Hellobee Boards

@Mrs. Pink: Glad to hear she is doing well!!! Is nursery different than NICU??

@runnerd: haha yes, I noticed that too about labor stories starting with water breaking! Also, I've been wondering about cervical checks too, but my OB hasn't mentioned them yet. I hear they can hurt so I'm a little nervous!

@meadow: I just watched a video that said in the final weeks, baby will keep growing but mom usually won't gain any weight. How does that work?! lol I'm definitely feeling bigger these days too but no net weight gain.

@Mrs. Pink: Glad to hear she's doing well! How are you doing? Did you get discharged or are you still staying at the hospital?

@runnerd: they usually start checks around 36 weeks when you get the GBS swab. I got checked when I went to L&D for the SPD and wasn't happy about it. I wasn't planning to get any checks this time. My doc actually did check me at my last two appointments very carefully (not a full on check) only because of the SPD. She wanted to make sure o was favorable for induction, and to see how low baby's head was and check to make sure my pelvis wasn't abnormally small that would cause issues.

@starlitsky: you don't have to get checked if you don't want to. I didn't find them particularly painful, except while in labor! And I haven't gained any weight in the past 3 weeks! It's so weird how your belly gets bigger but I haven't gained any weight. I'll take it though since the cupcakes and ice cream have been flowing freely lol.

@starlitsky: I'm staying! I was discharged Friday- our hospital allows moms with babies in here to stay in a room as long as they have them available-- I lost my room today so I'll be staying in the nursery in one of those pull out chairs until she's out

@Mrs. Pink: I'm glad she's doing well! Good that you're able to stay with her!

@pastemoo: Congrats on finishing your exam!! Must be such a relief to know it's over now and you can just focus on new baby arriving soon!

@catomd00: I can't believe you're only a few days away from meeting your LO! Hope you have a restful weekend and all goes smoothly on Monday!

@starlitsky: totally on labour watch over here too, even though I know it's still too early for me! The anticipation and not knowing when it's going to happen can be so nerve wracking!

@MMcAlli: I'm hoping my water doesn't break until my epidural is solidly in place! It didn't break until I hit 10 cm with my first (and I had the epi then so didn't care), but with my second, it broke right at the start of labour (I got up to use the bathroom and as I was walking back to bed, felt like I was peeing again, which I knew wasn't likely since I had literally just gone. Then the contractions started in earnest with little gushes of water coming with each one. No big flood or anything but contractions after the water breaks are seriously no joke - they come on fast and strong! With DD1, it was a much more gradual build up. I'm really, really hoping for a late breaking water again!)

@runnerd: No cervical checks here - they just don't do them until labour has started, and I'm ok with that. The ones I had at the start of labour both times were super uncomfortable! i'm another one in the no set name camp, I just can't say for sure what's going to work for our TG baby until I see it. We tried out four names on DD2 before finally settling on one a few hours after she was born!

@meadow: I didn't get the TDap until immediately after delivery with DD1 - the thought then was that if anyone who is going to have lots of contact with the baby is vaccinated, the baby should have some herd immunity to carry it through the first two months until vaccination time. That was back in 2012, but by the time I had DD2, in 2014, the thinking had changed and it was determined to be safe to be given during pregnancy and actually beneficial to pass the antibodies on. I had mine this time at 30 weeks.

@mrskrb: I know what you mean about hitting the full term mark and suddenly freaking out about the baby actually coming out! I think the end of pregnancy is so miserable as nature's way of psyching us up for labour and delivery!

@mrspink: glad to hear you're both doing well and that you get to stay with Z! Hope she's able to come home soon!

No real complaints over here - finally have everything we need for the baby (I think!) and still feeling pretty ok. This baby feels massive in my belly, it feels like there's no cushioning left, just limbs and other things jutting out, but the midwife says I'm measuring small so not likely to be a 10 lbs-er in there (gosh I hope not!). Other than that, all is well and just waiting for the next five weeks to fly by!

~35w 0d

You know you're in your last month of pregnancy when you are watching YouTube videos of people giving birth as your "background noise" while you work....

*i feel like a disclaimer is required that I WAH*

@runnerd: haha! I have been reading birth stories like crazy!

A fingertip dilated at my 37 week appointment, so.... not much going on.

So we went on hospital tour tonight. We moved since delivering LO #1 so I was excited to get a feel for the process, check-in, policies, etc.

Against our better judgement we brought our wild child 22 month old along, and he was on the brink of a meltdown when we wouldn't let him run free - I'm pretty sure we gave what was a group of mostly first time parents a lot to think about and fear. Tour guide was joking to them that you will have awhile before they are that mobile (how embarrassing!)

@runnerd: haha. My child was beating me in the baskin Robbins parking lot trying to get her into her car seat a few weeks ago. A woman was so kind and sympathetic and trying to be helpful. I swear her whole demeanor changed when I turned around and she saw I was pregnant with another little demon lol. She looked so disappointed in me!

@runnerd: hahaha I also have a wild child/runner so I can imagine how hard that would be! So hard taking them places!!

@Alba4: I hope it's out of the way! And hopefully your ultrasound is off, but if not chubby babies are adorable

@runnerd: Yay for hospital tour! Mine is next Tuesday and I'm hoping baby doesn't come before then.

@Alba4: Yay for placenta moving! And I hear ultrasounds can be off by 1-2 lbs so it'll be interesting to see how much your baby actually weighs when it's here!

@catomd00: Yay, maternity leave! And thanks for the tip on skipping the cervical checks. I might just do that depending on what my OB says next week.

@Mrs. Pink: Hope the swelling goes down soon!

@MrsKRB: that makes sense about the amniotic fluid!

@pastemoo: how is your nesting coming along? I made a lot of progress cleaning this past week but still have so much left! I don't have a date yet but it will be sometime in the first week of June unless he comes on his own sooner.

@Ree723: definitely feel you on it being nerve wracking not knowing exactly when baby will come!!

@meadow: how are you enjoying your maternity leave? How have you been spending it?

37w2d

Ultrasounds are wrong a lot- Z was 3# 15 and they said 4# 8... C was 6# 8 and they told me she would be 8lbs

Yay for maternity leaves! I probably missed this but what kind of leaves do you all have? At my old job we got 8 weeks fully paid and then could take up to 6 months unpaid, but they wouldn't hold out medical deductions etc. so you'd have to be double deducted when you got back until they were made back up. That really sucked 🙄

So we came home yesterday! Things are going well, Z isn't super interested in eating based on the feeding plan we were given by the on staff Ped. So we're trying to just focus on not going over 3 hours between any feedings and then to make sure she's getting the proper amount of milliliters per day instead of forcing her to eat 30ml of pumped milk at each feeding- each time we've done this she's up chucked.

She's doing good maintaining her temp- by we've had her bundled too lol

@Mrs. Pink: home sweet home! I get 26 weeks off - 6 weeks std, 4 weeks pto, 6 weeks unpaid.

@Mrs. Pink: glad you guys are home and doing well!

I get 12 weeks of FMLA. 5 will be paid 100% due to STd and PTO, then 2 more weeks at 60% STD, then unpaid. I may do some WFH towards the end, we will see. Then, my boss said I can do whatever I want as far as coming back. I'm going to go back 4 days and hopefully one will be WFH.

I'm so emotional today knowing tonight is my last night rocking DD to sleep as my only baby! We are going to send her to my in laws tomorrow afternoon while it's still light out so it seems more typical of a regular weekday they usually have her for. I think it would be too hard for both of us if we just dropped her off at night before bed. I did not get emotional at all throughout pregnancy thinking of her not being our only anymore and now I'm just a total mess of emotions.

@catomd00: Wooo! Leave!!
@Mrs. Pink: Aww, yay. She is adorable!
@Alba4: YAY for placenta moving! And the ultrasound size estimates can be so far off. No worries!

I'm doing so much every day, it is kind of insane. I thought I would have so much free time after my exam, but I've got quite the to-do list!

Make the birth announcement call list, text list, email list, and mailer list. (The mailer list is basically a compilation of everyone.)
Write two manuscripts for school and a little guide.
Thank you notes for son's birthday.
Find and clean out the washing machine lint trap.
Hem the curtains that have a raw edge even though they are hanging in the window.... etc etc. Holy cow, so much to do!
-38w3d

@Mrs. Pink: It must be nice to be home.

I'm taking 3 months off ( resuming teaching in September) but I'm self employed so in theory I can take as little or as much time as I want, I just don't make anything. My last week is supposed to be this coming week!

However, I started having contractions today! Last time I had hardly anything until my water broke at 41 weeks and 3 days and even after that I needed pitocin to get things moving. I'm trying to take it easy, drink tons of water and not get my hopes up. But this feels pretty new to me.

Since I already used my FMLA for the calendar year due to my medical leave, I'm going back to teach on Sept. 6th. Definitely not enough time in my opinion.

@Mrs. Pink: I'm already feeling sad about being away from DS #1 while I'm in the hospital. I know it's only a few days, but he's had a strong mommy preference lately. I'm trying not to be anxious about what our new dynamic as a family of 4 will be like!