Hellobee Boards

@msmay: That's exactly what I was thinking. I've lost weight - how can there be stretch marks? Sigh, I'll get over it, but it's a little disheartening.

@skipper2010: Welcome! Never too late to join.

@msmay: I forgot to mention that I have to warm his liquid diet in a cup of hot water and test it on my wrist. Total practice lol!

@skipper2010: ahhhh, welcome!! Always glad to have more :). We're only two days apart on due date! (I'm 8/3). Wish I could say the sane for symptoms....lucky!!!

@.twist.: I dunno, I honestly can't remember. I don't think it matters much...we plan and god laughs ;).

That's right, I now have an excuse for my bad memory! No one need know that it's just the way I am lol

@.twist.: I've probably said both dates

@.twist.: I'm only supposed to gain 15 to 20 and I figure there's plenty of time to do it later, so it doesn't bother me at all.

@StrawberryBee: Glad to hear your cat's health is improving and is now home!

@skipper2010: Welcome!!!

@msmay: @lawbee11: Good luck at your dr appt today! Can't wait to hear an udpate!!

@msmay: @lawbee11: Yay for appointments! Can't wait to hear how they go! Good Luck!

@Grace: @.twist.: @JamieLee: I know it's only been a few lbs for me so I haven't worried too much. It's just weird how I keep reading everywhere that I'll start to gain 1lb a week and so far I've lost approx 3. LOL. I wake up some mornings wondering where my belly went.

Anyone else low on vitamins? I'm low on Iron. My doctor wants me to take supplements but I'm SO terrible at remember pills, is there a trick anyone knows, that will help me remember?

@.twist.: I put my vitamins right next to my toothbrush and take them right after I brush my teeth at night. I keep those little Dixie cups there to make it easy. I've also set a timer on my phone before if I'm really having trouble.

So we woke up this morning and the entire right side of my dogs face was really puffy and his eye was swollen shut. Took him to the vet and they think he had an allergic reaction to something. He had to have two shots and I have to give him Benadryl and Prednisone regularly for the next few days. I feel so bad for him because I can tell it hurts and itches. He keeps trying to rub his face on the couch and carpet. It's so hard when your pets are in pain and I know it's going to be even harder when it's your kid! I really think pets help to prepare you for having a child in some ways.

@JamieLee: Poor pup :(. Wonder if he got bitten by a spider or stung by anything. The steroids should start to make him feel better quick.

@JamieLee: Sorry to hear about your doggie

Hooray for two new members!

I am wondering what everyone is doing as far as testing for down syndrome/birth defects when it comes to testing in the first place and what impact if will have on when you announce the pregnancy. I have been thinking about this a lot and it's stressing me out. I have my NT scan next week and I'll be 12 weeks so it's the perfect time to announce, but I'm so scared of announcing too soon then finding out something is wrong. I don't know what I'd do, but I'd want to at least be able to process it in private first before people knew I was pregnant.

So who is getting testing done and to what extent? Is anyone waiting for more invasive tests before announcing? If so, when are the tests taking place - like what week will you be?

@StrawberryBee: The vet said it was probably a bug bite. We heat with wood and have a bunch of cut wood in our basement, so we probably have more spiders than others in the cold northern Michigan winter!

@Modern Daisy: We're not really having anything done testing wise. My doctor's office doesn't do the NT scan, so I would have to go to a whole other health system thats more than three hours away. We had the usual blood tests at our first appointment, but I don't think that includes any sort of birth defect testing. I guess we're just going to hope for the best and take whatever God/the Universe throws at us. That's just our take on it though. We know people who have done no testing, and other's who've had an amnio, so I think it's really different for everyone.

We've pretty much told all our important people. It's not on Facebook or anything, but close friends and family have been told in person. I don't think we'll do Facebook until we know the gender.

@Modern Daisy: I had my NT scan on Jan 29. We did not announce to the world (FB) until after the test. I wanted to make sure everything was ok before taking that next step. Not sure how I would have handled it if something were wrong. The ultrasound was fairly lengthy, and we got to see a TON of the baby, which was so incredible. After they took all their measurements we met with a doctor (standard practice!) and she told us about all our risks and stuff, which were so incredibly low. Try not to stress too much about it, although I know that's totally hard. Just think about how you're going to get to see your little bean jumpin' around! ETA: I thought I was about 12 weeks but I was actually 13.

@.twist.: I haven't had any bloodwork yet. I'm going to ask for some this week. I take a prenatal just in case. What I do, is place it in the medicine cabinet. So when I go to brush my teeth at night, I see it next to my toothpaste and then I take it.

@StrawberryBee: I hope you kitty feels better soon!

@JamieLee: Poor puppy! I hope he feels better soon too!

@Modern Daisy: I'm only doing tests if they can find something that can be addressed. For Downs, Trisomy 18 and Trisomy 13, I believe there's nothing that can be done, so I don't want to know early. Plus, there's a chance of false positives. I'm not putting myself through that. If the dr tells me there is a test for something that can be treated in utero, then I'll get that test.@

Mrs D: You are so lucky! I'd love to get out of the snow and cold!

Telling my inlaws when we see them (they live a few provinces away) in two weeks and then it'll be public! Whoohoo. I'm tired of keeping the secret.

@.twist.: I had one before when I was taking a few different meds for severe anxiety, but I don't use it anymore. It actually didn't really help me remember any better, but if I had to take more than just my vitamin, I might consider it again. My hubby did imply that I was an old lady though!

Okay so it sounds like most of you are comfortable announcing after the NT scan and not doing additional testing, right? I guess it also just depends on the test results. I get nervous though because they aren't definitive but I guess I should just taket things one step at a time.

@Modern Daisy: They aren't definitive. However, when you see your chances for x disorder are 1 in 22000, it becomes very comforting.

I think for downs my chances were 1 in 5000 something, and another was 1 in 22000, and the last was 1 in 3000. Those numbers are pretty comforting to me.

Also, the only way I would have done additional testing is if the results came back really low.

@Modern Daisy: @.twist.: exactly...my sisters came back low (like 1 in 100 or 200) and that is why they recommended the Amnio. The Amnio is usually only done for high risk bc there is a small chance it can cause a miscarriage - so they only use it when they know you are higher risk.

@Alivoo01: @.twist.: Thanks, y'all!

Just got back from my NT scan. Everything went really well! I had to pee SO BAD during the u/s, but they told me not to empty my bladder until they were done. The baby was bouncing all over the place...it was so cute! They did all sorts of measurements and we got to see the hands and feet. I was kind of disappointed with the tech, though. She did not have good bedside manner and wasn't that good at explaining everything. She gave us a CD with images and I was hoping a lot of what we saw would be on there, but there are only 4 pics and none of them are very good! They are all from above looking down on the baby...I was hoping for some cute profile pics!

The important this is that everything with the baby looks good. The NT measurement was 1.5mm, which is really good, so I am very happy about that. We got to hear the heartbeat--it was beating at 159bpm. I met with my doctor afterwards and he said everything looks perfect. I am 12w3d, but baby is measuring 13w0d. He's keeping my EDD at 8/16, though.

Here's the best of the 4 pictures. Baby Lawbee looking like an alien!

@lawbee11: So glad everything went well! Sorry you couldn't get a better picture but I kinda like the little alien. lol

@Mrs Hedgehog: oh! Boo to hormones. You'd think that assistant would have been a little more understanding to your situation. Sorry you're feeling so crappy!