Pregnancy Check-in (November 9)

[wittyandwaiting]

Happy Monday!

This is our weekly check-in for those who's families are expecting!

1. General overview (examples--answer what you like: How many weeks? First baby/, second, etc.? Do you know the sex of the baby?

2. Appointment Updates (recent appts? ones coming up?)

3. General symptoms/rants/concerns/exciting things?

Due Date List
officerofthelaw - November 11
ionaerebor - November 23
amandflo - January 16
cetcar - January 16
kh826 - January 22
daisyflower - January 26
wittyandwaiting - March 28
honigbiene - April 24
crazyaunt84 - May 15
bexincanada - June 1
mahler5 - June 9
Stringy - June 9

*Let us know if there are any new BFPs to add to the list!

QOTW:

1. How is the name game going in your house? Have you chosen a name? What is important to you when choosing a name? Will you pick out a name before little one is born or do you want to wait until you actually see him/her? What style/origin of names do you like?

2. What's the worst piece of pregnancy advice you have received so far?

[officerofthelaw]

So on 11-8-2015 at about 3am I started having really bad contractions. However before waking up my wife I wanted to times them. I time the contractions and called my dr around 4:30. She said to come to the hospital, I wake up my wife and she goes to take a shower. Once we are ready to leave we find piles of throw up and poop from our dogs (maybe sympathy pains) so she proceeds to clean this up as I'm telling her we need to go because I was in pain. We finally get to the hospital at about 5:30 and they proceed to check me. The nurse seemed uninterested in checking me and said I was not dilated. I knew this was wrong because of the pain I was going through. So she sends another nurse in who checks me and said I was at a 5 dilation!!! I knew it! I think she thought since it was my first baby that I didn't know what I was feeling. So the new nurse checks me in and we call everyone. After 6 hours of laboring I received my epidural which had to be redone twice. I felt a pop a little later and the nurse checked me and my water had broke and the baby had pooped inside of me which they were worried about him breathing in. So NiCU had to come in when he was born to clean him out. From there until about 3pm I was doing alright and then suddenly had hellish back pain that was worse the my contractions. I was put on all fours after trying different pain meds and asked if I wanted to try and push. I said I would push. I pushed about 10 times and our little man came out! No pinto in (I was completely against having it) and he came out at 6:24pm. 7lbs 1oz, 20 inches long. The most amazing experience of my entire life. Now for tmi: I've never been with a man and my hymen was completely torn (like having sex for the first time) I had a third degree year almost 4 degree and although I'm in a tad bit of pain....I would do it all over again!

[kh826]

Congratulations, officerofthelaw - he is so beautiful! I hope that you get the rest that you need and that your recovery is as easy, breezy as possible. Will you be sharing his name with us? He is so alert already! Congrats again!!!

[kh826]

1. 29w2d
Baby No. 2
Team green!

2. We had an OB appointment last week. All went well. Our next appointment is two weeks from today (Monday, 11/23), and we will have an u/s at that appointment. We haven't seen the baby on u/s since our anatomy scan, so we are excited! I will also be curious to see what position this kiddo is in. At the anatomy scan, baby Dosey was breech (William was breech for most of my pregnancy with him, and I even had a C-section scheduled for 39 weeks, but he flipped at 38 weeks, so we were able to cancel the C-section. He was a BIG baby, so when he flipped I knew it immediately). I will be interested to see if this baby has stayed breech, or if he/she will be less of a trickster than William was!

3. I am still having a considerable amount of swelling in my legs -- particularly around my left knee. It is making prolonged walking, stairs and kneeling fairly painful, but such is life. We participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer's Disease yesterday (my company sponsors a team every year), so I was on my feet for about 3 hours and walked about 3ish miles (which I know isn't a lot, but when your legs are swollen and your knee hurts, it feels like a lot more!).

Yesterday I had my first experience with pregnancy hemorrhoids as well (I know, TMI - sorry!). So that was joyous. HAHA

Otherwise, not a ton to report.
Definitely feeling more pregnant these days, and certain activities (especially when picking up/carrying/chasing William is involved) are becoming more challenging. Nothing I can't handle yet, but it definitely makes me more aware that a bit of a slow down is likely to occur in the coming weeks.

We have NOT been good at taking bump/pregnancy photos this time around. Life has just been busy and it hasn't really been on our radar much. We took pics with William at 20 weeks, and we plan to take some this Saturday for 30 weeks. My wife is an amazing photographer, and I really wish she seemed more interested in taking some nice maternity photos, but every time I mention it in passing she doesn't really bite. I'm definitely not loving my pregnant body right now, but I don't want to regret not having any nice pictures of when Dosey was growing on the inside. I don't want him/her to look back and feel slighted that we didn't really do much to celebrate this pregnancy. I know, I know... I'm nuts. I doubt this kiddo will care. This is typically 2nd time parent guilt!

QOTW 1: We have our names ready and waiting to see if this baby is a boy or a girl! As discussed in the other naming thread last week, we will use the girl's name we had picked out last time, should this baby be a she, and we have just recently decided on a new boy's name (which I am madly in love with more and more each day). It will be fun if we do have a boy, because our immediate family think that they know our chosen boy's name, and we haven't told them the we have changed it, so it will be a surprise (I *hope* if we do have a boy, that everyone likes this name as well if not better than the other name we had picked).

QOTW 2: This time around I haven't received a lot of advice, just scary comments about how insane life is going to be with a newborn and a 19 month old. Frankly, I don't need to hear any more of that. Peeps can keep their negativity to themselves! It will be what it will be, and while I am sure there will be difficult times, I also think we will love it. This is just how our family was meant to be. So, can it people!

Last time around I received lots of advice about labor and breast feeding that I had to learn to take with a grain of salt. Everyone's experience is different (and every pregnancy/birth is different too, even with the same pregnant person!), so what works for one person might be disastrous for another person. I really disliked the pushy people who thought they knew what was best for me/my family.
Some faves:
* "Pump right away!"
* "Definitely don't pump right away, exclusively BF as long as possible before introducing pumped BM in a bottle!"
* "J HAS to do this for you while you are in labor"
* "If you think you're in labor with your first, you're not. Just wait. You will always think it is labor before it actually is." <-- sometimes you really ARE in labor!
* "Drink this tea." ... "No, drink THIS tea."

[ionaerebor]

officerofthelaw, congratulations, he's such a cutie!
kh826, sorry, you're swelling is so bad, I totally know how you feel.

[crazyaunt84]

Congratulations officerofthelaw!

[ionaerebor]

1. General overview (examples--answer what you like: How many weeks? First baby/, second, etc.? Do you know the sex of the baby?) I'm 38 weeks pregnant with my first, who's a girl.
2. Appointment Updates (recent appts? ones coming up?) I had my third growth scan last week that finally found that Ailsa is putting on weight at a slightly lower rate than is normal, but they've decided they aren't all that worried about it. I'll have a fourth scan this week at my 38 week appointment.
3. General symptoms/rants/concerns/exciting things? My mum is here! It's going to be so weird having her live in my flat for the next month. I'm trying to keep myself busy so as to not be bored with not working, and to stop my mum irritating me, but I'm finding that I physically can't do a whole lot without getting really exhausted really fast. But, Ailsa has dropped so I'm actually much less uncomfortable now that I have been the past few weeks. My knees and ankles are swelling again though. I have to keep reminding myself that I haven't got long left, and then Ailsa will be here.

QOTW:
1. How is the name game going in your house? Have you chosen a name? What is important to you when choosing a name? Will you pick out a name before little one is born or do you want to wait until you actually see him/her? What style/origin of names do you like?
So, I think everybody knows my baby is going to be Ailsa. My name is Iona, my mum is Skye, so my main condition was it had to be the name of a Scottish Island, and out of the list I made of useable ones as names, Ailsa was the one I liked best. It comes from the island Ailsa Craig, the Gaelic of which is Aillse Creag, which means 'fairy's rock'.
2. What's the worst piece of pregnancy advice you have received so far? I've not had any from strangers at all, thank goodness, but when I went home last month, my grandma's friend told me gave me a load of very, very outdated advice, my favourite piece of advice was "Never breastfeed from the same breast for more than five minutes at a time."

[crazyaunt84]

Happy Monday!

1. 13w1d with twins
2. No appointment until the 23rd. A/S will be the week of Christmas! We're working on a fun way to reveal with a Christmas gift, assuming babies cooperate.
3. C told me yesterday that I complain a lot about pregnancy. I don't think of it as complaining, but she'll often ask how I'm doing, and I respond honestly. If something new is going on (stretching/cramping, sciatic pain, etc.) I do tell her. I'm not on this journey alone, and I want her to know what's happening - pleasant or unpleasant! She thinks it's complaining, so I guess I need to reign it in, but that makes me a little sad.

I did join a local buy/sell/trade group on Facebook last week. I picked up a STEAL on Saturday - a nearly new, excellent condition Graco Ready2Ride double stroller. It holds 2 infant carriers (yay!) and then converts to a regular double. It's black, so neutral for whatever color car seats we choose. We hadn't decided if we were going to splurge on the stroller that could carry 2 infant carriers because of the cost ($200+) but I got this for $65 and I'm stoked! Two weeks ago, a friend got me an InStep double jogging stroller with the pneumatic tires in the front and back for $20 at a garage sale- also in awesome condition. Soo...$400 worth of strollers for $85. Winning!

QOTW:
1. We have one name picked for a boy, and one for a girl. If we're dealing with two boys, we're kinda decided. If we have 2 girls in there, we're lost. We have very different taste in names - I like more modern or abstract names, C likes very traditional names. She's won so far in the name game, but I'm ok with it. I figure if we use a name I LOVE, I probably won't love it in a few years. But if we use classic names (and family names), I may not ever be head over heals with the name but I won't ever regret it.

2. I haven't received much advice at all, which is a bit odd I guess. I'm also not showing much, so perhaps when I pop, people will be more likely to insert their obnoxiousness.

[wittyandwaiting]

Congrats officerofthelaw! He's so adorable!

[wittyandwaiting]

1. 20 weeks today with 20 weeks to go! This is my second, and she's a girl.

2. I've got an ultrasound tomorrow and then a midwife appointment on Thursday.

I'm really looking forward to Thursday's midwife appointment because I have a lot of questions about the fibroid and what the likelihood is of having a cesarean and just how it impacts the pregnancy in general.

3. The last week or so has been a little trying. I haven't been feeling great and after an excruciating Saturday we found out that I've got a bladder infection. With all of the sudden abdominal pain, my brain went to a dark and scary place but, after meeting with my midwife on Sunday morning I know that everything is okay.

QOTW: The name game has actually been going fairly well in house. We have a top three, (first and middles for each option), but haven't made a decision yet; I imagine we will wait until we meet her. Most of the names that we like are Italian or Spanish; we are both quite traditional with our picks so no real challenges there. Even DS is on the same page with his name picks.

In terms of advice we haven't had much either but somebody did suggest to C that she discourage breastfeeding so that the baby doesn't prefer me. #rude

[mahler5]

officerofthelaw-- congratulations! He's beautiful.

crazyaunt84-- I don't think people realize how awful (physically) being pregnant is. You should be free to complain away, especially with twins! I can't even imagine. I think my first time around I felt sort of bad complaining to L at times because she wanted to be pregnant initially but I don't feel like that now, since I am carrying her baby and she is relieved she won't have to take off too much time from work etc.

wittyandwaiting-- sorry to hear about the bladder infection. Hope you are feeling better. I had 3 UTIs during my first pregnancy. I guess they are common.

[crazyaunt84]

wittyandwaiting - definitely sorry you're not feeling well, and sorry that it's messing with your head. Glad the midwife was able to provide some reassurance! And to the person that suggested you not breastfeed, I'm sending a mental throatpunch their way. How incredibly closed minded and insensitive.

ionaerebor - getting excited to 'meet' your little girl! I love her name!!

kh826 - I hope that swelling goes down a bit so you're more comfortable.

mahler5 - thanks for the reassurance. We worked so hard to get pregnant that I sometimes feel bad for not basking in every second, but I remind myself frequently that I don't have to love the process of being pregnant in order to love the babies and be a good mama. The physical process is harder than I thought, and I'm still just at the beginning!

[kh826]

I want to jump in on the "complaining" topic... I have had a similar issue this pregnancy, especially. J doesn't seem very interested in how I am feeling or doing this time around, and she has commented several times about how I complain a lot and this pregnancy is worse than the last one. I TOTALLY disagree. As the pregnant lady, I can tell you that this pregnancy has been easier than my last by a mile until the last couple of weeks, and honestly I think I am just physically doing too much for a lady in the 3rd tri and my body is starting to yell at me. I have been much less nauseous. I have been able to push through my exhaustion (b/c I don't really have a choice), and overall from weeks 10-25 of this pregnancy I really didn't feel pregnant much. Every once in a while I would complain of a headache or heartburn (before I got on Nexium - hooray!), but overall, I think this pregnancy has been fast and relatively unremarkable.

Sooooo, I feel your pain.
It hurts my feelings that she thinks I am always complaining.
It hurts my feelings even more when you combine that with the fact that she doesn't really seem interested at all in how I am feeling.
I think it is just our dynamic right now, and I also think it has to do with the fact that we already have a kiddo.
Or maybe I am just looking for excuses to make myself feel better.

It makes me a little sad b/c I really do like being pregnant, and we want 3-4 kids, but I can only imagine that this will get worse with subsequent pregnancies. I don't need to be catered to all the time, but a little slack and acknowledgement for growing a human would be nice.

OK, sorry... I totally hijacked this to add my 3+ cents... at any rate, I think this is likely a somewhat common problem. Booooo!

[bexincanada]

1. 11 weeks, first baby.

2. Nothing for a couple of weeks, IPS on the 20th, midwife on the 25th.

3. Things are moving along, which is good. The usual pains and discomfort. My mood is still all over the place. I think the reason I'm looking forward to Christmas is because I'm taking off the week leading up.

QOTW:

1. We're going well with a boys names, we've chosen a first and middle. Girls names are SO much harder. We want something that is not too feminine, we like unisex names, but also want something classic and not too trendy. I'd love to use my grandmother's name but H. is not a fan.

2. We haven't told everyone yet, but I'm sure this will become more of a thing. My mother had rapid-fire questions that we'd never thought of. She asked us if it was a boy would we circumcise, at 8 weeks it wasn't anything we'd thought of but when we gut-reacted "no" she shot back that that was the wrong answer, primarily because it "looks better."

[crazyaunt84]

Nov 10, 2015 9:51:36 GMT -5 kh826 said:

I want to jump in on the "complaining" topic... I have had a similar issue this pregnancy, especially. J doesn't seem very interested in how I am feeling or doing this time around, and she has commented several times about how I complain a lot and this pregnancy is worse than the last one. I TOTALLY disagree. As the pregnant lady, I can tell you that this pregnancy has been easier than my last by a mile until the last couple of weeks, and honestly I think I am just physically doing too much for a lady in the 3rd tri and my body is starting to yell at me. I have been much less nauseous. I have been able to push through my exhaustion (b/c I don't really have a choice), and overall from weeks 10-25 of this pregnancy I really didn't feel pregnant much. Every once in a while I would complain of a headache or heartburn (before I got on Nexium - hooray!), but overall, I think this pregnancy has been fast and relatively unremarkable.

Sooooo, I feel your pain.
It hurts my feelings that she thinks I am always complaining.
It hurts my feelings even more when you combine that with the fact that she doesn't really seem interested at all in how I am feeling.
I think it is just our dynamic right now, and I also think it has to do with the fact that we already have a kiddo.
Or maybe I am just looking for excuses to make myself feel better.

It makes me a little sad b/c I really do like being pregnant, and we want 3-4 kids, but I can only imagine that this will get worse with subsequent pregnancies. I don't need to be catered to all the time, but a little slack and acknowledgement for growing a human would be nice.

OK, sorry... I totally hijacked this to add my 3+ cents... at any rate, I think this is likely a somewhat common problem. Booooo!

Don't be sorry! I'm glad you jumped in!! I can't imagine powering through this with a little one at home. You rock! It's tough to say "weird and unpleasant things are happening to my body and I'd like to share them" and have the response be "quit bitching." 

[cetcar]

officerofthelaw, He is adorable. Congratulations! Thank you for sharing.

1. 30w3days pregnant with our first, who's a girl!!  (We just kinda realized we hadn't 'announced' what we're having here yet)

2. We don't have any appointments this week. Our next appointment is 11/20 and we should have an ultrasound.

3. Feeling pretty good overall. Lately, I've been hungry all the time, it seems like my stomach is growing by the day. Feeling lots of movement. I think we saw a limb go by the other day. Yesterday I had two funny interactions at the gym, basically they were impressed/surprised I'm still working out and I still have just over two months left. Imagine what it will be like at the end. I periodically have a sharp pinch in my back by my shoulder blades and down one side of my bottom. I think it has to do with growing and stretching. Stairs and walking up hills too quickly make me winded. Still feel mildly nauseous at night, thinking that may be here to stay since it has been happening for a while now.

I just ordered the dresser for the nursery, it should be delivered 11/25. I think we have a plan for how we are going to make the second bedroom work. We're thinking of getting a pull out couch with a tempurpedic mattress pad and storing the queen size bed that is currently in there. This will free up some floor space, give us more room to keep baby things, and we will still have a place to sleep when guests come. Plus we can cuddle and hang out on the couch. At the moment, I think it's the best option for what we have to work with.

QOTW:
I *think* we have two names that are contenders but we aren't planning on sharing until after she is born. We want to meet her first. We keep trying to think of a few more so we have a couple more options. We both think there is an 80% likelihood we will go with the first name we picked but I like the idea of having options.

I'll have to think some more about pregnancy advice. Nothing is coming to mind at the moment.

[bexincanada]

Congratulations officerofthelaw, and thanks for sharing your birth story!

[officerofthelaw]

Nov 9, 2015 8:33:17 GMT -5 kh826 said:

Congratulations, officerofthelaw - he is so beautiful! I hope that you get the rest that you need and that your recovery is as easy, breezy as possible. Will you be sharing his name with us? He is so alert already! Congrats again!!!

Kinsler Jace