JANUARY 2009 BABIES

[nicaliw]

I'm feeling a bit bummed out today. I went to work like usual but ended up having to leave work and go to my OB. I was having lots of little contractions that were coming closer together. It felt all too familiar, just like with my first pregnancy. I was put on modified bed rest around 24/25 weeks last time for an irritable uterus. This basically means that I have lots of little contractions but they're not strong enough to change my cervix....however, if they're allowed to continue they could progress to premature labor. So....my OB wants me to cut back my hours and spread my shifts out so I don't work back to back shifts. I'm really glad the baby is fine and my cervix is staying closed...those are the most important things but now I will not be able to have much time off work whe the baby arrives. At least at this point my OB is letting me work. So fingers crossed my uterus behaves itself. He said if this happens again I'll have to stay off work for the rest of the pregnancy. Have to keep reminding myself the baby is doing well.....he's a real little karate kid these days.

[sameera]

Nikki - I am sorry about your contractions but I hope modified rest is going to help you and your lil boy..take care of yourself.

Chelly - hope you are doing well?

Denise, Tin, Jenn - where are you guys? how you guys been??

As for me:

Sorry I haven't been posting much but I have been reading you guys posts and keeping up with everything.

Just don't have much going besides the pain and suffering lol.. my feet/hands are getting swollen and numb almsot everyday..

having hard time breathing, uncomfortable all day/night - can't sleep.. ribs/back hurts..

work, pregnancy everything is overwhelming me and stressing me to no limit..

has your doctor talk to you about cutting back work at certain point in pregnancy??

my check up is on Monday and I'm gonna discuss it with my ob - i dunno how long i can last!!!

i have had constant contractions it seems every day and it's making me really nervous.. i have this sharp pain down there each time with the contraction and feels like my skin is tearing from inside.. it's wierd!!

i dunno if i need to freak out about it or what - but i plan to talk to my ob about all this.

do you guys feel lots of pressure down there when you are walking and what not??

[nicaliw]

Sameera, sounds like you're having a rough time too. What kind of work do you do? Are you on your feet all day? If you are, maybe your doc would suggest cutting back your hours a little too. Your contractions sound like mine. I wonder why your doc hasn't told you to slow down. This is my second time around with the irritable uterus with 2 different OB docs and both told me to cut back, actually the first time around that doc put me on house arrest right away. I haven't felt pressure down below like you descrided, so I can't relate to that. Is your doc aware of this? Sounds like your having a horrible time, I'd be really thinking about cutting back if I were you. Just my thoughts though. Have a better day.
Nikki

[sameera]

Nikki - my job is a desk job so i am on my butt 8-9 hours and even though it's not heavy lifting or anything..

but my back, and feet are just killing me and on top of it this pressure down there and contractions aren't helping the stuff..

I haven't called my OB about the contractions figured I can wait till monday and see her in person and let her know what's happening with me and what she would recommend at that point.

at first these contractions i thought were Braxton Hicks and they weren't like constant or anything - every now and then i would get these contractions and then they will go away..

but these are a lil different it's constant and it shoots this pain down there that almost feels like tearing of skin from inside - if that's even possible..

i thought it was related to stress or overdueing something but they are more constant now..

maybe coz i am so petite that i am feeling them more often - last thing i want is these babies coming preterm.. I want them in as much as possible.

[nicaliw]

Sam, I don't think you should be having pain like that. It could be nothing, but I think you should tell your OB now and not wait too much longer. If your cervix is changing there are drugs you can have to stop the contractions. Gotta keep those babies in as long as possible, I agree.

[DeniseM]

Hey everyone.

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, I'm back at work now, til the end of December. Its been a big adjustment around here, and I'm quite tired.

Sameera, the babies weights are what is important, and that sounds like they are where they should be. Ask your OB if its time for a modified schedule. Its a short term committment for long term gain in baking your babies longer. Same to you Nikki. Keep paying attention to your body.

I'm getting big, I've gained at least fifteen lbs so far. Haven't gotten the chronic diarrhea under control yet, so bleeding regularly from there. Ugh, very gross.

Anyways, I'm having a girl, but its a secret only DH and I know. Haven't told any family or friends what we are having.

I'm heading off to bed, hope you all are well. Hang in there, we're all over the half way point now.

[im4clowns]

Hey everyone....I have been MIA for quite awhile. My computer crashed and I lost my favorites so took me forever to find you guys again!!

our pregnancy is going well and we are having a baby girl. We are going to name her Evanna Alia....can't wait til Jan 2nd...

it is good to see you all are doing well!

[chelly180]

wow, i go away for a few days and the posts have been rolling in!

seems like there are a lot of us having girls too!

niki- sorry to hear about your troubles...you do nursing right? I guess you spend a lot of time on your feet then. Maybe it would be best for you to cutback on hours or ask your work if you can do light duty or more admin work. hope everything is ok!

sameera- hang in there! you are already more than halfway...maybe you need to ask your boss if you can cutback too. I imagine it must be difficult for you to carry 2 since you are small, def let your OB know about the contractions! I'm sure if you let them know about the stress, they will write you a note for your work to do light duty.

as for me- I had my OB appt yesterday I am 21 wks and everything is fine. Baby was hiding from the OB when she was trying to do the heartbeat, but she's holding steady at 150 bpm. She kicks up a storm everyday, but I don't mind b/c she lets me know she is ok.
Still haven't settled on a name yet!

God Bless!
Michele

[nicaliw]

Hey Michele, glad you're doing well! I know how you feel about the constant little kicks. i just love that feeling more than anything in the world right now. I think my DH and son are probably tired of hearing about it every time he kicks.
We're not close to settling on a name yet, either. I think when we do decide we're going to keep it to ourselves. When we thought we had settled on the name "Cale" too many people had something negative to say about it or made fun of it, so we changed our mind cause it ruined the name a little for us. So, if we don't tell they can't spoil it is what we figured. I think girl names are so much easier to think of than boy names.....maybe if we were trying to name a girl we'd think boy names were easier?!

[TinNotts]

Hello everyone! I'm back!

I had a good holiday in France, but I'm so pleased to be home. I really struggled for food whilst away. We thought I'd have to be careful due to all the unpasturised cheese and wine, but thought it would be OK as I'd just eat other things. But the region of France that we visited was quite restrictive with its choice. The sandwiches on sale in stalls were: cheese (unpasturised), pate (the region of foie gras), dried meat (uncooked), all of which are on the PG forbidden list. The menu choices for the evening were: cheese-based, pate based, or altenatively, some of them served meat, but even if you ask for it well-cooked, it comes back half raw! They served NO vegetables! Even when the menu said 'vegetable of the day' nine times out of 10 it meant either potatoes or rice! I was starting to go stir crazy. Breakfast was all white bread and I'm so used to eating bran and fruit/veg that by day 4 of the holiday I was so bunged up!. We ended up going to the supermarkets and eating green beans and corn out of tins!

On top of that, my IBS really is playing up. My rib still hurts and I started getting horrid tummy upset pains and ended up having alternating diarrhoea and constipation and nausea. (Please excuse the following TMI...) On one day, I'd had no movements for 3 days, then I must have pooed literally about 2 foot all in one go. (sorry) No wonder I got cramps. This happened on about 3 occasions and made sightseeing a bit restricted as I didn't want to be too far from a loo.

And I won't even go into the weeing side of things, which made the trip like a public toilet tour of the country. Some French public loos are still the bend down over a hole variety. Not great for erm... splashback. Much weeing behind a bush occurred. How dignified!

French PG advice is a bit different from what I'm used to. I think they eat all the things we try to avoid and their alcohol advice is "you really should start to cut down to 2 glasses of wine a day"

Enough of that! Other than that, I had a good time and it was wonderful to have no work for a fortnight. I had quite a lot of energy and even made it up a couple of mountains. We could drive up to 1600 m and then I walked up to 1800m (sorry about the metric, guys!) Took it slowly and was really chuffed to make it up. The temperature in the first week was over 30 degrees every day, which was a bit much for this little English rose and I ended up huddled in the shade with my feet in a river for the afternoon! It was more manageable for the 2nd week.

Good to hear everyone's news - there's so much to take in.

Sameera - sorry to hear you're having such a rough time of it and can speak to your OB as soon as possible to check that all is OK. I hope you're able to get some reduced hours at work. Congrats on the boy/girl - what a perfect combo!

Jenn - Belated happy birthday - I hope you had a good camping trip and were able to get to sleep on the inflatable mattress - I always feel like I bounce off those things! Hope your reflux is improving.

Chelly - Belated happy birthday to you too! I hope you're feeling better - sounds like you have had a bit of a rough time too with your lack of energy. I have to take iron tablets too - they make your poo black! As for the nursery - tell DH the paint isn't just for the baby - it's for you too! Part of the whole experience. And as for the graffiti, as they say - it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission!

Denise - the camping and lion safari sound great - I love going to see animals on safari - there's one we went to recently and the deer were eating out of our hand through the car window - it was so funny! (This was pre PG - now I won't go near an animal for fear of catching something!)

Nikki - I agree - don't tell anyone about the names, especially relatives. When baby is born, they will be so excited, that criticising the name choice won't even cross their mind. Sorry to hear about your uterus - I hope it calms down and lets you carry on working a bit longer. It must be so frustrating for you with the restricted maternity benefits you get after birth.

Hello im4clowns and DrJen - nice to meet you. I joined the thread quite late.

Well back to work tomorrow (with a snotty cold). I'm trying to desperately sort out maternity cover for my job now and will be interviewing when I get back. I've been temporarily promoted, so I'm covering my boss's job too! That's so weird, interviewing for my own job.

I've got my U/S on Tuesday. V exciting. DH and I still can't decide if we want to know the sex or not!

Sorry for the long post, but it's been a while. Hope you're all well this week. Until next time...

[chelly180]

Hi yall!

TinNotts- welcome back! Sorry to hear about all your tummy troubles...I can relate to your pains, I get the same way when I travel. When we went home for DH's reunion, all we ate were meat, beans and tortillas, and same thing I was backed up for days. Then the diarrhea set in, I guess my intestines were trying to play 'catch up'. Haha, isn't it funny how countries differ on PG dos/don'ts?? I think its like that here in the US b/c OB's dont want to get sued. My mom is from Japan, and she said PG women there eat raw fish daily and you still don't hear anything about autism there. (they have the 'cop a squat over the hole' toilets in Japan too). Glad you survived!
PS- You should totally find out the sex....'cause I want to know!!

niki- I personally like Cale, so if someone makes fun of it tell them to shove it! (haha, blame it on the hormones!) No, its not easier to find a girl's name, we have several in mind but haven't decided on a particular one. Plus we are having trouble with middle names too. Plenty of people have been putting their 2 cents in, but we may keep it to ourselves until she's born too.

OH, we ordered our nursery furniture Saturday! It is the "Baby Cache Royale" set from babiesrus, it looks just like a baby version of our own bedset which is why we picked it. The review have some cons, but i suppose you will find faults with any product. We also bought the Chicco stroller system "Cortina" the red one, I think it is so cute for a boy or girl! I wasn't much on the orange or puke-green. I know its early to start buying stuff but we can't help it!

God Bless!
Michele

[sameera]

Okay, so I went for my check up i am 24weeks and she checked my cervix and said it's closed BUT it's thinning!!!

whatever the heck that means i mean really i was just shocked i was just listening but as if i wasn't listening.. i dunno zoned out!!

she put me on Procardia 10mg wants me to take it every 6 hours and she wants me to go on Maternity leave NOW!! I dunno what to think of it

she said if contractions are 4-5 an hour and even 15mins apart then go to L&D right away - we don't wanna take chances.

So now i guess this is pre-term scare that everyone talks about..

but yeah seriously today was the most horrible day - I literally had a break down after I got home and cried and cried because i am so overwhelmed with everything and especially work is stressing the crap out of me.

I have my u/s and another check up in 2 weeks - i don't know how I can go on maternity leave already even if i am not due till december!!!!

maybe she is talking about Short Term Disability i dunno i am so confuse and stressed ugh!!!

do you guys think I should work this whole month and maybe get STD by october??? i dunno i need some advice??

sameera
24wks

[chelly180]

sameera- sorry to hear about your awful day...wow that is a shock right? Thankfully the babies are doing well, and your cervix is closed. Is this having anything to do with the contractions you have been having?

You need to check what your STD policy is and what your OB has to write for you to be considered 'disabled'. For example, my STD kicks in for standard maternity leave 1 week after I start, then will pay up to 8 weeks.
However if you have to go on leave b/c it is medically necessary, your benefits may kick in sooner. AND if you will be out longer than 90 days, usually your STD will pay for the 1st 90 days, then let your LTD kick in. I guess if you take off now, then sept/oct/nov/dec/jan/feb/may, that is definetly longer than 90 days. You need to check with your HR dept.
You may not lilke it, but if your OB needs you on leave, then you need to be on leave. Its not worth risking having your babies at 24wks just to work a few more weeks right? you need to keep them in there as long as possible and keep them baking!!!
I will be praying for you sweetie, and stay off your feet!!
God Bless!
Michele

[nicaliw]

Sam, I'm so sorry you had such a crappy day. It really is tough and changes all your plans.
I don't know if you really want an explanation about the cervix thinning but here ya go. The cervix lookes a little like a small fat doughnut and is about 4-6 cms or so long for most women and closed, like yours still is (thank God). Contractions are what cause the cervix to thin and dilate. (Unless you have an incompetent cervix, then it unexpicably opens up). So, usually towards the very end of your pregnancy your cervix begins to soften and your braxtons can cause some thinning and dilatation. In your case your cervix is thinning from your contractions but its great news that it is still closed. The procardia works great, it is a smooth muscle relaxant that is used in medicine for cardiac muscle mostly but works great on the smooth muscle in the uterus. I took this drug last pregnancy and fully expect to take it again this time. It should calm your uterus, along with you slowing way down and staying home from work with your feet up. Its absolutely awful being so restricted like this but its so worth it and when the babies arrive you'll be so glad you did. There's another test your OB could do, or maybe already did. Its a lcervical swab test that tests for fetal fibronectin. Supposedly, if it is negative there is a greater than 90% chance that you will not go into labor in the next 2 weeks. They can repeat this test as needed. As far as the disability, the law states you are entitled to FMLA....which I think stands for Family Medical Leave of Absence (or something). Michele is right, your employer will most likely have their own policy about this kind of leave. It shouldn't be counted as offical maternity leave but a medical leave of absence related to pregnancy and shouldn't affect what your emplyer allows as maternity leave. I'm currently on "intermittent FMLA" which is for my reduced hours and restrictions until I need to on full FMLA and get paid by short term disability benefit. If you have short term I'm guessing that's how you'll get paid now.
I hope some of this helped. I know its a lot of info, but I was thinking about you today and was worried cause you desribed such pain with your contractions. Feel better and remember we really don't have a very long time left.....

[sameera]

Hey girls-

OMG you guys are so wonderful really you guys are and it makes me cry I just wish I could see you guys in person and hug you guys!!

well my work pays STD 100% 2 months prior to delivery so i am not sure how this is gonna work out. But I have called my HR and waiting to talk to them so I can discuss what my options are...

You guys are right definintiely need to keep them in as much as I can and Nikki - Thank you very much for explaining all this to me and it makes sense why my OB wants me to go on maternity leave.

I didn't think this would be happening so quickly and especially i didn't undersstand the term thinning - I guess it's called Effacing??? not sure but said cervix was closed.

so I will keep you guys posted about what my HR says.

Thank you again:) hope you ladies are having a great pregnancy.