PGAL/PAIF October Check-in

NYTino24

This thread is for women who are pregnant after a loss and who have a history of loss or for women who have struggled with infertility and are now pregnant.

This thread is one huge trigger warning so if you just came to read, please protect yourself if you are not comfortable reading about loss.  This is a place where women can talk freely about their loss history.

*****PLEASE DO NOT post losses here. Start a new thread. *****

Hey PGAL / PAIF ladies, your baby is almost here!

1. How far along are you today?

2. Share any part of your history you feel comfortable sharing.

3. How are you feeling today?  Struggles?  Successes?

4. How is your SO handling everything?

5. GTKY: What is something about you that might surprise our fellow mamas?

dragonfly87-2

Thanks for creating @NYTino24!

1. How far along are you today? 34w6d

2. Share any part of your history you feel comfortable sharing.
CP in December 2016

3. How are you feeling today?  Struggles?  Successes?
LIKE A WHALE!!!! Oh my. I haven't gained any weight in the past two weeks, but it feels like I shot up 10lbs and my stomach has really popped out. And I am almost waddling....which is not fun. Whenever she moves, it is reassuring, but so uncomfortable too.

4. How is your SO handling everything?
I think he is getting annoyed with attempts to still be independent....and the consequences of it. The other night, our dogs needed water and he wasn't home. So I attempted to fill their 5 gallon jug of water and put it back on the bowl. Bending down is super awkward and a challenge....so when I went to lower it, it slipped and hit the wall. It resulted in spilling gallons of water on the floor, busting a whole in the jug and our dogs going ballistic. So we had to spend $30 to buy a new water container....


5. GTKY: What is something about you that might surprise our fellow mamas?

Hmm....I am not really sure. Have to think on this and will edit if I think of something.

Abby7

1. How far along are you today? 36+4 (I think? maybe +5)

2. Share any part of your history you feel comfortable sharing. Septate uterus (corrected with a hysteroscopy after first m/c). Missed MC 10 weeks October 2010, daughter born March 2012, missed MC 10 weeks October 2016. Many years of NTNP 2012 - 2016, not sure what was happening. Surprise BFP during fertility/uterus evaluation March 2017 after only 2 cycles post-m/c.

3. How are you feeling today?  Struggles?  Successes? Feeling OK. Baby is weighing down on my bladder so I am constantly feeling super urgency, especially when I'm walking around. I'm freaking out that we won't be ready for him...nursery is getting really close though, which is good, but I want it DONE for his arrival. I'm also worried about my job. Work has a lot of high-profile things going on right now and I'm going to be on maternity leave while some big stuff goes down so it will wreck my chances of promotion anytime soon .

4. How is your SO handling everything? He's worried about his age lately. He's 44 now and keeps calculating how old he'll be when the baby is X years old/goes to high school/college/etc. I mean, I'm 39 so my ages aren't great either, but it's not worth worrying about when there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

5. GTKY: What is something about you that might surprise our fellow mamas? I'm an old school Catholic who loves Pope Francis and everything he does and says.

NYTino24

1. How far along are you today? 35+5

2. Share any part of your history you feel comfortable sharing. NMC Jan 2017 @7w6d

3. How are you feeling today?  Struggles?  Successes?
I am feeling nervous now that I know my platelet count is low, but also happy the new hematologist I saw today has a plan.  I'm just hoping everything is clear and that I get the medication I need to control bleeding at birth. If my platelets don't rise, I can't get an epidural. That won't matter if I have a vaginal birth because I'll just try to suck it up, but if I have a C-section then I will be knocked out. I don't want that for my rainbow baby, especially since my hands are so messed up and I might not be able to feel him when he is born.

4. How is your SO handling everything?
He seems really excited. He has been coordinating the shower with my sister since she lives out of state. He put together the stroller and car seat and is eager to install it after the shower on Saturday. He told me he wants to go over what we have packed for the hospital and has been driving his truck to landscaping so that he can leave if he needs to if I go into labor. He has been feeling and watching for movement a lot lately!

5. GTKY: What is something about you that might surprise our fellow mamas? Ummm, I have 4 sisters and 3 SIL? Don't know if I've said that.

missrekaeagle

1. How far along are you today?
34w5d or 34w3d (providers have disagreed from the beginning)

2. Share any part of your history you feel comfortable sharing.
MC @ 6w 11/2015

3. How are you feeling today?  Struggles?  Successes?
I've been extremely anxious lately. Between deadlines at work and at school, I feel as though I haven't sufficiently planned for baby. Despite my anxiety, I'm excited that it's almost November.

4. How is your SO handling everything?
I think he's getting nervous about his paternity leave because it hasn't been approved.

5. GTKY: What is something about you that might surprise our fellow mamas?
I'm working on my 2nd master's degree and I've only been pregnant during grad school.  

dragonfly87-2

missrekaeagle Wow, two masters degrees, that's ambitious!

I finished my first and only master's degree this past May and it was a bit rough during the first trimester. I cannot imagine working on it now while working full-time too. I am so exhausted now and wouldn't have the will power.

Good luck!

Knottie19640588

Yay! It works - I tried to post a few times this week and it wouldn't let me.

1. How far along are you today?
35+5

2. Share any part of your history you feel comfortable sharing.
Last week was the 1 year anniversary of our MC - I was about 11 weeks but the baby had only been measuring at 6 weeks. It was a tough day even though this pregnancy is going well.

3. How are you feeling today?  Struggles?  Successes?
Good! I am checking things off my list and my new found tiredness and little aches and pains have helped me to finally decide on a mat leave date. 

4. How is your SO handling everything?
Pretty good! He reads to the baby occasionally and will feel my belly or just watch it when our little girl is moving around. He is going to install the car seat in my car soon, hopefully on the weekend.

5. GTKY: What is something about you that might surprise our fellow mamas?
I love travelling and want to travel a lot more with DH and our little family once I am finally teaching full time. I would especially love to go back to Australia, where I lived for 1 year.

YesOuiCan

1. How far along are you today? 35+4

2. Share any part of your history you feel comfortable sharing. 17 failed cycles TTC including several medicated/monitored cycles. Surprise success right before we were slated to start IVF.

3. How are you feeling today?  Struggles?  Successes? I'm feeling pretty good today, just tired. I've been having periods of anxiety/sadness and of excitement/confidence. I've been feeling excited/confident for the past week, and have been managing physical discomforts really well, so I'll call that my success.

4. How is your SO handling everything? Like me, he goes back and forth. He's definitely anxious about our lives changing, but he's also really excited to be a father. He's been trying to make life easier for me wherever possible, reading everything I've asked him to read to be able to support me well during labor, and he got the car seat installed in his car over the weekend which was nice.

5. GTKY: What is something about you that might surprise our fellow mamas? Hmm. I didn't answer this thread last week because I couldn't think of anything, and now that I'm coming back to it I'm still struggling. I guess something weird about me is that there has been a lot of crime around me. A number of people in my family (the generation before me), including children, were killed in a terrible unsolved crime that is still under investigation; a couple of my former friends including two of my high school bfs have been imprisoned for violent crimes, another friend was kidnapped after watching a gang randomly kill her boyfriend who I also knew; another former friend murdered a cop and was put to death for it this summer (he was mentally ill). I seem like someone who would have lived a pretty sheltered life, so these things surprise *me* about my life.