September 2008 babies

[CT_Michele]

MLB- so good to see you still around. Congrats on becoming a phd, what a huge accomplishment. I am still working on my masters, I actually am going to take classses this semester, but as independant studies. I don't want to fall off track or start paying loans back since dh's loans will start repaymeny in november. And yes, I am getting tired of the how are you feeling question. I feel like I need to complain about something when people ask, even though I usually feel fine. It's weird, I don't know if I am just handling it well, or if this has been an extrememly easy pregnancy, but I guess I am lucky either way.

I am going today at 4:30 for the 4d u/s. We will get a dvd and pics. DH I am sure will want to post a short youtube video as long as we get some good footage, and I will definitely post some pics for you girls to see, it just won't be until later since the place is an hour drive and we will probably go to dinner afterwards. I can't wait to see the baby again and I hope little Ella cooperates for some good pics!

I will post later!

[CT_Michele]

Hey Ladies,

I went for my 4d u/s yesterday and it was great. We didn't care how good of pics we got, we just wanted to see her since we haven't seen her since 20 weeks and our dr won't do an u/s unless there is cause for concern. We payed $200 and got a 25 min dvd, a picture cd and some take with pics. It was better than we expected, it took awhile to really see her face, but we got to see, and I think she looks like dh. DH edited the video and put some still shots with it and posted it on youtube. The link is below, just copy and paste it. If the link doesn't work for some reason, you can go to youtube.com and type Ella Michele, it will be the second video up that is titled "Ella Michele at 36 weeks." The technology today is just amazing. We were blown away, and now can't wait to see if she will really look like that when she comes out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ylvrF79kU

I go for another appt tomorrow, and tomorrow night we are going to our hospital for our parenting class. I will let you all know how it goes.

[esperanza]

Hi Friends!

Here I am crashing your thread again It's so good to read your postings, they give me hope

CT_Michelle-- Ella Michele has some really adorable cheeks!!! I want to pinch them Thank you for sharing the 3D ultrasound.

MLB--Congrats on your PhD!!!!!!

LostGirl--it's too bad we didn't get to have that coffee in Northampton, but that's alright, I get the feeling we'll get to meet one day.

WashingtonDA--I'm sorry you have to be on bed rest, but I'm happy to hear that the baby is alright. I send you a big hug.

Well, I have some BIG news to share with you....ready?! I finally got my BFP!!!!!!! I'm SO SO SO excited! My first beta was last Monday (375) and today I got my second one (993). We transferred 2 (frozen) blasts, we'll see how many there are at the ultrasound. We are very happy. Just my mom, my brother and DH know, we are not telling anyone else yet. But of course, I had to share it with my girls here at the forum. You all are very special to me, I will never forget you all, we've gone through these difficult/positive moments together. I'm not posting anywhere else, I just don't feel like it, but you here in this thread are my family.

Lots of love to everyone, I'll keep you posted about my progress, and I'll continue to read your stories. I can't wait to see some baby pictures!!!!

I apologize to the other ladies who don't know me, but I had to contact my sisters from the dec/jan thread (when we were all cycling together).

[Neffi211]

Esperanza-- I just also wanted to crash this thread to say CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy for you, I was wondering what happened to some of the ladies form Dec/Jan. Keep posting, I will look for your posts....I am over at the FEB thread, but I'll keep an eye out! Any word from PUMMA?

[CT_Michele]

Esperanza- I am soooo happy for you. I almost cried when I read your news. Your ivf family has been right here routing for you the whole time! Please keep us posted on your progress...

[LostGirl]

Esperanza,
OH MY GOD!!! My arms are tingling right now. When I read your news I gasped so audibly that several colleagues turned around thinking that I may have gone into labor.

I am so thrilled for you and your dh. You are in a happy place, keep your PMA and your baby will grow, grow, grow.

I can't believe it ! I am astounded at how life can change in the blink of an eye....

All the best, and I do hope to meet you one day, so let me know if you ever come back to Western Mass for a visit or something, since I'm sometimes there visiting family.

I. Am. Thrilled!!!!! lostgirl

[MLB]

Esperenza - CONGRATULATIONS!! Finally. What a long road it has been for you. I'm a little choked up and it is by far the best news I've had all week. I've been thinking about you all these months. ENJOY.

Michelle - I laughed to hard when you said you feel like you have to complain when people ask how you are feeling. I feel the same way but hadn't realized it until now. I mean, I don't feel 'normal', but I have a feeling that it could be much much worse. The biggest issue now is that I have outgrown some of my cutest maternity clothes and feel like I don't have much to wear.

I am very lonely here in Ithaca as DH had to make an emergency trip to Long Island (5 hours away...on our 7th anniversery) to be with his sister who had a boating accident. The boat hit a sandbar and stopped suddenly throwing her face first into a table. She has a ton of damage to her mouth and will need possibly as much as $20,000 of dental work AND it can't be done until her mouth heals. The orthadontist said SEPTEMBER. Crazy to think that some of us will have welcomed our little ones before her teeth are fixed. I can't imagine what she is going through emotionally. I have the mask of pregnancy on my forehead and am very self consious about it - so to have a bunch of teeth broken and some missing...yikes.

SO, we were supposed to go to NJ this weekend for a 'surprise' baby shower. My family heard that I was going to drive myself and wern't happy with that, so my brother is on his way as I type to pick me up. I was really upset about being treated like a little kid until I was driving home from taking the dogs to the vet and my brakes (that were just fixed Tuesday) started acting funny. SO if my bro wasn't coming I would have had to rent a car!!! Hope the rest of the week/weekend is much less eventful. Oh, and I had my group B strep test done today by a nurse that I hate and it really hurt. I don't think she is in the right career. She is the one that gave me the bad news about DH's sperm quality and just sent me home without one word of encouragement.

Hope everyone's week has been less eventful than mine (or just as eventful, but in a good way). Can't believe that we are almost there.

PS - found out in my last childbirth class last night that due dates - even for IVF'ers are only accurate to +/-2 weeks because every baby has its own development rate and 'true' gestational period. So...some of us could be ready to go in 2 weeks. I'M NOT READY!!!

[MLB]

Lostgirl - looking at your post again I see you are going to take a long trip also and it is probably too late for this to help - but that same nurse that I saw today was very worried about my long car ride and make it very clear that I should stop every hour or risk dying of a blood clot. I think she is just a very dramatic woman and a bit of a pessimist - but I am planning to stop more often than I have to tomorrow on my trip. The midwife that I told about my trip was not nearly as worried - but just wanted to give you a heads up in case you hadn't heard that we are supposed to get up and walk every hour. HAVE FUN.

That said, how different is it to be in a car sitting than at a computer sitting for hours. So, perhaps they should tell us to get up and walk around all the time even at work....


Melissa

[LostGirl]

Thanks Melissa for the concern. I have those pesky leg cramps remember so there's no way I wasn't going to make plenty of stops. Plus, I was driving alone - so I practically had to stop every hour just to assuage the fears of my DH who kept calling to see if I was OK in nutty traffic, and my mother who was extremely nervous that I'd go into labor at the wheel.
The trip took forever. Rain. Thunder. Two accidents on 95. But I didn't feel all that sleepy oddly enough. I stopped 3 times - for gas, for pee breaks, for stretching, for calling said loved ones, and spent the 6 hours driving mostly in the rain, singing along to Aerosmith and Stevie Nicks and "oldies" from the 80s and 90s. It was a blast! The poor baby didn't sleep the whole way though because momma was belting out the tunes.
It's not hard to live in the moment these days.... Everything I do I think, Hey may not do this again for a while.
Enjoy your shower and sorry to hear of your sister in law's accident. Horrible. Don't get too lonely. Your dh will be back before you know it.
Lostgirl

[CT_Michele]

MLB- So sorry to hear about your dh's sister. Sounds like a horrible accident and I hope she is ok. And try to have fun on your trip and at the shower. Maybe right now you need to get away for a little while, even if it is only to jersey.

Lostgirl- Sounds like your drive was enjoyable. Sometimes a nice drive is soothing, but I could do without the rain. We had it bad here last night too. All sorts of tornado warnings and hail, thunder and lightning. Pretty scary since we don't get tornados very often here.

Well, I had my first scare yesterday, but I don't even know if I would really call it a scare. DH and I went for my regular ob appt at 2. The hospital is right across the street and we had a parenting class there at 6:30, so our plan was to go to the dr's, run a bunch of errands, go to dinner and back to the hospital for class. The dr did my strep b test, which was a little painful and super uncomfortable, and was concerned b/c the nurse who took my blood pressure got a high reading. She didn't like that b/c my feet have also started to swell alot along with some headaches.

We then proceeded to have a conversation about the baby being in the breech position. She said we will have to make a choice to either have the her try and manually flip the baby at the hospital probably next week or we would need to schedule a c-section for 39 weeks. If we schedule the c-section and go in at 39 weeks and the baby has flipped, they will send me home, if not, we will have the baby via c-section a week early. This was a pretty nerve wracking conversation, b/c she said there are risks to the baby with flipping, and of course I don't want a c-section and 39 wks is less than 3 weeks away. She then told me they were going to take my blood pressure again and if it hadn't gone down I would have to go over to the hospital.

It was higher when the nurse took it. (I actually think it is this nurse. Everytime she takes it, it is high.) So they sent us over to be admitted. They ran all the tests, fetal monitoring, blood work, u/s, and everything was normal, so we were discharged just in enough time to eat and make it to parenting class. Dr. told me to take it easy (which I have been since I haven't worked in almost 2 months). This whole event made dh and I realize how close we really are and how unprepared we still are. We definitely need to packa hospital bag and start taking his truck to out, since that is where the car seat is.

Well, sorry to ramble on, it was just the first eventful ob visit I have had, and a little bit scary too. I go back to her next thursday unless symptoms of ossible preeclampsia get worse. To top it all off, I think I am getting a little sick, dry throat and such, but nothing I can't handle. Enjoy your day girls, and I hope to hear from you all soon!

[LostGirl]

Michele,
I wouldn't worry about the baby's position at this point. There's still time for the baby to move, and we even got taught positions in birthing class that help to get the baby to try a head-down position.
I do hope though that you don't continue to have high blood pressure, or any of the other signs for preclampsia because there's no messing around with that.
As for getting ready a hospital bag, I hear you. I'm going to work on that this week, as well as all the federal leave paperwork etc. and then turn my attention back to what we need to get for the baby and nesting.
I do hope you're not getting a cold. Make sure to take as many naps as you need to prevent that... all the best, Lostgirl

[CT_Michele]

Lostgirl- I know there is still time for her to flip, but of course I just can't stop thinking about it. I can't wait until the dr's on thursday just to find out if she has flipped or not. What are some of those positions they recommend? I can try them as long as they don't involve going upside down, b/c of the blood pressure, which is still on the high side.

I am starting to get pretty anxious about the impending arrival of little Ella. My scare the other day just made me realize there is so much left to do, and I have almost no energy or ambition to accomplish any of it.

I still keep procrastinating the hospital bag, I will definitely get it done by Monday night. I need to be prepared just in case at this point. Now that I am worried about preeclampsia, every little symptom of anything makes me wonder what is going on. I am sure I am worrying for nothing, but better safe than sorry.

How was everyone's weekend? I hope you are all hanging in there and getting everything done that you need to. I am going out for dinner, so I will check back later. Hope to hear from you all soon.

[LostGirl]

Michele,
Hope you are feeling less anxious. I wouldn't worry too much. Or at least that's what my dh keeps telling me. It will all work out. Just make sure to know what the symptoms of preclampsia are, and things get gnarly you'll have a C-section which it sounds like you and your DH are fine with.

As for being ready, I think we might never be ready. You can get your hospital bag together, but other than that, honestly you might still have to wait till after Week 40 to meet your daughter.

As for me, I got home last night from a long weekend away, my last before the baby comes. Car ride made my legs swell and my calves ache all night. I just couldn't get them to calm down. Also I'm starting to have sciatica in my left butt check and down my leg. It's painful and kind of an odd feeling. I haven't had a lot of nerve pain before in my life, and boy is it different than muscular pain.

But all in all, I feel good, I feel calm, I feel almost excited for labor. That said, it would be great to have a couple more weeks to get things in order at home (buy a couch maybe? car seat?) and to finish up my work.

How are all the rest of you ladies holding up?
Lostgirl

[CT_Michele]

Lostgirl- Make sure you get that car seat soon! We are all at the point where anything can happen at anytime, and that was the one thing the hospital told to get early. They told us it needed to be installed before getting to the hospital because they won't do it there. We are actually taking our cars to the police station today to have them inspected and make sure the seats are installed porperly.

I am feeling ok, I guess I really still can't complain. I just can't wait until thursday to find out the baby's position. I try to figure it out on my own, but just can't tell. She is still really active in there which makes me think she still has plenty of room to flip if she wants to. Last night I was laying on my left side watching tv in bed, and for the first time, I got some kicks that were pretty painful. I actually had to flip to my right b/c she kept doing it. It was pretty weird.

Tomorrow we will be meeting our pediatrician, which we are looking forward too. We are curious to find out about feeding, and vaccinations, and how often we will see the dr's. Has anyone met their pediatricians?

How is everyone else? I am just in waiting mode now, still stuff to do around the house, but my energy is pretty low, so just getting through the days at this point. I look forward to hearing from all of you soon!

[LostGirl]

Hi Michele,
Here's one way to tell the baby is head down. Hiccups! My kid hiccups two or three times a day (normal I'm told at this point) and the hiccups are crazy low in my pelvis so I'm assuming that means the kid is head down. That and there's some incredible pressure down there for the past few days.
We did meet our pediatrician. She rocked. Was completely on the same page as us about circumcision, vaccinations, and had good office hours for working parents.
As for the car seat, I hear you, but we live in NYC so we don't have a car to set up with the seat anyway. So the plan is to buy it this weekend, and then when my mother shows up at our house during early labor to have my dh and her set it up while I try to nap (if things aren't hurting yet) or they'll just have to do it after birth and before we get sent home afte 48 hours. Being city folk, we don't own a car!
You're lucky your baby's kicks haven't hurt till now. I've been boxed and kicked to the point that I give a small yelp for weeks now. The activity though is slowing down now... I hope that means that labor is coming in the next three weeks! Lostgirl