Hellobee Boards

@PawPrints: I totally agree with naming being the hardest decision. And I laugh when people say I'm carrying him so I should demand to use my choice.... Umm that's a great start to joint parenting decisions! I'm hoping his name is obvious once he's here.

@As Time Goes By: probably. It just makes me nervous in general. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing lol

@Mrs. Sunshine: I totally get it! I would be nervous too!

Update on yesterday's 3D ultrasound: I slept so horribly the night before, for a variety of reasons including frequent need to pee, DH snoring, an old sports injury aching, and then my mind wandering to going back to work on Monday. Still, despite being exhausted, I was really looking forward to seeing our baby again, as it had been 8 weeks since we saw him last.

Baby isn't normally very active in the mornings (and neither am I), but yesterday he was downright lazy. I even scarfed down a bunch of Christmas chocolates to get him moving, but no joy. Anyway, the first few mins of the ultrasound consisted of DH calling his parents and mine to see if they were seeing the online streaming (they are not tech savvy), and him getting frustrated because his parents were not answering the phone. In my head, I was thinking screw them (I was really tired!), we're paying for this, they can always see it later, you're missing it. The ultrasound lasted half an hour, and during that time, the technician showed us lots of 2D and 3D head shots, as well as a penis shot (definitely a boy), arms, legs, toes, fingers, etc. Halfway through the session, baby yawned (prompting us to, as well, lol!), and brought his hands up near his face, where they stayed the rest of the time. We're not sure whether he was sucking his thumb or not, but he was definitely bashful. Then he started turning into my back. Lots of belly poking to get him to move and wake up, but to no avail.

We got a couple of printed images, a USB full of JPEGs and the full recording, plus 30 days of online access to the video recording for $220 inc taxes. I may or may not have done it just for ourselves, since we'd already had the two freebie hospital ultrasounds, but with our family spread all across Canada it seemed important to share something with them. Even though I was disappointed that he wasn't more active, it was worth it to hear how excited our parents, brothers and their SOs were at seeing him "live." I think my mom has replayed the video about 20 times since yesterday!

Anyway, the irony is that the baby was crazy active all yesterday evening and night, hiccuping, tumbling and kicking. I was happy to have confirmed that he was head down, although, I'm not sure if that means he'll stay that way for the next 12 1/2 weeks. Especially since he's so active in the evenings.

@anonysquire: I think I've just had one so far, where I had cramping and my belly got really tight! It was at 1:30am on New Years!

@Astro Bee: my doc explained they there's not a medically necessary reason to do one after 20 weeks, but they do one last check at 36w. I was also measuring a week ahead at 20 weeks so they said they'd check again later in the pregnancy to see if that's still the case. Are most people done with US at 20 weeks?

@As Time Goes By: I'm also planning on having my mom come back after DH goes to work, she might stay for a night or two when we first get home, but then we want that time to ourselves which she totally respects. Who knows though, I could be asking her to stay!

second time moms - what did you find most challenging during the first days and couple of weeks after being home with baby?

wow, so much to catch up on this week! I've spent the week battling a nasty cold while simultaneously trying to Get Stuff Done while DH has time off work. It's so fun hearing about what every one is doing with their nurseries and how things are coming together!

I love the sound of everyone's colour schemes, especially those that involve mint and coral and gold! We are planning on doing neutrals with mint but I'm being so darn indecisive about everything. We set up our crib yesterday though, which was pretty exciting! I love it! I would definitely post on a nursery thread, I need advice and opinions about things! haha.

@SunshineMcC: love your question about what is most challenging once baby arrives - I'm curious to see everyone's responses. I am VERY lucky because DH will be home for about 2 months after the baby is born (he actually gets 4 months paid paternity leave but will save half for later in the year when we travel). Plus my mother will fly over in April and stay for 3 or 4 weeks (which is a lot but it's a long and expensive trip so she has to make it worth her while). Then in May DH's parents will visit for a week and a half. I'm trying to convince my little sister to fly over in June when she has her college break, as DH will be back at work by then and it would be nice to have her around. I hope she comes!

@marionberry: I'm kind of dreading keeping up with cleaning / cooking / laundry after the baby comes, as I'm usually a routine freak. I'm just gonna have to learn to let go although I suspect DH will carry a fair share of the burden as he works pretty well on no-sleep and is usually quick to pick up the slack if he can see I'm overwhelmed. Come March, I'm planning on freezing lots of meals so that at least there is food to grab quickly.

So I actually found the first few months to be easy. We were blessed with a very easy baby who slept for 5 hour stretches at night from the beginning and really only cried when hungry (which was easy to fix). I never felt super overwhelmed or like I couldn't get things done (I hosted Thanksgiving 3 weeks after DD was born). DH took off the week that I was in the hospital (DD born Tues, we went home Fri) and then was back to work the following week. My mom was here for 10 days which was nice, but towards the end I was ready to just do it on my own.

I know that is not how it is for many women, and I was very lucky. But I think it's helpful for people to know that you can get lucky! The biggest thing was just being relaxed about it. Babies are pretty hard to break. So I tried not to stress about stuff. Everyone said DD was feeding off of my laid back attitude; I'm not sure that was the case, I think we were just lucky! But it didn't hurt.

This time around I am more nervous since I don't know that we can get that lucky again! And I will have a toddler at home during leave who is much harder to entertain that a newborn. Especially if I end up doing a repeat c-section and my recovery isn't as easy.

so much great info going around, thanks second time moms! too much to reply to everyone so i'll just give a rundown of what's going on with me!

i honestly feel pretty prepared for a newborn (maybe i'm just naive) because i have been sleeping SO HORRIBLY. i get maybe 3-4 hours a night and the sleep i do get is so restless... i feel like i never hit REM anymore! i feel like even if i get less sleep once she arrives, at least the sleep i do get will be better quality, i'm hoping! now that it's 2015 it feels VERY close and VERY real and i'm getting really excited to meet this little one. also she moves/kicks NONNNNNNNN STOP, which yes is lovely and makes me happy but also... it's very distracting! and she's getting stronger and sometimes i'm like c'mon kid, ease up. i'm sure it'll only get worse as time goes on haha.

we plan on having my mom & dad come for a couple of weeks after DH goes back to work but i'm kinda worried. i know we have talked about our relationships with moms in the past... my mom tends to get on my nerves VERY quickly. i want her to focus on the house & the meals & the laundry and let me focus on the baby but i don't know if that's how it's gonna play out so i might need to kick her out early haha. she's being so annoying about purchasing things for the nursery and buying clothes i don't like... i know she's just excited but... she drives me a bit crazy haha.

i did my GD test on saturday and i'm so nervous about the results. I kinda wish i had waited until after my trip because if i find out i have to go for the 3 hour test or get negative results i'm not gonna enjoy eating on my vacation!!!

my first OB appointment is tomorrow which means i get to work from home! yay! anything to avoid that horrible commute.

someone please name my baby!

@lulu22: @Mrs. Sunshine: I currently leave my clean laundry in the basket usually until I have a dirty pile big enough to warrant switching out the clean for the dirty in to the basket again. I need to get better at putting it away, but i'm guessing it will go out the window once th baby comes..

Haven't been on here in forever! Trying to catch up.

We are doing the Cocalo Jacana nursery (light purple jungle theme nursery) with a grayish/lavender wall scheme. I'm not a pink person at all, so I fell in love with that one after looking at hundreds!

I'm petrified of having a newborn and toddler. My two-year old takes up my entire day as it is, so the thought of handling both overwhelms me. But I figure every mom of at least two kids deals with it and survives, so I will, too!

The hardest thing for the first few months for me was post-partum depression (started a few weeks after our son was home) and the extreme fatigue. Never been so tired in my life! After a few months it got much, much better!!

I've been waiting anxiously for my ultrasound tomorrow to see if I do in fact have placenta Accreta, but we are supposed to get a few inches of snow in the morning and temp's well below freezing, so the roads may be dicey. So I called to reschedule for Thursday. So now I wait three more days for the follow-up ultrasound. Fingers crossed!!

I got my snoogle out from my last pregnancy and it is helping immensely. But I still get up to pee 4, sometimes 5 times a night! Ridiculous!

@Mrs. Sunshine: That sounds like such a lovely day - so glad that you're feeling great today! I think getting back into the routine of things will help me too, once I'm in it. I really enjoyed having time off and relaxing with DH, but tend to go buggy if I have too much time off. The cold weather and lack of sunlight is hard for me, so I'm hoping to make exercise a priority the next few months (as much as I can). I teach Sunday school at my church, and it was so nice to get back into that yesterday after a couple weeks off after Christmas. I find that starting my day out with a devotion or a good verse helps me too - my favorite book these days is called Jesus Calling. Enjoy the rest of your day!

@SunshineMcC: I LOVE freezing homemade meals, I used to do it heaps back when I worked evening shifts... I will share all my good freezer friendly recipes when the time gets closer!

@loki: I also have reservations about my mother staying for so long. She says she is totally coming to help us in any way she can, but I will be freezing meals none-the-less because I know that her idea of 'helping' probably involves more snuggling with the baby than cooking and cleaning. Also it will be her first time in the USA so that will be interesting... Who knows, she might rise to the occasion... and seeing as I see her on average once every two years, I'll take what time I can get with her.

@NeekieRose: @Mrs. Sunshine: so good to hear that the first months can be good! I will be going in with lower expectations and if it works out well that will be a bonus!

@SunshineMcC: aww good luck getting through the work day! Hopefully you can ease yourself back in a little and don't have to work too hard today? I am SO over winter and we don't even have a real winter in California haha. I'm still tucked in bed with a vaporizer next to me, battling this cold and praying it doesn't turn into a lung infection, which often happens to me. Ugh, winter is the worst, yay for springtime babies!

@lulu22: Hopefully you won't get it. It was truly awful for me. My main problem was that I didn't want to stop nursing and was being stubborn, so didn't want to take the meds...once I did, I was MUCH better!!! I've already told my husband and mom to tell me if they see it starting up again this time. Often it is hard for you to notice it happening, but those around you notice! I'm being pro-active this time if I feel down! But I'm hoping it doesn't happen again. It was truly one of the worst experiences of my life. I missed out on bonding with my son and just crying all day and night and was just miserable. No new mother should have to ever go through that! The PPD got better in a month, but the lack of sleep fatigue took a few months.

@lulu22: oh, can't wait for those recipes - thanks in advance for sharing! Yes, the day is getting better - I'm just really sleepy today! I was exhausted yesterday and took a long nap, so didn't sleep well last night, which leads to me being tired today! Oh well, get used to it right! In terms of PPA and PPD, I also have a history of anxiety. I am currently on medication (discussed pros and cons with my therapist and psychiatrist and decided the risks of going off were worse for me), and I see a therapist every couple of weeks. Since getting pregnant, the anxiety has really been pretty low, but I still am nervous about how I'll feel after baby. My doc has assured me that it's very easy to treat and I'm going to continue to keep in touch with her as well, so that's been some comfort for me. I know not all people are comfortable with meds while pregnant/nursing, but it's the decision that feels right for me. I hope you feel better!

@Jenn23: Hoping for good news!

@loki: Oh no! So sorry to hear about the GD test. That must be so disappointing. When did they schedule you for your three-hour test?

@ineebee: i'm so sad about it. we leave for vacation on friday so i don't really have time to do it before we go! my dr isn't pleased with that but i don't really have any options because the labs aren't open late enough to accomodate my work schedule/commute. so i'm going to try and just eat a bit healthier and watch my starch/sugar intake on vacation (if possible) and hopefully i pass the next one. i'll be soooo devastated if i don't

@Banana330: honestly, the orange drink is just not that bad. it's very sweet but i was dreading it and it was totally fine.

@loki: oh no! That's such a bummer....hopefully it's just nothing and your 3 hour will be fine.

@loki: oh good call. good luck, at least you have vacation to look forward to!

@Loki: Oh no! So sorry you didn't pass the GD test. I say enjoy your vacation with your hubby, and sure, eat well, but try not to stress about the next test. It won't help, and it's important that you and hubby get some extra bonding time before baby comes.

I just started my hour-long wait for my GT test. You're right, the orange drink wasn't that bad, and the fact that it was really cold helped a lot. I had my doctor's appt half an hour ago, and baby was already pretty active. 155 bpm heart rate, and he actually kicked the probe off my stomach. He's kicked during exams before, and it always sounds loud, but I've never seen the probe bounce off my stomach before! I can't imagine how much kicking he's going to do once the sugar drink hits.

@SunshineMcC: I also had a really hard time at work yesterday. I felt so dragged out, and fuzzy-headed all day. I had to make 2 important work calls in the afternoon and had to marshall all my energy for them, just so I could sound professional and not like I didn't have a clue. I did get a phone call earlier in the day from a co-worker who works in another building, and I kept saying "who is this?" I felt so dumb when I clued in. Today is marginally better, but I really haven't been sleeping well the last 4-5 nights.