Baby Corner

[Anna C. 4]

@ Kelly: Every pregnancy is different and every birth will be too! My SIL had her first daughter on her back, a 7.5 pounder with lots of pushing. Her second daughter weight 9lb 10oz, she was pushing upright and pushed very little and had no tears! She had a different obgyn who encouraged upright positions, which really help, I begged to be upright with Jona but wasn't allowed and I'm sure that's why I pushed for 2.5 hours and had two tears. You can push upright with an epidural as well, with some support from your husband or doula or a friendly nurse. A walking epidural will make that even easier as it allows for more mobility.

Ha I wish my water won't break til the end this time around, cause contractions are a whole lot less comfy once it's broken! My mom had my sisters with the water breaking while pushing while with me the water broke at onset of labor. She said the difference was night and day!

As for getting things going, you can try for all the natural induction methods and cervix ripeners.... My midwives encourage evening primrose oil and hm marital relations to get things going. I also think now that you have a toddler, you naturally are more active and running prior to labor which is supposed to help along. I'm more researching things to not have that happen since Jona was so early, I want to hold off labor for a while if at all possible. 38 weeks would be nice!

And yes, our girls are supposed to arrive on the same day.

I started interviewing doulas and it's going well, I'll decide by next week whom I will hire. I don't have another appointment at the birthing center til December 17th, yeah! After that, it's every 3 weeks and I'll do the GBS at 35 weeks, in case it's positive to repeat it at 36 weeks. I'll be taking lots of probiotics and lay low on carbs for a while there and eat lots of garlic. I was negative with Jona, but I'm not interested in getting antibiotics in labor so I will do whatever might work to prevent a positive GBS test.

[Autumnchik 6]

Hey mommies! Hubby and I had a rare family day together on Sunday. We took Declan to a small children's museum. It was great, and Declan had a blast. The only thing that was bad about it was a couple of experiences we had with a mother there. I was playing with Declan in the train room, while my husband went exploring. He came back and was upset because when he went to the front of the museum, he noticed a child younger than Declan walking around the parking lot alone!!! He told the lady at the front desk, who said it was a volunteer's kid and got the volunteer. Then, later, I watched the volunteer mom take her kid to the restroom (small restroom off one of the main rooms, so easy to see in), then leave with him still in it. He walked out a minute later with the water running. I was getting up to go shut it off when the child ran back into the restroom again and slammed the door. The mom was nowhere to be found. I told the front desk lady and she got the mom. Argh!

Hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving and time off. I am off on Thanksgiving, but working the next day (the Vet Center has to remain open so I volunteered as I am the newest staff and have about 1 day of leave earned). No Black Friday shopping for me, unless it is online!

[anya-D 8]

Thanks ladies for the input about Benedryl. The reasons I've been thinking about it is becasue I'll be travling alone and for the past 3 nights he has been fussy, over tired and just miserable. He would flight sleep and he's terrible at sleeping on me. He loves sleeping in his crib better. Also, I - a lot of time - got sinus headache (like someone squeese my head like my eye's poping out of the socket hurts) during flights (got it from Germany - Thailand flights in 2002.. no fun I tell you) and it scared me that if I get that during the trip with him, what I'd do. I'm going to take allergy medicine myself to make sure I dont get that symptom or at least lesson the pain.

I'm crossing my fingers that Sam and I go through this flights happy and healthy and have a nice person sit next to me!!

[gabby4ever 1]

Good morning girls !!

So last night I had the most horrible "Braxton Hicks" you can imagine. Ive been having these contractions for 2 days straight ( my tummy feeling super tight for 2 weeks i think ), but last night I couldnt take it anymore, and they were like 2-3 minutes apart. So i go to the ER and they hooked me to the machine and everything and check me and i was only 1-2 cm dilated. They sent me home after that cause they said it was false labor even if the contractions were super strong and 2 minutes apart....

What do you think?? Were they right? They said to come to the hospital only if im bleeding, my water breaks or if im having super bad contractions to the point that i cant even talk. REALLY ?????? I hate to think that labor is supposed to be like that and they were right. I havent experienced anything like this with Alex, my first son. Last night was horrible...

Maybe you've heard stories, or from experience....what are the true signs of labor? MAybe i was in labor and they were wrong...They refused to do anything...keep me there, pain medicine, induce me etc etc...My doctor is not in town and there was no doctor at the ER last night. They called the OBGYN on call and he made the decision to send me home if im not dilated, because he said he's not my doc and he cant induce me cause im 37 1/2 weeks ( only my doc could make that decision but she's not in town).

Im just really sad and shocked at the same time that i might have to go through all this pain at home alone, with a 4 year old for 2 weeks and a half and there is nobody that can give me solid advice...

Thanks for reading all this and hopefully you have some advice for me ,

Gabby

[chnst 6]

Anya: totally agree, do NOT give your 5 month old benadryl so he will sleep. I think this is probably the most abused drug on infants, it should be a prescription drug IMO. we gave it to Ben when he had his first croup/allergic/asthmatic reaction in the spring and it did the exact opposite than to make him drowsy- he was wired!

So it doesn't always help. Do not drug your kid so you can get some rest, chances are he will probably take some good naps because the background noise of the airplane will make him sleepy. There is a reason that there are tons of warnings on the package to not give this medication to children under 5 unless your pediatrician tells you so and there is a medical need. Don't stress it too much, I wish you a safe flight, no headaches!

Gabby: it's hard to tell without seeing the strip if you are in labor. You just have to trust the triage nurse I guess. Every hospital has different policies. We usually send everyone home who doesn't show any progress in dilation, effacement, or with intact membranes etc and also if you're healthy there is no way we'd induce unless you are at least 39 weeks gestation and there is a good reason for induction. A lot of moms have Braxton Hicks or are dilated for a good portion of the last weeks of pregnancy but that doesn't mean you're in labor right this minute. I do think that this means that you could go into real labor very soon though but you could also continue to have BH for the next 2 weeks. Make sure you drink a lot and get rest. A lot of people (including me) get contractions when you're stressed and dehydrated.

Happy Thanksigiving everyone! We had ours yesterday, with the family. I think I put another 10lbs on the last 24 hrs. today we're just hanging out and decorating the house with the few christmas stuff we have. I think this should count as exercise.

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

Well I survived Black Friday pregnant. I almost died doing it though...Started at toys r us at 9pm. Waited outside in 22 degree weather until I was let in at 10:45pm. Got out of there by 12:30am...Stopped at home, ate a turkey sandwich, then headed to Kohls at 215am. Waited in the cold til 3am, got AMAZING deals at kohls, then headed to jcpenney and target. My friend wanted to make a few more stops but I literally could not put one foot in front of the other ( I had spent the entire day on my feet cooking thanksgiving for 20 people) All in all I saved SO much money and Im really glad I did it.

How was everyones thanksgiving?

30 weeks on sunday Anna! Can you believe were entering the 30's now??? Stef your right behind! How ya feeling???

[chnst 6]

I am around 26-27 weeks I think. I lost track. But I am feeling great aside from the pelvic pain here and there but I can still tolerate that. I really have to schedule my glucose screening, I still don't have my december work schedule. I hope that doesn't mean I'm fired already, haha.

I got some lovely varicose veins on my right leg now, that looks pretty hideous. I didn't have any with Ben, no one told me that you could still get them with additional pregnancies. So I am trying to no cross my legs but that's kind of impossible for me. The baby is totally transverse I think. I feel arms (or legs?) on either side of my belly! We still haven't named the baby yet. Hubby really like Eli.

Kel that sounds crazy you went shopping for that long!!!! You must have been exhausted! Makes me kind of glad that I didn't participate in that this year. Although I am really far behind with Christmas shopping... Happy Birthday BTW!!!

We took Ben to see Santa yesterday. He was all excited and chatty. he asked Santa to bring him lots of toys and how "Mrs Santa" was lol. But when we put him on Santas lap he started screaming and crying, so we all sat on Santas lap and took pictures, haha.

Hope everyone is doing well, I am really excited about christmas this year I hope I don't have to work!

[Eveline 9]

Allie is hilarious. As much trouble as that little girl is (more trouble than her brother..I swear) as much fun she is too. They are going to have a little Christmas show this year at Mother's Day Out and both my kids keep singing this little song to the melody of Are you sleeping. So here goes Allie "Where is Santa, Where is Santa, Here me am, Here me am...happy merry Christmas, happy merry Christmas...HO HO HO (holding her belly) HO HO HO" . I gotta film them both. Adam gets it pretty good but he messes up the end and always sings "Have a merry Miss Chris (his teacher's name), Have a merry Miss Chris, HO HO HO, HO HO HO"

[chnst 6]

Evi: yes videos please! That's so cute!!!

I just made my glucose test appointment for next week. all they had was a 1:45pm appointment! I always thought that test is done in the AM. I told the lady that I was going to have that test done and she said its fine I can eat breakfast and a snack, just make sure to drink the sugar stuff at the right time before they draw the blood. Did any of you guys have it done in the afternoon?

[Eveline 9]

I actually don't remember. I believe it was in the mornings though. I did have breakfasts before and everything, no troubles.

I did film them both yesterday but midsong Allie started taking her pants off and when she came back up all I saw was 'moon' so I guess the video is definetely NOT internet-worthy . I'll film them on their little show at school. That should be fun .

[Fandango 1,439]

Evi: yes videos please! That's so cute!!!

I just made my glucose test appointment for next week. all they had was a 1:45pm appointment! I always thought that test is done in the AM. I told the lady that I was going to have that test done and she said its fine I can eat breakfast and a snack, just make sure to drink the sugar stuff at the right time before they draw the blood. Did any of you guys have it done in the afternoon?

The first blood draw is called a 'fasting' one, so I would presume eating would skewer the result. I would insist on another time, or go to a labcorp type place which can accommodate you

[Anna C. 4]

They don't do a first blood draw on the one hour test, only one one hour after drinking the drink. Some places only have afternoon appointments available, I have heard of it. I always had it in the morning though. I had it done at 10am and 9am with Jona, my midwives said a small breakfast low on carbs, high in protein is ok (like cut out the sugar stuff, no juice and such, it will skew the results if you eat a sugar bomb just before the test!). Also, no coffee they said. Anyways, I didn't eat more than crackers before the test because I am not a breakfast person. I can't eat in the early morning, it comes right back up. 10am is a good breakfast time for me, so I always indulged after the blood draw.

@ Kelly: wow so much shopping... We spontaneously drove to the outlets on Friday afternoon and bought some stuff at Old Navy, their maternity jeans are really nice and were just $15 each on that day.

I'm a little p-o-ed right now.... Now that I finally need my maternity stuff and it somewhat fits, I pulled it all out. I mostly have summer clothes (since Jona was an August baby) and we lived in CA), but one merino wool sweater from Mimi (expensive!). I lent all the stuff to my oldest sister, who is, hm let's put it that way, married "well" (aka her husband makes loads of money, really). She's stingy, and that's ok, so I lent her my stuff, why not. So.... my wool sweater is shrunk to baby size, so are 4 tank tops (Mimi maternity ones) that I want to use for layering. She must know that she frigging shrunk them, cause she has no dryer and line-dries stuff, so she saw it, gave it quietly back to me and didn't say a word. She also lent me now three or two of her things, and I was baffled, because she ironed a label with her name and address on it into those clothes, as if I would steal or sell them or what. I'm pretty annoyed, cause although I could afford to replace this stuff, she has all the money out there and didn't even say sorry that she ruined the stuff. If I ruined someone's things, I would replace them and say sorry. Whether relatives or friends, I would never dare to just smuggle ruined stuff back to a person and just go on. Soooooo mad right now! Now I have to wear my normal sweaters in winter, and maybe even buy something at Target to not be cold.

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

Anna, that stinks. What i did was just bought one black cardigan sweater to put over my thin maternity tops. Maternity clothes are just too expensive for my taste. I only have 2 pairs of jeans, 2 black pants for work, 5 shirts (3/4 length that go with work pants or jeans) 1 sweater and 1 cardigan. I dont see the need to buy more.

[Nessa 23]

This is the high chair we have - but again, haven't used it yet so no battle stories for you yet.

http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Precious-Planet-High-Chair/dp/B002RL808Y/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1288809039&sr=8-4

i have the same one and i love it

[Nessa 23]

Hi, ladies

I hope that everyone and the little ones are well.

Our baby arrived October 27. I ended up having an unplanned C section because of the baby's positioning + cord compression. So, I'm pretty sore, but we're enjoying the crazy first days of the life of Madeleine Agnes:

I'm sorry I'm so late. Madeleine is beautiful!! Congratulations!!