Hellobee Boards

@shellio: Congrats!! That birthdate/time is awesome! I'm so glad to hear big brother is adjusting well and nursing is going smoothly for you this time.

@shellio: what an amazing time! Congratulations!!!!
@lilteacherbee: oh Jen, I am so happy for you! I just saw this and am so excited for you! Hope your feeling ok!

@lilteacherbee: So happy for you! And amazing about his size - he's a tiny bit on the big size, but not exactly a 10 pounder.

I can not wait to see my baby on Monday or sooner. I'm having contractions again, but this time I'm not even worrying about timing them unless they're REALLY strong. I do not want a repeat of Wednesday, where I had several very uncomfortable cervical checks all to be told no progress and have the contractions wind down.

I'm getting really frustrated with my in-laws too. For one, FIL decided to have SIL fly out for the baby's arrival. Nice right? Only she's just going to be here Sunday - Tuesday. Baby probably won't even arrive until late on Monday, if we're lucky, and visiting hours won't start on Tuesday before she needs to leave. And I REALLY don't want anyone waiting in the waiting room for the baby to be born. It's enough pressure to birth a baby, I don't want the added pressure of people waiting around for hours on us. I have no idea if that's what she had in mind, but I'm worried that's what this is going to turn into.

Also, DH is really hurt by MIL. She and BIL were supposed to come to our house for Thanksgiving, and now she's backing out. She's kind of agoraphobic (my parents will be there) and she's suddenly telling him he should just invite his dad instead (they're divorced). I highly doubt his dad will want to come, he always spends holidays with DH's extended family. She did this with both my wedding shower and baby shower, but we thought that it was mostly because her ex-inlaws would be there. My parents are really not all that intimidating. Plus, she has met them before. Ugh.

@shellio: What an awesome birth date and time!
@ShootingStar: I'm sorry you're dealing with crappy family stuff. I'm also dreading the waiting room shenanigans -- my dad is here, Mr. D's dad is in the hospital as a patient, and his stepmom is coming this weekend so if anything happens it's a free-for-all.

I had a NST and another ultrasound today. Baby is doing extremely well according to everyone! The NST picked up small contractions, but then again, every time Mr. D made me laugh it registered on there so I don't really know what to believe, haha.

The doctor did a sweep, said I'm about 1 cm dilated, 30% effaced and my cervix is low and soft, so it's favourable. Hoping things happen over the weekend but if not we're headed back in Monday to do the NST/scan/check routine over again and then we'll determine if we're augmenting with gels. If so I have to stay in the ward for an hour but then I can go home.

The sweep wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it'd be and my husband cracked me up at the end of it -- he let out the hugest breath he had been holding and was like, "THAT WAS IT?!" He almost fainted twice just going onto the ward (seriously, pins and needles) so I hope he does better when it's the real thing.

Other than that... nothing seems to be happening. I've had lower back pain since early this morning, enough that I woke up my husband and burst into tears, and I'm sorta stressed with family visits and that kind of thing, but I feel better just knowing things will get going one way or another.

@Ash: Did you get your kicks in? When in doubt call. At least you'll get peace of mind.

@MrsDragon: I had my ultrasound and NST today too--I've got amniotic fluid for days haha. We registered 3-4 contractions while I was hooked up to the NST machine.

I've been having what I think are REAL contractions today...I've been having intense back pain with it. Sometimes it feels like a band around me. DH is so excited they hurt lol...he said, "not that I want you to feel pain, but maybe this is REAL!"

Ok, so I'm a little bit in shock. My midwife made her pre-birth home visit today and I haven't seen her in over a month (just the way she has to do things because she's stretched so thin), but she palpated my belly and said she feels a big, long baby. She said she's not *real* good with guessing weights (many homebirth midwives can accurately guess a baby's weight by feel within a couple of ounces), but she wouldn't be surprised by a 9-pounder. This comes as a shock since my first two were little ol' average 7 something pounders and DH is a short, wiry guy, so I honestly never expected to have any real big babies. Not that 8+ is anything huge, but I was really honestly expecting another 7 and a half pounder. Guess there's only one way to find out! Pushing out a bigger baby doesn't really worry me since my first two came out really easy (once I actually got to pushing) and I am a tall, genuinely big-boned person, but yeah, I guess I'm just surprised. In other news, I'm measuring at 40 cm., which is also kind of a surprise since s/he is already dropped and I had definitely started measuring smaller once my other babies dropped. So, yeah, could be a big'un.

@sweetooth: yay! Hope your little man plumps up soon!! And Your family is reunited shortly!

I hope baby comes soon. I have a lot of pain between my legs, which I have had basically my entire pregnancy, but it's just getting harder to deal with right now. Still no BH/contractions or any other signs that she is deciding it's time to come out.

This newborn thing is no joke! He's a little angel during the day, but at night- whew! He's fussy and he cluster feeds like crazy. It's 5:30am right now and I've gotten 2 hours of sleep total since 10pm. I'm hoping it will get a bit better when we get home and away from all of the hospital disturbances.

Breastfeeding is going better than I expected, which is awesome. We've been having to use a nipple shield, but I JUST finished our first successful nursing session without it!

Also, these hormones (or the hormone drop I guess) are crazy! I've been watching myself for sign of Baby blues and later PPD because of my history with anxiety. I think I'm okay on that front, but man, I'm just emotional in general! I was making laps around the floor earlier and started crying. Before my job now, I used to work at a preschool affiliated with the hospital (in order for the child to attend, at least one parent/grandparent of the child had to work for the hospital). Well as I was making a lap, I noticed a huge photo canvas with one of my kids from a few years ago. He was probably 2 years old in the picture. I started crying thinking about how fast Nathan is going to grow up and how he will be 2 years old in the snap of a finger! It totally broke my heart. He's not even 2 days old yet and I'm already having these moments haha

I can't wait for the rest of you mamas to join me on this side. It's seriously amazing. I never thought I would love such a tiny person so much!! Here's a picture I just took of him being sweet and happy after eating

I love reading all of the updates and am a bit jealous of the mama with their babies now that I am a few days overdue. I have consistently felt BH for the last month and have been active, but at my check last week literally nothing has happened. Tight, posterior cervix. Blah. Induction is set for 11/21 at 10:30pm but I would love to go naturally before.

We are having frequent sex (um, didn't realize that finishing in me is important...we had been having DH pull out for a while now. Oops), spicy food and pineapples are my new friends. I started evening primrose oil last night. I bought castor oil and am considering using it tomorrow. Today, we are tailgating and going to a football game. I'm hoping all of that activity sparks something.

41+2 today. Was having contractions 5 min apart last night while doing laps around the house, so we called the midwife. She said timing sounded good, but she wanted them to be stronger, so she sent me to bed. I woke up frequently with contractions, but today they aren't as consistent yet. Hurt though! Hoping today is baby day...of course, the university by the hospital is having a home game today.
@ChitownRo: are you going to the Northwestern v. Michigan game?

@anbanan15: I don't seem to be having any signs either, if that makes you feel better. I was having some ridiculous weird anxiety yesterday about going to 42 weeks and feeling like this child will never come out. I don't know what I'm worried about- that's nearly 3 weeks away and I KNOW that one DAY can make all the difference for a heavily pregnant woman. I think maybe I'm in denial that we will have a baby around in here within the next few weeks, it just doesn't seem logically possible, doesn't feel real, and that's why it feels like I'm going to go past my due date in a big way.

@FarmWifeGina: You have no idea how comforting the idea of one day making a difference is to me! I really needed to read that. I feel like NOTHING is happening - I barely even cramped from the sweep.

@ChitownRo: haha have fun! That's the game that could mess up me getting to the hospital

@MrsDragon: Don't try to get discouraged by lack of symptoms from the sweep. They don't always work. With DS I had one done by my midwife at 39 weeks and my OB did another at 40 weeks. Both did nothing! I bled immediately following the second, which freaked out DH, but ultimately neither did anything. I was induced without even being the slightest bit effaced or dilated at 41w1d. ...being my first and wanting to do everything naturally I took the whole idea of induction and my body not doing it's thing on it's own really hard, which translated to wearing me down during labor and not being prepared physically. My midwife (OB delivered as she was on vacation) said to me the day after "did you not push that baby out all on your own? You can't get any more natural than that" and that is something that has really stuck with me. This time I'm much more lax about it all and have accepted the fact that I am most likely one of those women that just cannot get labor started on their own (both midwife and OB also said it looks like this is the case) and I'm completely fine with that..we all have goal for what an ideal labor and delivery means to us, but honestly the steps it takes to get baby in our arms doesn't really matter in the end. Having a healthy little squish and mama afterwords is all that is really important.

@sweetooth: Oh dear, scary! Lol, I would be like, are you freaking KIDDING me?! Hopefully you guys get a restful remainder of the night and can be back in your own space tomorrow (today?).