Hellobee Boards

@ineebee: I worked until the day she was born (I had a scheduled c-section, so it's a little different). But I really didn't want to take any time off before that would take away from days that I got with the baby (it was 12 weeks no matter what, so if I took a week off before, that was one less week I'd have with Reagan). The other women in my office (not scheduled c-sections) have done the same.

I wasn't too terribly uncomfortable though and I would have gone stir crazy waiting for the baby at home. At least at work I had something to kinda distract me.

@loki: I'm so sorry. That is just horrible! I can't imagine a scan like that here. Usually techs are very nice and if they see something you usually talk to the doctor right away. Did the tech even look at the legs? If so, the penis is usually pretty easy to spot. so if you didn't see it, then maybe it's a girl??
@astro bee: Congratulations! Boys are the best...my son is the light of my life!
@ineebee: I worked right up until my scheduled c-section and my friend worked until the day of her labor. Usually you'll want to meet with someone in hr prior to your leave to get the papers ready and to learn all about your FMLA benefits. Once you do that it's as simple as an email to them saying you just had your baby to officially get on leave. If you do want to take a few days off toward the end you can, but I'd recommend saving them for when you have baby...or at least only taking half days so that you don't lose as much PTO but still get a rest.

@Loki: Oh my gosh, I feel so horrible for you. This is such a special time, and for her to treat you so callously is unconscionable! Stop crying, indeed. You should definitely report her. I also think it's strange that they don't let your husband in with you during the scan. Do they think he'll run around the room pulling on plugs and disrupting things!?!I understand not being allowed to bring children in, but an adult? There are a lot of things that they have to measure, but a simple, politely put request to lie still and quiet at the start isn't too much to ask, rather than her snapping at you when you were reacting to her rudeness, to begin with.

We had the same ultrasound tech as for our 12w scan, and she was great. Especially since both me and my husband have imaging backgrounds, and had questions about the technology, as well as what we were seeing on the screen. She pointed out everything to us as she imaged/measured it. And then she asked if we wanted to know the sex, and of course we did! My husband said that he knew it was a boy right before she asked us, because she skimmed right past and he saw the "evidence." I must have blinked, because it was really obvious.

We also asked what their policy is regarding telling us if something was wrong. She said that she could tell if there were irregularities, but it was the radiologist that makes the assessement, which is then forwarded to the doctor, who tells us. She's not allowed to tell us if there is something wrong. We told her that we were going on 2 week's holidays on Sunday, and wouldn't be around, and that our doctor had told us that if there was an big, big issue that might cause us to electively abort, we would have to deal with it really soon (our doc said the radiologist would probably come in and tell us right there). That's based on the policy for elective abortions in Canada, which are very difficult to obtain after a specific date without a lot of paperwork.

In any case, our technician said to us that she can't tell us anything, but that she wouldn't worry about it. Which is as good as telling us that baby is healthy! Honestly, healthy is all we all really want, and I didn't even know until she said that how much I would worry until I was told if she hadn't reassured us.

@Loki: No way are you monopolizing the board! And I definitely don't feel that you are taking anything away from me... we are all in this together (as tears well up in my eyes), so don't worry. I hope you get your results soonest from your doctor. All I can think is that the technician must never have been in our shoes to have treated you so. Or otherwise, she really is just a b!

We're heading to Turkey (Istanbul and Gallipoli) and Greece (Athens, Corinth, Delphi, Santorini) for our trip. We have a lot we want to see, but will be taking it day by day in deference to baby and my energy levels.

@Astro Bee: Hurrah!
@loki: That sounds like such a bad experience; I'm so sorry things were like that. I will be refreshing madly Monday and Tuesday to see what you find out. hugs.

@Astro Bee: can your parents come after the baby comes vs before? It's really nice to have the help afterward. My parents helped for the first two weeks and I'm hoping they will again.

Hopefully we'll get to update this with lots of boy/girl very soon - including @loki, I can't believe they wouldn't tell you during the AS, that is awful!

I had an appointment yesterday and scheduled my AS for next Friday. They said it's a 90-minute appointment. I haven't heard of anyone's AS taking that long but I guess I won't mind spending that much time looking at our baby on those amazing huge screens they have at our imaging center (like big-screen TVs facing toward you as you lie there, it's wonderful). They also told me to arrive with an empty bladder so I'm happy to be through with that crap.

Our parents have been asking us about nursery colors already. I'm thinking about doing a kind of elegant-looking blue/gray with dark espresso furniture, regardless of the baby's sex. Maybe some airy white touches to lighten the feel of it a little bit, like this awesome paper butterflies mobile I found on Etsy, and/or those pretty Umbria wall flowers that people use. Anyone else thinking nursery colors/theme?

Upcoming Appointments
11/11 - ineebee (AS), marionberry (appt), Banana330 (AS)
11/14 - PawPrints (AS)
11/18 - SunshineMcC (AS)
11/20 - As Time Goes By (AS)
11/20 - Rockies11 (AS)
11/24 - Marionberry (AS)
11/25 - NeekieRose

Due Dates
3/28 – Neekierose (#2)
4/1 – Boopers , Astro Bee
4/3 – As Time Goes By
4/5 – ineebee
4/6 – Lulu22
4/7 – Pawprints
4/8 – Dancingbee, Brownie, anonysquire (#2)
4/9 – SunshineMcC , loki
4/10 – Windswept
4/11 – Marionberry (#2, TWINS), BCHossley
4/15 – Mrs.Pinecone316
4/16 – Banana330
4/18 – MeredithNYC
4/19 – Lilyofthewest
4/21 – Rockies11 (#2)
4/23- Mrs. Sunshine (#2)
4/24 – Jenn23 (#2)
4/30 – Delight (#2)

@Mrs. Sunshine: Lavender/white/gray sounds lovely. Do you have photos you'd be willing to share?

@PawPrints: thank you for updating the calendar. It's so fun seeing it get so colorful! I can't wait to hear what you're having! My doctor didn't require a full bladder either which was nice.

As for nursery stuff, we are in a rental so we can't piant, but we want to do navy, gray, and pops of orange. The furniture we want is white so I think it'll match nicely with what we want to do. Now it's just a matter of deciding how much money we want to spend on everything. We don't want to spend a ton of money!

@Astro Bee: I had to have a rough talk with my mom about not having her at the hospital until an hour or two after ds was born. I don't think she liked it but she got over it. She sounds a lot like your mom. I tried to explain about how they push for instant skin to skin and breast feeding and I didn't want to do that with an audience. Best of luck!

Jack's room was done very gender neutral with turquoise, mustard and grey as primary colors. I'm not sure how I'm doing the twins' room if they're both boys but if at least one girl I'm doing navy and peach.

@Astro Bee: @marionberry: sounds like i have a similar relationship with my mom! it is gonna be interesting with her only grandchild coming into the mix... i love her but after 15 minutes i am losing my mind. haha. it's quite the dynamic and makes me really worried about this baby maybe being a girl! i want to have a way better relationship with her than i have with my mom...

@PawPrints: i'm mostly so excited about finding out the gender so i can start planning the nursery! i have ideas for both... for a girl i think i'm gonna go super airy & light. i wanna paint the walls a really light mint with soft pink/white/gold accents... like i got those gold polka dot wall decals. i'm going with a gray brown crib and likely a white dresser to mix things up. for a boy i think i want to do navy walls and i'll go gray brown crib with dark brown dresser maybe. i want it to be ultra masculine with lots of canadiana... flannel & hockey skates & the bay stripes. that kinda thing. i have been obsessed with White Faux Taxidermy for eons so I am geting something from them either way. Probably the white deer head with gold antlers for a girl and the moose head for a boy! My husband thinks i'm nuts but i've ALWAYS wanted something so now is my excuse i don't care about it being gender neutral because we probably wont' be in this house for our second! so i'm excited to make it super feminine or super masculine depending

@PawPrints: This baby is going to be a typical second baby and get hand me downs. We had decided that if this baby was another girl, that we wouldn't change the nursery at all. Reagan will be moved into her "big girl room" (and into a big girl bed at 17 months...that's not crazy...). So we have to design and decorate Reagan's big girl room. The plan is for the girls to share a room in a couple years and turn the nursery into a play room until they get older and want their own rooms.

Total thread stalker here! I'm a march mama, maybe April since my due date is 3/30 so I like to follow you ladies too.

@loki: I can't believe how awful your anatomy scan tech was!! That's crazy to me. I hope you get some answers soon and your babe is happy and healthy in there! I find it so strange she showed you a couple things but refused gender.. so mean!

How's everyone doing with weight gain? Too much, too little, goldilocks?

I'm at 17w1d and I'm still 4-5lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight. I lost that weight during a 3 week stretch where absolutely all food seemed dull and unappealing (6.5ishw-9.5ishw) and haven't put anything back on since.

My midwives aren't concerned, but, I'm starting to be. The bump's outward and upward expansion means that I perpetually feel like I'm wearing tights that are too small (and can't take off!) which does not make me hungry. I also am getting uncomfortably full very quickly -- yesterday I ate an egg and got halfway through a yogurt cup for breakfast.

@lilyofthewest: I still haven't gained any, but as of my last appointment I hadn't lost anymore either, which the midwife was glad to see. Too bad DH and I both got a wicked stomach bug this weekend and I lost more.

With DD, I lost 15lbs in the first trimester then slowly gained back those same 15lbs through the second two trimesters, ending exactly where I started. With this pregnancy, I am down 12lbs (about 4 due to the aforementioned stomach bug). So I am hoping to end up only a little above my starting weight. I am overweight to begin with though, but something about being pregnant helps me actually lose weight. Ha

Thanks all! That is reassuring.

@loki: I got that cover with DD. I don't remember what US shipping was? Closer to $7 maybe? But it's a great cover, the only one I used. I also got the car seat cover from one of the sister sites for "free", aka shipping. And I used that all the time. Highly recommend. And all those sites are always "free" with a code, so hopefully no one actually pays the list prices!

@loki: http://www.carseatcanopy.com/ A quick google search says the free code is PJBABY

At the bottom of all those sites they have "sister sites" and they all pretty much have the same deal. Here is the listing of sites:
NURSING BRACELET
CARSEAT CANOPIES
BABY SLINGS
NURSING PILLOWS
MATERNITY BAND
BABY LEGGINGS
WASHABLE BREAST PADS
BABY CARRIERS
RUFFLE BUNS

Hi gals, March Mom here. I read along with y'all too. @lilyofthewest I wanted to pop on and let you know I was in your place several weeks ago. I was not eating a ton and still had food adversions. I had maybe gained a pound at 16 weeks. Now I'm up 10-12 lbs at week 23. I'm starving all the time and have had two dinners some nights. Baby is growing a ton during this time.

@youboots: welcome my best friend is due mar 5 and says in the last couple weeks or so she is FAMISHED all the time and eats all day long! i imagine that's coming for us soon too.

@NeekieRose: i only decided to get the carseat cover, nursing cover and nursing pillow... i registered for a very similar one anyways so i figured why not! i don't think i'll use the rest of the stuff!