insanely Coil posted:I have a question - do you go to the hospital as soon as your water breaks or do you wait until contractions are a certain length apart? I'll be laboring at home until things start to feel "serious" enough that I want the big birth tub. I'm less than 5 minutes from my birth center, though. I think distance to the hospital/birth center is an important factor for a lot of people. If I had 30+ minutes to ride to get there (or traffic, weather conditions, etc. to deal with), I'd be more conservative, for sure.
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Sep 6, 2011 00:23
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