No experience, but just wanted to say I hope you get to ask all your questions at your appointment and fingers crossed for you and I'm thinking of you @mrstmoose! Make sure you make a list of questions and bring something to make notes!
Me: 31 H: 36 L & N twin girls: 3yo. Born at 30 weeks. 2 month NICU stay BFP Aug 2018: EDD April 2019
@mrstmoose not me but one of my work friends just did. She had a CS at 37 weeks and baby is doing just fine. It’s definitely scary. Hugs friend. We will be in the 36-37 week club together.
I’m so glad we didn’t/aren’t doing a private group on here. I really don’t like the way May 19 is handling it. They still have 4 months to go and have said that they pretty much aren’t letting anyone into the private group anymore, because any people wanting to join have to get 15 votes and have been recognizable from BEFORE the private group was established. Idk, just seems so limiting to me.
@mrstmoose it sounds like they hopefully have a plan for managing everything, and now you know so you have time to prepare. Hope you get all of your questions answered and feel a little more at ease after your next appointment. @MRDCle rooting for y’all! 🎉
I'm a bit late to the c-section discussion, but it's definitely on my mind. Since I'm expecting di-di twins I'm expected to give birth vaginally unless there's complications or twin no 1 has not turned head down at the time of labor. For me that means a lot of mental prep for both scenarios with the worst case being to have to both deliver one vaginally and one c-section (even though that is fairly uncommon). In some ways I envy twin moms that just get a scheduled date for delivery, but on the other hand I wouldn't mind going through the sudden drama of going into labor and process of pushing the babies out. I've attended some parenting prep courses, and they are all so focused on the natural process of giving birth, but rarely talk about how to make a c-section feel like a precious moment and comfortable situation in case that's what needs to happen. Any advice from you STM who have had a c-section for how to make it feel less like surgery and more like a birthing process?
@mrstmoose: I don't have personal experience, but DD's godmother had 2 c-sections for placenta previa that ruptured around or before 30 weeks. It wasn't ideal by any means, but she didn't have any further complications and both of her kids turned out JUST fine! They are 4 and 2 now and super cute.
@lilpotatomama: Augh! I'm sorry to hear about all of your extra appointments. Hopefully they will get everything resolved for you quickly. When is your EKG?
I just want to clarify that my SO being an hour out isnt the sole reason. I'm also just not at all wanting to push a human being out of my hoohah. I know a lot of moms feel strongly that vaginal is the only way or the best way but I just don't think I can handle it. I have huge anxiety about this I'm not making this decision lightly. As for elective c section not being a thing I really hope it is.
@TheSouffleGirl EKG is next Wednesday. I’m actually very happy they scheduled it. I called the hospital’s nurse line the other day because my heart rate randomly spiked to 140+ when all I was doing was walking slowly down an aisle in the grocery store. I’ve had a lot of random spikes during low activity periods lately. The nurses didn’t take me seriously at all, even though I felt like I could faint at any second. Thankfully my midwife team actually listens and would rather just take the precaution anyway!
@lilpotatomama: Good for your midwife team! FWIW, I get a rapid heart rate and palpitations when I'm in periods of stress (although not when I'm actually feeling the stress, it's like what the stress does on its off day, if that makes sense). It happens like 5x as much when I'm pregnant. Back when I started, I had an EKG and everything was just fine. Here's hoping for the same for you (but preferably with fewer tests).
@mighty_montgomery 100% BIL needs to go. Hopefully your H talks to him sooner rather than later.
@professormama@kangstadt +1 for exhaustion after 8 hours of sleep - but I definitely toss and turn and get up at least 3 times a night. I’ve gotten better about peering at a different clock to check the time vs looking at my phone which seems to help with me falling back asleep, but I still push the limit on getting up every day.
Thin Mints are obviously the best Girl Scout cookies, I ordered a bunch of boxes from my boss’s daughter and can’t wait for their arrival.
I’m very over feeling the need to cry over everything. I rarely cried before getting pregnant and now I have multiple crying sessions each week. Poor DH doesn’t really know what to do because it’s so out of the ordinary for me.
@professormama, isn't 120/80 normally considered average/healthy blood pressure? Did your doctor indicate any worry that you may develop hypertension again?
@jlklec19 I'm with you on feeling over crying. My husband has had a hard time viewing me as rational (hence why you ladies have been so encouraging) because after my angry bits, I experience crying bits because I don't want to feel angry or resentful. For him it's like Just pick and emotion and stick with it. For me it's like I want to, but it doesn't happen that way!
I admit I end up napping to cope with the anger, lack of control, and feelings of emotional instability. That's not the right way to handle my feelings, but I guess with all the sleepless nights anyhow it makes sense that 1) my emotions are all over the place and 2) healthwise I do benefit from napping. I need a better coping strategy, though talking to other people helps me manage my emotions and understand that I am not irrational and my feelings are valid.
@kangstadt under 120/70 is normal range; above is considered pre-hypertension according to the AMA. I’ve been on aspirin this entire pregnancy since I had gestational hypertension with my last pregnancy, so I’m at increased risk this time around. Week 28 was exactly the week in my last pregnancy when my BP started to elevate.
@professormama: Any chance you could get some extra readings to see if it was a fluke or a little white coat hypertension? Last pregnancy (when I was regularly over 140/90 at appointments) I used to drop by Walgreens to use their cuff and eventually was prescribed my own. I enjoyed having the ability to monitor more closely (for me it was a relief vs an obsession) and have a fuller picture of where my body was.
@TheSouffleGirl for now I’ll just let the office keep an eye on it, since it’s not elevated to the extent you describe (yet). I looked in to getting a home blood pressure machine, but apparently they’re not very accurate at all. For now - realistically- I’m just fretting over something I can’t control or predict.
@professormama: FWIW I think the prescription ones are hospital-grade? But you're right about really neither being able to control or predict - like everything else in pregnancy.
Ugh, rough day here today. I'm still trying to finish up a fellowship application that if I got it would be the difference between scraping by/needing to take extra work and being comfortable next year, and DD was up sick from 1-5 last night and then missed school today so I got basically no chance to work, and what time I did have was definitely not quality thanks to my addled brain. If this happens again tonight/tomorrow, I'm screwed.
I did too much on Monday (my one day off this week) and I haven’t recovered. I was obsessively going through my stuff. I feel like I can’t prepare for baby because we still haven’t found an apartment and purging/organizing my things was making me feel like I was doing something.
Well, I've got the flu. Symptoms have progressively worsened since yesterday and now I've got a fever. Thankfully, my doctor called me in a prescription for Tamiflu yesterday to try and get ahead of it just in case so hopefully that will help me kick it quickly. I don't have time to be sick.
Maybe I can take a little time and try to organize the nursery today since I'll be home (since considerate people don't go to work sick). I need to at least get something done today.
If I’m super exhausted today, at least I’ll know why. Slept like shit last night. Have a ton on my plate for today though. Fingers crossed I can power through it then just collapse on the couch tonight.
Can any STMs tell me how quickly certain symptoms go away after giving birth? In my heart I want to believe that my nasal congestion and heartburn will be gone when baby gets here but I don’t want to get my hopes up if it’s a gradual dissipation!
@suchagoodone yeah same. My heartburn and reflux was gone immediately with DD but I didn’t notice because of, you know, a dozen stitches in my hoo ha and all kinds of other fun things. Haha. But I will say that in retrospect, if I’d continued to have reflux on top of everything else I would have been really upset.
@suchagoodone a lot of symptoms disappear right away but like PP said, other things crop up (postpartum sweats, leakage from everywhere, exhaustion, hair falling out, etc).
I’m not ready for my hair to fall out again! I spent a good chunk of 2018 crying over the sink as my hair fell out in thick clumps. Pregnancy/biotin/collagen FINALLY have my hair looking thicker and pretty for the first time in years. I guess it’ll be back to the short hair for me!
On a happier note, I am going to get a mani pedi tonight and it has been almost 11 months since my last one. No clue what color I'm gonna do (just basic polish, no gel or anything) but I want someone to rub my feet and hands and for me to sit and relax.
So just had came back from my growth ultrasound and I made a tiny head baby. Her body is measuring in the 20-30% percentile and her head is < 3%. I would be worried BUT DD was born with a tiny head ( < 3% too) and she was perfectly fine. I know my Doc will now probably have even more testing and stuff and try to induce me early so its added stress but really just a tiny baby!
Me: 32 DH: 31
TTC #2 since January 2018
Baby #1 DD Born 8/25/2016 BFP: 8/11/18 Due: 4/26/18
@chrissdee as someone who just survived the flu my tips are rest rest rest, trust me your body needs it. Also drink water and Gatorade to stay hydrated. Eat what you can(I had no appetite but drank some protein shakes) FYI Tamiflu can cause insomnia which is obviously no fun when all you want to do is sleep
RANT: I was awoken this morning to my dog urinating in my bed! She's never done this before and I'm furious! I had to get up and change the sheets way too early in the morning.
@stefanielyn1991 commiserating re: dog accidents. I let my dogs out to use the bathroom before taking DD to daycare and stopped just long enough to get a bagel on the way home, and came back to find that my small dog has pooped in the kennel. Ugh. I can't handle her lately.
@lilpotatomama: I'm just going off what I've heard from unscientific sources such as my stylist, but I feel like I've only ever heard that the postpartum hair loss is thickness returning to a normal level after the body having hung on to extra? I was super sad to lose it too, but then I was like, let's be real, self: my ponytail has only ever been slightly thicker than a pencil, and I just forgot. :P
@kosmo86 be thankful for smaller headed children. Mine were both 98/99%. My dads family and DHs family are known for larger heads so I knew I was always doomed lol
Add me to dogs acting up. My dog peed in the living room. I know its because she’s going stir crazy like the rest of us. Since she can’t run around outside in this extreme cold
@MRDCle@HGRich@mrstmoose Thanks for the glimmer of hope! I was just awake in the middle of the night last night doing a nasal rinse and eating tums and hoping that i won’t have to still have those things on top of the pelvic trauma and figuring out nursing and all the other fun stuff that is to come!
I ordered some nursing bras and just got the email that they were delivered and sitting on my doorstep! I just want to go home and try them on! I'm overflowing in my current ones and constantly adjusting them. Fingers crossed these are comfy!
Me: 31 H: 36 L & N twin girls: 3yo. Born at 30 weeks. 2 month NICU stay BFP Aug 2018: EDD April 2019
@mermaidca if you like them, would you mind sharing the brand info? I have yet to buy nursing bras and I’m also spilling out of my bras. The sad thing is that I just bought these bras in October, I think. I should have known they wouldn’t last!
@mermaidca so exciting! I need to order some stuff for our hospital bag and nursing bras are def on the list. All I've ordered so far is a splurgey pair of Blanqi postpartum leggings.
Re: Randoms 1/28
H: 36
L & N twin girls: 3yo. Born at 30 weeks. 2 month NICU stay
BFP Aug 2018: EDD April 2019
Idk, just seems so limiting to me.
@mrstmoose it sounds like they hopefully have a plan for managing everything, and now you know so you have time to prepare. Hope you get all of your questions answered and feel a little more at ease after your next appointment. @MRDCle rooting for y’all! 🎉
@lilpotatomama: Augh! I'm sorry to hear about all of your extra appointments. Hopefully they will get everything resolved for you quickly.
@mighty_montgomery 100% BIL needs to go. Hopefully your H talks to him sooner rather than later.
@professormama @kangstadt +1 for exhaustion after 8 hours of sleep - but I definitely toss and turn and get up at least 3 times a night. I’ve gotten better about peering at a different clock to check the time vs looking at my phone which seems to help with me falling back asleep, but I still push the limit on getting up every day.
Thin Mints are obviously the best Girl Scout cookies, I ordered a bunch of boxes from my boss’s daughter and can’t wait for their arrival.
I’m very over feeling the need to cry over everything. I rarely cried before getting pregnant and now I have multiple crying sessions each week. Poor DH doesn’t really know what to do because it’s so out of the ordinary for me.
I admit I end up napping to cope with the anger, lack of control, and feelings of emotional instability. That's not the right way to handle my feelings, but I guess with all the sleepless nights anyhow it makes sense that 1) my emotions are all over the place and 2) healthwise I do benefit from napping. I need a better coping strategy, though talking to other people helps me manage my emotions and understand that I am not irrational and my feelings are valid.
I have not felt so mighty lately haha
Ugh, rough day here today. I'm still trying to finish up a fellowship application that if I got it would be the difference between scraping by/needing to take extra work and being comfortable next year, and DD was up sick from 1-5 last night and then missed school today so I got basically no chance to work, and what time I did have was definitely not quality thanks to my addled brain. If this happens again tonight/tomorrow, I'm screwed.
Maybe I can take a little time and try to organize the nursery today since I'll be home (since considerate people don't go to work sick). I need to at least get something done today.
DD born: 3/31/19
@chrissdee oh no. Get well soon!
If I’m super exhausted today, at least I’ll know why. Slept like shit last night. Have a ton on my plate for today though. Fingers crossed I can power through it then just collapse on the couch tonight.
BFP: 8/11/18 Due: 4/26/18
Add me to dogs acting up. My dog peed in the living room. I know its because she’s going stir crazy like the rest of us. Since she can’t run around outside in this extreme cold
H: 36
L & N twin girls: 3yo. Born at 30 weeks. 2 month NICU stay
BFP Aug 2018: EDD April 2019
@TheSouffleGirl I’m hoping for the same thing, too!