JANUARY 2009 BABIES

[Dri-Jim]

Hi Girls-

Been a busy summer and I wanted to check in and see how you're all doing. Sameera, Chelly, Nikki? Everyone okay?

Tin, we haven't talked before. Keep the Faith and I'll pray your baby is healthy! Odds are on your side, girl!

Adriana is doing fine. She's 14 weeks and 4 days and is feeling pretty good. The baby is fine and we'll know if it's a boy or girl on 8-13. Hopefully!

Anyway, see you soon.

Jim

[chelly180]

Jenn- Have I mentioned how jealous I am that you will be off a whole year?! Sounds like you will have a good arrangement when you go back anyway. We can deduct daycare on taxes but I don't know how much. I think its similar to yalls, with a child tax credit too. I am personally just not that fond of putting my 8 week old into a daycare where they may or may not get enough attention. There are several daycares in san antonio that have made the news for neglect or letting kids walk out...its crazy. It has turned me off to daycare. I wish our church offered daycare, but they only do a summer vacation bible school for a week. It also seems that all the mommy/baby groups meet during the work week....I am like, hello! Some of us are working moms!

Jim- good to hear from you! So far our little group is doing well...all the babies are healthy to date. Our OB thinks we are having a girl, but we will know more on 8/14. I am officially 14wks today, I still haven't felt the baby. I felt flutters one day, but DH said its probably gas! Keep us updated!

God Bless!
Michele

[sameera]

sweet - seriously i am jealous too! lol I wanna be off for that long but like that's gonna happen!!!

I think it's very important you get enough time to bond with your baby or babies - it's insane when you have to be back to work by 6weeks...

Jim - Hey where have you been? glad to hear from you and very happy for Adriana!

do let us know whenever you find out if it's a boy or a girl!!!

we are doing great

Chelly - you are so lucky to have your mother take care of your baby! I wish I had that luxury but me and my family aren't that close..

Sameera

[sweetmonkey2001]

Sameera/Michele - I still can't believe they make you go back to work so soon after having a baby! I think that is outrageous! If you have a C-section you might not even be healthy enough to go back to work depending on your duties at work! I think they should extend it for you all.

Michele - I don't think you had gas. I felt a little fluttering about a week or so ago as well. I had DH check it out to make sure I wasn't feeling things and he felt it too. He asked me if I had gas and I said no then he got excited.

Well i hope you all have a great night

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Jenn

[chelly180]

jenn- it may have been the baby, i don't know since its my 1st pregnancy. It was weird, I was laying on my side, and I felt a flutter...almost like a butterfly. ? For some reason I've been having a weird burning sensation in my lower abdomen...like its real tight or something. Almost like a cramp, but not. I haven't bled or anything I figured its just my uterus growing some more.
Usually they give you 6 weeks for a vaginal birth or 8 weeks for a c-section. You can take up to 3 months through FMLA, but I don't know if my practice can survive me being gone that long. I wish I could work part time or shorter hours, but I need the full time job for insurance for our family. (especially with the baby coming!) DH only works part time so he doesn't qualify for benefits.

sameera- I have to say my mom does a lot for me. I am sure MIL would help too, if she lived in town (don't know if I would trust her with my newborn though) MIL is the type she might forget the baby is taking a nap and leave to go to the store or something.

Anyone have fur-babies? I am wondering how mine will be when the baby comes. I have 2 very spoiled pekingese and one is like my child. Any ideas?

God Bless!
Michele

[TinNotts]

Hello all,

Feeling much better now - thanks all for your support. I think it was just one of those days where you just get freaked out. I'm a bit of a worrier.

Told my family yesterday - my mum's been waiting for this forever. Don't have a close relationship with her, but she's obviously thrilled. It's good timing as my grandfather is really ill so the family was in need of a bit of good news for a change. Then I told friends and everyone at work - couldn't help myself! It seems much more real now it's not a secret. Today I'm wearing a fitted top which shows my little bump nicely! Maybe people will stand up for me on the metro now!

Can't believe that some of you have to go back to work so soon - it's awful. I'm so lucky that my company has a good scheme and I can take a year off. Even the fathers can take off 2 weeks paternity. Though my DH's self-employed so there's no rules. There's no childcare at work - we all have to sort out our own. Though so many of the girls have just had babies - maybe we can all form a creche! As I can work 2 days a week at home and DH works all sorts of wierd days whenever he can get work (maybe Tuesday Saturday and Sunday one week, Wednesday Friday the next, all week the next) maybe we can try to work it out so that someone's always at home. It won't work exactly, but it could reduce the extra support needed. His family is 10 hours away and mine is 2, so they're not going to be much help at home, though mine are in London where I work (still not that close - it's a big city!) so maybe I could take the baby on the train to London (groan) and leave it with a relative for the day. Hmm.

Where do I sign for the national nap? (Can it be international?!) They used to do it all the time in Spain (siesta) but now international business has put a stop to it. Once, before I was pg I was so tired one day that I went into our toilet and there is a big window sill in one of the cubicles and I climbed up and curled up on the windowsill for half an hour. I'm so small that I could fit! LOL! Don't think I fancy climbing up now though. Still tired a lot but yay no m/s for a week!

[chelly180]

TinNotts- I'm relieved to hear your worries have been calmed! You should look into starting a child care co-op with your fellow workers...it would save you money and still give your baby time to socialize with other babies. I got a mental picture of you curled up on the window sill at work like a kitty-cat....haha...I somtimes turn the lights out in my office and try to nap too. I think Spain had the right idea about the 'siesta', but yea right that would never happen in the US.
They have been talking alot about companies offering 4 day work weeks to help out due to the high gas prices...that would be interesting, but I think I would be really tired from working 8-8 seeing patients! Maybe if I did office work, but not the kind of work I do. Although a 3 day weekend would be nice.....

How is everyone feeling today?

God Bless!
Michele

[DeniseM]

I was off for 15 months with the girls, and it still seemed too quick to be going back. Mind you, I'm taking a little less the year this time, as DH is interested in taking a month or two paternity leave. With all three kids and him, lol.

Can't imagine how the American girls do it ~ seems crazy to leave your newborn with someone else. That hardly encourages extended breastfeeding does it.

[sameera]

Denise - wow, I would so take up your DH's offer about taking care of 3 kids LOL it's amazing he even offered

Yeah, I agree with you it sucks that we have to go back to work so early but what are you gonna do. Here they want ppl to be workaholics..

How's everyone doing??

I am so uncomfortable at nights now I cannot sleep well - my babies are always moving constantly and IF i lay on right side I feel like my side is going numb so I keep switching sides.

I even use that pregnancy pillow it helps but not anymore - I feel huge and now getting frustrated because I cannot fit into anything.. currently i'm only 4 months pregnant - bah i dunno what i am gonna do when i am in my 6 months or 9 months!!

not to mention these round lig and Braxton Hicks ugh..

Hope you ladies are doing well

Sameera

[sweetmonkey2001]

Denise - I am quite surprised DH would offer to watch all 3 together. I have to agree that I would take him up on his offer.

Sameera - I agree with you about sleeping. I haven't slept at all this week. I am lucky if I fall asleep by midnight. I then get to work and barely make it through the day.

Michele - No pets here but my parents have a cock-a-poo and I think he is going to have to get used to babies. He is still pretty young so he hasn't had much contact with them but they are known to be good with kids.

So other then the not sleeping I feel pretty good. I am lucky today I will get caught up on paperwork and because I was late getting out of here yesterday I get to go home early today!

Hope everyone else is doing well.


Jenn

[TinNotts]

Denise - great that your DH wants to look after the kids for a while. My DH is also quite keen, especially as I earn more than he does, but I don't want to go to work more than him! I want time with the kids too.

Sameera/Jenn - sorry you're having trouble sleeping. I'm not too bad at the moment apart from the toilet stops. I do keep waking up thirsty. Sometimes I drink a whole pint overnight. (no wonder I need the toilet!) I'm still tired during the day though. I like to sleep on my back and I've heard that after 4 months it's dangerous for the baby as it can cut off blood supply if you're like that for long periods. I can't help it though. Maybe it'll just get less comfy for me to do it. Anyone else heard this?

In my head I invented a pregnancy bed where you can lie on your tummy. You know when you go to a physio or something and there's a cut out hole for your head? Well this would be the same, but have a cut out hole for your tummy, with maybe a piece of stretchy material to support the bump, plus another 2 smaller holes for the boobs. What do you think?!

Sameera - are you getting Braxton Hicks already? Eek!

Found out yesterday that my boss is being promoted and I have to do his job for a while. So more work for me, just when I wanted to ease down. Hrumph.

[sameera]

Tin - I have heard about the same thing where you cannot sleep on your back after certain months - but I dunno how true it is. Maybe I will ask my OB about this on my next appt to be sure..

ha, I love your pregnancy bed if only it was true! you know how many pregnant women would buy those LOL.

Oh yes, i have been getting braxton hicks for past few weeks and OB said you can only get 10 of those a day if you get more than 10 to call her so she double check my cervix each time bah which is so not fun!!

but yeah having both braxton hicks AND round ligament pain sucks!!

Hopefully you girls are not experiencing any of it.

Sameera

[TinNotts]

Sameera - Gosh! I thought Braxton Hicks was something you get at like 6 months. Poor you. What does it feel like?

I've had a pain under my right rib for 2 days. Feels a bit like a stitch or something. Did anyone else get this? Is it growing pains?

[sameera]

Braxton hicks aren't suppose to be painful but mine are - I think the reason I'm having them this soon is because of the twins!!

basically, it's a contraction so it tightens your stomach and you could see one or both of the babies sticking their butt or head out of your tummy - cause it's a big lump each side!!

and when tummy gets tight it hurts especially when both of them are trying to stick out lol

but don't let me scare you serioulsy it's prolly this way because i am preggo with twins. but with singleton I didn't get those till I was 6-7 months..

as far as feeling pain under the ribs - girlfriend I feel like all my intestines and everything are pushed up in my chest LOL.. so yeah lets not talk about pain.. hehe

my body is going thru aches and pains already in 4 months - I dunno what I will do when i'm 9 months prolly be bitching!!

Sameera

[nicaliw]

Hi everyone, I just stopped by to catch up and see how you're all doing. Glad to see everyone is doing fine and still plodding along. I'm sure we're all glad to be done with the 1st trimester. Some days I wish I could fast forward a little but I don't want to wish the pregnanct away......its my last.

Chelly, I have a dog and he's big and sometimes aggressive. We have paid a LOT of money to get him trained so he doesn't pose a threat to the baby but I still have some reservations. One thing our trainer recomended was getting a baby doll and carrying it around like a real baby fom time to time to get the dog used to it and make it clear right now that the baby is off limits. It seams to work. We have a bouncy chair that we sometimes put the doll in, too and he's very curious about that because I leave it on the vibrate setting. It gives us the chance to teach him to stay back. Your dogs are small breeds though, right? Maybe you have different issues. Another thing that I do at work all the time is give the parents the first hat that is put on the baby right after delivery an tell them its a good idea to take it home and let the dog sniff it out and get familiar with the scent of the baby. We always put a clean one on after the first bath and that first hat is often kinda bloody or vernixy. I'm in the same boat as you with having to go back to work quite quickly. I only get a certain amount of paid time off that I have to accumulate. I'm not sure I will even have enough to cover 6 weeks, we'll see. I'm hoping to pull a few extra shifts in the next 3-4 months and set some money aside just in case. I don't know what we're going to do if I go on bed rest again. That used up all my paid time off last time.

How cool that a few of us are already feeling movement. I feel a few flutters once in a while, but not much to write about yet.

I can't wait to find out the sex of the baby. I took a look the other day and it looked like a boy, but it is still so easy to confuse boy and girl at this point because the testes are undecended and a promenant clitoris (usual at this gestation) can be confused with a penis. I asked one of the OB docs to do a scan and tell me what she thought and at first she thought boy but then she saw the hamburger sign so thought maybe it was a girl......so we still don't know. I'll try again in a week or 2. My official scan with my OB is August 18th but I'm hoping to know before then.....fingers crossed.

Have any of you thought of names yet? My DH and I thought of names but I'm not sure about them now. The boy name was Kale Ewan but everyone I tell has that look on their face like they're thinking how wierd the name is. The girl name was Ashleigh Grace but when I was in the OB office a couple of days ago I was looking at the names on the birth announcments they had posted on the wall and about half the girls had Grace for their middle name. Maybe we'll just have Grace as the first name? I dunno, still plenty of time. I was just curious what names you were all thinking of.

My belly is getting bigger and people are noticing more and more and already touching my tummy every chance they get....lol. I like it though. Its amazing how much faster your belly grow with the second baby. I was still only barely showing at 17 weeks last time. I bet those of you with twins are quite a bit bigger already. Whats funny is that I can't wait to get bigger but I do remember how uncomfortable being big is, espcially in the last 8 weeks or so....so I'm not sure why I'm in such a hurry.

Anyway, I have rambled on far too long. Think I'll eat breakfast now and take my son to Elitch gardens (amusement park) since we're getting a break from the heat today and it is only going to be in the 80's. Yipeeee!