Hellobee Boards

@Mrs. Blue: I didn't really appreciate the first cry moment. I honestly don't even remember if she cried! (Her apgars were great for a preemie though, 8/8, so I assume she did?) I was so focused on pushing to MAKE IT STOP that I totally forgot there was going to be a baby at the end, and when they put her on my belly my first words were "what the hell?" I was genuinely so confused where she came from.

Also, I'm a little jealous of those of you with kids old enough to understand! LO is nowhere close. But she's in love with babies, so I think she'll be happy at least some of the time when we bring this one home. She got to pat a baby at music class last week and another today at story time and she was SO excited. (I love that there are moms who will trust a toddler near a little bitty like that. She was super gentle but it freaked me out a little!)

@Torchwood: yeah, that's why I'm so excited this time. The twins were 22 months old when Graham was born and they really had no concept of the whole thing. Finn took to him quickly, and Elliot literally thought he was the devil for 2 months. This was the "best" sibling pic we could get with E and that was like the 3rd day he saw him. We always joke that he was thinking, "If we don't look at it, it can't get us." He totally loves him now, though! It just took a little while to decide the antichrist hadn't come to live at our house.

@Cole: Chinese chart was right for both of the pregnancies where I knew the gender, and it's saying girl this time again! DH swears it's a girl, so I hope it's right!

@Mrs. Blue: That's hilarious. Probably not at the time though.

@littlejoy: so sorry you missed your appt today! What a bummer. I feel like crap today too so, solidarity.

@Cole: home birth! Exciting.

Had my midwife appt yesterday, nothing exciting except she said they offer a c section to mamas with the degree of tearing I had the first time. I was kind of shocked and am still processing and I never thought I'd be offered an elective section. Posted more about this on the main board.

I am excited about my daughter being excited about the baby! She will be 4 when s/he is born so will totally get it. While it took longer than I wanted to get pregnant I feel good about this age gap.

@Cole: So glad all went well! That's such a good feeling.

@Revel: Glad it went well, but I'm surprised, too, about them offering a section. You must have had a VERY rough time last time. Yikes. Hopefully, regardless of what you do, it will be easier this time around!

Oh, and I talked with my insurance company. They cover NOTHING until my $3k deductible is met, which means I'm responsible for paying for all ultrasounds. This seems absolutely insane to me (I have a Silver PPO plan, which costs $550 a month) ... They do cover some initial blood tests like iron, HIV, hep B, and a few others, but that's it.

Meanwhile, my husband's insurance is AMAZING (free for him, $$$ to add us) ... he paid $200 total when he broke his collarbone. That included the ER visit, labs, the sling, time with the doctor, specialist, etc.

@Torchwood: Agreed. I had A the first week of January, so I had to pay two full years of deductibles ... that was fun.

@Mrs. Blue: I've done this at least 10 times in the past few months... both before getting pregnant and after. I've gotten the EXACT same result each time. It swings side to side first (my first is a boy - correct!), then stops completely, then starts moving in a circle, then stops and doesn't do anything again. We're planning to be done after two so I will be super freaked out if this is accurate and we have a girl!

@Revel: That's really interesting about the section due to tearing. I actually ended up with both an episiotomy and moderate tearing as well (OB was worried DD's shoulder might be stuck). They haven't mentioned any issues with another delivery yet, but I also healed pretty well at the first few months.

Oh, I forgot to mention regarding appointments- I had one today but LO slept so late this morning that she would have missed her nap entirely if I'd gone to the appointment. It wasn't an important one so I rescheduled for the 30th. I'm actually glad because it's too early today to hear the heartbeat with a Doppler but by then it should be easy. I have my appointment with the genetics counselor for the nitp stuff the day after, so it'll be a big week!

@littlejoy: yay for a home birth buddy! Insurance is so awful, we used to have an amazing plan but it got too pricey so the company switched to this crummy version. We paid out of pocket for the home birth but can get reimbursed from our flex account so at least it's pretax dollars. Paying OOP for all prenatal care, the birth, 4 pp visits and a lactation consultant visit is still less than our deductible- although not by much.

@peachykeen: I'm glad it went well! I am glad they did the ultrasound fit you so you didn't leave in limbo. My uterus is tilted too and it definitely makes this early stuff trickier. Bummer you didn't get a peek though!

@Torchwood: I'm glad it works out so you'll be able to hear with Doppler by then. I'm glad we're all getting to that stage where at each appointment we can get that reassurance until we can start feeling these babies wiggling around!
@Revel: you'll have to tell us about your daughter's reaction when you tell her about the baby! That's going to be a good gap. My daughter is really excited but she has no clue what it really means for her. She's been requesting all of the baby episodes of her favorite TV shows (because all screen time rules have gone waaay out the window over here...)

@Torchwood: cute! I need to start those too!

@Cole: we plan to tell her after we get the results of the NIPT and gender. She REALLY wants a sister so will be interesting if this is a boy.

@Mrs. Blue: @peachykeen: I'm surprised too. I felt like recovery was pretty easy. This was not the midwife who delivered my daughter, but she is still with the practice so I'm interested to talk to her.

@Torchwood: cute! I don't think much has changed for me bump wise, just pants are a bit tight at night.

I had my second migraine this morning, in the space of a week - brutal. Just wishing I would hit the second tri when my hormones will hopefully level out a bit.

@MommySLP: Yes! I'm sorry you're dealing with it too but also glad I'm not alone. The dreams are the worst, and most of them are more like nightmares. I wonder if that's part of the reason I can't sleep. Ugh. This better improve soon...

@Revel: Like your daughter, our boys want a sister. One of them is dead set that we should only have a sister "because we already have a baby brother" and has been praying for months for "a baby sister Caroline." He's my sensitive little guy from the picture above, and I'm really nervous about how he will react if it turns our to be a baby brother. I keep trying to soften his thoughts about it and talk about how whenever we have a baby it will be fun if it's a baby brother or a baby sister, we get whatever we get, etc. Here's hoping it (a) actually is a little sister, or (b) he somehow decides in the next few weeks that anything will be okay.

We haven't asked since I've been preggo, but usually DS says he wants a boy. He doesn't want a sister haha. Hopefully he'll adjust to the idea that we don't know what we're getting, and no matter what we'll love the baby.

I think I'm changing my announcement plans, since I want DS to come to the dr appointment with us on the 31st and hear the heart beat and we tell him... so we kinda have to tell our families that day since we'll be seeing his parents that evening for midweek ministry at church. I may just have to send a picture of him in a big bro shirt and with the u/s pic. Save the fun pics for the public announcement, which would be like 2 weeks later. My mom can be pretty annoying about pregnancy, so that's the only reason I'm dreading telling people sooner than Valentine's Day.

@Mrs. Blue: is Caroline the name you would use? That's my first choice if this baby is a girl. I hope yours is for your LOs sake!

DD hasn't got a clue when I talk about the baby because she's 15 months old. I often have to tell her "don't jump on the baby" when she's in my lap.

@peachykeen: One thing I did tell DH we should do (and had I been serious and not joking I'm sure he'd go along with it) is to not tell anyone and see how long it takes people to start asking!

@Mrs. Pickle: @Mrs. Blue: Caroline is SUCH a cute name!!!

We are thinking of "Olive" for a girl, but I'm stumped on a middle name. Of course, I like names like Fern and Rose for the middle name, but I don't want two plant names. LO1's middle name is Jane. My husband's name is "James", and we've talked about that for a girl's middle name, but I think it's kind of hipster. I need ideas!!

@pmerr: My sister is "Haley" ... I think it's so sweet. Out of your boy names, I love Lucas (Luke) the most, but they are all great.