January 2009 Moms: The Second Trimester

[january2009moms]

January 2009 Moms: The Second Trimester


We have 21 moms so far!

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm9/january2009moms/January2009moms.jpg


Big Ultrasound Results:


http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m67/glasgohr/boy111.gif

Ade, jenjen0713, PaisleySloan, ellebelle, meg100105, numberlady, dancn226, Pookie861, dusthappy, GardenGirl, carebear042, coconut, mapplekitty

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m67/glasgohr/girl111.gif

JackieO, tunibell, mmeblue, honey_bee
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m67/glasgohr/sur111.gif

aprilshowers (for now)


Please post all updates in red for ease of finding!
If we can't see it, we can't add it.

Info to include:

CC Name:
Me: Name, age (birthday)
DH/Significant Other: Name, age
Married:
TTC Date:
BFP Date:
EDD:
Gender Prediction:
Finding out the gender?:
Other children:

Your Threadmistresses are ellebelle and CLW4KU. Please PM us with any issues regarding the thread.

Please put how far along you are in the subject line of your posts!

*Thanks to all the Mommy-to-be threads, that came before us, for helping with thread layout and links!*


First Trimester Thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41280)

[january2009moms]

Mommies

Ade
Me: Ade, 32
DH: C, 32
Married: 08/02
TTC Date: we were going to start trying between May and August!
BFP Date: 5/11/08
EDD: 1/15/09
Gender Prediction: Boy (there are 5 grandsons on my side, both my sisters have 2 boys and we already have 1. I don't think there's even a remote chance that it's a girl!)
Finding out the gender?: Probably not
Other children: DS - 10/06
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

aprilshowers
Me: Name, age (birthday) - 34
DH/Significant Other: Name, age - 33
Married: 4/2003
TTC Date: 11/2007
BFP Date: 5/31
EDD: 1/30/2009
Gender Prediction: ??
Finding out the gender?: not sure - we didn't w/ DD
Other children: DD, 2/2006

carebear042
Me: Name, age (birthday) Carrie Age 27
DH/Significant Other: Name, age Jeremy Age 34
Married: 04.16.2005
TTC Date: 01.2008
BFP Date: 04.23.2008
EDD: 01.01.2009
Gender Prediction: Boy?
Finding out the gender?: YES
Other children: No
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

catJennifer
Me: Jennifer, 33
DH: 34
Married: 10/26/02
TTC Date: 10/07
BFP Date: 5/20/08
EDD: 1/27/09
Gender Prediction: no idea
Finding out the gender?: no, we didn't with DD either
Other children: DD (Kate)- 5/17/06

CLW4KU
Me: Courtney, 26
DH: Kyle, 31
Married:9/29/07
TTC Date:4/08
BFP Date: 4/30/08
EDD:1/4/09
Gender Prediction:Girl
Finding out the gender?: Surprise!
Other children: None

coconut (formerly oceanblue)
Me: Sondra, 32
DH/Significant Other: Mike 34
Married: 4/20/02
TTC Date: wasn't
BFP Date: 05/07/08
EDD: 01/18/09
Gender Prediction: ?????
Finding out the gender?: Oh definitely
Other children: DS, 12/8/05, Hayden
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

dancn226
Me: Name, age (birthday) 28
DH/Significant Other: Chris 30
Married: 07/03/05
TTC Date: 07/03/06
BFP Date: 05/05/08
EDD: 01/14/09
Gender Prediction:?????
Finding out the gender?: YES YES and More YES
Other children: this will be our 1st
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

dusthappy
Me: Dustie, 31
DH/Signicant Other: Doug, 28 (yeah, I scored a boy toy!)
Married:9/3/06
TTC Date: Jan. 08
BFP Date: April 30, 08 HPT, May 2nd +blood work
EDD: 1/9/09, but will be induced at the end of December
Gender Prediction: ?? who knows, but crossing fingers for healthy first, then boy
Finding out the gender?: Better believe it!
Other children: Allison 11, Taylor 9, Kane 10 months
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

ellebelle
Me: 29
DH: 36
Married: June 21, 2003
TTC Date: August 2008
BFP Date: May 4
EDD: January 12
Gender Prediction: No clue
Finding out the gender?: Yes
Other children: DD, 07-19-06
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

GardenGirl
Me: 29
DH: 36
Married: August 2003
TTC Date: we really weren't actively trying, though not TTA avoid either
BFP Date: May 15
EDD: January 17
Gender Prediction: Girl - gut feeling, it was right last time
Finding out the gender?: I hope so, last time they couldn't tell so we kept it a surprise
Other children: DS, 1-8-07
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

honey_bee
Me: Melissa, 27
DH/Significant Other: George, 34
Married: 8/28/04
TTC Date: 4/08
BFP Date: 5/9/08
EDD: 01/17/09
Gender Prediction: no idea
Finding out the gender?: haven't decided yet
Other children: Emily, 3/2/06
First Apt: 5/30
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Girl

JackieO
Me: Jackie, 30, bday June 29
DH/Signicant Other: DH, 34
Married: 10/26/02
TTC Date: 10/07
BFP Date: 04/28/08
EDD: 01/09/09
Gender Prediction: no idea yet!!
Finding out the gender?: Absolutely!!!
Other children - DD -3/14/05
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Girl

jenjen0713
Me: 35
DH/Significant Other: DH, 39
Married: 11/27/04
TTC Date: We weren't
BFP Date: 5/5/08
EDD: 1/10/09
Gender Prediction: No idea
Finding out the gender?: No idea
Other children: DS #1 10/6/05 DS #2 2/17/07
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

maplekitty
Me: Sarah, 27, bday Jan 7
DH/Signicant Other: DH Curt, 30
Married: 08/27/05
TTC Date: We weren't!!
BFP Date: 04/15/08
EDD: 01/01/09
Gender Prediction: oh gosh...havn't a clue yet!
Finding out the gender?: Not sure yet
Other children: DD Robyn Abigail 10/05/06
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

Megs100105
Me: 25
DH/Significant Other: 32
Married: 10/1/05
TTC Date: April 2008
BFP Date: May 14, 2008
EDD: Jan 21, 2009
Gender Prediction: No idea!
Finding out the gender?: I hope so!
Other children: nope
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

mmeblue
Me: Amanda, 27 (bday 1/14)
DH/Significant Other: Derek, 29
Married: 12/21/02
TTC Date: TTC for a while
BFP Date: 5/7/08
EDD: 1/13/09
Gender Prediction: no clue
Finding out the gender?: still waffling
Other children: this is our first
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Girl
numberlady
Me: 34
DH/Significant Other: 46
Married: 5/18/02
TTC Date: 6/06
BFP Date: 5/5/08
EDD: January 11
Gender Prediction: no idea
Finding out the gender?: Absolutely
Other children: none
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

PaisleySloan
Me: Michelle, 38 (I think I'm the oldest one here!!!), April 7
DH/Significant Other: Clint, 39
Married: 06/12/05
TTC Date: surprise!
BFP Date: 05/04/08
EDD: 01/08/09 or 01/09/09 (my ob gave me two. inspires confidence!)
Gender: It's a boy!!
Other children: Two step-sons at prime babysitting age!
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

Pookie861
Me: Heidi, 24, July 1, 1983
DH: Alessandro, 28
Married:January 12, 2008
TTC Date:As soon as the wedding was over!
BFP Date: 4/21/08
EDD:1/27/09
Gender Prediction:Boy, lil Roo roo needs a playmate!
Finding out the gender?: Heck yeah!
Other children: my cat Charlie and my husband Al
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Boy

tunibell
Me: Jessika, 33
DH/Significant Other: Peter, 31
Married: 6/12/04
TTC Date: 6/07
BFP Date: 5/10/08
EDD: 01/21/09
Gender Prediction: Not sure yet
Finding out the gender?: Absolutely
Other children: Piper, 3/4/06
Actual Gender (per u/s) - Girl

Twyla
Me: Twyla, 29
DH: Jason, 30
Married: 8/26/2000
TTC Date: We weren't trying
BFP Date:
EDD: 1/11/2009
Gender Prediction: Girl
Finding out the gender?: YES
Other children: DD Annsleigh 12/20/2001, DS Caedan 1/24/2006

Forever in our thoughts:
wideopenskies, Graffy

[january2009moms]

Mommies by Due Date

December

30 - maplekitty

January

1 - carebear042
2
3
4 - CLW4KU
5
6
7
8 - PaisleySloan
9 - JackieO
10 - jenjen0713
11 - numberlady, Twyla
12 - ellebelle
13 - mmeblue
14 - dancn226
15 - Ade
16
17 - honey_bee, GardenGirl
18 - coconut
19
20 - Megs100105
21 - tunibell, Twyla
22
23
24
25
26
27 - Pookie861, catJennifer
28
29
30 - aprilshowers
31

[january2009moms]

Appointments

July
22 - dusthappy
23 - JackieO

August
4 - ellebelle (big u/s), GardenGirl
13 - numberlady (big u/s)
14 - dancn226 (big u/s)
15 - PaisleySloan
16 - coconut
19 - JackieO (big u/s), PaisleySloan, dusthappy (big u/s)
25 - GardenGirl (big u/s)
27 - tunibell (big u/s)
29 - mmeblue (big u/s), honey_bee (level II)

September
2 - Pookie861
4 - mmeblue
10 - numberlady (specialist)
15 - numberlady (OB)
22 - GardenGirl

October
6- ellebelle
13 - Numberlady
15 - JackieO, PaisleySloan
20 - ellebelle

November
6 - mmeblue
5 - numberlady
12 - PaisleySloan, JackieO
19 - numberlady (specialist)

[january2009moms]

Helpful Links

Weekly Pregnancy Updates:
American Baby (http://www.americanbaby.com/) * Baby Center (http://www.babycenter.com/) * BabyZone (http://www.babyzone.com) * iVillage (http://www.ivillage.com) * StorkNet (http://www.pregnancyguideonline.com) * Very Best Baby (http://www.verybestbaby.com)

Tickers:
Baby's First Site (http://www.babysfirstsite.com) * Baby Gaga (http://www.baby-gaga.com) * La Femme Bonita (http://lafemmebonita.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi) * Lilypie (http://www.lilypie.com) * SnugglePie (http://www.snugglepie.com) * Ticker Central (http://www.tickercentral.com) * Ticker Factory (http://www.tickerfactory.com)

Miscellaneous Informative Sites:
American Pregnancy Association (http://www.americanpregnancy.org) * Baby Names (http://www.babynames.com) * Baby Net (http://www.babynet.com) * Safe Fetus (http://www.safefetus.com) (for a list of safe drugs during pregnancy) * Consumer Reports Report on Car Seat Safety (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/babies-kids/baby-toddler/travel-gear/car-seats/car-seats-2-07/overview/0207_seats_ov.htm)

Maternity Shopping Sites:
A Pea In The Pod (http://www.apeainthepod.com) * Baby Style (http://www.babystyle.com) * Belly Basics (http://www.bellybasics.com) * Bella Materna (http://www.bellamaterna.com) * Fashion Bug (http://www.fashionbug.com) * Gap Maternity (http://www.gap.com) * JC Penney (http://www.jcpenney.com) * Lane Bryant (http://www.lanebryant.com) * Mimi Maternity (http://www.mimimaternity.com) * Mom's The Word (http://www.momstheword.com) * Motherhood Maternity (http://www.motherhood.com) * Old Navy (http://www.oldnavy.com) * Target (http://www.target.com)

Baby Registries:
Babies 'R Us (http://www.babiesrus.com) * Baby Center (http://www.babycenter.com) * Baby Depot (http://www.babydepot.com) * BabyStyle (http://www.babystyle.com) * Buy Buy Baby (http://www.buybuybaby.com) * Sears (http://www.sears.com) * Target (http://www.target.com) * USA Baby (http://www.usababy.com) * WalMart (http://www.walmart.com)

Baby Shopping Sites:
Baby Age (http://www.babyage.com) * Baby Ant (http://www.babyant.com) * Baby Bazaar (http://www.babybazaar.com) * Baby Box (http://www.babybox.com) * Baby Center's Store (http://www.babycenter.com) * Baby Depot (http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com) * Baby Dilly (http://www.babydilly.com) * Baby Dream (http://www.babydream.com) * Babies 'R Us (http://www.babiesrus.com) * BabyStyle (http://www.babystyle.com)* Baby Universe (http://www.babyuniverse.com) * Carousel Designs (http://www.carouseldesigns.com) * Dimples and Dandelions (http://www.dimplesanddandelions.com) * Dreamtime Baby (http://www.dreamtimebaby.com) * Elegant Baby (http://www.elegantbaby.com) * Fisher Price (http://www.fisherprice.com) * Gap (http://www.gap.com) * Graco (http://www.gracobaby.com) * Gymboree (http://www.gymboree.com) * In The Treetop (http://www.inthetreetop.com) * Land of Nod (http://www.landofnod.com) * Little Showoffs (http://www.littleshowoffs.com) * Net Kidswear (http://www.netkidswear.com) * Nursery Depot (http://www.nurserydepot.com) * Old Navy (http://www.oldnavy.com) * One of a Kind (http://www.oneofakind.com) * One Step Ahead (http://www.onestepahead.com) * Pokkadots (http://www.pokkadots.com) * Signature Baby (http://www.signaturebaby.com) * Target (http://www.target.com) * The Baby Marketplace (http://www.thebabymarketplace.com) * The Children's Place (http://www.thechildrensplace.com) * Tutti Bella (http://www.tuttibella.com) * Wendy Bellissimo (http://www.wendybellissimo.com) *

Delivery/Birthing Options (OB, Midwives, Doulas, birthcenters, etc.):
American Association of Birth Centers (http://www.birthcenters.org) * American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (http://www.acog.org) * American College of Nurse-Midwives (http://www.acnm.org) * Childbirth Connection (http://www.childbirthconnection.org) * Lamaze (http://www.lamaze.org) * Bradley Birth (http://www.bradleybirth.com) * Birthing From Within (http://www.birthingfromwithin.com) * Birthworks (http://www.birthworks.com) * HypBirth (http://www.hypbirth.com) * HypnoBirthing (http://www.hypnobirthing.com) * Association of Labor Assistants & Childbirth Educators (http://www.alace.org) * International Childbirth Education Association (http://www.icea.org) * Waterbirth International (http://www.waterbirth.org) * DONA International (http://www.dona.org)

Breastfeeding:
Ameda (http://www.ameda.com) * Breastfeeding (http://www.breastfeeding.com) * Boppy (http://www.boppy.com) * KellyMom (http://www.kellymom.com) * La Leche League (http://www.lalecheleague.org) * Maternal Concepts (http://www.maternalconcepts.com) * Medela (http://www.medela.com) * Mothering (http://www.mothering.com) * ProMoM (http://www.promom.com) * Whisper Wear (http://www.whisperwear.com)

Formula Feeding:
Bright Beginnings (http://www.brightbeginnings.com) * Enfamil (http://www.enfamil.com) * Similac (http://www.welcomaddition.com)

Diapering Info: (some have coupons & contests)
Cloth Diapering (http://www.borntolove.com) * Huggies (http://www.huggies.com) * Luvs (http://www.luvs.com) * Pampers (http://www.pampers.com)

Slings:
Rosie Baby (http://www.rosiebaby.com) * The Hip Hugger (http://www.thehiphuggeronline.com) * About Babies Inc. (http://www.aboutbabiesinc.com) * Maya Wrap (http://www.mayawrap.com) * New Native Baby (http://www.newnativebaby.com) * Prenatal Cradle (http://www.prenatalcradle.com) * Baby Wearer (http://www.thebabywearer.com)

Cord Blood/Stem Cell Info:
Secureacell * Viacord * Cord Blood * Cryobank * Lifebank USA * CorCell * Cryo-Cell

Invitations/Announcements:
2Peas1Pod (http://www.2peas1pod.com) * 5StarBaby (http://www.5starbaby.com) * BabyGrams (http://www.babygrams.com) * Baby J Cards (http://www.babyjcards.com) * Bella Baby (http://www.bellababy.com) * Celebration Cottage (http://www.celebrationcottage.com) * Classic Card (http://www.storkavenue.com) * inababycarriage (http://www.inababycarriage.com) * InvitationBox (http://www.invitationbox.com) * MetroBaby Cards (http://www.metrobabycards.com) * Mommy's Miracles (http://www.mommysmiracles.com) * My Gatsby (http://www.mygatsby.com) * Naptime Cards (http://www.naptimecards.com) *PhotoStamps (http://www.photo.stamps.com) * PurpleStork (http://www.purplestork.com) * Simply To Impess (http://www.simplytoimpress.com) * Stork Grams (http://www.shopbirthannouncements.com) * Tiny Prints (http://www.tinyprints.com)

Fun Stuff:
Jewel Kids (http://www.jewelkids.com) * Lifetime Mothers (http://www.lifetimemothers.com) *[/QUOTE]

[january2009moms]

Belly Shots 1

tunibell 15 weeks
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2721017809_58d93d3b36.jpg?v=0

meg100105
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/megs100105/pregnancy/untitled-1.jpghttp://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/megs100105/pregnancy/Copyof2.jpg

maplekitty 30 Weeks
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e29/maplekitty/IMG_5994.jpg?t=1224516040

[january2009moms]

Belly Shots 2

[january2009moms]

Ultrasound Pics1

numberlady 5w4d
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3289/2493792839_80c8610d98.jpg?v=0

tunibell
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3041/2554566957_f497fd6782.jpg?v=0

mmeblue
http://thirdleopard.org/creating/other/image.html?id=167

meg100105 11weeks
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/megs100105/pregnancy/Ultrasounds/babysextonweek11.jpg

meg100105
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/megs100105/pregnancy/Ultrasounds/NTscan6.jpg

tunibell
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2675422346_ce27c846eb.jpg?v=0

[january2009moms]

Ultrasound Pics 2

mmeblue
http://thirdleopard.org/creating/other/image.html?id=183

[january2009moms]

Extra Space

[january2009moms]

Post away!!!

If you plan on keeping the sex of your baby a surprise, please post in red to let me know, so that I can add your name to the appropriate banner on the first post of this thread.

[ellebelle]

So how is everyone doing. Ade, dusthappy are you officially off bed rest yet?

I am so happy to finally be out of the first trimester and feeling better. I'm wearing all maternity clothes today for the first time and I feel so much more comfy than when I was trying to squeeze into my tiny shirts and pants.

Anyone else do any maternity clothes shopping yet?

[meg100105]

QOTD - Yes! I bought a few pairs of jeans and a pair of black work slacks during the Nordstrom's sale on Friday. Soo much more comfortable than my too small regular pants.

FYI I got an email from Amazon that they have the bugaboo strollers 17-20% off. Just incase anyone is interested.

Here's the link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/?docId=1000242771&tag=suburcoutu-20)

[dancn226]

Hi all.. hope everyone is doing good. I am just so tired today. So I have given in to it twice already and it sonly 1pm here. Its crazy! Hope everyone els eid oing good.At our last apt last week we heard that hb. It was kind of cool, you couldl hear the little one swimming around because one min the heartbeat would be ther, and the next it would get softer and be gone. My dr. was liek man this little one is one swimmer. She's like do you hear how it gets lighter and then disappears, that means he is moving around alot. We will find out teh sex on Aug 14th. That is DH"s b'day. We are pretty excited about that! Hope everyone else is doing good!

QOTD~Yeah I went shopping a while back and got a few thing. My mom was so excited she wanted to take my shopping. So we went a while back . SO that was good.

[JackieO]

Hello all!

I haven't been here in a while, but I've been reading along. I don;t really have anything to report, everything seems to be status quo. MS only rears its head in the afternoons and no matter what I try to avoid it, it's there. I'm assuming this is my punishment for having no symptoms with DD -oh that was so nice!!! I didn't realize how good I had it:)

As for maternity clothes, I've been in mat. shorts for a few weeks now. I got one pair when we were away, with the motherhood secret belly fit - SOOOO Comfy!! I'd like to wear them everyday! I am able to still wear my normal t-shirts since the're long and my belly just sticks out in them - I kinda like it though, b'c then I figure it takes the guesswork out of it for people - you know, is she or isn't she? For fall, I'll have to do some shopping though...I had this pair of stretchy track pants with the stripes down the side with DD, and DH HATES them! Probably b/c I did wear those every day toward the end...whatever, you take what works!

So I have an appt. tomoorow morning and I'm *hoping* we'll schedule my ultrasound for next month. We've had an ongoing debate about whether it's a girl or boy...I don't really have a strong feeling either way. DH thinks boy, and my Dad had a dream about his grandson, so we'll see if he's right...either way we're pretty settled on our name choices I think. Ryan Vaughn for a boy, Kamryn or Jillian (unsure on middle name) for a girl.

QOTDAnyone else settled on names yet?

[dancn226]

QOTD~Dh and I had our names figured out months ago. We acutally told our family on mothers day by putting the names in a card.

For a girl-Jaina Lynn
For a boy-Tristin Matthew

We keep finding other names we like, but we are dead set on these two! My dh acutally found the girls name in a Star Wars book!! HAHA...:D

[dusthappy]

Hi all, still on bedrest here. I really hope they find the cause of my bleeding today at my appointment. (Also hoping that we get an extra bonus u/s, since I have had one at every appointment so far, but this one we should be able to see a "money shot" ;)) Since we don't know the cause of the bleeding, I think they will do one just to make sure my cervix is still closed, as that is less invasive. As for the bleeding, it comes and it goes, and I can never tell exactly what it is that causes it. Last Friday I thought I was out of the woods, so I sat outside in the grass beside the kiddie pool while they were swimming, and being totally OCD, got my little hand clippers and clipped at the weeds I couldn't ues the weedeater on :rolleyes:. THAT set it off. Since I am bored, I started making a quilt for my sister who is due a few weeks before me.

QOTD: DH and I settled on names within the first couple of weeks.

Kilian Douglas for a boy
Kaylan Victoria for a girl

AQOTD: I have been in maternity clothes since week 7 consistently. I guess because this is #4, I just popped earlier than most.

[ellebelle]

dancn226 Sorry you are feeling so tired. What a nice birthday present for your husband!

JackieO Good luck at your appt. tomorrow. I hope you get to schedule your big u/s!

dusthappy Oh man, I really feel for you. To be on bedrest with a little one to take care of must be difficult. I hope you don't have to deal with the bleeding for to much longer.

names Well I've settled on first names, of course I haven't discussed them with DH yet, so they might change. I'm hoping he can help me with middle names. We used DH's grandma's first name for DD's middle name, so I would really like the new baby to have a meaningful middle name as well.

boy: Matthew
girl: Ava

[numberlady]

QOTD - We have actually found a few names that we like OK that we both can agree on, but we will be waiting on our next appointment to find out the sex to really begin figuring out the names. I need to get a baby name book.

Our big appointment is August 13.

[Ade]

ellebelle, I am off bedrest now, which is great. I'm hoping that last weekend was the last time I will have to do it for the remainder of this pregnancy. We'll see! I see my peri for the first time since my cerclage on Thursday. Hopefully, all looks good and my cervix is holding. DH's actually going to join me on this appointment, the first one for this pregnancy! He made it to almost all of the ones I had with DS, I guess it's not as novel with #2 :rolleyes:.

I'm inbetween my larger regular clothes and some clothes I bought with DS. Not in official maternity clothes just yet, but I'm sure I will be soon enough!

No decisions on names yet, but some we are tossing around are River, Graydon, Jonas and Keenan. We'll change our mind about 50 more times between now and when the baby's here!

I have a question that I would love opinions on. A manager position for my team is opening up and I'm the top consideration for the position. It's a national position with team members in LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta and NY. It would start in mid August. The weakest team members are in Chicago, NY and Atlanta; the furthest from me, so a lot of travel would be involved. There's a lot of competition for the position and none of the other candidates have kids and all are more junior than me. So, if I don't go for it, I'm concerned who I would report into. But, are the demands going to be too much for the remainder of this pregnancy and with having two kids?

[mmeblue]

Maternity clothes: The only thing I've bought is a "tummy sleeve" to let me wear my regular clothes a little longer, but I haven't needed to use it yet. In the last few days my jeans have started to feel a bit snug, though, so maybe the belly is coming soon.

Names: We have a girl's name (first and middle) chosen, and we have a boy's first name but no middle name firmly decided on for that one. At this point, we're not sharing our name choices, but I don't know whether we'll share once we find out the gender or wait until birth.

[JackieO]

Back from appointment...everything was good. gained 2 pounds (7 total), heartbeat was 160, got paperwork for AFP test (yay).
Big ultrasound is Aug.19th!! Hopefully the little bean will cooperate, DD didn't and we didn't find out with her until about 24 weeks:)

[ellebelle]

Ade I'm glad to hear that you're off bedrest! My DH came to all my OB appointments last time around too. This time he will only be coming to the appointments with ultrasounds. :rolleyes: The firm he works for is not nearly has flexible as the one he worked for in California. As far as the management position, I personally know that it would be too much for me, not so much during pregnancy, but after the baby arrived. I started a new job after I had dd and I felt completely overwhelmed by the experience. I don't handle stress very well though, so if you think you could handle the extra responibility travel and two kids, then I say go for it.

JackieO The same thing happened to me with dd. I was so bummed when we couldn't find out the sex. I ended up begging my OB to give me another ultrasound about 6 weeks before the due date, and luckily she was able to tell it was a girl!

[dancn226]

Okay girls, I have a question. My DR wrote me a script. We are getting the whole downs test with all that genitic stuff included. We got the script last week. I forgot what week she said to do it. Does anyone know?

[numberlady]

dancn - Mine said 16 weeks. I am still trying to decide whether to do it or not.

[JackieO]

Danc - I'm 16 weeks and I have to go within the week to do it.

[Ade]

ellebelle, thanks for the feedabck. I definitely hear and agree with many of your points, but have decided to still go for the position. I had a good heart to heart with my friend who is accepting a similar position and just had his second child. He said I need to do what I would if I weren't pregnant, or else I will end up regretting it. And, I know he's right. I'm not a sit back and take it easy type of person. I thrive off of challenge and new opportunity and hate being bored. If I just sat back in my current role for another year, I would be bored. And, if I do get it, my manager has 2 young kids herself and her manager will be having her first child a month before me. They totally get what it's like being a working mom and needing to have a good work/life balance. And, if I don't get it, then I'm still in the same position, right? So, we'll see, wish me luck!

[GardenGirl]

My next appointment is August 4th and I'm pretty sure we'll be doing the AFP bloodwork then since I'll be 16 weeks. We'll schedule my ultrasound that day as well and I'm going to try and get it for the Friday before Labor Day (4 weeks later would be that Monday, Labor Day). I'd really like to know before the holiday.

Names - oh geez, I try not to think about it. MIL was in town and that's all she wanted to talk about. She has an opinion on everything and I don't want to hear what she does/doesn't like in case one of the ones I love, she hates. Not that it would make a difference to me, I just don't want to hear it. I think after we find out the sex I'll feel more comfortable talking about names. Two of my close girlfriends just had babies and they took my top 2 girls names - Claire and Caroline. So I can't use those - I see them at least twice a week. I'm leaning towards the name Hannah, but I'm trying not to give it to much thought. I don't want to get sick of it. I know that sounds silly :) For boys I like the names Patrick and Andrew, but I haven't given it too much thought. I'm pretty dead set on the middle name Aaron - it's a family name on my side. DS's middle name is from DH's side.

Second Trimester - man am I feeling better. I haven't felt sick in awhile and I have much more energy. My only problem is that I'm waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning and having difficulty getting back to sleep. I've tried staying up a little later, but it isn't helping. I hope it goes away soon.

I've been feeling the baby move more frequently, so that's fun. DH is trying, but it's still to early for that.

[jenjen0713]

Names - Haven't really thought of it yet. DH is a teacher, so alot of the names I like get vetoed as he had/has a student that was a troublemaker that was named such and such. Ugh.

AFP test and U/s - I go in next Monday for the AFP test and then next Friday, I go in for the big u/s. My doctor's office does theirs a little earlier than 20 weeks, so we'll see if we can find out what the gender is.

[dancn226]

JenJen~HAH that is funny about the names. I acutally teach dance, so that is one thing DH and I did go through the Vetoing of names. Oh the big names, like Delany. That for some reason seems to be really big in our area, so I told him, that is out. Not like it was a real question as we were pretty much set on ours for a while!

[JackieO]

Jenjen- DH is a former teacher and now a principal so you can imagine how tough it was when it came to names;) Plus we got caught up in initials as well...loved the name hannah but her intials would have been H.O....we just couldn't do that to a kid!!

I have the WORST headache today - I woke up with it about 4 am and it has stuck around all day long. I laid down when DD did, but only slept about 10-15 minutes. We're off to my parents house for dinner, and maybe a dip in the pool (if the water's not too cold - I'm a huge wimp!!) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

[jenjen0713]

JackieO - Too funny, you can't do any H names. You probably have already ruled at any B names as well so they won't have the initials B.O. :)

[JackieO]

jenjen- we actually didn't have any 'b' names so B .O. never crossed our minds! our only other big initial thing was we came up with Sara Lillian for a girls name (our grandmothers names), really pretty, meaningful...with initials of S.L.O. needless to say we skipped that one too!

so our weekend was good, DH is back to work today. I dont know that we can go through the whole summer without a vacation. We were going to save up most of his time for when the baby is born, but really I think we both need a vacation! the daily routine is getting to me and I just need to get away...somewhere other than his parents house...there i do the same thing just in a different house! Plus we're potty training DD again (she's almost 3 1/2 and wants nothing to do with the potty), she's doing good, no accidents but she's holding it until she gets a pull-up at naptime/nighttime...she'll tell me she just wants to keep it in:( I feel terrible but I have no ideas other than filling her up with juice, water, milk until she cant hold it anymore...RO's any advice? and you first-time-moms - see what you have to look forward to?;)

[ellebelle]

Jackie I just started potty training dd last weekend. Fortunately, we haven't run into any holding pee problems so no advice. I hope things turn around soon. Potty training by far has been one of my most stressful parenting issues with dd. She's still a little on the young side, but I want her to have lots of practice before the baby arrives.

[jenjen0713]

JackieO - Would giving her a reward for doing it in the potty work? Maybe a piece of her favorite candy or a sticker. That worked in the beginning of potty training for us. We also would make a big production out of letting him flush the toilet and waving bye to it. :o

[JackieO]

Thanks guys - we've tried everything. She doesn't like candy (chocolate here and there but not enough to work for it-weird i know), we tried stickers and marshmallows (her favorite) but it soon became no, i don't want it. She is truly a stubborn little girl - which she gets from me so I can't complain much. I think we made a tiny bit of progress this afternoon though...she finally had an accident! I never thought I'd be excited about that but when she's perpetually holding it in it's great news!! It was after her nap and DH had run out to take out the garbage, he came back in and she was hiding under the table saying she had to tell him something...I was out trying to do my bloodwork but of course the lab closed at 2. Anyway, we didn't punish her for it and told her it was the right thing to do and better than holding it in...time will tell whether this will help or not. I can just see it freaking her out even more.
Ellebelle - this is by far the most stressful thing we've ever done with DD. she was a very easy baby and we havent had any issues with her whatsoever, so i figure this is to make up for it. let's just say kudos to you for starting early b'c reasoning with a 3 yo is impossible!!
Jenjen - the things we do for potty training...I even made up a pee-pee fairy that left her crown here to help DD be brave on the potty. jury is still out on that one though!

[GardenGirl]

Hey Gals - just checking in to see whose next to find out the gender. I'll live vicariously through y'all until mine (5 weeks away). I could probably find out earlier, but I'm waiting until 20 weeks. I had my u/s at 18 weeks with DS and they couldn't tell. While I'm sure it had nothing to do with the timing - it was more of a position thing - I just want to make sure :)

I need to check out the baby monitor thread. My Sony BabyCall is on the fritz, besides while I probably don't need to monitor DS's room anymore - I would like one with dual transmitters if possible.

I guess I'll need to check out double strollers eventually though I'm not sold on lugging that big thing around. I slung DS alot when he was young and will probably do the same with #2. I barely use my P3 just because it takes up room in my ever shrinking trunk.

And I need to get a move on in DS's big boy room. My plan is to have it ready by November so he can transition before #2 arrives.

Hope everyone is feeling well and off bedrest.

[ellebelle]

JackieO I hope the accident is a step in the right direction for your dd.

GardenGirl Our baby monitor died recently as well. I ended up getting the same one at Toys r Us because it was on clearance for $10. I think some dirt or dust must have gotten into the controls on the side when we moved, which made the monitor have a really loud static noise. Good luck waiting five more weeks to find out the gender.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Well ms came back with a vengeance today. :( I can't believe after a week and a half of feeling normal, I start feeling sick again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that today was just a fluke and I'll be back to normal tomorrow.

[numberlady]

This thread sure has been quiet lately. I am finally getting over my m/s, but heartburn has taken its place.

As for the ultrasound, I had a friend tell me to drink a soda or eat a chocolate bar, especially if you haven't been having too much caffeine. Apparently it will make the baby move around so its parts can be seen. Of course my appointment is at 8 am, so maybe I will drink some coffee that morning.

Has anyone else moved to side sleeping yet? I read in my pregnancy week by week book that at 16 weeks you should stop sleeping on your back. Last night I tried staying on my side, woke up on my stomach with my back hurting and tossed and turned the rest of the night.

ellebelle - I hope the m/s return was just for the day!
JackieO - Sorry for the problems you are having with DD. I can't be of much help.
jenjen _ am so jealous that your big ultrasound is this week!

[aprilshowers]

numberlady - I have heard oj works too which would be a little more appropriate for 8 am!

side-sleeping - I always sleep on my side anyway but I forget which side we're "supposed" to sleep on. Anyone remember?

[GardenGirl]

Side sleeping - they recommend laying on your left side for good blood flow. I've never been able to sleep on my back. I love sleeping on my stomach, but my lower back has really been bothering me lately. I'll attempt sleeping on my side, but flip flop around at night. I must have 5 pillows in bed. I have a snoogle from last time, but that thing was almost as cumbersome to move around with. Maybe I'll try it tonight ...

I heard orange juice was a good bet too. I'm sure it would have worked the first time had it not been 2 hours before my appointment. They were running behind due to a failing u/s machine. This time I will wait until they call me back to change. I figure the u/s is generally 45-60 minutes so if I take it 15 minutes before the procedure that should give it enough time to "kick in".

[dancn226]

Numberlady~I got that same thing about side sleeping and I was like HUH?? Anyhow, sorry about the HB, that sucks!

Gardengirl~Thanks for the advice on the sleeping, I was going to ask teh same thing as I just read it the other day as well. I always sleep on my left side, so its not a big deal for me. But, I did wake up lastnight on my right side. So we will see.....Is it really that major?

Hi to everyone else. Just dropping in. The only issue I have had through out this whole pg. is my back. Oh my lower back is just killing me. Its almost like its weak. I teach dance as well as do an office job, and its just so bazarre because my back has never in my life botehred me. Any advice would be great! Hope everything is going good for everyone else!!

Oh and thanks for the advice on the US. I have mine in two weeks at 9am. So you can betcha I will be having a cup of am coffee. I have to have my coffee. I tried to cut it out and I got the WORST caffinee headaches. It was HORRIBEL!!!

[Ade]

It's still a boy! I had an appointment last week and DH had the Dr. check just to be sure. Sure enough, his "junk" (per my DH :rolleyes:) was very visible. Everything is looking good, baby's measuring on track in every area and was estimated to be 4oz.

Like numberlady, I'm getting horrible heartburn and acid reflux. I had it bad with DS1 and he came out with a full head of thick hair. Guess I can expect that with #2 as well! I'm trying to limit how much acid I take in, like in eating citrus and drinking cranbery juice. Yesterday I had a key lime yogurt, 10oz of cranbery juice, a liter of lemon lime gatorade and lemon pepper pasta in a lemon pepper sauce. I was dying! I had to lay down for a little while because the reflux got so bad it made me nauseous too!

As for the sidesleeping, there is a major artery that can become compressed when you get really big if you spend too much time laying flat on your back. And, laying on your left side maximizes blood flow to the uterus. But, my Ob told me not to worry about it with DS1. She said that sleep itself is so important and that it's hard to get comfortable during pregnancy, so sleep in whatever position was the most comfortable for me. Your body will let you know if there is a problem. If your legs become numb when you lay on your back, then lay on your sides. And don't panic if you wake up on your back or stomach. Sometimes I think the pregnancy books do more harm than good by trying to make us all paranoid about every little thing.

Any belly shots out there? I keep meaning to take one, if only to compare to my first pregnancy, but keep forgetting each week!

[numberlady]

aprilshowers - Oh I love OJ, so that may work, but this morning I drank too much and the heartburn was horrible!
dancn - Sorry about your back. I have a bad back too and it kills me when I get out of bed, but I don't have any advice. I am just dealing with it I guess. I also haven't stopped wearing high heals to work, so that is probably not helping either.
Ade - Congrats on the boy! Is there something about heartburn and hair that I haven't heard? I like what your OB said because I just can't get comfortable on my side when that is my only option.

belly shots - none for me. I think I just look fat!

[JackieO]

ADE-It's still a boy! I had an appointment last week and DH had the Dr. check just to be sure. Sure enough, his "junk" (per my DH :rolleyes:) was very visible. Everything is looking good, baby's measuring on track in every area and was estimated to be 4oz.

Ade - this whole paragraph made me laugh right out loud! Too funny - especially since it sounds just like something my DH would say...boys and their "junk";)

No belly shots here...but I was thinking I've been looking pretty pregnant for a few weeks - so today I'm talking to a woman at the library, and she blatantly stares at my belly. Then in the course of conversation she asks if we want to have another one....so I said yup - in january. Her response - oh, you're pregnant? Apparently to her I was just looking a little chunkier lately. Now we're not close and maybe that was her way of asking without asking, so I'm going to look at it that way instead of letting the preggo hormomes let loose on an unsuspecting woman:)
Oh and another cute, but worrisome statement from DD today...Mommy I don't want a sister (poking at my belly), I say well it's too late for that. DD responds - well can you just keep her in there forever?;)

*We don't know what we're having yet, but she's convinced it's a sister...which will be great fun if it's a boy...good times...

[Ade]

numberlady, it was originally thought to be an old wives tale, that if you had a lot of heartburn, then you'd have a baby with a lot of hair. But, then studies found that the same hormone that causes heartburn also triggers hair growth. I guess it's not 100%, though, as one of my friends said she had horrible heartburn in her pregnancy and her daughter is bald as egg!

JackieO, yeah, DH is a giant 12 year old. My peri is Pakistani, so he didn't quite understand what DH meant. Quite funny.

[meg100105]

Any belly shots out there? I keep meaning to take one, if only to compare to my first pregnancy, but keep forgetting each week!

I've taken them every week - but I just look bloated! I'll try to upload one on Tuesday when I take my 16 week shot.

[tunibell]

As you can see, I am clearly pregnant. Strangers have absolutely no qualms about asking when I'm due, and seem slightly confused when I say January.

15 weeks with DD:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/2721019211_c73a4b6181.jpg?v=0

15 weeks with #2:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2721017809_58d93d3b36.jpg?v=0

What I find most amusing about this comparison is how little my maternity fashion sense has changed!

[mmeblue]

As for the sidesleeping, there is a major artery that can become compressed when you get really big if you spend too much time laying flat on your back. And, laying on your left side maximizes blood flow to the uterus. But, my Ob told me not to worry about it with DS1. She said that sleep itself is so important and that it's hard to get comfortable during pregnancy, so sleep in whatever position was the most comfortable for me. Your body will let you know if there is a problem. If your legs become numb when you lay on your back, then lay on your sides. And don't panic if you wake up on your back or stomach.
Thanks for this, Ade. I've been trying to sleep on my sides (not caring which, really), but waking up on my back most of the time, so it's good to hear that my body should let me know if there's an issue there. I'll still check with my ob at my appt on Tuesday, but you've reassured me, at least for now. :)


belly shots - none for me. I think I just look fat!
Heh - same here! I finally made the switch to maternity clothes about a week ago, but I really just look kinda chunky, not pregnant. The belly's there, maybe, if you know to look for it, but I'm sure random strangers are just seeing me as fat. :p

Anyone else had a glucose tolerance test done yet? I had to do it early (just did the 1-hour test this morning) because my mom's got type 2 diabetes...if I pass this one, I'll do the 1-hour again in a couple of months. I'm really nervous about ending up with GD. My doctor's office should hopefully have the results from today's test when I go in on Tuesday...crossing my fingers and praying that everything's fine for now.

On a definitely happy note - my m/s is pretty much gone. I still have a weird taste in my mouth most of the time, but I've gone about a week without feeling queasy. Yay!

[GardenGirl]

Sometimes I think the pregnancy books do more harm than good by trying to make us all paranoid about every little thing.

Ditto that Ade. I may "know" everything they say to do or what can happen, but I certainly don't keep it at the front of my mind all the time. We shouldn't be so scared of pregnancy all the time - and I think some of those books make us that way.

Glucose Test - funny you mentino this mmeblue - I was just thinking about it today. I failed (by like a couple points) the one hour and had to do the 3 hour. I need to look back at when that was. I didn't know we were going to do it that day and you'll never guess what I had for breakfast less than an hour before the 1 hour - donuts. Oh yeah. I was so upset about having to do the 3 hour. Though in retrospect the 3 hour wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Anyone recall what week they generally do those at?

I don't do real belly shots. Especially this early - I feel like I just look fat. But I definitely have a belly now. I'm just so shocked because I didn't even look pregnant at this stage with DS. I guess us ROs, like tunibell, just shoot out faster :)

Hair/Heartburn - I had some heartburn, but not a ton. But DS had a full head of hair. I had one lady tell me it's because I had a lot of garlic when I was pregnant - which funny enough - I did. My husband uses garlic when he cooks like other people use salt and pepper :)

[aprilshowers]

We are big garlic-eaters, too, GardenGirl and DD was born with a full head of hair (and I had not one iota of heartburn) so maybe that woman knew what she was talking about!

I LOL'ed at your maternity fashion, tuni! I'm definitely bigger than I was with DD as well, and have noticed people doing that quick double-take at my belly.

It's funny how much more relaxed I am this pregnancy, probably because I'm not reading the pregnancy books. And as a vegetarian, most of the food "rules" don't even apply to me so I find I have forgotten everything (like which side you're supposed to sleep on!).

Still have enough m/s to stay on the Zofran but as long as I take it on time I can at least hold a conversation and remain vertical. I'm sick of being nauseas 24/7 though. I am looking forward to those sleepless newborn nights just because I won't be nauseas anymore!!!

Is anyone else still undecided about finding out the sex? I really wanted to last time and DH didn't. So we had the tech put it in an envelope but never opened it. I loved the surprise at her birth so now I am not sure I want to find out this time. But I figure it will be easier to talk to DD about it if I could just say you're having a little brother/sister. We have 4 weeks to decide but I still have no idea what to do! DH is fine either way.

[jenjen0713]

glucose test - I wanna say that I have to do mine at 28 weeks, but I'm not 100% certain.

tunibell - Great belly shot! You are a little more rounded out this time compared to last time.

aprilshowers - Sorry the nausea is still getting to you. Was it the same with your first pregnancy?

GardenGirl - Don't you just love all those wives' tales? If the heartbeat is this, you'll have this. If you are carrying high or low, the gender will be this.

mmeblue - Hope you pass the test!

Sorry that I didn't get to SOs for everyone. Hope all are doing well.

Had the AFP test this week and the results came back fine. Had the big u/s this morning and everything measuring fine. At first they thought I might have a low-lying placenta, but they checked it again at the end and it seemed to be higher than they originally thought. We also found out we are having another boy!

[JackieO]

Congrats on the Boy Jenjen!! I can't even imagine 3 boys - can you;)!

glucose test - I'm pretty sure I did mine for DD at 28 weeks too - I remember because the lab tech locked herself out of the lab and almost missed the 1 hour time limit before she got back in! I was not looking forward to drinking the orange stuff again so thankfully she got in in time. Although I was reading in another thread ( I don't think it was in here) that someone's OB was letting them eat a very ripe banana instead of the orange stuff. I'd never heard of that but kudos for her! Maybe I'll ask my OB about it...

[meg100105]

Congrats on your Boy Jenjen!

[ellebelle]

numberlady Thanks for the tip regarding drinking a sugary drink before going in to the u/s. I'll make sure to drink some OJ before my appointment on Monday. With dd, I had the u/s at 17 weeks and we weren't able to tell the gender so I'm worried that the same thing will happen this time since once again we are doing the u/s at 17 weeks. I hope the juice does the trick.

tunibell Great belly shots! You look to be carrying really low compared to with your dd.

jenjen0713 Congrats on the boy!!!

JackieO That's interesting about the banana for the glucose test. To bad very ripe bananas make me want to gag. I'll have to stick with the orange drink. I don't remember it tasting to bad last time though.

side sleeping I usually sleep on my side, but lately, I've been waking up while on my back. It's not comfortable for me to lay on my back so I have no idea why I've started doing it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

My ms seems to be better at the moment and I hope it continues to stay away. I'm looking forward to the u/s on Monday, but a little worried at the same time, that we won't be able to find out the gender since we are having it done on the early side and at the same time that we had dd's where we weren't able to find out. I tried to schedule the u/s the following week, but they were all booked up and then the 2 weeks after that, dh will be out of town.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and the ladies with heartburn get some relief.

[GardenGirl]

Ellebelle - I had my u/s with DS at 18 weeks and we couldn't tell. So I'm pretty sure I'm waiting until 20 weeks. Of course, there is a curious part of me that would probably take an earlier appointment if it were offered. Though I think I really want to know this time. My doc only does that one big one (unless complications arise) so this will be my only shot. Okay, I think I've convinced myself to wait until 20 weeks.

Glucose - the drink wasn't as bad as I was imagining. While it wasn't tasty - it wasn't horrible for me either. I just hated only having 5 minutes to drink it. I'm not a guzzler to begin with :)

Congrats on the boy JenJen! Is that what you were expecting? I think I'd make a great mom of only boys. Sometimes I hope this one is a boy. But I would love a girl too.

Morning sickness - I'm doing good. Though right now I'm starving! I'm supposed to meet my mom for breakfast and she's running late. Ugh!

[PaisleySloan]

Hi there,
I was part of the July, 2006 mommies thread, but bowed out before the first trimester was over. I've been back to the boards after taking a bit of a break for a couple of years. I have a tendency to lurk more than post, which is funny because I'm an extremely outgoing, social person. I thought I'd be more apt to post as part of a group. Looking forward to "growing" with you all!!

CC Name: PaisleySloan
Me: Michelle, 38 (I think I'm the oldest one here!!!), April 7
DH/Significant Other: Clint, 39
Married: 06/12/05
TTC Date: surprise!
BFP Date: 05/04/08
EDD: 01/08/09 or 01/09/09 (my ob gave me two. inspires confidence!)
Gender: It's a boy!!
Other children: Two step-sons at prime babysitting age!

I have my next ob appt on the 15th. Not sure what she's going to be doing at that time. I'm going in for my big 20 week u/s on the 19th of August, but that is with the place that did my CVS. All these appts. freak me out though. I was supposed to pop in last week for the blood test for spina bifida and completely forgot. While I wouldn't say I'm super paranoid, I do get a bit nervous waiting for results. I had to wait 2 weeks for my CVS results to come back. Thankfully it was normal.

[JackieO]

Welcome PaisleySloan! You and I have the same due date (the 9th) and my ultrasound date is the same as yours too! I don't know what we're having yet though so you're one step ahead of me there;) Welcome to the group!

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

[meg100105]

Quick question for everyone. Is anyone planning on cloth diapering? I think we will be and the amount of information out there is overwhelming. Do any of you 2nd time moms have any recommendations? Thanks!

[tunibell]

Meg - We CDed DD until she was about 18 months old, and plan to do the same thing with #2. The tough part about CDing is that, just like disposables, what works for one kid might not work for another - however, CDing offers soooo many more choices, that it can definitely be overwhelming.
Having BTDT, here are two things I would recommend:
1. If possible, use a diaper service for the first month. This is CDing at its simplest - a prefold (cotton) diaper and a water-proof cover. In the beginning, the little ones are constantly peeing and pooping, and they can easily go through 12+ diapers a day. Having a baby (especially a first one) is so freaking overwhelming in the first few weeks that it is nice not to have to do any more laundry than necessary.
2. After the first month, they tend to develop more regular potty schedules, and that's when the fun can begin. I recommend buying a sampler of items - get some pocket diapers, get some all-in-ones, etc. Try a few styles and brands. You might quickly decide that you love one style/brand (we used Fuzzibunz exclusively, night and day, for DD) or that you like to have different options for different occasions.

Feel free to ask me any more questions that you might have!

april - I probably would have decided to find out the sex ahead of time again (I am deeply impatient by nature), BUT I did give it some real thought this time around, especially since this will probably be our last child and I wondered if I would later regret missing the experience of a surprise at birth. In the end, we've decided to find out, and the big reason is that I think it really will make talking about the whole thing with Pip much easier. I was about the same age as our kiddos were when my brother was born, and somehow I had gotten the impression that because it could be a boy OR a girl, that I would get to choose. I picked a girl (named "Stephanie"), and was deeply, deeply upset to discover that my order had not been properly filled. I seriously do not think I forgave him for not being a girl for a very long time. Anyhow, I'm sure I was just a super-dramatic kid, but I think it will be a whole bunch easier if I present the issue as "here is what we're all getting."

[ellebelle]

Welcome PaisleySloan!!!!

meg100105 I've been giving cloth diapering some thought, but I haven't done much research yet.

tunibell Thanks for the info on cloth diapering. I plan on looking into it a little more.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Well this thread is being over run by boys! My fears about not be able to find out the gender today were completely unwarranted because the u/s very clearly showed us that the baby is a BOY! I'm happy to know that we will now have one of each and that I can tell dd she will have a brother. I'm also a little sad that all the cute little girl clothes that my dd has out grown will need to be packed up and put in the attic. I have many cute baby girl outfits that have never been worn.

I've started feeling the baby much more lately. It is now a very distinct feeling rather than a "was that the baby or just my lunch digesting" type of feeling. I can't wait until dh can feel the kicks too!

Anyone out there for sure keeping the baby's gender a surprise?

[GardenGirl]

Welcome PaisleySloan!

Cloth Diapering - not me. Though looking at some of the options I did consider it. There are some super cute things out there.

Gender - DS was a surprise and there are pros and cons to it. It made the delivery very exciting, but to be honest - it already is exciting, especially on your first. I did get sick of everyone thinking they knew what it was, some people are so adamant - it's a little ridiculous at times. And I kinda missed out a little on the bonding issue during the pregnancy. I hated calling the baby "it", but you kinda have to. But I don't regret not finding out - it was a special moment.

Dr visit - had my 16 week check up today and heartbeat was 158. Everything came back great from my bloodwork, my pap and my urine (I had 3 UTI's with DS). I scheduled my next visit and ultrasound for 3 weeks from today (I'll be 19 weeks) for August 25th. I can't wait to find out what it is.

Off to make dinner ...

[dancn226]

Dipers~Yeah, I would totally be going this direction, however DH doesn't like the idea. He just thinks it would eb better to just use the disposalable ones. So that is cool with me.

Gender~Dh adn I have alwasy said that we would find out. His cousin was telling us how they waited on his first and he said teh birth was so exciting. He said he found out with the second, but found out and it just wasn't the same. DH and i we have always talked about how we wanted to know! So, that is our plan. We figure the birth alone wil be quite intresteing, considerig I am so dramatci!! ;0)

Anyhow, today was kind of scarry fo rme. I woke up with my heart racing this am. And it lasted into the day. I called my dr. and she said its quite normal but to go home from wokr and put my feet up and just keep track of my pulse. She wanted it under 120. So I just did a lot of nothing. Until toinght, when the weather got really ugly here. My dog and I were in the living room and it got really green so we wnet to the basement and the tornado sirens went off. So we hid in the closet in the basement. DH is a Captain on a FD in the other town ove,r os needeless to say this was his shift. QUITE FREAKIN SCARRY!! What a night.

Aug 14 we find out the gender. We are VERY excited!!!

[meg100105]

Thanks Tunibell! I appreciate the suggestions.

I was able to convince one of my girlfriends to lend me her newborn stash so I can try it out without any financial risk. Fingers crossed that it works for us.

[mmeblue]

Just had an appointment this afternoon...and I passed the GTT! :D They said I have to do the 1-hour again at 25 weeks, but I'm SO glad I passed it, at least for now.

Baby's heartbeat was strong...while the doc was looking for it she said, "Wow, there's a lot of activity in there!" So I guess the baby's a busy little critter. :)

My big ultrasound will be on 8/29, and my next regular appointment will be on 9/4. We did decide that we're going to find out the gender (we weren't sure at first).

[JackieO]

Hello all!Just checking in to see how everyone's doing. I'm exhausted today - we went to a park/zoo/water park yesterday, pretty much all day, and it is definitely catching up to me today! Thankfully Dh had one more day off otherwise I would have been passing DD off to grandma!;)
to chime in on a few things...
cloth - nope, but I don't really know anything about it either...something to look into i guess
gender - we'll definitely find out, if the bean will cooperate. DH and I are the type of people who can't wait to open presents and find out surprises, plus I'm too much of a planner to not find out. I give BIG kudos to those who wait though, talk about willpower!!

Hope all is well with everyone...the last few weeks seem to have gone by rather quickly...I was shocked to see an April 2009 mommy thread already!! Here's hoping the next 22 weeks go by as fast:)

[numberlady]

I guess I haven't posted in a few days even though I have been lurking. I can't believe that I am over 17 weeks. I truly never thought I would make it that far.

dancn - That must have been scary - both the racing heart and the tornado siren. I haven't had the racing heart, but I have had a lot of out of breath episodes.
ellebelle - Congratulations on the boy!
PaisleySloan - Welcome and congrats for having a boy!
tunibell - Cute bellies. Mine aren't that rounded, its just below the belly button for me.

Cloth Diapers - I don't think I have the patience for it. I know it is better for the environment and probably save money over the long haul, but I just don't think it is for me.

I had bloodwork yesterday and they took like 8 vials. My doctor did some Jewish panel because d/h and I asked about it when I had a m/c about 2 years ago.

Getting ready to go on vacation to Boston for SIL's birthday. Not looking forward to airtravel, but can't wait to see the in-laws. Hope everyone has a good week and weekend.

[Ade]

Diapering - I feel like I weighed all of the options with DS and ended up going with disposable, mainly for the convenience factor. I work full time, so doing laundry more than once a week is pretty tough for me. Also, DS has a lot of GI issues that result in explosive diarreah on a pretty regular basis. It took us a long time to find the right diaper that would leak or blow out.

Finding out the Gender - We didn't find out with DS1 and didn't want to find out this time, but the u/s tech just blurted it out. It was such a surprise the first time and I liked not knowing. This time, I guess it's better that we did find out so that we can prepare my family for yet another boy. Plus, it's helped with prepartion and planning on our part. I was able to sort through all of DS's clothes and determine what to keep and what to give away. BUT, given the chance, I think I still would have preferred to wait again.

No belly shots for me yet too. I looked back at the ones I took with DS and I stopped taking them between 14 and 20 weeks, guess I didn't feel like I was changing much during that 6 week time period. But, sadly, I look more comparable to the 20 week shots already :(. Here, I felt like I was staying small again, but guess I've been in denial! I'm still not obvious enough for strangers to know I'm pregnant, just like I'm out of shape and have a tummy.

I'm also starting to feel better, but still needing Zofran in the morning. We were gone for the weekend and I forgot it, so ended up throwing up pretty bad on Sunday morning :(. We're going on our first kid free vacation (and probably last for a while!) this weekend. We'll be gone for a week, so I'm hoping that I feel okay. We want to get in a lot of hiking and snorkling, which will be tough if I'm still throwing up or have horrible heartburn. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

[maplekitty]

Hello everyone!
We've been away on vacation the past 2.5 weeks and just catching up now.
I forgot to make my U/S appnt before I left so they won't be able to fit me in for week, so I'll be 21 weeks when i get my U/S. Ah well....funny how the second time around I'm just not so nuerotic about things anymore. The first time I would have totally been freaking out that I'd have to wait an extra two weeks, haha.

Weight gain is slow and steady...probably because I'm so active with a toddler all day. Fine by me! :) Though the body is totally growing differently this time around! :( Some days I definitely feel pregnant, others I just feel bloated! Can't wait until we're past this weird inbetween stage and start sporting some real round preggo bellies!

diapers: with DD we used disposables, for convenience. However this time around I'm really looking into GDiapers! http://www.gdiapers.com/

[aprilshowers]

diapers - we are all cloth all the way and will continue with #2. I am so excited to not have to spend any more money (or at least not much!) on diapers!

morning sickness - still nauseas but I cut out one of the three doses of Zofran I take each day and am hanging in there. At least I can take care of DD and work again. I used up almost all my vacation for the year lying on the couch :(

glucose - I think mine is scheduled for 26 weeks? I may be the only person who actually enjoyed the drink :)

meg - I'd be happy to answer any cloth diapering questions if you want to PM me. We use prefolds + covers (the cheapest way to go) for daytime and pockets for nighttime/sitters/going out. There are a bunch of pockets now which are "one-size" which is really nice because you can use them from about 10 lbs all the way up to potty-training. I just got a bunch of BumGenius which we use with DD and will use with the new baby at the same time (if DD isn't PT'ed by then) which is kind of crazy! What kind of diapers did you get from your friend?

tuni - LOL, I'm sorry you didn't get your "Stephanie" - I hope you aren't still bearing a grudge! ;) I had exactly the same thought (easier to talk to DD) for wanting to find out. And I did get really sick of the "he or she" thing by the end of the pregnancy with her but I really liked the surprise too. I think we are leaning towards finding out but will reserve the right to change our minds up until the last minute (which is when I make all of my decisions!). I'm hoping if we do find out it will also help light a fire under our butts as far as picking a name goes. We never really did pick a boy name last time (the night before DD was born we agreed on an "acceptable" one though neither of us loved it) so it's a good thing she ended up being a she!

Ade - ugh, I feel your pain. I've forgotten the Zofran a couple of times too and it's no fun. Don't forget to pack it this weekend and I hope you are feeling well enough to do everything you want to do! Enjoy!

[Pookie861]

Hi Mommies! My apologies for being MIA for the past three weeks. I've been so sick and utterly exhausted! After three weeks of not going to the gym, I've put on 12 Lbs and felt completely awful! So now that I'm getting my energy back, I've started going back to the gym every day (since Monday) and have already dropped 4 Lbs. (Go me!)

My Dr. had prescribed me Zofran for the nausea which I think had severely contributed to my weight gain. My friends thought it was so cute that I was starting to show (at 14 weeks) but I had to tell them not to be excited because it wasn't the baby, it was just me getting fat. Lol! I feel really bloated and it seams as if I'm growing a kangaroo pouch! This is all really weird to me!

I've been meaning to let you all know that I've taken the intelligender (pee test) which determines the gender of your baby as early as 10 weeks. It's really neat! The test results show that we are expecting a girl!!! I am thrilled! We find out for sure on September 2nd when I go in for my 20 week ultrasound appointment. I'm interested in seeing how accurate the intelligender test really is. The web site claims a 94% accuracy rate, but then again, so does the Chinese gender prediction chart which predicts that we are having a boy. All I know, is that I can't wait to know for sure!

I'm interested in hearing about how all of you are feeling and if anyone has any suggestions for morning meals. I have yet to keep down anything before 10 AM and I'm wondering if there are any substitutions for those awful ginger candies and soda crackers. Let me know! Hope all is well, and congratulations for making it through our first trimester!

[GardenGirl]

Gender predictor kit - I'm so skeptical of those and I wish I wasn't. My GF took one after her first u/s couldn't determine the sex and it told her she was having a boy. Then her doc ordered an u/s and saw they were having a girl. She just had Caroline 6 weeks ago. I almost ordered one myself, but after the one and only person who I know that has used it received a wrong results, I'm hesistant. I was going to order one my first pregnancy but chickened out. Gosh I hope they can tell on my u/s!

GDiapers - those are so cute! And while I'd love to put less plastic in the landfills, they are quite more than the Pampers I buy for DS. The refills look to be about $52 for 128 - and I can get 140 diapers for $35. BUT - the "green cost" is so much better, I know I know.

[aprilshowers]

Pookie - I gained 12 lbs my first tri too (the only way I can keep from throwing up is by eating junk food). I felt really bad about that since I only gained 7 lbs in the same time period w/ DD but then I remembered I started out weighing 5 lbs less this time so I felt a little better. As for morning food, this probably won't work for everyone but DH brings me a Carnation Instant Breakfast before I get out of bed every morning. The protein helps fill my belly and it helps get those first two cups of liquid into me (he makes it w/ more milk than it calls for). Dehydration always made me really sick.

[tunibell]

Just to make you ladies feel better, I'll confess I'm up 17 lbs in 16 weeks. Ah well. It all came off the first time, and I'll just go ahead and assume it will the second time! This baby likes to eat. :)

[jenjen0713]

mmeblue - congrats on passing the GTT.

JackieO - I was surprised to see a April 09 thread already as well. Hard to believe it has been 3 months since I got my BFP.

diapering - I applaud people who cloth diaper, but it just isn't for me. I'm much too lazy to do laundry anymore than I absolutely have to.

gender prediction - So funny about the intelligender. Someone I know on this message board took the test and it came back boy and she had a girl. They are fun to do though!

weight - I think I'm up 14 pounds so far.

[meg100105]

I'm so excited! We just made an appointment for a 3D ultrasound on Tuesday, Aug. 12th. Hopefully we'll be able to see the goods. :)

Weight - I gained 9 pounds in my 1st Trimester. It's more than the book says to gain, but I'm not overly worried about it.

Belly Pictures

I'm going to be brave and post the first belly pictures. Anyone care to make a gender guess based on my almost belly?

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/megs100105/pregnancy/untitled-1.jpg http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/megs100105/pregnancy/Copyof2.jpg

[Ade]

GardenGirl, I hear ya on the cost of G-diapers. We use Huggies Supreme (only one that won't leak with DS's crazy blow outs) and even at $20 for 84, they're still quite a bit cheaper. Also, the flushing of the insert had me concerned. But I did dedicate an entire afternoon of research to them and was seriously contemplating switching.

Pookie, I've heard that the most accurate gender predictor is mother's intuition. So, go with your gut!

For morning meals, I start with a Yoplait Light while driving DS to daycare to get something in my stomach. I then try to get something more substantial in me at about 10. Trader Joe's Gluten Free Waffles are great, or an egg.

Weight - I'm up between 7-8 pounds at 17 weeks. Gaining less so far this time than with DS, and I started out 5 pounds lighter. But, still showing much faster :o. I'm holding off on taking a belly shot until 20 weeks so I can do a direct comparison with DS1. I don't want to compare 17 weeks this time with 14 weeks from DS1, that would just make me feel even worse!

meg, no gender guesses, but you look great!

[GardenGirl]

Yum, yogurt sounds good. I should pick some up tomorrow. DH is in charge of breakfast. I love eggs for breakfast so he normally makes a scrambled egg or an omelette (cheese and tomatoes). Then I eat some oatnut toast and a handful of strawberries/grapes/cherries. That's what DS eats as well. If I'm not in the mood for a big breakfast then I love Raisin Nut Bran cereal - I have it for dessert alot too. I also drink a glass of milk in a frozen mug - I love ice cold milk. I eat that around 7 and that lasts me until 10 when I have a snack of fruit and/or string cheese with DS. I may start doing yogurt in there somewhere ...

[ellebelle]

GardenGirl I hope you are able to find out the gender at 19 weeks. I'm so happy that we were able to find out this time. I was convinced going into the appointment that we would have a repeat of our last experience with dd.

dancn226 I've had the heart racing thing and an increase in palpations for the last two months. I have mitral valve prolapse though, so I just figured the extra stress of the baby was aggravating things.

mmeblue Congrats on passing the GTT!

numberlady Have a good trip!

Ade Enjoy your kid free vacation! I'm jealous. We took a nice romantic vacation when I was pg with dd, but it doesn't look like we'll be able to get away this time.

Pookie861 I'm sorry you've been feeling so sick lately. I doubt this would work for everyone, but I found that eating a fried or scrambled egg in the morning helped me feel better when I had really bad ms. I guess I needed the protein.

meg100105 Cute belly pics.

Diapers Well after doing some research on cloth diapers and reading how people clean them, I'm not sure I would really save that much money using cloth. We are in a drought where I live now and water rates are really high so washing diapers in several washes of cold water is not really ideal money wise or any more environmentally friendly. Washing in hot water would only make my gas bill even higher and from what I hear rates for gas are suppose to increase this winter as well. Those G diapers look super cute, but the cost would not work with my tiny sahm budget. It looks like we'll be using disposable again.

weight I've gained 6 pounds so far, which is way more than what I gained last time around at 17 weeks, but I'm okay with that. When I was pg with dd, I had a really tough time gaining weight and I stressed about it quite a bit.

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy - 4
Girl - 0
Suprise - 0
Unknown - 17

[aprilshowers]

It all came off the first time, and I'll just go ahead and assume it will the second time!This is the theory I'm going by too!

[GardenGirl]

Funny there are no girls yet :) Though I recall in my January 2007 thread that we started off with lots of boys and the gals finally caught up.

Eggs - thats exactly why I eat an egg in the morning. It really makes a difference compared to something starchy or sweet - at least for me.

Insomnia - so I can't sleep at night lately. If it goes on for another week I'm going to call the doc and see what she suggests. I'm usually a great sleeper and I use relaxation techniques that work for me, but lately nothing is working. Let's hope it's just a phase ...

[JackieO]

hmmm, i must have missed the egg conversation - i'll have to go look back for that.
gardengirl - sorry for the insomnia, i feel for ya - I don't have it but I'm up at least 2x/night to go to the bathroom...and i'm getting increasingly uncomfortable lying in bed so it takes me longer to get back to sleep...i was hoping this wouldn't come for another month or two!

off to get DD to bed - hope everyone has a great weekend!!

[PaisleySloan]

Hi ladies!

GardenGirl & JackieO - I'm having those same sleep issues! I bought a Snoogle (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3190421), which is almost like having three people in bed. I like the idea of it, but I feel like it locks me into one position all night. I've found myself tossing it off the bed and grabbing my regular pillow. They make a "mini" snoogle, so I may try that one instead.

My regular clothes have finally gotten to the point of being unwearable. I wore a pair of jeans with a Bella Band to dinner last weekend, but by the end of the night I was in pain!! :) Found some cute items at the Gap. I have to get some suits for a yearly convention in Vegas (which is going to be so boring - I'm just going to schedule spa time rather than party) at the end of the month.

At my last ob visit in July, I had gained 18lbs!!! At my second visit, I had lost 5lbs, so I'm saying 13lbs!! lol.. I honestly think all my weight is in my boobs, which are completely out of control. I'm still wearing a 36D (I usually wear a 34D), but I know my cup size has definitely increased.

[tunibell]

Sleep issues - Even though my m/s is over, I keep taking 1/2 tab of Unisom at night for just this reason. PaisleySloan, I felt the exact same way about the Snoogle, which is why I chucked it midway through my first pregnancy. I need to be able to roll.

Questions for ROs - Anyone else feeling a crazy amount of movement already? I'm way beyond flutters - I'm feeling flips, etc. The other night I had my hand on my lower abdomen and actually felt a kick externally. It's nice to be reminded of the baby and all, but I didn't expect to feel so beaten up so early on!

[numberlady]

Tuni - I'm not a RO, but a couple days ago I felt a definite kick. Not flutters. After that I started feeling on the outside and was pretty sure I was feeling it on the outside. I made DH put his hand on my stomach the next day and he felt something too, but it is still very light. I am very fluffy, so didn't think that I would feel anything for a while on the outside (I am 18 weeks tomorrow).

[JackieO]

still only feeling flutters over here, but i'm sure the kicks aren't too far away!
we had a good weekend, pretty quiet and relaxing...we started getting our guest room cleared out since that will be the baby's room. DH wanted to get the big stuff out before school starts again. Apparently he didn't want to spend a weekend working after he gets back into the school year;) Only now that DD knows that will be the baby's room she's asking like 20 times a day if her sister is ready to come out (as i said before, she's got a 50/50 chance of being right, we won;t correct her until we know).

In other news, we FINALLY had potty success this weekend. Thanks to all of you RO's that threw out suggestions. It took 2 weeks but she finally isn't holding it until she gets a pullup! YAY!!! I think she got sick of us making her sit on the potty regardless of whether or not she went, but ultimately I think she had decided she was ready to do it. Whatever it was I am sooooo proud of my little girl!!!

So, another week is here and I have about 10 more days until the big ultrasound... I know others have theirs coming up too so let's do a QOTD.
QOTD - Do you have a gut feeling about whether it's a girl or boy?
As for me, I've got nothing! I didn't have any idea with DD either. This time, DH thinks it's a girl ( he was right last time), and the only other person who's ventured a guess is my Dad, who had a dream about his grandson:) Hopefully we'll find out who's right on the19th!

[aprilshowers]

QOTD - I'm feeling boy. But I was sure we were having a boy last time and ended up with a girl.

movement - 2 days in a row last week I felt a ton of movement but nothing since then.

[jenjen0713]

meg100105 - Great belly shot. I'm going to guess girl for you!

GardenGirl - Sorry you are having trouble sleeping. I can get to sleep, but then I have these crazy dreams each night that makes for restless sleep.

JackieO - Congrats on the potty success! I hope that it continues!

movement - I feel a few thumps here and there each day, but not a whole lot of rolling or flips yet.

QOTD - From the beginning, I was calling the baby "he". I read somewhere that mother's intuition is 70% accurate. So a little better than the 50/50 chance.

I'm surprised we haven't had any little girls yet!

[Pookie861]

Hi everyone! Thanks for all of your updates and sharing about weight gain and how you've all been feeling. I've found such ease knowing that other women are going through such similar experiences. It's nice to have a little outlet like this, even if it is just to vent. Thanks again! I'll keep you all updated. Let's cross our fingers for Saturday! (My first 3D ultrasound...I’m scared and super excited all at the same time!)

Ade: My intuition tells me it's going to be a girl...I just have a feeling. We have our 3D ultrasound on Saturday (16th) so I will keep you updated! Mommy’s hoping for a girl but either way we'll be happy!

Aprilshowers:] Thanks for the tip! I'm going to try the Carnation instant breakfast and see if it helps.

[numberlady]

Intuition: I think we are having a boy. I have from the beginning - we find out Wednesday.

I got a call from the doctors office today and tested "positive" for downs syndrome. My results were 1/175 for my age and 1/310 for gestational age. So now we have to do additional testing. I didn't even want to do the darn testing and they didn't even have the results of the Jewish screen that I requested.

[Pookie861]

Hi Ladies!
I was at the gym yesterday trying to be an overachiever, and in my weak attempt to tackle the treadmill, I couldn’t help but think to myself “to hell with this place! I just want a big Mac!!!”
So then I started thinking about how terrible I felt when I had to pack away my “skinny jeans” last weekend. I can no longer get them zipped up over my new mommy hips and I’m having a really hard time with that. So despite my exhaustion, I’ve forced myself to try going back to the gym.
I don’t feel so blah but I am craving lots of fast food. I’m curious to hear about all of your interesting food cravings. Any good ones?

Numberlady- I just had my lab work testing for down syndrome done yesterday. How long does it take to get the results back? I didn’t really want to have it done either but my husband has convinced me that it’s better to know so that we can prepare ourselves as much as possible. I have a girlfriend who’s test results came back positive and her child was not born with Down syndrome. Keep in mind that doctors and lab results don’t have definitive answers for everything. :)

[dusthappy]

QOTDL: The L is for late. lol I am "feeling" another boy, but then I have weird moments when I think it "might" be a girl. Overall though I think boy.

Cravings: I have been chugging orange juice like it is going out of style. I normally hate OJ, but right now and when I was pregnant with DS, I loved it. Other than that, Tuna sandwhiches with lays chips. Ummm, yummy.

[COLOR="RedBig ultrasound is next Tuesday.[/COLOR] I am soooo excited to finally know what this bean is, I hope it cooperates. We opted to not get the AFP testing, so it will be nice to have a good long scan and see that everything is fine and growing the way it is supposed to.

Nesting is kicking in big time. I have so many things I want to get done, I am only limitted by a 1 year old and not enough energy to get thru it all. lol

[GardenGirl]

QOTD - Well I think it's a girl, but I'm trying to convince myself it's a boy. While I wouldn't be disappointed with another boy (I'd be a great mom of just boys!), I would like one of each. So I'm making sure not to sell myself (and family) on a girl. I have 13 days until my ultrasound so I'll live vicariously through you gals until then. Wonder who will have the first girl ...

Cravings - I still eat alot of fruit. Cherries and plums are my fav right now. I also enjoy Chick-fil-a chicken so I eat there at least once a week.

I've been looking at furniture for DS's big boy room. I need to get that ordered this week so he can transition before the baby is born.

Downs syndrome - I've heard of several false positives with those tests, thats one reason I didn't want to have it done. Although, we did anyway. I guess because my doc pressured us, but we figured we would prepare for any results. Good luck with whats next numberlady.

Cold - I have a little cold right now. I took some Benadryl last night and actually slept decent (not great, but decent) for the first time in almost 2 weeks. I have a snoogle from last time but like a PP said, it's like having a third person in bed. I was always fighting with it. So I just use a king size pillow between my legs and several other pillows around me. I do love to sleep on my tummy though. We'll see how long that lasts ...

[meg100105]

numberlady - good luck with the next step.

We found out yesterday that we're having a baby BOY! It's not what we were expecting, but we're excited.

[maplekitty]

This week is going by so SLOWLY! DH is in Scotland performing at the World Highland Games and I'm trying not to go out of my mind at home alone with a toddler for 8 days!
Starting to feel the baby move more and more, and honestly it's the most comforting feeling in the world to feel the baby move inside you and know that it's doing okay and not have that constant fear in the back of your mind!
Baby is most active around 9am (right after my coffee) and 10pm (as I'm laying down to bed) :)

[GardenGirl]

Congrats on the BOY Meg100105! I can't believe another boy. I checked out the upcoming appt list and it looks like numberlady is having hers today. She seems to think it's a boy so maybe we'll see if we'll go 6-0!

[numberlady]

I checked out the upcoming appt list and it looks like numberlady is having hers today. She seems to think it's a boy so maybe we'll see if we'll go 6-0!

I had mine today and I was right we are having a BOY! Sorry I couldn't break the streak:)

We had our level II U/S today and they found a "soft marker" for downs syndrome. They will do another u/s in 4 weeks. We were hoping that we would get the all clear, but that didn't happen. I'm off to do some research to see if I can ease my mind.

[numberlady]

I guess it was rude for me to post an not do s/o's...I am in my own little world right now.

Pookie - I had my test last Tuesday and go the results on Monday, so mine took less than a week. I hope yours comes back fine.
meg - Congrats on the boy!

[JackieO]

meg- congrats on the boy
numberlady - congrats on your boy too...hopefully you'll get the all clear in a few more weeks, in the meantime i hope you can find info to ease your mind.

there's an awful lot of boys in here!!! i'm getting more and more excited for next tuesday...i'm trying not to get my hopes up though since DD wouldn't give it up.
so i'm dreading tomorrow - i have to go 3 hours away for my uncle's funeral and i'm coming back the same day. i so don't enjoy riding in a car at this point...plus it's for a funeral. i'm actually going with my parents so I don't have to drive, but DH & DD are staying home. I couldn't see sitting her in the car for 3 hours then sitting her at a wake/service for 3 hours only to put her back in the car for another 3 hours...we would have preferred to stay overnight but all of our dogsitters will be at the funeral, so no doggie care;)
on a completely unrelated note - i've all of a sudden become unable to eat much at one sitting. dinner especially - 2 nights in a row now, i've barely finished half my dinner...anyone else? of course this means i eat again at like 8/8:30...can't wait to get on the scale next week!

[dancn226]

Numberlady~Congrats on teh boy. Sorry about the downs thing. I will find out today about ours, as well as b or g. Today is dh's b'day as well, so its a pretty exciting day!!!

Meg~Yeah for boy

We have our US today, so I will be back later to report.

[aprilshowers]

I don't know why the rest of us should even bother finding out the gender since clearly we are all going to have boys!!!

[tunibell]

I don't know why the rest of us should even bother finding out the gender since clearly we are all going to have boys!!!

Seriously. Just in case, though, I've scheduled my big u/s for August 27th. :D

Numberlady - Did you have the nuchal translucency u/s, or just the bloodwork? I've heard that the measurement is a much better indicator than the bloodwork. I wouldn't worry too much about one soft marker - they seem to abound in plenty of typical children.

[dancn226]

HI all, just wanted to drop in and report, another BOY here. Crazy isn't it!!:D

[GardenGirl]

No freakin' way! Congrats on lucky number 7 BOY Dancn!! Wonder who will break the streak. My u/s isn't for another 9 days, wonder if it will last until then ...

ETA - pressed submit too soon!

So how did the appointment go. Was everything okay? Did you get good pictures. I was never too happy with the pictures we got through my pregnancy with DS, they always needed lots of explanations :)

[numberlady]

JackiO - Sorry about your uncle. I hope the drive and service go by quickly and you are not too miserable.
tunibell - We didn't have the NT. My bloodwork showed elevated risk, so we saw a specialist who did the ultrasound and found the "marker". Based on everything I read, if we had one and not the other it would probably be nothing, but the fact that I have both it could be something. I did some research last night and I am done at this point. We went through so much to get pregnant with a sticky pregnancy that I can only believe that we will get the baby that we were meant to get.
dancn - Congrats on another boy! I can't believe we have all boys in this thread!

I also wanted to warn you all, I ate some chocolate before my u/s because a friend told me that it would ensure that the baby would move around enough to see the goods. I think we even had the discussion in here. Well, my baby was moving around so much the tech had a really hard time getting the shots she needed. She couldn't get a profile picture at all. So if you want good u/s pictures, don't drink or eat too much caffeine right before.

[dancn226]

Number~Wow, that is crazy! I didn't have chocolate, oh wait I did, I had some chocolate doughnuts, and some coffee wtih some orange juice. The lady that did the us was a completely b#tch! If you know what I mean. I know they are not supposed to tell you anything, but I totally felt the brush off frm her. It was s tupid!!

Garden Girl~Yeah, everything came back as normal! So that is good! We were very happy about that. It was def. a boy. No doubt about it! We did get some okay pcitures. This lady was just mean though. Anyways, we got one with his arm up in teh air like he is going to punch someone. It so funny. DH was like we have a fighter here!!

Anyhow, everything went good. DR. apt went very well. We found out the Downs test came back negitive. So we were very happy about that. The US lady made me mad. She was just ignorant. My hsuban'd cousins son has spina bifida, and anyways, she was focusing on that part for a long time. My husband was worring becuase here he thought something was wrong. He said can you just tell me if its okay. She's like, Ic an't tell you anything, so stop asking. Its like okya, I understand that, just you dont' have to say it so ignoratly! oh, she was mean. So then we had the dr. appt rigth after that, and he took a look at everythign and said everything looks good. So we were happy about that. Then we had to run and sign another lease fo rthe dance studio. It was a crazy day, on top of it all it was DH b'day. So we get home and we spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning! Then we had people over, until like 12am. So needless to say it was one of those days!!

Hope everyone else is doign good!

[honey_bee]

My goodness, it's been a while since I've been here. :o I had a bit of a scare a couple weeks ago and have been taking things slow and easy since. I fell down some stairs, woke up with contractions 12 hours later and ended up in the ER for half a day. Luckily they were able to stop the contractions and we're still doing fine, allbeit a little sore. Jeesh.

I can't get over all the boys in this thread! :eek: Congrats to those of you who've found out, already. I'm jealous!

I had two u/s over the coarse of my ER visit and OB follow-up, but neither tech could tell the gender because of position. Although, I'm sure they were a little more concerned about looking at other things under the circumstances. My level II is scheduled for 8/29, so hopefully we'll be able to tell then. We didn't find out with DD and it was fabulous! I'd be fine with waiting again, but DH is dying to know and we thought it would help to prepare DD for the new baby.

Please forgive me for not doing s/o's. I'm so terribly behind in here. Have a happy Friday, ladies!

[JLRenheos]

....just popping in here to Congratulate Dancn on your little BOY!!! What a great B-day present for your Dh! Glad to hear everything is going well for you!....

[MrsSpencer]

congrats on the BOY dancn!....back to lurking

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy - 7
Girl - 0
Suprise - 0
Unknown - 14

[maplekitty]

TM you can mark me down as a surprise, we will not be finding out this time around!

[dancn226]

Mrs Spencer~Thansk so much! How is your littel one doing?

JL~Thanks as well! How are things going wtih yoru little guy?

Anyhow, hope everyone is doing good? My DH and I are in the process of moving the dnace studio. So needless to say this week is going to be HETIC. I need to be tehre to clean adn just get stuff set up! So its been crazy. I moved all the stuff yesterday. DH had his friends come over after there shift which ends at 7am. So we did that at 7am and we were home by 9 am, I wetn back to bed until 12pm. It was like wow, I was really out of it!

[ellebelle]

I can't believe how many boys we have so far! It looks like a couple of mommies are having big u/s's today. I can't wait to see who breaks the boy streak! It's bound to happen right?

I'm feeling the baby more and more everyday and I feel like my belly is growing everyday as well. We moved dd to her new big girl bed last weekend and it went surprisingly well. We had her help move all her toys and stuffed animals to her new room, which really helped get her excited about the transition. Now I need to spend sometime changing the girlie nursery to a baby boy nursery.

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy - 7
Girl - 0
Suprise - 1
Unknown - 13

[JackieO]

Soooooo.....I am here to officially break the boy streak (well 99.9% break the boy streak!!!) It's a GIRL!!!
We had our ultrasound today, everything was great, baby was off the charts, weighed about 12 oz., and while there was no exact money shot, the tech (who's been doing this for 38 years) said not to quote her on it but she was 99.9% sure it was a girl. I actually go back in 3 weeks for another US since she couldn't get measurements on a few things and she wanted baby girl to grow a little...also found out I have anterior placenta which is why I don't feel the big kicks yet, and baby is transverse right now. No biggie as we're doing a repeat c-section anyway.
We're excited, DD is excited and relieved I didn't have to tell her it was a boy;)

[meg100105]

Congrats on your girl Jackie!

[GardenGirl]

Congrats on the girl JackieO! I haven't felt any big kicks either and I'm sure I did with DS this far along. Wonder if I'm just too busy with a toddler to notice or if I have anterior placenta or something. We'll just have to wait until Monday to find out.

My belly has officially "popped" out over the past week. I take DS to parent/child swimming once a week and the girls were quite vocal on how much I'd changed in just a week. Kinda makes me feel better about how hungry I've been lately :)

Well DS is trying to type on the computer, yikes gotta run ...

[maplekitty]

JackieO - Congrats on our first girl!!


**********

Not much to update, other than my breasts are getting very tender and tingly lately and I think I'm going to start leaking soon. It was around this time with my DD. Gotta crack out my breast pads just in case!

[GardenGirl]

Not much to update, other than my breasts are getting very tender and tingly lately and I think I'm going to start leaking soon. It was around this time with my DD. Gotta crack out my breast pads just in case!

Ditto that maplekitty - I weaned DS 2.5 months ago and I swear I could pick right back up where I left off.

Insomnia is getting better, though still not a "good" nights sleep. I'm waking up at 6:00am starving. So I need to find a fix for that ASAP.

[Pookie861]

Hi Mommies!
So we had our 3D ultrasound on Saturday and the US technician said that I’m really early in my pregnancy but she thinks she sees a scrotum and we’re most likely having a boy. In all honesty, I was so disappointed, I cried the entire way home. I really had my heart set on a little girl and that stupid intelligender (biggest crock of s*** on the planet) had really supported my intuition by turning orange (indicating that we are having a girl). I’ve been an emotional wreck ever since.
We have our next US appointment on Sep. 11th and my husband was so mad at me for saying that I hope the penis falls off by then. After all, my sister was predicted to be a boy at her first US, and her penis went away by the time she was born! Lol.
I’m wondering how accurate these US things really are, especially at 16 weeks. I’m still hoping for a little girl even though I know I would be a great little soccer mom. I guess I just got my hopes a little too high for Juicy couture outfits and an Angelina Ballerina birthday party. (So much for counting your chickens before they hatch!)
The husband and our families are super excited. I’m working on it. I can’t help but feel that my intuition has betrayed me and Intelligender has lied to me by telling me what I wanted to hear. At this point, I’ve been so emotional, I don’t know why I’ve been so upset, because I’m disappointed or because I feel like I can’t trust my own intuition? Anyone else having weird emotional upsets like this?
JackieO: Congrats on the little girl! I’m super excited for you!!!
Honey bee: I hope you are recovering from your fall down the stairs. On Friday, I was bitten in the tummy by a huge Chow and suffered two nasty puncture wounds. Me and the lil tike are okay but I know how scared you must have been for you as well as your little one. I keep you all in my prayers.

[ellebelle]

JackieO Congrats on your little girl! Finally the spell has been broken!!

Pookie861 I'm so sorry you're having a hard time with finding out you are having a boy. I hope you are able to get through the disappointment quickly. I have a friend who was completely convinced that she was having a girl only to be let down at her u/s that her intuition was wrong. It took her a couple of weeks to completely come to terms with the fact that she was having a boy. I have to admit that I too felt a little sad spot in my heart when I found out we were having a boy. After having my daughter, I just can't imagine what having a little boy in the family will be like. Although, I'm sure once we lay eyes on our baby boys our hearts will melt!

I'm glad to hear that you are okay after your encounter with the chow. How scary! :eek:

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy - 8
Girl - 1
Suprise - 1
Unknown - 11

[tunibell]

Pookie861 - I'm sending you virtual hugs. I was reading a thread in the pregnancy forum on antenatal depression, and many of the women could trace the beginning of their symptoms to finding out they were having one sex while hoping for another. Not to suggest that the same thing will happen to you or anything - just wanted to say that I think "gender disappointment" is a very real issue. Since we're 99% positive that this will be our last child, I know that I'm going to have some degree of disappointment no matter which sex we get - if it's a boy I'll be sad that Pip will never have a sister, and if it's a girl I'll be sad that neither me nor my DH will get have a son. That said, my two best girlfriends recently had boys (when they really wanted girls) and both say that they now are all about the Y chromosome. :)

[GardenGirl]

Gender - I'm sorry your intellegender prediction was wrong. I think I probably already posted this previously, but I'm SO glad I never did that last time when they couldn't find out the sex. As a woman, I think if I were told I was having a girl only to find out later that it was a boy - I would be really upset. Not that I'm not thrilled with a boy, but what woman doesn't want a little girl, ya know? I don't know how they can claim to be so accurate. I still don't know anyone who has done one and they've predicted correctly. I'm sure you are quite upset that what you thought you were having and what they predicted you were having are both different from the actuality. I give you long distance hugs while you come to terms with things. I'm sure all the mom's of boys out there (me included) can definitely say it's a wonderful thing. Sometimes I wish I would have another boy because it is just so amazing.

Threadmistress - is there any way you could put the actual gender on the home page of everyone (under their user name) I'm starting to forget who is having what :) I'm happy to help if you need it.

I guess I'm the next to find out the gender. I'm still at a loss as to what it is, and to be honest, there's a part of me that wants to wait. Gosh would my family and friends be so mad. They all think it's a girl - I think because they want a girl. So the part of me that thinks its a boy, wants to wait - that way no one is disappointed.

[ellebelle]

GardenGirl I sent you a pm!

[GardenGirl]

Ellebelle - well I'm an idiot! I didn't look at the first post on the first page where you listed everyone! I just went through the entire thread writing down who had what so I could post them and you'd already done it! Yikes, I apparently need some sleep. That said, I'm happy to help out in the future. I may double post the genders just in case someone else is an idiot like me!!!

[MrsSpencer]

dancn...he's great..thanks for asking!

[ellebelle]

GardenGirl I'm so sorry! I should have said something, but I was just thinking that everyone must have their own way that they like to use to find info they are interested in. Would it be better if I moved the gender announcements before the big picture instead of below it?

[GardenGirl]

Oh, no - its no biggie. I was just having a brain fart :) But you're probably right, that was how it was in my Jan 07 group, so thats probably why I was looking for it where I was.

We went out with some friends tonight for wings and beer. Only I couldn't have any beer. Man was that rough. I steal sips of DH's every now and then but for some reason a sip didn't seem to quench my thirst this time. I realized that in the past two years (29 months actually) I've shared my body with someone else. I was PG for 9 months, BF'd for 17 months and now I'm PG again. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a heavy drinker. But I do enjoy good wine and ice cold beer :) I think I'll pump alot more than I did with DS and I'll do overnights at G-ma's house earlier with this than DS. Though, that's easy to say. We'll see what actually happens.

[Pookie861]

Ellebelle, Tunibell, & GardenGirl~ Thank you so much for your kind support and understanding. I had absolutely no idea that “Gender Depression” even existed. I really had a hard time with this over the past weekend. The DH and I went with our favorite friends to Disney Land and every time I saw a little princess running around, I could feel my heart sink. Looking at the walls and walls of pink and ruffles was hard too. Fortunately, our friends have the most darling little boy and every time I’m around them, I get excited about having a lil guy. I’m sure that when I first lay eyes on my lil boy I’m going to love him like crazy!
I’m really starting to get excited. Yesterday, I was driving home and I felt the baby move for the first time. For the first time I thought to myself, “Aw, that’s my lil guy! And I smiled the whole way home.
Has anyone read any good pregnancy books lately? I was reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting…If you have any form of hypochondria, this book will terrify you!
The best one I’ve read so far has surprisingly been Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy. It really presents a great outlook on all of the “joys of expecting motherhood”. Check it out if you get a chance!:)

[PaisleySloan]

Hi everyone! I've been MIA lately. Busy with work and such. I have my yearly convention in Vegas next week. Bleh. Not looking forward to that at all!

Congrats on all the boys!!! JackieO, I'm jealous. We really wanted a girl as well. Hubby has two boys already. We were disappointed, but then I reminded myself of how I was as a teen and that made me glad we're having a boy! The clothes for girls are just so bloody cute!

GardenGirl, I feel your pain with the wings and beer thing. I went to a wine and cheese bar a couple of weeks ago. They have tapas, but specialize in wine/cheese pairings. I was so sad! Our waiter was amazing though. He brought the table all pasteurized cheeses, including bleu and Camembert!! I was in cheese heaven. We have that restaurant on a things to do after I'm done being PG list! :)

We had our big U/S on the 19th and everything looks awesome. JackieO, our babies weigh exactly the same!! While we were sure the baby was a boy (had a CVS), we actually got to see for ourselves. The doctor said he was very obviously a boy and you can't miss that thing! He is super active and everything else looked great. It was amazing to see. I wish I could look at him everyday! :)

My underwear is killing me!! I've gained so much weight in my hips and thighs (great!), and I can't find any comfy undies! Does anyone have any recommendations? I will wear a thong during the day, but I do like hipster briefs and sometimes wear those. I always wear briefs to bed, although I've been wearing my husband's boxers for the past two nights.

I've been super congested in the morning and I can actually hear myself snore!!! Other than that, all is well. I've been a bit hormonal (ya think?) and sensitive the past two weeks.

I'll post a belly shot sometime soon. I took pics the other night and was shocked at how large I look! LOL

[dusthappy]

Congrats on all the boys and our one girl! lol Pookie, I am so sorry you aren't getting what you hoped for. Gender disappointment is real and packs a double whammy. You feel like you aren't getting what you want, then you feel guilty for even thinking that way. Hugs to you, when your little boy gets here you will love him even though he has a penis! ;)

We had our big u/s on 8/19 and it is another BOY!! DH is beside himself, strutting around and proud that he is 2 for 2 in getting what he wanted. Though I don't think he would have been upset if it were a girl, we were just hoping for a boy to even our family out and provide Kane with a best friend playmate like our girls have.

I am itching like crazy on my feet and hands so I am pretty sure that my ICP is back in full force, and earlier than in the past two pregnancies. SUcks. I feel the baby, but not often enough (chasing after a 14 month old is distracting) to perform accurate count kicks, so I am probably going to spend the next 4 months doing Fetal NST three times a week, and move up to twice monthly appointments until we get to 32 weeks. Has anybody heard of them prescribing a fetal monitor for home use? It would be near impossible for me to get to the hospital three times a week with DH's work schedule and that would mean I had to take Kane and our OB floor doesn't allow anyone under 13 unless they are a delivering mother.

[maplekitty]

Hello ladies!
Had my u/s yesterday and, honestly it was pretty dissapointing. Just a big build-up for not much excitement. Like I said before, the techs here don't tell you anything! No gender, no nothing! As soon as I layed down and pulled my top down she poked my belly and said, in this condecending voice, "your second baby?". Umm, yah...are you implying I'm fat or are you commenting on my already stretchmarked belly? B*tch! Then she pushed so hard with the wand I thought I'd walk out of there with bruises! She didnt say a word the whole time, and then when she went to go consult with the doctr, she left me in there for what seemed like ages. Poor baby was kicking like crazy as soon as she left. I kept saying "sorry baby, I'm sorry she man-handled you like that!" Then DH and DD came in, she showed us baby on the screen, pointed out the spine, the face, commented that you could only make out the eyes and a bit of the nose, but not the lips because my "stomach is so thick" UGH!! *roll eyes*
And that was that. I'll get the report from my midwives, so hopefully they will go over it with me and be a little more happy about it.
Definitely not the exciting "big u/s" moment you guys all have in the states!

But anywho, here's my little dumpling!!
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e29/maplekitty/babydumpling.jpg?t=1219424009

[dancn226]

Garden Girl~I feel your pain. I use to NEVER drink beer. I couodn't stand it. I was more of a wine girl. Before I knew I was pg, I went and took my dancers to a parade, and aftrer DH and I went out to dinner. He ordered a pitcher of beer and I downed it. I should have known then. But I didn't. This whole pgrg. my entire craving has been beer. My DH will only give me a couple of sips, but its so good. It so MEAN when he is sitting next to me with a can open. Its so bad!!!

Maple~I know what you mean. Our US person was a beast. She was so mean to us. I mean whatever, you can be nice if I ask a question. DH asked a question and she was like in a NASTY b*itch like manner that she coudnt' answer those quesitons. Well we didn't know that. She was just nasty. She didn't tell us anything except gender, and that was that. And she was even nasty about that. I don't know who ruined her day, but she totally took it out on us. That can really ruin it for you!

My little guy had his foot what felt like it was wrapped around my ribs the ohter night. Oh it was so bad, it hurt so bad. I know it was him. The whole day he kept kicking me. It was like what. Now in the last two days, i have felt llittle pokes and prodes, but nothing like the toher dya! Anyways my biggest problem has been my back. Its killing me all the time. I was sreiously limping around the house lastnight it was so bad. I woke DH getting up to go to the bathroom at 2am this am. So he was like we are switching sides. Our bed is right up against the wall. So we will see if he really does that or not! It was so funny though i scared the s&it out of him. It was to funny.

[Ade]

Sorry to have been absent for so long. DH and I took a kid free vacation (our first and probably last for a long time!) to Maui for a week and then I needed to do a 3 day business trip the week after. The vacation was a blast, I felt okay for the most part, but still good enough to get in lots of hiking, swimming, snorkling and great food! I'm pretty tired after traveling so much and dealing with the time change, TGIF! DS definitely got pretty spoiled from staying with 2 sets of grandparents for a week and a half, so we're dealing with the aftermath of that!

I'm doing okay. Trying to wean off of the Zofran, but still finding I need about a pill a day. I threw up yesterday morning :(, but think it had to do with not eating enough the night before. I've been feeling the baby move pretty consistantly since about 14 weeks, although it's been a lot more pronounced in the past week. While very reassuring, I have to admit it's also a tad bit annoying :o. There, I said it! I'm the worst mom in the world, I know! But, the best way I can think to describe it is gas bubbles constantly going off in your stomach. Not exactly a pleasant feeling, Gax-X exists for a reason! Also, I got a weird thing on the top of my mouth where I got a bunch of bumps that then all burst and resulted in kind of open sores. It feels like I went bonzai with my tooth brush and scrubed my mouth raw, not very nice at all. Didn't get this with DS, so not sure if it's pregnancy related or not.

Other than that, no other real updates. I haven't been to Dr in a while as my Ob's been sick and after waiting for 2 hours at my peri's office the day before going on vacation, I finally walked out. I have a follow up this Monday morning, so we'll see if anything's changed.

Pookie, sorry to hear about your disappointment. I can tell you that although the clothing is pretty cute for girls, we have so much fun dressing DS like a little man. DH LOVES trying to dress DS in the same outfit as him. It's pretty cute to see the mini versions of polos and khakis, hawaiian shirts and even baby Vans. While Angelina the Ballerina may be out, there are so many awesome ideas for boy's b-days. And have to say that I am very relieved to not have to deal with things like body and weight issues, trying to dress sexy too young, teenage emotions and hormones (what teenage girl doesn hate her mom or dad or both at some point?), no offense to moms of girls, but I know what a nightmare I was as a teenager and am so glad karma didn't deal me the same fate as my mom!

Oh, and for books, I love all of the Dr. Sears books. He has a great one on birth to 2 years that I am constantly referencing, it covers EVERYTHING! Also, kudos to you on working out consistantly! I did good on vacation and that's really it for the whole pregnancy! I just feel so tired and sick that I'm not motivated to do anything. Oh, and joining you on the huge cans too, I've gone from 34 B/C to 34D. I got up to 36E with DS, so hoping I don't get that big again, but DH is loving the change!

PaisleySloan, both Motherhood and Old Navy have maternity underwear which is pretty dang comfortable. I switched to it a little while back, and while they're still a little big, they feel great!

GardenGirl, I hear ya on the drinking, but it's mainly the social aspect I miss. This pregnancy I haven't wanted anything to do with alcohol or coffee, both make me sick or give me acid reflux. But, I miss getting a coffee from Starbucks or Peets on a weekend morning, or even sipping my coffee lesuirely in the morning. And, when we get together with friends or DH has a drink to unwind, I really wish I could indulge as well. On my business trip, there were dinners and parties every night, but I found myself back in my hotel room by 9 at the latest each night as it seemed like, what's the point in staying out late if everyone else will be getting drunk and I'd be the lone sober one, feeling fat and awkward. Better to get more sleep! Oh, and I am so there with you on the insomnia! It seems like the only way I can sleep is by taking a Tylenol PM, which I am trying to avoid doing, so that just means no sleep :(

maplekitty and dancn, so sorry to hear about your lousy ultrasound tech. Talk about uncuth! I feel so fortunate that all of my u/s have been done by either my Ob or Peri.

dusthappy, so sorry to hear your Pups rash is back. I've heard that's horrible! As for the in home monitoring, my Peri tried to prescribe it in my first pregnancy, but it was up to my insurance to approve it. My insurance decided that since I wasn't on bedrest, I'd need to go in for monitoring, and I have pretty AMAZING insurance. Maybe yours will be different.

Numberlady, I'm so sorry you are experiencing the stress you are. Sometimes I think knowing as much as we do now does more harm than good during pregnancy. With my DS they told me I had too little fluid, the cord was around DS's neck, I had slight placenta previa, shortened cervix, preterm contractions requiring anti-contraction medication, progesterone shots and steroid shots to help in lung development. DS was born full term with no complications and no health issues (well, aside from food allergies). I was such a nervous wreck through my whole pregnancy that I wish I didn't know what I did so I could have relaxed more and not stressed so much. I hope yours ends up being a case where it's a lot of worry over nothing. Best of luck!

honey_bee, how frightening to hear about your fall. I hope you are doing just fine now with no lasting effects.

[JackieO]

Hello everyone!

I don't have much time but i just wanted to say congrats on a few more boys, PaisleySloan & Dusthappy...apparently my little girl will have no problem finding boyfriends - when she's old enough of course;)
Pookie, I'm so sorry that you didn't get what you hoped for, but it's great that you're getting excited for your little boy! I sometimes look at little boys and wonder if I could take care of one - they just seem so different from my DD...of course all of her boy friends are crazy:) Anyway, I'm sure you'll love that little one more than you can imagine.

So I have to admit I feel a little left out over on the pink side...I wonder if anyone will join me??? I'll have to check who's up next!

[GardenGirl]

Me me me! I'm next. And gosh can I barely stand it. The doctor's office called today and had to reschedule my appointment - as she needed to clear her morning schedule for a surgery. I about died. Then I realized that the radiology department in her office (large practice) does them, so I didn't have to change that. Fortunately I begged them to let me get worked in for the afternoon, so DH and I will grab some lunch and do some shopping between appointments. Our ultrasound techs have gone both ways. The lady that did our NT was the same that did it last PG. I couldn't stand her. If I had her for my Level II, I'd scream. She says absolutely nothing. The one that did our II last time was extremely nice and tried so hard to figure out the sex. She showed us everything (liver, bladder, heart, cord, etc) but didn't elaborate too much - but I didn't ask or expect her too. I know they can't diagnose anything but they at least need to be friendly - thankfully she was. I hope I have the same experience this time around. I sympathize for those of you that received the b*tch treatment.

Books - honestly, I haven't picked up a book in 2 months. At week 10 I looked at "Week by Week Pregnancy" or whatever it's called and haven't really paid much attention again. Oh how things are different the second time around. I anticipated each chapter last time and sometimes looked ahead. I didn't read WTEWYE - as I heard the same thing about paranoia. I get the weekly BabyCenter emails and browse that info, but nothing like I did the first time around. I enjoyed the "Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy" only for some light humor. It told me most everything I knew/heard, but it's delivery was a nice change of pace.

Personal Shoutouts - I was planning on doing them, but DH and I are having date night tonight and I need to get DS ready to go to my parent's house.

[numberlady]

Well, I am sitting here in TS Fay and hoping that we don't lose power. It is raining pretty hard and we have quite the pond in our front yard, but no downed trees (like our neighbors).

I am one day away from 1/2 way. In the early days I was just hoping that time would move so that we could get into the safe zone, now it is amazing that time has moved so fast. We have a lot of work to do!

I am really starting to get excited about our little boy. I feel him move all the time and it has really help me start to feel attached. I was afraid after our m/c and then the scary news from the specialist that I wouldn't be able to feel a special bond before he was born.

My next appointments are 9/10 (Specialist) and 9/15 (OB)

GardenGirl - I know you must be getting excited for you appointment. I'm glad they didn't cancel your U/S.
Ade - Sorry you are still getting sick. It sounds like you had a good vacation.
Maplekitty - I can't believe how rude your U/S tech was!
Dusthappy - Congrats on another BOY!
PaisleySloan - I always wear Jockey No Panty Line underwear and so far they have been good this pregnancy. I wear the higher ones and right now I don't really have a round pregnancy belly, so haven't had to deal with them rolling down. They are so comfy. I think they have thongs and briefs.
Pookie - I'm sorry you felt so bad about your boy, but it seems like you are doing better.

[JackieO]

numberlady - hope all goes well through TS fay...my BIL&SIL just moved to melbourne a few weeks ago from NY, so this was their first hurricane/tropical storm...a nice welcome into their new state! of course my SIL was just happy it wasn't snow;)

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy - 9
Girl - 1
Suprise - 1
Unknown - 10

[JackieO]

okay - just wanted to ask, but has anyone else's gag reflex really kicked in lately? I swear every morning something makes me gag and I end up dry heaving a little....SO not fun!!!

just wanted to share my misery...back to regularly scheduled programming;)

Gardengirl - I'll be thinking about you tomorrow! Check in when you get back and good luck!!!:)

[GardenGirl]

Thanks JackieO - I'm trying to get really exhausted so I can actually sleep tonight. I tossed and turned all night. Too much on my mind I guess - plus I can't get comfy. I'll try and post after the appt from DH's iPhone, but it might have to wait until we get home in the late afternoon. We'll see ...

[Pookie861]

Hi Mommies! OMG! I’ve just begun my 18th week and I have been feeling our lil boy moving like crazy! At night when I’m laying in bed, I swear I can feel his lil heart beat echoing mine. It feels as though my heartbeat has a tiny little echo in the bottom of my tummy…it’s weird but neat at the same time! I’m starting to get more excited and more and more thrilled each and every day. Especially after all of the helpful things that have been said, I really appreciate all of the support ladies! A million thank you’s couldn’t express my gratitude enough!

Paisleysloan~ Mimi Maternity has the best prego undies in the world! My awesome girlfriend introduced them to me and at first I was really hesitant to try them because like most maternity clothes to a first time mother, they were scary looking! Let me assure you, the most comfy things ever! You will be wearing them long after you’ll need to be because they feel so great! At this point we all need to come to the understanding and realization that we are all growing mothers, size for the next 6 months does not matter as long as we are comfy!

Dusthappy~ Congrats on the lil boy! Thank you so much for understanding my gender disappointment in the beginning. After I had first posted my feelings about the situation, I felt absolutely awful. I thought that I should be ashamed for not being happy with finding out we’re being blessed with a lil boy. What really helped me deal with it was thinking about how difficult my sister and I were in our teenage years…now I’m absolutely grateful for a lil guy! Lol!

MapleKitty~ US techs can be such spiteful botches! Don’t let them get to you though, most of them are just bitter for their own shallow reasons. Ya never know, she might have been envious of you! Have you seen the movie Juno? There’s a scene where the mom and her daughter deal with a snooty US tech, they really put her in her place, and it’s great!

Ade~ Thank you for helping me to feel so much better! DH found the cutest lil DC sneakers and was super excited that they were smaller versions of the ones that he wears! I’ve never seen him so excited about shoes before, it was precious! I can’t wait to get them matching soccer jerseys, it sounds like we could pretty much get a lil team started with all of our boys, lol!

JackieO~ You have no idea how much I would love to join you on team pink! It’s so not fair how cute lil girl clothes are!
About the gag reflexes, I am definitely with you on that one! It’s so bad sometimes; I can’t even look at a hot dog! I have problems brushing my teeth too! I hope it gets better. :)

Numberlady~ Congrats with being ½ way done. How are you feeling? Have you gotten any of your energy back yet???

[ellebelle]

Pookie I'm glad you are feeling a little better.

PaisleySloan Sorry, so suggestions for underwear. I'm in the same boat right now.

dusthappy Welcome to the baby boy club!

maplekitty I'm sorry your u/s went so poorly. I had a similar experience with my big u/s when pg with dd. The tech was really quite and refused to tell us anything. I remember feeling really bummed out when I left.

Ade It sounds like you had a lot of fun on your vacation! I hope you're able to wean off of the ms meds soon.

dancn226 How's your ribs feeling? I haven't felt any kicks near my ribs yet, but they are started to ache quite a bit, so I think they might be starting to stretch out a bit.

GardenGirl I can't wait to hear what you're having! Keep us posted! :)

Gag Reflex My gag reflex kicked in during the first tri with my ms. The ms is pretty much gone, but the gag reflex is here to stay.

Books I'm not reading any books this time around, but when I was pg with dd, I read Mother of all Pregnancy Books by Ann Douglas. I thought it was well written and easy to follow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There sure was a lot of activity in here over the weekend! We spent the weekend at the beach and had a blast. DD was in love with the water and didn't want to leave! The weather was great, but Tropical Storm Fay did kick up some strong rip currents and colder water, so we weren't able to venture out to far, but other than that we had a great time. Of course I felt quite uncomfortable in my two piece bathing suit. When I went shopping for maternity clothes a couple of weeks ago, I didn't think I was big enough to worry about a maternity swimsuit, but my belly looked quite big in a bikini! :o

[dancn226]

Ellebelle~So far okay, though sore, so perhaps your right, perhaps it more them stretching then his foot kicking me there.

Pookie~How exciting to feel him moving all the time! That is awesome!!!

Garden Girl~No gaging here. Just VERY VERY TIRED.

Is anyone else needing a nap every day! Sat, I was out for three hours. We had a wedidng that night, so I just figured it wa sa good idea. Sunday, was out for anohter three hours, and today, I am just exhausted. I just don't get it!!!

[GardenGirl]

Well the suspense is over - it's a BOY! Yep, another boy in this thread and another boy in my house. I can honestly say I am so excited to have two little boys. Especially since they'll be so close in age. Everyone was expecting a girl, but were still thrilled with another boy. We bought him a little outfit between appointments today - not that I didn't have a bazillion outfits from Carter :)

He's a healthy little guy - measuring right on target for 19 weeks. They've officially moved the due date from the 17th to the 19th, but I'm going to keep the 17th in my head.

I talked to the doc about my insomnia and she said it was okay to take 25mg of Benadryl at night to help me sleep. I'll probably try that when I wake up at midnight since it only seems to last 6 hours. Hopefully it will pass, as I hate taking medicine for convenience factors.

Well as you can imagine I have a million emails and phone calls to return/make so I'm headed out.

[Pookie861]

Gardengirl~ Congrats on the lil boy!

I've been thinking...which usually gets me into trouble...but have any of you been experiencing any troubles with your in-laws? Be it annoying MILs or prego-envious SILs??? I've been getting so irritated with the in-laws lately and I'm not sure if it's me being hormonal or what's going on.

From hearing the most ridiculous wives tales such as "if you drink diet soda the baby will be born retarded" to ill educated assumptions such as "I didn't know diabetics could get pregnant"...I've been getting irritated (more than usual) with these women. I'm just wondering if I'm being too sensitive or if I should say something. Anyone else having problems with other women saying stupid comments to them lately?

Before, it was so easy to write people off as being misinformed, uneducated, silly, or even slightly dumb, but now it's getting harder for me to tolerate. It doesn't stop at in-law drama (even though it's pretty intense). I'm also finding myself getting enraged by bad drivers (teenage girls doing their make up or yapping on the phone while driving). Even though I'll admit to having done these things myself a few times, now it's utterly annoying to me.

Has anyone else been experiencing these sudden annoyances more so than usual? Is this another one of the little joys of being pregnant???

[JackieO]

Gardengirl - Congrats on the little boy!!! I felt the same way about having two little girls:)

Pookie - I have a very short tolerance for stupid people lately;) and please don't get me started on my in-laws! I don't know if it's pregnancy related or not, but i have noticed some days are definitely worse than others....so hang in there and if you do eventually explode, blame it on the hormones:)

[GardenGirl]

Jackie - yeah, there is something really nice of having two of the same gender and especially close in age. I was surprised at how many people asked if this meant we were having a third child - as if my life wouldn't be complete if I didn't have at least one girl. I know for some people, that is true and that is perfectly okay for them. But for me, two boys is perfect. Plus, I know I can handle two boys - but the possibility of 3 is a little more daunting. I'm thinking of you JenJen...

Sensitivity - I hate unsolicited advice, whether I'm PG or not. But it really annoys me when I'm PG. I try not to let it get to me, but then respond with - we'll Carter turned out fine so I'm obviously doing something right :)

[carebear042]

Been pretty MIA of late but just wanted to update that we are having a little baby BOY!!!

We are thrilled to say the least!

[JackieO]

Congrats carebear!

GardenGirl - I too have gotten the "so you'll be having a 3rd child then?" we also get alot of "oh, your husband must be disappointed it's not a boy..." but my favorite was from a neighbor when i told her we were having another girl
me: it's a girl
her: oh he must be disappointed
me: no, he's perfectly fine with it, happy with 2 girls
her: oh well, he SAYS that but I'm sure he's upset...

as for my earlier comment about stupid people, yeah he's just horrified about having 2 little girls. and of course you know my husband so much better than me...i tell ya some people just don't think!

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy -11
Girl - 1
Suprise - 1
Unknown - 8

[GardenGirl]

I'm in absolute awe as to how many boys are in this group. Even if every last "unknown" was a girl, there would still be more boys. That's just crazy odds.

[maplekitty]

I wouldn't be surprised if I'm having a boy too!
My sex-drive is *crazy* this pregnancy...and was non-exsistant with my DD. Surge of testosterone in my body perhaps??? hhhmmmmm......

[tunibell]

Wow, the New Year is bringing a lot of baby boys! Congratulations, ladies!

We find out (I hope, I hope) on Wednesday morning. I have no clue what I think this baby is, gender-wise...I keep flip-flopping. In the beginning I was sure it was a boy, then a girl, then back to boy. I'm looking forward to some visuals! Right now I'm thinking boy, just because I am carrying way, way lower than I did lat time. Then again, it could just be a second-time-around thing.

I've been in a crazy pre-nesting phase. Last weekend I went through all of Pip's old clothes, separated the unisex stuff from the truly girlie, and labeled everything by age. Then I went through all of Pip's old toys and washed all the newborn to 6 month stuff. A little early, I know, but I figure it's better than lugging up huge boxes from the garage at 8+ months.

[mmeblue]

So many boys around here! I should find out on Friday afternoon - hopefully. :) I'm paranoid that baby won't want to cooperate. My "gut feeling" is girl, but I have no solid reason for thinking that. I can hardly wait to find out...but then I'll have to wait over the long weekend before I can tell my coworkers and students what it is. :p

Gagging - I've been choking on my toothbrush since like 6 or 8 weeks. Same with my prenatal vitamins. Not the funnest thing ever. :(

Rude comments - Amazingly enough, I haven't had any for a while. I got really tired of the "being sick means it's a strong pregnancy" ones, but I recognize that people meant well. I did have one person come disturbingly close to touching my belly recently, which would have resulted in her losing a hand had she actually gone through with it. :p

And now for your amusement, an exchange between my husband and me about looking forward to the ultrasound on Friday:

Me: I can't wait to see the baby kicking, squirming, waving...
DH: Wearing funny hats...
He can be a little ridiculous sometimes. ;)

[GardenGirl]

Nesting - while I haven't done the things that Tunibell listed, I have written them down for DH to help with. Since we are moving DS into the guest room and keeping the nursery the same, we have to...
1. Clean out our master bedroom closet and make room for the off season clothes that I've stored in the guest room and DH's gun safe and accessories are in there. To the garage they go!
2. Buy a closet organizer for our closet, it's too small.
3. Move out all the furniture in guest room to make way for the new big boy furniture I ordered last week for DS. It will be in in 8-12 weeks from order date.
4. Paint DS's room
5. Move DS's clothes and closet items into his new room
6. Bring 0-6 month clothes down from attic, wash and sort them.

I have to do ALL that before I get to look at the cute little clothes that DS wore and that DS#2 (wow, thats the first time I wrote that) will wear. I want to run up there NOW and look at all of them. But I have absolutely no room in DS's closet for more clothes. I haven't packed up his winter/fall clothes from last year.

I'm really enjoying being able to call this baby a "he" now. It just makes it so special. I didn't get that last time since it was a surprise. I told my brother last night that the pressure is on for him to a girl. He and SIL will probably start having kids in a couple years. As long as I get a neice, I'll be perfectly fine with not having a girl. This way I can spoil her and not have to worry about the teenage years, he he.

[jenjen0713]

Well, well, well, will you look at all the boys is this thread. This is absolutely insane! Congrats though to the one little girl out there so far. Maybe she'll get some more company on her team soon...if not, well, we can all be jealous of all the cute little dresses and hairbows she'll get to wear! :)

GardenGirl - I'm beyond excited to have 3 little boys! I have gotten a lot of the same comments as many of you from people, who ask if we are hoping for a girl and after our second was born was asking if we were going to try for a girl. I always felt that was incredibly rude of people to ask, because it came across to me that I was unhappy that our second was a boy which couldn't have been further from the truth.

So glad some of you are in nesting stages. We are going bunk bed shopping this weekend and hopefully vehicle shopping in the next month or so while I still feel good and aren't huge.

Sorry for those of you dealing with rude in-laws, gagging, maybe even m/s!

Things are moving by quickly with this pregnancy. I have gotten a baby book and started filling in what I can. We will go bunk bed shopping this weekend, so hopefully we can find something and have that checked off my list. Baby has been moving lots and I love it. DH was able to feel it the other night and just last night, I could see actually movements from the outside.

[ellebelle]

GardenGirl Congrats on your baby boy! I hope your insomnia gets better soon. I've had a few nights of insomnia myself, but I can usually get two or three good nights of sleep in a week.

Pookie861 and JackieO I'm sorry you're having to deal with unwanted comments from family and friends. I don't live near my family so other than the occasional comment from my mom about needing to gain more weight, any comments I get from them are few and far between.

mmeblue Cute convo with your dh! I hope you're able to find out the gender at your next appointment!

carebear042 Congrats on adding another boy to the thread!!! I'm in total shock at how many boys we have in here!

naps Some days I need them and other days I feel fine making it through the day without a nap.

nesting I've been nesting ever since the m/s went away. So far, I've packed up all of dd's baby clothes and stored them in the attic, bought dd a new big girl bed and slowly started moving her stuff to her new room. I also separated out all the gender neutral stuff and have it sitting in the nursery.

We still need to get dd a new dresser and officially move over all her clothes from the nursery, clean baby toys and wash baby clothes. My mom offered to buy bedding for the nursery, so I need to start thinking about a theme. I'd like to do a beach theme, but from my little research so far, there are not many cute surf/beach bedding out there right now. Anyone else start thinking of nursery themes yet?

I went to Gymboree last week for the friend and family coupon I had and perused the clearance items. I'm finally getting really excited about having a boy. I was able to buy three outfits, a hat, two pairs of socks, and a swaddling blanket for $50. I'll use my $25 gymbucks for a xmas dress for dd in Oct.!

Good luck to everyone still waiting to find out their baby's gender and to all the mommies nesting!

[Winter Biscuit]

Just delurking to congratulate all you January mommies! And a special shout-out to my fellow January 2007 mommy Garden Girl on DS#2! How exciting that Carter will be a big brother! :D

[Pookie861]

Carebear- Congrats on the Boy! We can start a football team now! Lol! I can’t believe all of the boys in here! Oh, FYI: Macy’s has the cutest little boy outfits right now, all on sale up to 30% off! I have never seen such cute little boy outfits in my life! Seeing all of the darling boy clothes has made it that much more exciting! Check it out if you get the chance! Their clearance rack is awesome!

JackieO- OMG! Your neighbor, yikes!!! As if she knows your hubby better than you do! What nerve! I think you and I could start an entirely new page on just dealing with people’s comments and interesting attributes to conversations.
I’m dealing with an in-law who insists on touching my belly even though I’m not that far along and saying how she can feel the baby. No lady, you can’t! And it’s not the baby, it’s just my bloated tummy! I want to slap her every time she comes too close but she’s overly sensitive so it would stir up a heap of mess. Last time, I touched her belly to see how she liked it and I don’t think she got the hint.

Weight gain: I still don’t feel big enough to look pregnant; I think I just look like a Sorority girl who drank a little too much last semester. Lol! All I feel like wearing are dresses and my husband’s pajama pants.

Moodiness: I haven’t had any of those crazy emotional episodes that my mother has warned me about… yet. I’m thinking that if I’ve made it this far without them, maybe they won’t show up at all… I’m praying. I do get really irritated with ignorance though. I’m wondering when the crying spells are going to start.

Urges: Food wise, no weird cravings. I don’t feel like eating anything aside from crap that I’m not supposed to. Here’s where I should give a shout out to my buddies at Taco Bell and McDonalds! Lol!
Not good, but it’s what I can keep down. Even with the Zofran.
Sex: Yeah, not so much. I think I’ve lost that loving feeling. All I want to do is sleep.

[tunibell]

Just back from the big u/s...it's another LITTLE GIRL for me!! And, as anticipated, I am both excited and a little sad.

Everything looked great, except that the doc said that the umbilical cord was slightly detached from the placenta. She said it in a dismissive way, and said that it only meant that they'd need to make sure they removed all the placenta during birth. Still, it sounded plenty freaksome to me! Anyone ever hear of this before?

[Ade]

Has anyone else been experiencing these sudden annoyances more so than usual? Is this another one of the little joys of being pregnant???

Me! Me! Me! So bad in fact that at my annual review on Monday my manager pointed out that in the last month people have noted that I've become very negative and a direct quote was "It seems like she dislikes everyone", oy! Definitely something I need to be more consciously aware of, but my tolerance for stupid has always been low, and now it's just gone completely. Not a good thing in the work environment.

I had a Peri appt and Ob appt back to back this week. I gained 9lbs between appointments :eek: to be up a total of 13lbs now. But, I felt a little better when my Ob said baby's measuring 1lb 12oz now. I figure my bbs are probably another 2lbs, 2lbs to the placenta and fluid and 2 lbs to excess fluid retention, that gives just 5 lbs to excess fat. And considering the only exercise I am getting is toting DS and climbing the stairs in my house and have been eating ice cream and cookies like they're going out of style, then I feel okay. Plus, if I keep gaining a pound a week like WTEWYE guides, that puts me at about a 30lb total weight gain. That's what I gained with DS#1 and I was able to lose it all pretty quickly, so that's reassuring. But, I am planning on getting Implanon at my 6 week pp appt and it does have weight gain as a potential side effect. So, that worries me a bit about gaining too much weight with this pregnancy. Oh well, what will be will be and no need stressing about it now!

Also, luckily all of my early pregnancy concerns (low lying placenta, baby transverse and shortened cervix) have all cleared up. Baby's head down, the placenta is 3cm from the cervical opening and my cervix is 5.5cm long; that's longer than it ever was with DS! Considering it was at 2.3cm when I went in for my cerclage, 5.5cm is crazy long! My Ob said I could probably travel through 36 weeks.

Nesting - yep, both DH and I. I went through clothes pretty early because a co-worker of mine had a boy in July and I wanted to pass all the clothes that I no longer want on to her before her DS out grows them. We've started setting up DS's new room too. Last week we started moving things out of the new room and moving the new furniture in. At this point, everything but the toddler bed are all set up. We still need to lay baseboards and reseal the floor, but my BIL is coming to stay with us for a couple weeks to handle all of those projects. I still need to wash clothes and toys, but I figure it's better to wait until early December to do that.

No theme to DS's new room :(. I was going to put a bunch of maps up, but DH is toying with the idea of moving next year, so I don't want to do too much at this point. So, he has some pictures hanging in there and they'll have to suffice.

I have made a list of all the new things we'll need to get and am struggling on a few items, like get an infant car seat, or another infant to toddler seat? Infant would fit better since we still have DS#1 in rear facing and are hoping to keep him that way until 30lbs. But, the cost of an infant seat and extra base is $240 (without tax and shipping) and I can get an infant to toddler seat for $150-200. Considering the infant seat is only good for the first year (if that), it just seems like a waste. Any suggestions from ROs?

Also, does anyone have a video monitor? We'll need a second monitor and only have a sound one for DS. But, during the sleep training months there were times when being able to see what was happening in the crib would have been nice. Do they really work and are they worth the extra money?

Lastly, are any ROs having a shower for #2? I didn't want to, but DH's cousin is due a week after me, so one of his aunts is insisting on having a shower for the both of us. This will be a second boy for her as well, so I was thinking about requesting no gifts and have this be a welcome baby celebration instead. I'm afraid people will still get things, and would prefer to get the things we need, than a ton of clothes and blankets. Would it be really tacky to have a registry for #2?

Okay, guess it's time to sign off from this novel and actually do some work! Hope everyone is doing wonderfully!

[JackieO]

Just a quick shout out to Tunibell - YAY!!! for another little girl...It's nice to have someone joining me on team PINK!
OK-be back later!!!

[tunibell]

Piper's little sister!!!:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3035/2803568229_3b0b28b1dd.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3147/2803568271_54a56f9745.jpg?v=0

[aprilshowers]

Congrats again, tuni! I think we've decided to find out too - u/s is tomorrow morning.

[JackieO]

we'll be waiting to hear, Aprilshowers!!!

so today was not a good day as DD decided to share her cold with DH and I...I woke up about 3am with a sore throat which turned into that scratchy, stuffy feeling all day long. I should be in bed right now, and yet I'm not...I'm sure I'll regret that tomorrow morning....

I went shopping yesterday for some fall clothes for DD and I had the weirdest thing happen - I'm assuming it was my sciatic nerve, but my left thigh(the top of it) was numb, not asleep, tingly numb, just numb. I tried not to freak out thinking that it was probably the sciatic nerve - is that what it sounds like to all of you? It went away as soon as I sat down, it was just really weird...

Anyway, anyone have any labor day weekend plans? We're doing a small BBQ here with some friends and family, kind of a last hurrah before the school year starts for DH...he's so not fun for the month of September with all the orientations and open house nights;). DD hates it when he's not home for bedtime since that's their time, thankfully most of the time he gets home in time:)

[jenjen0713]

but my tolerance for stupid has always been low, and now it's just gone completely. Not a good thing in the work environment.



(shaking head) I am laughing right now, because I have a low tolerance for stupid and I have been thinking this past week, I really need to work on being nicer and more tolerant of that at work.

tunibell - Congrats on your girl! I've never heard of the umbilical cord being somewhat detached from the placenta. Could you call your doctor to see if you could find out more info on it?

car seats - I'm probably not much help there. When DS #2 was born, we used DS #1 old Snugride. DS #1 was in his Roundabout at that time. I personally liked having the infant seat as it was easy to cart DS #2 around (especially if he was sleeping).

video monitor - Have never had one. I used our regular monitor with DS #1 until he was probably 14 months and then put it in DS #2 room for maybe the first three months. After that, even though our bedroom is on the other side of the house from the kids' rooms, we could still hear them if they woke up.

shower for #2 - I didn't have one, but then again, in my circle of family and friends it just isn't done. However, I do know that for others, having a "sprinkle" is common. Could your aunt maybe make it a diaper shower (if you use disposables)?

JackieO - I just figure if I have any numbing from the waist down it is the sciatic nerve. It will usually resolve itself if I moved around or change positions.

Labor Day plans - We plan to go shopping for bunk beds for our two boys this weekend as I want to get them into a bedroom together at least a month or two before this baby is born so I can get the crib and nursery back from DS #2 in time for DS #3.

[GardenGirl]

Nursery themes - our nursery is staying the same. That was the plan even before I knew it was another boy. We did gender neutral for that reason. It isn't really a theme, just very baby (since they're babies for such a little time). DS#1 is getting a big boy room. I'm doing the PBK Oscar bedding (transportation) since it has great primary colors. I ordered a twin bed with detachable rails and a dresser in True Blue from the Young America line by Stanley.

WinterBiscuit - thanks for the congrats. I need to pop back into the 07 thread and update on Carter.

Tunibell - congrats on the little girl. I'm going to have send you and JackieO a hairbow from my son since I won't be buying any :)

Ade - I'm glad to hear it seems everything has cleared up, what a relief that must give you.

Infant Seat - while DS only used his for 8 months, I did find it very helpful. They sleep so much when they are small that it was nice just leaving him in it to get in/out of car and then put him in/out of stroller.

Video Monitor - we had the Sharper Image portable cam and it eventually died so we got the Summer monitor for one room. I don't use it for sound at all. It is nice for sleep training and in the mornings to see if he's awake. During the first year it was SO helpful to see if he was just making noise in his sleep or if he was actually awake. I use the Sony Baby Call for sound since it has a voice activated feature. There's no way I'd use the video one for sound because the Summer is so loud.

Shower/Registry - well I'm oldschool. I wouldn't feel comfortable having another shower for another son, especially as close as mine are in age. If this one were a girl I'd give in to someone throwing a Sprinkle or mini-shower for girl clothes and stuff. But I wouldn't do a registry, but then again my boys will only be 2 years apart and we got everything we could ever imagine and then some for him. In fact, I made some of my girlfriends promise they wouldn't throw me a shower this time. While I think every baby should be celebrated, I just don't think a formal shower is probably the way to go. So we compromised on a "Fill the Bassinet" lunch were they can bring diapers, shampoo, lotion, etc since those are things you'll always need. But its just a few of my playdate friends and no invitations will be sent out. I'm talking maybe 5 or 6 people. But that's just me. My family will still (and my mom already has) be giving/buying us stuff. Especially when Christmas rolls around. So if you don't feel comfortable with a shower, just start hinting that you need things like another infant seat or monitor and maybe someone will get them for you for Christmas.

JackieO - I feel you on the cold. I just got over one last month and now I have a tiny one reappearing. That said, I took a Benadryl last night and slept wonderfully. There is a silver lining...

Sciatica - while I thought the nerve ran down your right side, it probably doesn't matter. I recall the dr telling me just to change positions and not to worry - it's just one of those pregnancy side effects that will appear and reappear. She was notorius for the "that's normal" response with out any sympathy.

[tunibell]

Nursery themes - Well, my choices on this front just got a whole lot simpler. I think we've decided to have Pip and the new lady bunk together once DD#2 is sleeping in a crib. Our house has three bedrooms, but we use the third as an office, since it is more centrally located and a lot smaller. Pip's room is big enough for two, so I'll probably just use her old stuff. We just bought a big girl bed, and even though she's not in it yet, I assume she will be by the time #2 is ready to leave our room.

Cord issue - I called my OB's office to get the exact wording on the cord issue, since "partially detached" cord didn't sound too benign to me! What we've got is called "marginal cord insertion," which means that the cord is shallowly inserted into the placenta. From what I've read, it's the cord issue to have, if you've got to have one - it's very minor, and not correlated to restricted growth or preterm birth. I think it will just mean more monitoring. They want me to come back in a month for another look see, and also to check out a small cyst that I have on my right ovary to make sure that it is resolving on its own.

Sciatica - In addition to this, I think it's just really easy for nerves to get compressed during pregnancy. I had terrible carpal tunnel syndrome with my first pregnancy, and can already feel it creeping in with this one.

[dancn226]

tunibell~Yeah for a girl. How exciting. You are so lucky. With owning a dance studio, I kind of figured I would be having a boy. My luck! Though I am so excited, and cna't wait to meet the little guy!!! I am gald you found out more on the cord issue. That stuff can be really scarry, and just because a dr. thinks its not bad thing, doesn't mean anything.

aprilshowers~Hope your US went well!!!

JackieO~Ewww that sucks. I have horrible allergies, and just waking up wtih that sucks alone. I hope you feel better before the weekend!

jenjen0713~I feel your pain on the low tollerance. Everything bothers me. Its so annoying. You should see me driving. Want to talk ROAD RAGE!!!

GardenGirl~Hope everything is going good for you!!


So basically, eveyrthing so far is going good here. I have to admit, my tolerance level is horrible. I haven't talk to my cousin and her family in about almost a year now. My grandparents have proerpty that they rent out, and they were going to rent a building tome fo rmy dance studio. Well they pretty much lied to my face, and gave it to them. So, whatever....I am trying my best to get over it. But, now I hear my stupid cousin is going to open a hair salon in the one building i was supposed to rent. AHHH, talk abou tNEVERS!! I called DH and told him and he was liek don't think about that. Yeah, easier said then done. I had to go and get my own building for my dance studio, and have done everthing on my own thus far. It just makes me sick, these people have had things handed to them there whole lives, and don't knwo what its like to do anything on their own. PUKE!!

Nursery Themes~Dh and I just know what paint color we are going with!? I would love to do some kind of theme, but I just dont' know what to do for our little guy. DH is a firefighter(acutally a captain), and I think that woudl be cool, but of course he doesn't. So who knows....

Shower/RegistryThis will be our first. So we are def. having a shower. We need to start registering. We dont' know when a good tiem would be to do that. So we are just chillen.

Speaking of that RO's what is the ONE thing that HAS to be on our Register?? I have no idea where to begin with that??

[aprilshowers]

After agonizing for weeks about whether to find the sex or not, DH & I finally decided last night to find out for sure. So then I got all excited about it and, wouldn't you know, the little bugger had HIS OR HER legs crossed! Figures. S/he was also breach and while I know there is still plenty of time for flipping, it makes me a little bit nervous since DD ended up breach. They also found 2 cysts in the brain which can be a soft marker for several of the Trisomies (sp?) but will likely resolve itself by birth (as it did for DD). We'll go back in 6 weeks for more monitoring and another attempt at getting the little one to give up the goods.

nursery - ha! We're totally not theme/decorating people (which is too bad sometimes) so, no, we're not doing anything. I actually would like to paint DD's room (which she'll probably end up sharing with #2) but we'll see how long it takes to get us motivated.

video monitor - we didn't have one with DD and there were so many times I wished I could see what she was up to. So, maybe we'll splurge this time around since there isn't much else we need.

car seat - we're planning on using DD's infant seat. Most of my friends who have >1 kid have their second in the bucket for a lot more time than any of us kept our first. Just because your schedule is more likely to be dictated by your toddler than your baby so it's nice to be able to let them keep sleeping in the seat even if you're getting in and out of the car.

Hope everyone has a nice Labor Day! I have to work, unfortunately, but may try to take part of the day off to visit the zoo or something with DH&DD.

[Pookie861]

Hi Mommies!
I’ve been having some interesting experiences in these past couple of days. Yesterday I had a dentist appointment to fix a filling that had fallen out of my mouth and the dentist would not give me any Novocain. He gave me some chincey explanation saying that he won’t administer Novocain to pregnant women before their third trimester. WTF?! So I sat there and took it like a champ! At the time, it wasn’t too bad but as soon as I got into my car I was out of it! I was so groggy that I mistakenly drove home to my parents house (not mine) and fell asleep on their couch. When I woke up later on last night, I didn’t remember how I got there and my jaw was killing me!!!

Ade- How funny! I’ve noticed that I’ve been excessively irritable at work. On Wednesday, I felt like tossing a stapler at the UPS guy for mentioning that I look like I’ve put on a lil weight in my stomach area. Out of the blue this morning, one of my employees asked me “how’s my baby?” I was baffled! He said that he could tell because I look different, cute but different. I’m guessing “cute” must be guy code for FATTER??? :confused:

Tunibell- Congrats on the lil Girl! Were those US pictures of a 3D US? Did you happen to notice a big torso and skinny little legs? At our 3D US the tech didn’t say anything aside from everything looked normal for 16 weeks but I was a little concerned because our lil guy looked so skinny! I’ve even been told that 16 weeks is a little early to determine the sex of the baby but a 3D US should be pretty accurate, right??? Now I’m worried because I’m excited about having a lil guy! Have you ever heard of a 3D US being wrong on gender prediction?

JackieO & Gardengirl- Hope you feel better! Cold are no fun, especially in the summer time! Stay hydrated and try to take as many naps as you can!

[meg100105]

Nursery themes - I havent' actually put too much thought into this yet... I guess I should get on that. I was so sure we were having a girl - that I haven't really looked into boy 'stuff' yet. I do really like this bedding set from Caden lane though.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/megs100105/nursery/hayden2.jpg

Tunibell - congrats on your girl.

Video Monitor - We registered for the Summer monitor - but obviously, I've never used it. I've just heard good things.

Labor Day Plans - I'm taking a quick girls trip with my mom and my sister to Hawaii. Just 4 days - but I CAN NOT WAIT!! I need a few days in the sun.

[jenjen0713]

Speaking of that RO's what is the ONE thing that HAS to be on our Register?? I have no idea where to begin with that??

I would say cloth diapers. We used these as burp clothes and put them on top of the changing pad and under them when they slept at night. Also, bibs...lots and lots of bibs. Maybe it was just my kids, but they spit up a lot and bibs can be changed much easier than onesies. Also, when they are teething, it helped to collect the drool. Along the line of cloth bibs, I also like the plastic, wipe and rinse kind when they actually started to eat solids. I also like baby gowns because it was easy to do diaper changes at night if they were in a gown. After they outgrew the gowns, I prefered the snap pajamas over the zipper kind for diaper changes because you could just unsnap the bottom half instead of unzipping the entire outfit.

[numberlady]

I guess I haven't posted since TS Faye came through. We lost power for about 9 hours on Saturday, but overall many people had it much worse, lost of power for days, flooding, trees down.

JackieO - I wake up in the middle of the night gagging for no reason. It has happened a few nights in a row. I feel like a cat!
Pookie - I haven't really noticed a difference in my energy level. I feel like I don't sleep all that well, so I kind of always feel tired. I have had people say that I look like I feel better.
Garden Girl - Congrats on another boy. Your first is so cute in the pic in your avatar!
Carebear - Congrats on your boy!
Tunibell - Year for a second little girl.
Aprilshowers - I'm sorry your little one didn't cooperate. Sorry about the cysts. I know that must be worrisome, but I'm sure that it will turn out to be nothing.
Meg - Love that bedding! It is beautiful!

Nursery Theme - I think that we are going to do a pretty basic blue theme. I talked to a lady that did a cycling theme and really would like to do that since DH rides, but he is not in favor of a themed room.

Labor day - I want to go to a little town that has antiques and unique shops to start looking for a daybed type thing for DH's office. Once we get that we can start moving things out of the nursery. I'm not sure that we will make it, but I feel like we have so much work to do and we have to get started some time. Also, I think that we may go to a friends house who has a 2 week old little girl. DH wants to go and see the little one.

[mmeblue]

My big u/s is this afternoon - I can hardly wait! :D I've got my students voting on what gender they think the baby is - the current count is 34 predicting a boy and 56 predicting a girl.

We haven't made any decisions on a theme or colors for baby's room yet. I've looked at bedding and haven't seen anything that I really love, so I think I'm going to make my own - I think I want something with bright colors. I'll want to make a quilt for the baby anyway, so if I make the other stuff too then everything can match. But I think I'm just going to have to spend some time at a fabric shop to see what strikes my fancy (and DH doesn't care what I pick for the most part - our tastes are similar, so I'm unlikely to choose something he'd hate). That shopping may be part of my Labor Day plans. :)

Pookie - I'm surprised that your dentist wouldn't give you an anesthetic! I had a tooth looked at recently and was told that the 2nd trimester is the best time for dental work if you have to have it during pregnancy, and they didn't say anything about not numbing a pg patient.

tunibell - glad to hear that the cord issue is such a minor thing...hopefully there will be no problems associated with that for you!

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy -11
Girl - 2
Suprise - 1
Unknown - 7

[dancn226]

mmeblue~Good luck today. I hope everything is good. Can't wait to see which way things are going to go. Will you add to teh boy craze, or will you get to add to the limited girl number. :D

numberlady~Glad to hear everything turned out okay with Fay. Are you concerened with Gutuv, or what's the other one, Hannah?

QOTD~For those of us having boys here (which seems to be quite a few :0)
I want to know what you think about circumcision. Will you do it? Have you in the past, and what do you think? DId you watch if you have done it in the past? How was your little guy after. I know there are quite a few amout of debates, which I am not looking for, but more for how your experience was? TIA!!!!

[jenjen0713]

mmeblue - Can't wait to hear what you are having!

QOTD - We will have this baby circumsized, just as his brothers were. I didn't watch it when it was done. They brought the baby to me after it was done, and both times they were sleeping. We kept the penis covered in vaseline and a gauze strip over it for a week or so, just so it wouldn't stick to the diaper. After a week, it was healed enough that we no longer had to do that.

[dancn226]

JenJen~I was wondering how the recovery would go! Thanks on that. I know DH and I plan to, I was just carious, I was researching in online, and them mentioned how fussy they would be after? Also thanks for the info on what I NEED to get. Those will DEF make the list. I love the cloth diper idea! That is BRILLIENT!! I just love it. Def. going to make a point of doing that!! THANK YOU!!!:)

[Pookie861]

Tunibell- You are super lucky! Right now is the best time to go to Hawaii. Which island will you be visiting? You have fun and don’t forget your sun screen!

Numberlady- I feel ya on the not being able to sleep well lately. I haven’t been sleeping well either. I’ll be exhausted throughout the day but at 11:00 at night I’ll get these urges to start cleaning, it’s strange! Also, my Dr. advised me not to sleep on my back after 16 weeks. So now I’m limited to sleeping on my sides.

Mmeblue- Sometimes, I think my dentist’s awkward precautions are a little excessive. He had explained to me that because I have Juvenile Diabetes, I metabolize forms of medications (including anesthetics) faster than the average dental patient. Twice before, the Novocain was absorbed abnormally, causing me to have a severe adrenalin rush which sent my heart rate through the roof. He said he didn’t want to risk that happening again because it could potentially harm the baby. That was my understanding of it. All I know, is that it wasn’t fun and I was not a happy camper!

Circumcision- Okay, I don’t want to scare any of you, but I’ve done some research on the topic of circumcision and trauma and I’ve found some scary things leading to our decision of us not going to put our lil guy through this.

Working on a PhD in child developmental disorders, I have always felt that children’s trauma should be kept to minimal proportions, especially this early in life. Studies have shown that fewer parents are subjecting their babies to circumcision due to correlations between developmental disorders and early trauma. However, circumcision has only been one of the several contributing factors linked to possible developmental disorders. Here is an abstract from one of several studies on circumcision.

“Infant male circumcision continues despite growing questions about its medical justification. As usually performed without analgesia or anaesthetic, circumcision is observably painful. It is likely that genital cutting has physical, sexual and psychological consequences too. Some studies link involuntary male circumcision with a range of negative emotions and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some circumcised men have described their current feelings in the language of violation, torture, mutilation and sexual assault. In view of the acute as well as long-term risks from circumcision and the legal liabilities that might arise, it is timely for health professionals and scientists to re-examine the evidence on this issue and participate in the debate about the advisability of this surgical procedure on unconsenting minors.” (Gregory, Goldman, Svoboda, & Fernandez, 2002)., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)(from the journal abstract)

There’s an interesting book called Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma which discusses the potential adverse effects of circumcision not only on infants, men, and sexuality, but also on mother-child relationships, male-female relationships, and societal traits and problems. Reviewers suggest that this book is not for the weak or insecure because of the painful and complex social implications--and the guilt.It's a little scary, I apologize, but worth looking into. I always like to hear both sides of controversy before I decide which path to walk down. I hope this helps.

[GardenGirl]

Circ - ditto on JenJen's response. At the last minute I almost chickened out because I was afraid of the pain it would cause him. He did great and was never really irritable. And he's beeng great ever since.

I used to work for a law firm and we defended a dr whose circumcision went bad so I'm very aware of what happens when things go wrong. But that is such a tiny percentage. We were definitely a success story and aren't even thinking of not doing it.

Registry - one thing I enjoyed registering for was infant toys (like at BRU). Don't forget those. People love buying toys, so if you can help them out on what you desire, it's a win-win situation. I didn't register for diapers, wipes, lotions, creams, etc because I found that people will buy those for you anyway. I liked keeping my registry free of clutter, it makes it easier for those that are shopping for you. Make sure to have more expensive items (PNP, carseats, strollers) but also have several items in the $20-40 range. I registered for a highchair and regret doing it only because I had to store it for 8-9 months (you figure 2-3 months before the baby is born and then another 6 months before you start feeding solids). And since we also stored the jumperoo and exersaucer that took up a lot of space in the garage. DH loved his Baby Bjorn, so that was nice since they are almost $100. I should have registered for a sling myself since I went out and bought one later. Bath towels and a tub are nice, as well as a diaper disposal system. Those are all items that are under $40 that make good gifts. Oh, a mattress - we got that as a gift too. BRU hands you a LONG list of things you "need." I didn't register for clothes there because, because as a gift giver, it's always so hard to find the exact item the mother is requesting. Really, it just depends on how many showers and how many people attend. We had a couple and the one at my office was huge so I ended up having to add more to my list and then end up returning several things, getting store credit and purchased our convertible carseat later (like 8 months later).

Dentist - that reminds me, I need to get my teeth cleaned!

[mmeblue]

Add me to the pink team - it's a girl! :) I have u/s pics, but won't be able to scan them until Sunday.

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy -11
Girl - 3
Suprise - 1
Unknown - 6

[GardenGirl]

Congrats mmeblue! That reminds me that I didn't post an u/s picture of my own. Hmmm, there wasn't a great shot - but this is as close as close to full body as I can get ...
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/terashelton/SHELTONTERA20080825114035650.jpg

[numberlady]

dancn - We aren't worried about Gustav - we are a little further East than he will be. We are watching Hannah to see where she is going. This seems like 2004 all over again, there are hurricanes stacked up out there.
Pookie - I hate not being able to sleep on my back. I start out on my side and then always wake up on my stomach with my back killing me because I have been sleeping on a beachball!
Mmblue - Congrats on the girl. My little man will have lots of girlfriends.


Circumcision - We will be doing it. We are Jewish, so it is a tradition, and while we won't be having a Bris, it is still important to us.

[honey_bee]

It's another girl for us! :D I'm so happy that my daughter will have a little sister. I'm lucky enough to have one of my own, so I know how special it is.

Just wanted to pop in and share. Hope you ladies all have a fun Labor Day weekend.

[maplekitty]

Congrats to all you momma finding out girl or boy! Now onto nursery planning, and buying pink and blue outfits! So much fun!!!

I have another U/S on the 10th, b/c they ddnt get all the measurements they needed the first go around. I had called and talked to the mangaer about the remarks the technician made to me, and she ws very good about taking my complaint and made me feel really good about getting the nerve to call. She assured me I would ahve a different tech next time and so I'm hoping this one will be more friendly and I can ask if she can see gender, hehe. Otherwise, MIL has been hinting she might pay for us to get the 3d u/s to find out - she really wants to know too! haha

[Sweetie04]

Dancn226, I'm a January 2008 mommy and saw your question about circumcision. I'm afraid to post on the circumcision thread (it’s rather heated), so I'll answer here. We did not find out the sex of the baby until he was born, and I avoided thinking about the circumcision issue. When he was born, I said that DH could decide, because he has the boy parts. He wanted to do it, but when the pediatrician came to take DS away for the procedure, I couldn't do it. I felt panicked. Now, this could have been because it was early in the morning, and I was certainly hormonal. The pediatrician said that we could decide later. During that week before DS's one-week appointment, I did a lot of research and reading about circumcision. There are some medical benefits to circumcision, but it is not medically necessary (that would make the decision easy), and the benefits weren't enough to overcome my feeling against having it done. My thinking came down to feeling like DS was made that way for a reason, and I shouldn't make the decision to change it. Of course, I also worried that I was making the wrong decision, or that DS might eventually resent me for whichever decision I made. (I realized that it was just the beginning of having to make those parenting decisions). I'm glad that you're thinking about this now, because it's hard to do in the hours after you've given birth. It really comes down to you and your husband, and whatever you decide is right for your family is the right decision.

Good luck to all of you. I loved having DS in January -- it was cold outside and flu season, so I was perfectly content to stay home snuggled up with DS. And, spring coincided with DS getting older and us going out, so it was like awakening from the long winter's sleep.

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy -11
Girl - 4
Suprise - 1
Unknown - 5

[ellebelle]

Just a drive by post to say I haven't been able to keep up with the thread lately as I have family visiting from out of town and my computer time is limited right now. I should be back at the end of next week.

Thanks gardengirl for keeping up with all the updates!!!

[dancn226]

H ieveryone, hope your Holiday WEekend was a good one. Mine was absolutly insane. On Sat, my grandfather was inclucted into a hall of fame for racing. He's totally into it and has been doing this since he was a kid. Anyhow, we were all attending this event for him about a 1/2 away. Well, it was onver my husband and I were on the way home, and we were heading east on the HWY, and all of a sudden, all you see is a black plume of smoke in the air. Now DH is a Captain for one fo the local Fire Districts. So, i pounted it out to him and he was like yeah, there is some showing. So, I get home, adn my brother is trying to call me (he is all on Firefighter on the same dept as DH). I was in DH's jeep so I coudn't hear as we had the top off. So, I try to call him back thinking he wanted to know how the whole thing for my grandfather went. DH drops me off at home, I start cooking diiner, all of a sudden DH is calling me from Jewel, asking my Dad's address, I was like its blah blah blah. He's like YOUR DAD"S HOUSE IS ON FIRE(DH gets texts messages of all calls that go out in that district, and my dad lives in that district). So he leaves his cart at jewel, adn comes home. I am freakin out because my dad is not answering his cell phone (we new where he was. He was still in the town where this thing was taking place). So I call my mom (my parents are divorced). I am freakin out crying becuase they just got a new puppy and they were crate training him adn they have anohter dog, and a cat. So, she was like calm down, nothing you can do, your brother is probably there. Just wait for your husband to get home (she new he would go considering he is a captain on the dept,). So DH gets home, we proceed to my dad
s house. His garage is totally gone, and his house is just totally uninhabiable. But, a neightbor lady went into thte hosue while on fire and got teh animals out except the cat. The one dog got loose. So all weekend we have been trying to find her. She came home lastnight. That was the only t hing my dad was worring about. His little Princess as he calls her. So, it was quite teh most BAZARRE weekend ever. Here we are all at this place having a blast and Bam MAJOR crazyiness.

Hope everyone else is doing okay!!! As for me, I am just trying to calm down!!!

[MrsSpencer]

Hijack....oh dancn..I'm so sorry about your dad's house...but glad the animals got out (most of them).

[dancn226]

Mrs. Spencer~Thanks....My dad named his cat Smokey. Anyhow, they found him down stairs in the back side of teh basement behind the hot tub. Poor little guy was soaked, but he was fine! Everything so far is good wtih my dad, because his littel dog came back. And that is his princess, so that made his day. The rest of it, Ins. is taking care of.

Thank YOU Mrs Spencer!

[MrsSpencer]

glad the animals were okay..funny he named the cat smokey!

[Pookie861]

Hi Mommies!

Last night was absolutely awful! I went to sleep around 11:30 super tired as usual, and I woke up with the worst stomach pains I’ve ever had in my life. It literally felt like the top layer of my skin was stretching to the point where I was afraid to touch it out of fear that it might split open. It felt so tight and painful. It was unbelievable! I couldn’t get back to sleep because no matter how I laid down, there was sharp and constant stretching pain. Of course DH is sound asleep so I call the advice nurse who after 30 minutes of redundant questions, she tells me “Well hun, you’re pregnant. Sometimes this happens. As long as you are not bleeding or spotting, you will be just fine.” I wanted to jump through the phone I was so angry!

Than this morning when I was getting ready for work, I couldn’t get my pants closed. I look in the mirror and Bam! Huge baby bump had come out of nowhere! Literally, it looks like I have a developing basketball under my dress right now. Frightening!

Finally, I was wondering. Have any of you been experiencing sudden nose bleeds? I have never had a bloody nose my entire life and I was sitting at work and felt a runny nose coming on. So I grabbed a Kleenex and discovered my very first bloody nose. I’ve heard of stuffy noses or cases of the sniffles but a bloody nose??? Is this common in pregnancy?

Honey bee: Awww congrats on the lil Girl! I bet you’re excited!

[coconut]

Hi ladies! I've been MIA for awhile. Things here have just been so busy I haven't had much extra time to get on the computer, much less post here!!

But I thought I'd stop in and let you know that you can add me to the


BABY BOY


column. Just had our big u/s today, everything looked good, and he wasn't afraid to show the goods either. So DS will have a baby brother to play with!!

Other than that, just ho-humming along here, getting big!!

Pookie-Nose bleeds are common, yes. I got them quite a bit with my first DS. I haven't had quite as many this go around yet, but when I blow my nose (a lot lately), it's been reddish (sorry for the gross picture there, blech!).

[mmeblue]

Hooray for honey_bee's little girl and coconut's little boy! How cool that each of them will have a same-gender sibling to play with. :)

Pookie861 - I haven't had nosebleeds, but I have read that they're very common in pregnancy.

Here's my favorite of the ultrasound pics we got last week - baby girl's foot, complete with cute little baby toes. :) (The rest of the printouts were not particularly clear.)

http://thirdleopard.org/creating/other/image.html?id=177

[JackieO]

HoneyBee - Yay for another little girl!!!
Coconut - Congrats on the boy!
Seems that the girls are coming out of the woodwork a little bit now;)

Jeez, I don't remember the last time I posted...I've been reading along just not alot to say lately. Things here are status quo, just plugging along. DH started back his "normal" schedule this week and DD and I are getting back to our routine too. I have to admit, I am SO ready for Fall - it's my favorite season- and of course it's been in the 80's this week.:rolleyes: Whatever!
I confess I've even started looking at halloween costumes for DD -mostly because of the thread here on what they'll wear. So far she's said she wants to be a duck, a butterfly and a princess...I think I'll wait a bit and see what she seems to stick with:)

Well, I'm off - hope everyone is feeling good and growing those baby bellies!

[mmeblue]

Well, I found out a way to get extra ultrasound pictures: get in a car accident! :p

I was rear-ended on Thursday afternoon (on my way to my ob appt!), and even though I didn't have any reason to think anything was wrong, my ob's office said it would be a good idea to go in to triage to get checked out. Then they wanted me to come in the next morning for an ultrasound just to be on the safe side. Baby's perfectly fine, strong heartbeat, kicking away...and still a girl. ;) They checked on Thursday evening to see if I was having any contractions, and I wasn't - my only problem is being a little sore, no bruises or anything like that. My car's not so fine, but we don't yet know if it's totaled - I was hit from behind and pushed into the car in front of me, so I've got damage in the front and back.

Anyway, here's one of the new pics we got yesterday - the u/s tech was amazed at how long her legs are, and she told me not to buy any teeny-tiny baby shoes b/c she won't fit into them. I'm apparently growing Bigfoot. ;)

http://thirdleopard.org/creating/other/image.html?id=183

[numberlady]

mmblue - Wow, that must have been scary! Glad you and the baby are both OK, but you are probably sorer today.
Coconut - Congrats on the boy!
Pookie - I'm jealous that your baby bump popped out. I keep waiting for mine to do the same, I just look like I have a fat belly. Sorry you are having nose bleeds, I've never had one.
Dancn - I'm glad your dad and his animals are OK.
maplekitty - I hope you get to find out what you are having.
honey_bee - Congratulations on the little girl. I love looking at all the little girl clothes.

Well still not much of a bump here. My friends say they can tell, but I think they are just telling me that:) I have had horrible heartburn lately, so that sucks.

Finally have another doctors appointment this week with the specialist and will find out if continued visits with him will glean any additional information about downs syndrome.

[GardenGirl]

Maplekitty - I wish your experience with u/s was like mine. I really like how they do the Level 2's at my doctors office. You go back by yourself and the technician takes all the measurements (about 30 minutes or so), and while they talk to you they don't really tell you anything. Then while she puts all those figures in the computer, DH gets to come back. Then the radiologist comes in and looks at the measurements and does his own 10 minute u/s to view things and tells us if there are any problems. Then he leaves and the technician visits with DH and I and tries to tell the gender. Then she shows us all the major organs/body parts and gives us the pictures and video. It is a nice experience. They do all the "business" first and then you get to relax and play.

Numberlady - good luck with your specialist. Are there more tests to run or do they just keep an eye out. I'm not too familiar with what they do for down syndrome markers. I'm sure you've done alot of research by now.

Mmeblue - great footprint! I don't have any close ups of anything. My babies don't seem to take great "in-utero" pictures, though they turn out pretty cute later fortunately :) I'm glad to hear everyone is okay from the car accident. I was in a light (parking lot) fender bender at around 30 weeks with DS and everything was okay for us too.

Dancn - I'm so glad everything turned out well from your Dad's fire. Insurance covers the material things, but losing a pet can be hard - I'm glad that didn't happen.

Belly bump - mine has officially showed up. I'm glad, as I was getting sick of looking fat. Granted, I don't wear really tight things yet because some people might still just think it's fat - but as the weeks go on I like wearing tighter shirts instead of blousy type ones. I figure this is the only time in my life where I'll want to highlight my tummy, so I take advantage of it.

Well, I had DH get out all the clothes that are up to 3 months in size from the attic over the weekend. I made my mom come over and "help" me go through them this morning. She's already purchased at least 10 outfits for this baby, and keep in mind I'm having another boy - I really didn't need any more clothes. I wanted her to see the ridiculous amount of clothing I have so she'll stop shopping. Well it worked. I have 4 large stacks of stuff. DS was just over 6 pounds at discharge so we had several premie outfits. So I have a premie pile, newborn pile, 0-3 pile and a 3 month pile and there are at least 15-25 outfits in each pile - PLUS all the onesies that probably won't even get worn this time around because there are so many "outfits" or footed pj type things for him to wear. I don't need anything else for this little boy. Well, I'll probably get a few more swaddling blankets, some burp cloths and some pacifiers - other than that I hope the only thing people by me are diapers :) I'll ask for a double stroller for Christmas from my parents and a few things for DS's new big boy room from DH

[Ade]

Add me to the absent due to business list! Work is really picking up after a few months of slowness. And, with only 4 more months of work before maternity leave, I imagine I am just going to be swamped! With DH and DS's b-days next month, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and then baby added to the pile, I've been trying to get as much baby prep work done now. Thanks for all of the input on car seats and video monitors. I took everyone's advice and splurged on a video monitor and was able to find a smoking deal on a Britax infant seat with extra base. The car seat's a little tight in DH's car behind the passenger seat, but we'll make due. And it fits just fine in my car. I just got the video monitor today, so I'll try it out tonight with DS to see if it works in my house. I also got DS's big boy room with toddler bed set up. We're having a hard time getting him to regard his new room as his; he thinks it's just a play area. But, we'll keep plugging away at nap time and see if we can get him to finally sleep in it!

With Baby#2, the biggest thing for me right now is my ciadic nerve, it starts killing me if I do too much movement. Between it and round ligament pain in my pelvis, just walking can get tough lately! I have a lot of stairs in my house and backyard, so it's getting tough trying to carry DS up them, especially at the end of the day. I can't imagine how it's going to be in another 3 months!

I'm trying to wean off of Zofran. The constipation is starting to really get to me (sorry, TMI!). Plus, I think I might be able to adjust better to the nausea without it. But, it's tough in the meantime, had a serious dry heaving session in the shower this morning and am just feeling nauseated all day. Hopefully, it will pass soon.

I feel like I am seriously showing and like my clothing options are dwindling, but people that don't know me well say that I'm not. I'm still favoring billowy over tight, as I don't think my bump is round enough yet to be obviously pregnant and I just look like fat girl not in touch with her body shape when I try to wear tighter clothes. But, my professional attire has starting to dwindle and my meeting schedule is getting busier. May need to breakdown and buy some more pieces. I HATE spending money on maternity clothes, as they're so temporary, but it looks like I am going to get a lot bigger this time around, so just may need to :(.

Well, sorry for the drive by post, but need to go start dinner. Hope everyone is doing wonderfully!

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy -12
Girl - 4
Suprise - 1
Unknown - 4

[january2009moms]

Oops! I accidentally posted using the wrong user name.:o

- ellebelle

[ellebelle]

I'm finally back from being a constant tour guide for family and back to my regular routine! Hopefully, I be able to keep up with the thread now.

Pookie I get bloody noses as well while PG. Last week, I woke up almost every morning with a bloody nose and one night I woke up at 3:30 in the morning with one.

Circumcision I left the decision regarding circumcision up to my DH and he choose to get it done. I guess he feels like his son should look like him down there. I would have been okay with what ever DH decided. I have heard stories about things going wrong so I do worry about that though and I need to find out who performs the circumcision. Is it the OB doc or the ped??

The past couple of days I've really had the nesting urge. We received three huge boxes of 0 - 6 month boy clothes from a girl at DH's work so I went through the huge amounts of clothes and washed all the 0-3 months stuff and organized it all in the dresser. Luckily my parents were still here as I was unloading the boxes, so they were able to see that we don't need clothes now. They seemed a bit bummed about it, though. Today, I'm all about cleaning the house top to bottom. DD's new big girl room is completely done now, so I can concentrate on decorating the baby's room now and organizing all the toys.

I hope everyone is feeling well!

[numberlady]

GardenGirl - I think they will just keep an eye out and continue to do ultrasounds. Amnio is available, but we are not interested in that since it took us so long to get pg. You are lucky that your boys are due so close together so all your old clothes are "season appropriate". Any my mom is just the opposite of yours, I bought several outfits and she thinks I have too many. Hello - I don't want to be doing laundry every other day because he has no clothes to wear.
Ade - I am sorry that you are still feeling so sick that you are still on Zofran.

[jenjen0713]

numberlady - I hope the specialist you are seeing this week can give you some more insight into what is going on. I don't blame you one bit for not going with amnio. Oh, and you are so right about the clothes....with DS #1, I thought I was swimming in onesies after my shower, but once he actually arrived, he went through numerous onesies in one day or even one afternoon depending on which end of his body was causing the mess. :p

ellebelle - Our ped is the one who did sons' circumcisions. Sounds like you have been incredibly busy and productive with getting all the clothes washed up.

Ade - Sorry you are still battling the nausea! I too hate buying maternity clothes, especially when you outgrow them in month 8 and have to buy more just to get through the last month. So annoying.

GardenGirl - Sounds like you have been productive as well in the last few weeks as well. I really need to get in gear and start sorting through clothes and getting the newborn stuff out while I have energy until waiting until the last few weeks.

mmeblue - So glad you and the baby are okay after your accident. You got some great pics from your u/s!

JackieO - I have started to think Halloween costumes as well. I figure this might the last year I get to pick out what DS #1 wears, so I'm trying to find something memorable.

Things here just chugging along. I'm still tired and fall asleep by 9 each night. Feeling a lot more kicks and moves and they seem a lot more lower down then with my other pregnancies. We started discussing names last night but really didn't make much headway.

[maplekitty]

Add us to the blue list! We're having a boy!!! :D

[numberlady]

I just wanted to update from the specialist - we are in the clear! The marker that was there last time is gone, so we are no longer worried about DS. I have to go back in about 10 weeks and they take a look at the placenta because apparently sometimes the placenta can cause the bloodwork to come back elevated like mine did. I don't know much beyond that.

Congrats on the boy maplekitty!

[JackieO]

Yay Numberlady!!! I'm sure you are relieved!!

Congrats on the boy Maplekitty!!!

[mmeblue]

jenjen0713 - I've been feeling more kicks recently, too...it's so much fun. :) And I hear you on the falling asleep early as well!

maplekitty - congrats on the boy! :)

numberlady - that's awesome! I'm so glad you got such wonderful news.

Nothing exciting to report here, except that my car is NOT totaled...it'll be another week or so before I get it back, but it's being fixed. Yay! But baby-related, everything's just going along.

[ellebelle]

numberlady Congrats on the the all clear! The news must be such a relieve!

Maplekitty Congrats on your Boy!!

mmeblue I'm glad you will be getting your car back soon, what a scary ordeal!

~~~~~~~~~~
I've had endless amounts of energy this past week and have been using it to my advantage by getting lots of things around the house done. I'm sure I'll crash and burn soon.

I've also noticed that the baby is starting to suck all the extra weight I put on at the beginning of this trimester for himself. Any extra padding I put on in my legs and arms are gone and I'm now back to being a stick (except for my tummy that is). I'm in full on eat everything in sight mode right now to try and keep up with this growing hungry baby boy!

[GardenGirl]

maplekitty - congrats on finding out. I know you weren't sure they were even gonna tell you. I hope your experience was better than last time. And welcome to the blue team :)

numberlady - I'm so glad you are in the clear, now you can relax a little. I'll be interested in what they find out about your placenta, I hadn't heard that but then again, I'm not up to date on downs markers and such. I'll be honest, I'm not up to date on many pregnancy issues. I purposefully didn't read WTEWYE and scary books like that the first time around because I didn't want to fear for my and the baby's life at every whim. But of course, had something come back abnormal, THEN I would have researched it.

I have bronchitis and went to my family doc yesterday. My blood pressure was a little higher than normal, 138/84 but probably because I was just in a ridiculously long coughing fit. I'm so sick of coughing - not because my chest is sore but because I keep peeing on myself - seriously I feel like an old lady. DH is being sweet about it and not making fun of me, but I'm sure he's biting his tongue. I'm on some antibiotics and hope they start working fast. Coughing up crap isn't very lady like.

We are preparing for Hurricane Ike down here in Houston. We are hunkering down with batteries, water and such and planning on only leaving after the storm if we have no power. We aren't on the coast, so I'm not necessarily worried about storm surge/flooding. It's just 100+ mph wind that could pose a problem.

Well off to rest in a comfy cool bed while I can ...

[ellebelle]

GardenGirl You poor thing! I hope you start feeling better soon. I've never had bronchitis, but I can't imagine being pregnant makes it any easier. :( I'll be thinking of you and your family during the hurricane. Stay safe.

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy -13
Girl - 4
Suprise - 1
Unknown - 3

[Ade]

Jen Jen and numberlady, thanks for the well wishes with the nausea. It does really suck to be almost 5.5 months pregnant and still dealing with it. I gagged hard in the shower again this morning. I feel so close to breaking down and just taking the Zofran, I know it will make me feel instantly better, but having regularity is just so nice! I dropped 1.5 lbs from just being able to have a good bowel movement each day (sorry, TMI, I know :o). I'm going to try to tough it out a little longer and just hope and pray that the nausea eventually gets better.

My doctor's office called to tell me that my OB has gone on a medical leave of absence and they don't know when she'll be returning :(. They referred me to one of the other doctors in the practice, but I'm pretty bummed out. She delivered DS and knows my full history. I loved working with her and the associate they referred me to is a male. Does anyone else have a male OB? There is another female associate, but she was pretty booked. I guess I'll try him and see what I think and if I'm really not happy, I can always switch practices :(.

We're also having some health issues with DS#1. He's had a tough time gaining weight since he was 9 months. He's gone from 50th to 3rd percentile and we've done a number of tests to determine the cause. I've insisted since he was a week old that he has dairy and soy GI allergies. Because GI allergies do not respond to traditional allergy testing, it's been tough getting his pediatrician to agree. She wants him to have a colonoscopy and endoscope to rule out some more serious conditions. I was thisclose to agreeing to go along with it and actually had one scheduled for 9/16, but at the last minute, cancelled. I didn't want to subject my not quite 2 year old to 2 enemas, drinking a diuretic drink, anesthesia and the pain of having a tube shoved down his throat and up his rectum at the same time, unless we are absolutely sure it's necessary. His latest test results show that it is indeed a GI issue that's causing the inability to gain weight and of the 3 conditions his Ped suspects (dairy and soy allergies being one) all require a restricted diet for treatment. So, we compromised by deciding to try a dairy and soy free diet for a month, repeating his lab work to see if his intestines are healing and doing a weight check to see if he starts gaining. If he doesn't get better, then we'll do the scopes :( We had done the restricted diet for the first year and half of his life, so this won't be a terribly tough transition, but a bummer none the less. Also, his birthday is next month, so I'll have to be really diligent to ensure he gets an allergy free cake and snacks. The biggest bummer is that if it is the GI allergies, there is an 80% chance that this baby will have them as well :( I guess we'll be prepared the second time around, but it is discouraging thinking about going through all of this pain again with #2.

As for the circumcision question, I certainly do not have a strong opinion either way, however here are the reasons why I chose to have DS circumcised. Rather than looking at religious, tradition or aesthetics reasons, I tried to think about what decision I would make for myself if I had to choose to be circumcised or not. No, I do not have a penis, but tried to relate the benefits and risks of circumcision to my own sexual health. The benefits of circumcision that appealed most to me were:
• Reduced urinary tract infections.
• Decrease in certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV, HPV, Chlamydia, syphilis in men and their partner(s).
• Almost complete elimination of invasive penile cancer.
• Decrease in urological problems generally.

I thought that if there were a procedure that could have been performed on me that would present these same benefits, I would jump at it. Now, I am somewhat biased in having had 2 different types of cancer, one being cervical. If I can offer my son even the slightest protection against cancer, then I will do whatever necessary. Dealing with his GI issues has been tough enough, I don't want him to go through what I went through twice.

Balancing these benefits with the risks of circumcision, I found that complications arise in less than 3% of all cases, primarily due to faulty surgical technique. My Ob performed DS's circumcision and has no issues or complaints from former patients, so I felt confident in her technique.

I think this is a deeply personal decision and not one for people to judge either way. For me, given my own health history, I decided that the medical benefits outweighed the risks, so chose it for DS#1 and will also do so for DS#2.

Sorry to hear about the cough, GardenGirl and I hear ya on the peeing. I do it when I sneeze and gag. DH just pities me. Good luck with Ike, hopefully he doesn't hit!

numberlady, awesome news on being in the clear on DS! That must be such a relief!

maplekitty, congrats on the boy! One of each, how fun!

Okay, this is a long enough post, so I'll log off now!

[numberlady]

mmblue - I'm glad your car is OK.
ellebelle - I wish I could say the same for my body. I will say that at the very beginning of pregnancy I was deluded into thinking that may happen to me. I am "padded" all the way around!
GardenGirl - I'm sorry you are so sick. I have had the peeing issue too because my allergies have been so bad and I have been sneezing so hard, a little bit leaks out. Please stay safe and if you don't evacuate, get lots of supplies. Ike looks very scary!
Ade - I have a male doctor. My normal doctor is a female, but I got hooked up with this doctor when I was pg before and I absolutely love him, so I went back when we were having problems TTC.

I'm ready for summer to be over. My poor feet look like sausages and hurt when I walk on them because the skin is stretching out from being so swollen. It is supposed to be about 95 this weekend, but hopefully it will get into the 80's to stay after that.

[aprilshowers]

Ade - I'm sorry you're still feeling sick but good for you for getting off the Zofran! I am down to once a day and would love to be off of it but between DD and work, I just never feel like I have a window of time where I can skip it and see how I feel. As it is I am still nauseaus 24/7, albeit not nearly as bad as in the beginning.

So happy to be halfway through this pregnancy today, though!!!!

[JackieO]

just wanted to let Garden Girl know I'll be thinking about her - Ike is a HUGE storm!!

[dancn226]

Garden Girl~I am thinking about you. Hope everything goes better than they are
talking.

Number lady~ I am with you. Although, I live in IL, doesn't mean I am necessary looking forward to cold, but I will just take anything other than humid and warm. The last week, its only been in teh 60's during the day an 45 at night, and I LOVE it! Can't wait for fall. My favorite time of year!

Anyhow, nothing new here wtih me at all. Kind of been MIA latley. Dance classes started this week, so thus I have been pretty busy.

QOTD~I have been VERY VERY dizzy latley. Anyone else have this issue?

[GardenGirl]

Thanks for all the thoughts ladies. The wind has definitely picked up here on the northwest side of town. DH brought in everything from the backyard - I could just picture Fisher Price Lawnmowers flying around back there. We have lots of supplies and hope the wind isn't too bad where we are. If we lose power (and it takes awhile to come back on) we'll leave then - of course after the storm is gone. I have family all over Texas so I definitely have refuge. I just can't believe there are people on the coast riding this thing out. While the news media loves to blow things out of porportion, this is a huge storm and can do some serious damage with storm surge. I wouldn't risk that, but since I'm a good 70 miles from the coast flooding isn't a big concern of mine.

I'm getting a little better from the bronchitis, but certainly not well. I had a good nights sleep but think I'll probably go take a nap shortly. I refuse to watch the news - some of the stuff the national news is reporting is getting out of hand.

[maplekitty]

Well it's started...I only found out a few days ago that we're having a boy and already I've gone shopping for him twice! Heehee!!
I was totally prepared to re-use all my girls clothes if it was another girl...but now I get to SHOP!! :D

[maplekitty]

QOTD: So what's your craving? Are you shamefully addicted to anything that you just know you shouldnt eat so much of....but you just have to have?


I am shamefully addcited to Kraft Dinner! LOL Thank goodness DD eats it as well so I dont sit down and eat a whole box to myself, but I am embarassed to say just how often I reach for a box of KD for lunch when I should be making a salad or a nice sandwhich!! :p

[JackieO]

cravings???? at this point it's anything that I don't have to cook;) Seriously, I'll cook our dinner and then have no desire to eat it... but go out to dinner or to my parents house for dinner and I can't get enough.

in other news, I've been soooo hormonal lately. I feel like I could cry at the drop of a hat or if someone looks at me funny. Apparently the extra girl hormones in me at this time have sent me right over the edge!!

Maplekitty - I had to smile at your shopping for your little boy! We have so many of DD's clothes for DD2, and I;m sure we'll STILL go get some new stuff. especially since polka dots are so in fashion right now - they're my favorite!!!

GardenGirl - hope everything is going well and IKE is moving it's way through fast!

[aprilshowers]

cravings - I have been totally addicted to M&M's. Which is weird for me because I'm a chocolate snob - I haven't eaten grocery-store chocolate in years!

[honey_bee]

Gosh, I'm really bad at keeping up with you gals. I'm sure that this little baby already has second child syndrome. :rolleyes: With my first baby I was all about my pregnancy. This time around, I'm just so...BUSY. In my defense, though, I have a 2.5 year old darling to keep me occupied and we have recently listed our house on the market. Life is just much more demanding, it seems.

I'm trying to follow along. Honest. :o

cravings - Not really anything in particular. I've just noticed that I eat a lot more of EVERYTHING. I'm almost always hungry. It's embarrassing.

hormones - I'm just like you, JackieO. Except, that I actually do cry at the drop of a hat. Last night I was getting my DD ready for bed and thinking about leaving our house and just burst out in tears. It's our first home and where we started our family and... and... oh, here I go again. :rolleyes:

shopping - I realize this is crazy, but since finding out that we're having another girl, it's somehow given me free license to spend spend spend on DD #1. She needed fall clothing and whoa boy, did I go to town. I just kept telling myself that BOTH girls would get a lot of wear out of it. ;)

[JackieO]

* rescuing us from the bottom of the page!!*

It's been pretty quiet in here lately...I had my 24 week (how did that happen?) appt. this morning. It was so early I had to take DD with me, she was fine but my blood pressure was up a little, I think b/c I was worried about her bugging someone, ya know. Anywho, Dr. wasn't worried about it. gained 2 pounds, for a total of 14 (I'm not happy about that but I'll get over it;)) Heartbeat was 140, which is slower than it's ever been, but baby girl gave the doppler a huge kick as well, made me laugh. DD had the biggest smile when I told her that was her sister's heart beat, it was so cute, then she proceeded to ask if she was going to come out...soon enough I say!!
In other news we've tentatively sheduled my repeat c-section for Dec. 30!!! It seems crazy to have a date, with DD we found out she had turned breech at my 40 week appt, after my water broke, and onto a c-section we went, so it's weird for us to actually plan it. We didn't have the option of trying a v-bac since our hospital is small and not equipped for some of the potential complications i guess. If I wanted to try, I could go to a hospital about 3 hours away...uh, no thanks. I'm okay with a c-section since it's what I know. At this point, I don't even know what the really hard contractions feel like, so in that respect I feel like I'm missing out ,but I know what to ecpect with a c-section. And even though my SIL thinks it's a cakewalk since I don't have to push any baby out, I'll say that the recovery does suck (don't get me started on SIL...it will only make people angry;))
My next appt. is October 15, where I'll have my regular checkup, then get my rhogham shot (yay!) and do the glucose screening (double yay!)

So I hope everyone is doing well...enjoy the change of seasons!!!

[meg100105]

De-lurking to say hi again. No much going on in my life these days - so I haven't really had a reason to post.

I was 22 weeks yesterday and for the most part I'm doing really good. I'm down to barfing only about once a week - so that's great news. :eek: Sleeping isn't as easy anymore, but once I can get comfortable I can usually sleep for 4-5 hours.

I also think we've decided on our little guys nursery. (We've been back and forth over 3 designs for a few weeks!!) So, now it's just a matter of actually buying the stuff. ;)

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/megs100105/nursery/moodblueyellow1.jpg

JackieO - exciting to have your delivery date!

[PaisleySloan]

Hey everyone! I've been so busy lately. I started the Fall semester at the end of August and ever since then I have been mired down with studying. I had a big test on Tuesday and I felt like I needed to decompress the past couple of days. The stress caused me to break out along my jawline which is just gross. So pregnancy glow = acne for me?!! :)

I feel like I'm getting larger by the minute!! So, it really doesn't help to have the "Self" magazine ad in the left nav taunting me about being 'sexy and sleek in 4 weeks!!" It's funny because you go through life looking a certain way, than this happens and everything is all distorted, yet people tell me how great I look, how cute, etc. I think some days are better than others as far as how I feel about myself.

No weird cravings here. I'm addicted to Smart Start Strawberry Oat cereal and English muffins with butter and raspberry jam! Also, anything spicy is delish. maplekitty (congrats on the boy), I hear ya with the KD.. I made it the other night (two boxes cuz I wanted to make sure I had enough - lol) and had a hamburger patty on the side. It was so tasty!! Oh, I had a small salad too so I wouldn't feel guilty! :)

I'm feeling great. Had an appt. last week. Actually, it was schedule for tomorrow and I was convinced it was last Friday (even though I had it down on my calendar as tomorrow), so I showed up. Fortunately, they were able to see me. My husband was having a field day teasing me about it. Hehe.. I have to go in next week for a flu shot and the glucose test - it's a walk-in thing. My next official appts are 10/15 & 11/12.

Being that i'm so behind.. I don't have many shout outs.. although from the quick scan, it seems everyone is doing well.

meg100105 - I love you're nursery theme. Those colors are what I was thinking for our little dude's nursery. Where did you find the cute fox and squirrel? And I love that pattern. Is that wallpaper or a border? Really cool.
JackieO - that's so exciting to have your date!!
GardenGirl - sounds like you've had it rough lately. I hope all is well now and that you're feeling much better.

I have yet to take any pics of myself. Perhaps I'll do it this weekend. I'm such a scaredy cat!! :)

[meg100105]

meg100105 - I love you're nursery theme. Those colors are what I was thinking for our little dude's nursery. Where did you find the cute fox and squirrel? And I love that pattern. Is that wallpaper or a border? Really cool.


The prints are from Etsy. I cant' remember the artist's name off the top of my head - but I reference then in a blog post. (Link in siggy). They're the Woodland Critter series.

The blue pattern is actually the rug. :)

Thanks for the compliments!

[PaisleySloan]

meg100105 - super cute! The rugs are awesome!! Are they a very low pile? I'm looking for something similar in design.

[meg100105]

meg100105 - super cute! The rugs are awesome!! Are they a very low pile? I'm looking for something similar in design.

Here's the link (http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p9974/index.cfm?pkey=cwool%2Drugs)!

[PaisleySloan]

Damn you're quick!! :)

I'm thoroughly enjoying your blog. The pics of the dog on the rocking horse are KILLING me!! So funny!! :)

[GardenGirl]

Fly by post - we still don't have power in my neighborhood. I do have running (drinkable) water. Fortunately my parents do have power and are 5 minutes away, so we are pretty comfortable.

My house took a small hit, just lost one front oak tree and have a small repairable roof leak. So we're grateful. The amount of trees/debris is voluminous - just amazing.

The city is doing a great job in my opinion - the national news has been a little dramatic with some of the FEMA lines and such but things are going pretty well.

I'm at my parents and only had a minute to post to say we are all healthy. I'll check in later - I'm supposed to have power by Monday.

[numberlady]

JackieO - I can't believe you have your date already! Congratulations!
Meg - I love your nursery picks.
PaisleySloan - My glow=acne too!
Garden Girl - I'm glad you made it through the hurricane safely and are OK.

So, we have 4 pregnant women at my office, the last one just found out...and we are all having boys! So the trend continues IRL too.

Hopefully DH and I are going to order our boys crib today. Then we really have to get into gear.

My appointment went well - up 18 pounds - YIKES! Not what I hoped for. My next appointment is October 13.

[january2009moms]

Updated to here!!!

Boy -13
Girl - 4
Suprise - 1
Unknown - 3

[ellebelle]

Ade I have two male OB's this time around and it is different that my last pregnancy when I had an awesome female OB, but the two male OB's I have now are good too. I just really miss the feeling of knowing that my OB knew exactly what I was going through and I felt I could bond with her more than the male OB's I have now.

numberlady I'm so sorry you are already experiencing swelling. I hope the cooler weather will give you some relief.

aprilshowers and Ade I hope the ms doesn't continue through out your pregnancy. At least the meds seem to be helping you for now.

dancn226 I've had dizzy spells every now and then since early on. It seems to be getting better though. How about you?

maplekitty Have fun shopping!

JackieO How exciting to already have a date for when your baby will arrive. My DH would be so happy to know that we would have the baby in December so that we could claim him on 2008 taxes! :) He's an accountant so he thinks about things like that. :rolleyes: Sorry if you talked about this already, but what is the rhogham shot for?

meg100105 I love your ideas for the nursery! It's beautiful!

GardenGirl How are you feeling and coping with the aftermath of the storm? I hope you are able to get some normalcy to your life back soon.

Cravings I don't really have any cravings this time around. Last time I craved homemade mac and cheese for the entire pregnancy. I still have some food aversions though, like ground beef is a no no for me. I've been able to substitute ground turkey with some success though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm still plugging away with getting things ready for the baby boy! I swear things take almost three times as long to get done with a two year old tagging along. DD has finally started to cut down on her tantrums this past week. Of course, the in laws are coming this weekend and that always gets her spoiled and riled up again.

Here is the bedding I picked out for the nursery, it should arrive in a few days:
http://www.migistyle.com/store/image.php?id=43&type=P

We are using the same dark wood furniture we used for DD, so I really don't have much else to get for the room. I would like to get a bookshelf/organizer like I have for DD.

This is the one dd has:
http://content.costco.com/Images/Content/Product/125378.jpg
I'd like to get one in primary colors, I just need to find a place that carries it, as we purchased dd's at Costco two years ago and they of course don't carry it anymore.

My next appointment is October 6th for the GD blood test. I was able to bring the orange drink home with me this time so that I can drink it before I go into the office.

[jenjen0713]

ellebelle - I like that bookcase/organizer.

GardenGirl - I'm glad you are all safe and were able to check in with all of us. I hope they get your power on soon so you can try to get back to a normal routine.

Amazing how many little boys are set to arrive in January (or late December)! I would love a little late December baby for the tax write-off as well, but would really like him to come in January so I can take advantage of my company's medical care flex spending account. I've already used up my 2008 flex spending account, so if I have him in December all the medical bills out of pocket would be after taxes.

I have my GTT test on October 13th. My drink is chillin' in the fridge.

QOTD: For those of you who work outside the home, do you plan on working right up to the birth or are you going to take some time off before baby is born? With my first son, I took off when I was 38 weeks and enjoyed a little time at home before he was born. With my second son, I worked until 5:00 pm on a Friday and he was born 15 hours later on Saturday morning. I would love to take some time off with this one, but think I'll be working up until the last minute just so I can save as much vacation/sick time as possible for the maternity leave.

[maplekitty]

Oh, forgot to mention that our U/S gave us a moved up due date.

Dec 30th is the new due date, however, since I'm already in this group...I'll just stay here for now :)

[maplekitty]

We painted baby's nursery this weekend!!
The other two walls are all blue.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e29/maplekitty/Olivers%20Nursery%20room/IMG_5611.jpg?t=1222110415

and this is the bedding we got :)
http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/73/97/38/06/0073973806208_500X500.jpg

with matching valence
http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/73/97/38/06/0073973806216_500X500.jpg
and diaper stacker
http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/73/97/38/06/0073973806212_500X500.jpg

[JackieO]

oooh maplekitty - i love the room colors!! and the bedding:) we (well DH;)) painted this weekend...we chose yellow and all i can say is it's definitely yellow. I'm a little on the fence about it, hoping I'll find some cute curtains or nice fabric to make curtains.

jenjen- that was one of the things my dr. said too about 12/30, you'll have another writeoff...our reason is because DH will be on christmas break from school so as long as everything is good with baby girl we'd like to have her while he's already off...

ellebelle - i love that bedding too...i'm really on the fence about doing a whole bedding set this time, I may just do separates and get the bumper and crib skirt. but it's almost impossible to find a patterned one separately, so we'll see. oh and re:the rhogham shot - my blood type is O negative and DH's is O positive, so any babies we have could be O positive, which if they are my body would recognize that and form antibodies against it. So with DD I had a rhogham shot at 28 weeks just in case she was O positive, and another after she was born because she is indeed O positive. So same thing with this one, just in case I have to have the shot. It's funny though, I used to hate needles and shots, and all it takes is being pregnant once and you get over it real quick!!

garden girl - I hope eveything is getting better and you've gotten power back, I'm sure the last week has been absolutely NO FUN!!

Hope everyone is doing well, getting lots of kicks and tumbles in the belly! Oh, and I saw the latest updates - who is our surprise baby now that Maplekitty knows? and our unknowns? who are we missing...I guess i could go check, huh;) Take care ladies!!

[numberlady]

ellebelle - I love that bedding. I like the pinwheel set from the same site.
jenjen - I hope to be able to work up to my due date. I would love to be able to close out the year before leaving, but I'm sure this boy will have other plans! We could use the tax writeoff this year too, but like you, we have used all our flex money, so for that reason, next year would be better.
maplekitty - I love that bedding too and your walls look great!

I'm starting to feel behind. We didn't make it to look at cribs this weekend, so we are going to go this weekend. Maybe we will also pick out bedding and then we can paint. Oh, I hate feeling like we have so much to do.

[aprilshowers]

I love all the rooms and bedding everyone has picked out! We are frugal plain jane kinda people over here so we just got boring crib sheets but I do like to live vicariously through those who do it up.

As for stressing about ordering cribs/furniture - please don't! Obviously it depends on what you want to get but I totally stressed over it and we ended up having a crib hanging out in DD's room for 2 months before she was born. Then she didn't even use it until she was 4 months old so all that stress was for nothing.

[meg100105]

ellebelle - I love the bedding you picked out. I looked at a few of their sets before picking the Restoration Hardware set!

Maplekitty - I LOVE LOVE the nursery. I think the set will look perfect in that room.

numberlady - We haven't picked out our crib either. I think we'll start looking early next month. I'm not feeling in a huge rush yet...

QOTD (late) - I'm taking a week off prior to my due date. It's probably not neccessary, but I have a lot of saved PTO, so I'm going to put it to good use and try to get some rest before the baby comes.

Not much going on in my world. I have another appointment tomorrow - but I think it's just a quick measure/heartbeat appt. Oh, and I'll probably get my lab slip for the GD test. (Ack.) I'm also officially up a boatload of weight. (22 lbs!) I'm trying hard not to stress about it... At least the doctor hasn't said anything about it yet.

[numberlady]

Aprilshowers - Your right, I shouldn't stress. I just know that the crib takes 8-10 weeks to get here, and then it still has to be put together. I guess worse case I could get a PNP and set it up for a couple weeks.
Meg - I'm up 18 lbs which I am not at all thrilled about. I was heavy to begin with, so this added weight is not what I wanted.

[dancn226]

Numberlady~Believe me, I am way more behind then you. WE dont' even have the idea as to when we are going to start the room. We haven't touched it. I have 5 million projects going right now. DH has to finish painint the outside of the house. I have the dance mirrors I still have to hang at the studio, and then we are getting new trim for the living room, since we finally got new carpet. DH wants to fence in the area in the backyard where the nursery will be. Not to sure why, but thats his plans. So a million and 1 things going, adn I have a surprise party for my Sis and Bro this wekeend...AHHHHHH

JackieO~I feel you. This little guy of mine, is moving everywhere. I was in a meeting hte other day and he was kicking the S*it out of my bladder. That was quite the experience.


Maplekitty~Love the colors. They are awesome!!~


jenjen0713~I know what you mean. I would LOVE the tax right off this year. It really would be nice to have that. I keep telling my family to expect him to come on 12/31/08 at like 11:58pm. My mom keeps joking saying my luck he will be here at like 12:01am that day!! Yep this is true.


QOTD~As for work, I have two jobs, the studio and I am a marketing assistant. I think for the studio, I am going to teach right up until the time. I mean I will have an assistant so I don't have to do it all. My marketing job, they will let me do some work from home. So I think in Dec. I am goign to see if they will let me work from home? We will see though. Not to sure, but it woudl be nice. IF not, I might just work less hours. Its a part time job anyways. So we will see!!

Another QOTD~How many of you have registerd for showers yet? My sister and my mom were already talking about the shower, and they are thinking November, becuase of the holiday in Dec. So when is to early to Register?