weekly randoms (dec 17)

oaklandava

What's going on?

oaklandava

I'm working on last minute lists to remember to do the stuff I need to do still for baby boy's arrival. 3 Mondays from today! Seems so crazy soon.

silverbaby2019

Time flies!  I’m officially on maternity leave starting today. Bring on the lists, swimming, and hopefully naps!  

leighbrek

@oaklandava Same! I've got a list of stuff to get done as baby prep, a list of things to do while on maternity leave, a list for hubby, and a list of "you can do this stuff if you have time, but it's not crucial."
Totally saving my sanity one check mark at a time.

And just to add a random...
I went to the beer store and bought a case of beer, and no one gave me a second glance. Then I went to the liquor store and bought a bottle of wine (for a friend who invited us to dinner), a small bottle of Bailey's (stocking stuffer for DH), and a bottle of rye for DH. This LOVELY old lady behind me at the checkout had all kinds of things to say about me buying alcohol! The best part is that the beer I bought is for me! 1 beer during labour, as suggested by the midwife (only one!) and the rest for me to slloowwwlllyyy go through after delivery. 
Take that, old biddy.

MrsDho11

@leighbrek you just reminded me that I need to stock up on some booze 😂

Kabazaba

@leighbrek I've also heard from numerous people (midwife, doula, and I think someone on this board) that Guiness does wonders for breast feeding Been meaning to stock up on some before labor.

ETA: take out a tag.

oaklandava

@leighbrek HAHA! That's a hilarious story though. I need margarita stuff. I desperately need one and the countdown is on.

snackheart

A friend gave me a few nips of Fireball
in a Secret Santa package. It seems pretty aggressive but I’m packing them in my hospital bag anyway. This pregnancy has been ROUGH.

@Kabazaba this will sound weird but for whatever reason, Bud Light always made my supply soar, more than any dark beer. Maybe because it’s mostly water

luckymay2x

Miserably commuting in and out of work every day. I'm at the point where everything hurts. I don't start mat leave until Jan 21, so I'm counting the days. (I'm 34w2d)

We are mostly ready for baby tho, so it's nice to just get home, snuggle with DD and try to put my feet up in the evenings. Only things left to do are pack toiletries in the hospital bag and set up the pack n play in our bedroom. 

luckymay2x

Also, I remember my BMB last time talking about drinking wine/champagne/beer at the hospital, but I was way too weak for that and it was the last thing i wanted after a hard delivery. I'm not even going to think about it til after I get home, lol. But I've really been missing my wine these last few weeks!

DLpanda08

@leighbrek and @Kabazaba my LC told me yesterday to drink beer to help my supply! I thought she was crazy, but I’m not turning down an excuse to drink a Guinness. Lol

silverbaby2019

I can’t wait to have wine back!  It misses me, I’m sure. 😀

sarahsaurus-2

The good news is that my husband just received a job offer from another company, where he would get a pretty nice pay raise! Since we could really use the money, and his current company hasn't really given him many opportunities for advancements, hes taking the new job.

Bad news...the health insurance at his new job wont start for 60 days, which means we are now looking at any and all options for getting 2 months of coverage, since yknow I'm going to be in the hospital giving birth a month from now.

Wondering if anyone here with more knowledge has some tips or ideas of where we should look for health insurance?

catlady2015

***Lurking from march***

@sarahsaurus-2 - you’re entitled to keep your current coverage under cobra for 18 months, as long as the company has more than 20 workers. I was laid off just after I found out I was expecting and carried cobra. You can cancel cobra at anytime, as long as it’s months end. Likely a good option since you’ve been under it for the earlier part of the pregnancy. The HR rep at yh’s job should be able to guide you through it. You’re responsible for the entire premium (your own and company share), but depending on other available plans, may be a cost savings with imminent delivery. 

Otherwise, losing coverage has you enter into a special enrollment period, so check out healthcare.gov to see what else may be available to you. https://www.healthcare.gov/have-job-based-coverage/if-you-lose-job-based-coverage/ 

GL! 

skilouise

@sarahsaurus-2 In addition to what @catlady2015 said, also keep in mind that health care coverage is part of the overall compensation package, and can be negotiated like salary. Your H may be able to negotiate an earlier coverage date, or a signing bonus that would cover all or part of your COBRA costs for those 60 days. 

sarahsaurus-2

Thanks for the replies. The new company wont start benefits early, but we are going to look into cobra. 

luckymay2x

I spent two days in the hospital for threatened preterm labor, discharged yesterday. Contractions were coming at 4 min apart, but the docs got them to stop. I dilated to 2 cm and 60% defacement, but thankfully stopped there. I'm home on modified bed rest. We also learned baby is now a footling breech, so I have to go back for a c section if my eater breaks or labor really starts. We are hoping to get to 37 weeks (I'm 35 now). The docs say baby could come tomorrow or not for several weeks, no one really knows.

Just really happy to be home on Christmas (fingers crossed).

libertymomrn

@luckymax2x Thoughts and prayers coming your way! Hoping that baby stays in for at least a couple more weeks and decides to turn head down!

luckymay2x

Thanks, @libertymomrn! 

Also just saw all the autocorrect typos in my post, lol. Defacement. Kind of FEELS like defacement when a tiny foot is trying to poke a home in my cervix.

libertymomrn

luckymay2x said:

Thanks, @libertymomrn! 

Also just saw all the autocorrect typos in my post, lol. Defacement. Kind of FEELS like defacement when a tiny foot is trying to poke a home in my cervix.

I knew what you meant. Have you looked at spinningbabies.com for ways to help encourage your baby to turn? I was able to get my stubbornly transverse baby to turn to head down this past week using their techniques. I am 35w 5d today.

molosmiles

@luckymay2x ahhh I'll be thinking of you and hoping baby turns and stays!

luckymay2x

@libertymomrn I'm not a candidate for external version since I have a history of severe postpartum hemorrhage and I also have a septum in my uterus. However, I can try gentle things to see if he will turn
 I will check out spinning babies. No one has high hopes he will be able to turn on his own, but there is always a chance.

I can actually see him trying to flip - his head comes way out of my stomach and i feel his feet moving, but then he settles back into place. Poor dude.

sarahsaurus-2

For a while, our top boy name has been Dean Adam. We like this name, but a while back we told family that we were still open to changing it, and it wasnt locked in yet. Well, a couple of relatives including my MIL expressed very strong opinions against the name Dean, but nobody ever gave us any suggestions that we liked better. So now we're pretty much set on naming him Dean Adam.

 However, those couple of relatives still hate the name and keep making comments about it or saying that they'll just call him by his middle name, Adam, so they dont have to call him Dean. Now, I really like the name Adam, but the reason why it was never a first-name option is because I grew up with a stepbrother named Adam (I figure its okay to use it as a middle name, but it would be really weird for me and my dad if I actually named him Adam). 

Anyways it's starting to get really frustrating because the baby will be here next month, and I have people who are still fighting us about the name or threatening to call him by other names because they dont like Dean. 

kerinsara

sarahsaurus-2 said:

For a while, our top boy name has been Dean Adam. We like this name, but a while back we told family that we were still open to changing it, and it wasnt locked in yet. Well, a couple of relatives including my MIL expressed very strong opinions against the name Dean, but nobody ever gave us any suggestions that we liked better. So now we're pretty much set on naming him Dean Adam.

 However, those couple of relatives still hate the name and keep making comments about it or saying that they'll just call him by his middle name, Adam, so they dont have to call him Dean. Now, I really like the name Adam, but the reason why it was never a first-name option is because I grew up with a stepbrother named Adam (I figure its okay to use it as a middle name, but it would be really weird for me and my dad if I actually named him Adam). 

Anyways it's starting to get really frustrating because the baby will be here next month, and I have people who are still fighting us about the name or threatening to call him by other names because they dont like Dean. 

My mom did this with my son.  I got about 5 different comments from her on asking me to change some aspect of his name.  You go with your gut, mamma.  They'll call him whatever you decide on because, in the end, that's his name.

sarahsaurus-2

AshVA said:

@sarahsaurus-2 In addition to what @catlady2015 said, also keep in mind that health care coverage is part of the overall compensation package, and can be negotiated like salary. Your H may be able to negotiate an earlier coverage date, or a signing bonus that would cover all or part of your COBRA costs for those 60 days. 

Blah. Finally got some answers about COBRA, which would cost 5x what we're currently paying per month for insurance...So went to healthcare.gov to check out those options. They're okay- not great, but not terrible. Only one of the companies available on there seems to be accepted by my doctor and hospital, so decided on that one....and now it says my coverage will start on 02/01/2019. Which is very unhelpful considering I have an ultrasound scheduled in 2 weeks, then weekly appointments, and will likely be having the baby before February (although my EDD is feb 1st, so who knows).

I just didn't realize how complicated it was going to be to get health insurance set up if DH switched jobs (which he really needed to do anyway, and it's going to be a much better job). But now I'm really stressed out because I don't know if it's possible for me to get a marketplace plan that starts in January, or if COBRA is literally our only option- which would be REALLY REALLY expensive. Oh yeah, and DH did ask about starting health insurance early at the new job, and they said no to that. So not an option either.

ChasingTheDog

Insurance is the worst —I’m sorry

ChasingTheDog

Insurance is the worst —I’m sorry

sarahsaurus-2

To update, I managed to contact healthcare.gov and at first, the lady just tried to explain whwhy coverage wouldnt start until February. As soon as i said "I'm 35 weeks pregnant", she changed her tune so fast and immediately started working to have my new plan start in January. So I managed to get a decent, affordable plan that officially started yesterday!

I just was not anticipating how frustrating it would be to get insurance when my husband switched jobs.