Hellobee Boards

@Ash: Also...I just tried to look online at Target for my new size... it's no cheaper than VS for me! VS is having it's sale right now anyway

How is everyone feeling? I can't believe some of you are 20 weeks already and halfway to our due dates!

Just saw my lab results from the other day (the ones where the phlebotomist was freaking out of the diagnosis code). Looks like I have some low levels on my CMP, but I'm not sure how vital they are or just normal dips due to pregnancy. However, my B12 has dropped...I asked about injections at my last prenatal and my midwife said we will see where things are at on the sublingual tablets and she would be happy with a B12 >250 pg/ml for pregnancy. Mine is not I haven't spoken with her yet, but my next appointment is a week from Tuesday.

@anbanan15: I've feeling kind of meh. The intense exhaustion is gone, now I'm more a general tired at the end of the day. But the indigestion is killing me. I swear baby boy is scrunching all of my intestines and stomach already and it's making things uncomfortable. I hop you get things worked out with the B12 issues. What kind of effects can that have?

So after being so in love with the Sakura Bloom slings, I totally ended up getting something else on Saturday. I went into a local CD store so I could try the sling on, and was totally not impressed. For one, I think my boobs are too big for it :(. It looked kind of silly and had this really short tail on me. I also had a hard time getting it into the right position.

There was a girl working there wearing a mei tai with a 4 month old, who started talking to me about it and she totally convinced me. It was easier to put on and really comfortable. I ended up getting one from a company called Catbird, which I've never heard of before. But it's basically the same as a Babyhawk. Here's the one I got http://catbirdbaby.com/index.php/shop/mei-tai-carrier/mt-zoe.html

We also bought the rest of our CD stuff that we needed :). While at the store I got a pail liner, small wetbag for the diaper bag, hanging wetbag for downstairs changing station, some swaddlebees fitteds and some tots bots bamboozle fitteds. Oh, and a couple of Thirsties inserts that you just lay in the diaper, like you do with Flips inserts.

Then we came home and ordered the rest of our stash - some thirsties fitteds, gmd workhorses and some gmd prefolds (which I expect to mostly use as burp cloths). It was really difficult trying to figure out what amount of which diapers I wanted to get. I think I have a pretty good mix now and once we're out of the teeny tiny stage and I'll be more informed about what we like.

@MrsCB: I'm jealous that you have a store like this! I'm totally a visual spatial person and it's hard for me to be confident of anything I order off the Internet that I haven't touched and seen for myself. Would love to look at a bunch of CD systems and carriers up close. When I have my childbirth classes going, I'm planning to do a bonus demo night and have all kinds of CDs and carriers and wraps and slings for everyone to look at and try because we have NOTHING of the sort in this area and I think people would love it.
@anbanan15: Doing fine and dandy! I think I got my second trimester energy boost on Wednesday and it's amazing what I've been able to get done since then! I'm still incredibly sleepy in the early afternoon, but if I go ahead and nap, the rest of the day goes so well and I've been motivated and catching up on so much stuff, it's awesome! Feeling lots of movement, a little every day. Just enjoying life here- June is the most amazing time of year up here on the Northern Plains, it's so gorgeous, this is the time of year we grin and bear through the long winter for and I'm just completely enjoying it. Going to go out and mow a couple acres of grass this afternoon and work on my tan, lol.

@FarmWifeGina: Great! Have fun with the grass and getting that tan on. I don't even know how to work a mower :). Ohh you will find this hilarious! We are renting a townhouse and have a small plot of grass in the front yard with no backyard. The landlord left his mower and it's one of the no-motor Amish mowers you just push with the spinning blades. Cracks me up that we have that! It literally takes under 5 mins for DH to cut it, so no need for something "fancy" haha.

@anbanan15: LOL! Reel mowers are fun if the blades are kept sharp and you only have a little bit of grass. We have acres and acres and we just bought a fancy zero-turn mower, so it's fun to mow now.

@anbanan15: Did you get any 2nd trimester blood work to screen for those things? Mine just came back last week, and they said no spina bifida.

@anbanan15:, @MrsTiz: I'm sorry about the whole six week maternity leave :(. I thought I was going to have to take my leave unpaid as well, and was going to do 8 weeks. Do you guys have any vacation time you can put towards it?

Assuming my company is able to switch me from contractor to full employee next month (which is the plan) then I'll get 8 week paid in full and 4 weeks paid at 60%, which I feel really lucky about. We have a weird vacation time policy here, where you get "unlimited" PTO. So I'm going to try to talk to my boss about getting paid the full 100% the last 4 weeks with using part vacation time and part STD. DH's been saving up most of his leave and hopes to take off most of the rest of the end of the year. Depending on if the baby's early, he may need to go back in for a week in the middle. Ideally DS will come close to his due date (and I won't be going over).

@FarmWifeGina: Yeah, it's a great little store :). One of the benefits of living outside Boston. Though it surprises me that for a such a liberal and semi crunchy city, there's really only one store. I need to see stuff too and try things on to see if I like them. I'm really glad I didn't just order something online. I probably would've kept it and then hated it while wearing it a couple times and then never used it again. Didn't hurt that the mei tai was $70 cheaper than the sling I wanted.

@MrsCB: No. Not yet. We didn't do a triple/quad screen with DS but might this time. I'll be 18 weeks at my next appointment so we will see what she suggests.

@anbanan15: Hmm, I have no idea which one they did for me, they just said it was routine bloodwork to screen for neural tube defects. It might be worth asking about :).

Ahhhh the maternity leave thing is stressing me out too. I work at a daycare/preschool and "standard" is 6 weeks. I'm apprehensive about taking more time off because its unpaid. DH is a 2nd grade teacher and he usually doesn't work during summers because he does his pay for 12 months instead of 10. Well he's working this summer to save for baby, but I'm still a little worried!! Two teachers really do not make much money!

So the OB today basically told me I was on the way to an 11 pound baby...

He had the results from the MFM anatomy scan and said that the only thing to watch was that the baby is "measuring large." If you remember, this has been a huge point of contention because they office uses the very first scan at 6 weeks to date and their EDD is 11/20. A week later, I went to the ER and the lady said she is very accurate with her dating and hers put me at 11/13. EVERY ultrasound since then has had me at 11/13, but they refuse to change my date because they say the "earliest scan is the most accurate." I'd think the 7.5 week one at the ER would be more accurate than the 6 week because it was just Sooo tiny at the first one.

So basically I just laugh because its been consistent since 8 weeks. I KNOW when I ovulated and that date puts me at 11/17 which is just a few days off what the ultrasounds are saying. If they would just listen to me....

@lilteacherbee: So do you think the baby's really going to be big, or they're just measuring him wrong based on your due date? I'm interested to see how big DS is when go next Monday. At our last scan he was measuring 5 days ahead. I'd like for him to grow, but not to 11 pounds ;).

My Danzo bag shipped! Eeee! No tracking number though, so I can't properly stalk it haha

@MrsDragon: jeez, where do you live?

I'm sorry to hear some of you can only take 6 weeks - I'm sure you wish it was more! I will tell you that with DS I had 6 weeks and it felt like plenty of time. It was more like a vacation even though we had lots of family commitments. My situation is a little different though, DH is a stay at home dad now so I didn't have to leave him with a day care or nanny which made it easier for me, I think. I'm hoping to piece together 10-12 weeks, I should have 3-4 weeks of sick time and will use some vacation time and some unpaid. We have been saving for a year so that I could take a few weeks unpaid. But honestly, 6 weeks is totally do-able physically and emotionally. And I BF for a year.

@lilteacherbee: I'm surprised they won't change it! With DS I thought I was due 4/21 based on my cycle but my first u/s that I thought was at 16 weeks measured him at 17 weeks and calculated my due date at 4/15 so they moved it up. They said their policy was a 6+ day difference due dates got moved. DS ended up not being born until 3 days past his original due date (so 9 day late total), but yea. It always amazes me how different protocols are among offices. I'm glad you are able to silently chuckle to yourself about it!

@Ash: Mowing is fun. And DH doesn't give me any breaks just because I'm pregnant, lol, so enjoy it. Actually, I think I trained him from the beginning not expect anything different when I'm pregnant because I'm tough and I can handle it. HAHA! Big mistake! Now I wish I got babied a little more.

@Cara M. 17: Ha, yeah, old habits die hard. I put my foot down at helping cut and carry firewood at about 7-8 months, but other than that, he's much too busy and stressed-out to do any babying. I hold down the fort.

@ms.janedoe: You're way smaller than me, the sling might work great for you. I seriously think my boobs were the problem :-/. But then I also didn't like the uneven distribution of weight, and they told me that one of your arms is kinda useless in it. So that sort of defeats part of the point of wanting to wear the sling.

I totally sympathize on the pelvic girdle pain. A couple years ago I sprained my sacroiliac joint and it was one of the most painful things ever. It did help when DH massaged it, which doesn't totally make sense since it's a joint, but whatever.