Weekly Randoms 4/22

moon1417

Let your randomness show. 

thirdtimesacharm2019

*potential TW - preterm birth story*

So I’m 24 weeks today (although my body feels like 34 weeks 😬) and it’s this time in my pregnancies I breath a little sigh of relief, even more than passing the 12 week mark. My little brother was born at 24 weeks (almost 27 years ago) and I like to fool myself into thinking that since he made it my littlest dude could too. The logical part of me realizes there are still many hurdles to overcome in developing a healthy baby, but it keeps some of my anxiety at bay. 

BigBadWolf12

Viability is a thing to celebrate!  In Sweden they count 22 weeks as "viable" and I absolutely celebrated and breathed a sigh of relief.  Every milestone counts! 

mrosek91

@thirdtimesacharm2019 you scared me for a few seconds there, I thought you were about to announce you went into preterm labor.
But I totally understand where you're coming from. My sister was born at 32 weeks, and was 2lb 14oz, she's fine now but had to spend a long time in the NICU. When we had a 32 week ultrasound for positioning and they told me DS#1 was weighing 3 times that I breathed a sigh of relief.

thirdtimesacharm2019

@mrosek91 My brother was 1 lb 12 oz  at birth and his survival truly was a miracle. He had some bleeding in his brain which caused moderate retardation and he’s autistic (which may or may not have been related to the prematurity), but physically he’s healthy as a horse! I was showing my boys pictures yesterday of how little he started out, it really is amazing!!

sourlemon

I'm at 23 weeks and I'm starting to feel more confident about this...like at least there's a chance now!

I went into PTL with my last pregnancy at 30 weeks due to a severe kidney infection (that was missed on the dip sticks for at least 2 appointments and I had no pain or fever). They stopped it and treated the infection. I went home after 3 days in the hospital. Over the next 9 weeks, I went into PTL/early labor another 5 times. Somehow I made it to my planned c section date, but it took a lot of trips to the hospital to stop labor. I think because of that, combined with the new issues with my heart, I am more paranoid with this pregnancy than the other two. And I already have an irritable uterus. So I'm happy when each week ticks up to the next!

sourlemon

We are all exhausted this morning. No one wanted to wake up. I wish I could nap at work.

Also, rolling over in bed is getting hard. I get all out of breath for a good minute and my heart rate goes up 20 BPM! And that is on medication that keeps the heart rate low! I'm definitely hitting the "ouchie" phase of pregnancy much earlier this time than ever before.

wabash15

@thirdtimesacharm2019 I had a very vivid dream this weekend about going into labor at 30 weeks. 
@sourlemon I hope for all our sake that all of these babies stay put for several more months. and I feel you on the rolling over.

thirdtimesacharm2019

@wabash15 I had a dream last week that I went in for my 24 week appointment and my OB was ready to deliver the baby. I was like “noooo, it’s too early” and she was all nonchalant like “he’s coming out anyway, might as well do it now” (not that there was an issue with him). Then they gave me an epidural and sent me home to wait (?). It was really crazy!!

aecm

Totally random...my neighbor gave me a couple of her books on preparing for twins (we’ll have the 5th set of twins in our neighborhood 😳) and it has this section about having help...I really liked this quote and as a STM I can attest that it definitely applies to singletons as well, so I thought I would share:

”Spread the wealth of help. Have people come no more than two at a time. If they themselves are high-maintenance, they are absolutely ineligible for first-month visits. You cannot be thinking about how your mother-in-law needs clean sheets on her bed and another bottle of vermouth when what you really need is to have her run to the store to buy you bigger maxi pads.”

mkrel

@sourlemon the dip sticks just didn’t show a positive? I’m having a hard time rolling over too. 

I’ve  been dealing with a persistent asthma attack the past few days that is finally getting under control after a trip to the ER yesterday and my doctor today. This pregnancy has been so much harder than my first! 

mamamias

@mkrel OMG yes! I was feeling guilty about thinking how much I enjoyed my first pregnancy but this one is kicking my ass. Don't know if it's because I am older this time around or have a toddler to manage but I can't remember feeling this tired and spent in my first pregnancy. 

cato99

@thirdtimesacharm2019 I had a pedicure last week with a VERY CHATTY beautician and she cheerfully told me all about her daughter who went into labor the day she reached 24 weeks, with every gory detail—luckily the baby seems fine now at 3 and a half, despite brain bleeding. Still, being held captive during this long story wasn’t how I expected to spend my relaxing spa day! 

mrosek91

@cato99 it's amazing how people seem to like scaring expectant mothers. I've gotten my share of scary birth stories, but the one thing I can never forget is when I was pregnant with DS#2, he's 19 months younger than DS#1, and an older friend from the community (her kids are teenagers now) told me "I had my first 2 eighteen months apart, I was a sergant in the Israeli army, and having the kids was harder."

sourlemon

@mkrel correct, i cant seem to turn a dipstick. Even with my 9 weeks of a kidney infection at the start of this pregnancy, all the dipsticks were negative. It wasnt until the culture that the infection was caught. Both times my white blood cells were insanely high on blood tests, and it was a high concentration of bacteria, but the dipsticks never caught it. I had that problem as a kid too (I had frequent UTIs and had kidney surgery when I was 3 which helped for a few years) so things dragged out and caused damage. Now I always request the full culture.

thirdtimesacharm2019

I’m getting my prenatal massage that I got for my birthday this afternoon and I am soooooo excited!! I had one with DS2 and it was amazing!!!!!

janele3214

@sourlemon oh is so nice to hear of you and others getting out of breath just getting into bed.. 
i as well am breathing a sigh of relief that I am past the 24 week mark.. this is my first and I shouldn’t have any problems but I am a nurse and know all the worst case scenarios so that doesn’t help. Hope all of us can at least keep these babies in until July. 

thirdtimesacharm2019

Just kidding. DS2 has fever of 103 and headache. We are at urgent care. 

#momlife

sw1122

@thirdtimesacharm2019 oh no, I’m so sorry! I hope your DS feels better and that you get to reschedule that massage!

@cato99 I was telling my husband that I am already anxious/freaking out about labor and delivery because I always anticipate the worst. He said that he saw somewhere that people don’t talk about uneventful deliveries - they tend to only talk about complicated deliveries where something or multiple things have gone wrong, therefore terrifying a lot of women. Fingers crossed for uneventful deliveries in August!

thirdtimesacharm2019

@sw1122 I don’t have any statistics, but I would venture to say most births are medically uneventful. Everyone wants to talk about the sensational ones and they are probably like fish stories that get a little more outrageous every time they are told. 

cato99

@sw1122 @thirdtimesacharm2019 I think that's true! My DD's birth had some exciting complications and wasn't easy by any means, but overall it was very well managed and in fact for me was a transcendent, sacred experience. I shy away from talking about it in those terms because no one wants to deal with that weird glowing lady talking about the beauty of childbirth or whatever when it's much more important to communicate in realistic terms the practical aspects of labor and birth. And focusing only on the warm and fuzzy aspects of the experience is unfair to the many women who DID have traumatic births and I'm glad their voices can be heard.

BUT! In case anyone needs to hear it today: birth for me was a transcendent, sacred experience and the minute it was over I had a strong emotional reaction of mourning that I wouldn't have that exact birth ever again. 

mkrel

@cato99 I had an induction but overall the day I gave birth was one of the most amazing experiences ever. I’m also worried that this one won’t be the same. My daughter was sunny side up, I almost ended up with a C-section, and I did get an episiotomy but it was the best experience ever and I would do it over and over again if I could. I hope everyone here has a positive experience. I’m a nurse and tend to worry about the million things I know can go wrong but I managed to stay pretty level headed that day which helped. 

wanderlustsoul

I am so proud of my H. He got 100% of his bonus reward and a raise. This is all based on only 3 months with the company, which is even more amazing. 

Also yay because bonus comes at a good time! Gonna get some baby stuff purchased. 

jmesue1030

@sw1122 I had an uncomplicated, unmedicated water birth with my son. It was intense AF and certainly didn’t feel uneventful at the time but looking back everything happened exactly as nature intended. I felt super empowered afterwards and my body felt great almost immediately. Only sharing because I think you’re right, we need more positive birth stories to balance out the traumatic ones and help decrease delivery anxiety!

emqbee

Thank you ladies for the positive birth stories! Please keep them coming! 

@jmesue1030 do you intend to do a water birth again? What did you live about it? What wasn’t so great? If you don’t mind sharing of course!

mrosek91

If you are looking for more positive birth stories I recommend the podcast The Birth Hour. I've only listened to two episodes so far, but I've been enjoying it.

@emqbee we had a thread, I think the beginning of March were a lot of STMs shared their birth stories. I'm on vacation and mobile bumping, so I can't find it easily, but if you'd like I can look for it Monday when I'm back at a computer. I think it was called GTKY birth stories or something like that.

Allycat11

I will say my birth with DS was super positive. My water broke at home in the middle of the night with strong contractions right away. Labor was relatively peaceful and uneventful, especially laboring in an almost empty hospital. He was born 5 hours later after only a few pushes. I felt fantastic right after, we were discharged the next day and recovery went well. 

aecm

Inevitably some of our births won’t go “as planned.” My first childbirth experience was certainly not what I dreamed about. We experienced major complications, but...I still love that day. Even though things didn’t happen the way I wanted, it was how I became a mom so it’s incredibly special to me. 

wabash15

neither of my births were what I had planned but they were both positive experiences for me.

jmesue1030

@emqbee the water felt glorious during contractions/laboring. My body was able to relax so much better when I was in the water vs when I was out! I will likely do another water birth, assuming I’m able to. I see a midwife group who offer water births at the hospital— prepare to be naked the whole time and to lose any ounce of modesty you have if you choose water though!

emqbee

@mrosek91 thank you! I’ll find the thread...and also I’d seen a while back where you talked about that podcast but couldn’t remember the name. I’ll definitely be looking it up! Hopefully it’s on iheart. 

@jmesue1030 I have heard wonderful things about water and it is definitely offered with my midwife practice. Every room is equipped for it. I’ve heard that it’s very soothing and even if I didn’t actually deliver in water, I want the option to be in warm water and try to relax during labor. Just curious...I kind of feel like all modesty will go out the window with any kind of birth and already planned-ish to be fully nude. I don’t want any material between me and baby the first time I get to hold her! That said, what makes you emphasize that about modesty with water? Simply because of the fully nude factor?

jmesue1030

@emqbee oh I just know it’s been discussed here before that some people hope to maintain some modesty during labor... I was at the hospital laboring for a good 12 hours and it’s just kinda funny thinking back that I was in and out of the water, walking around the room, laying on the bed, sitting on the toilet, completely naked the whole time. There were nurses in and out and the midwife and my H were present the whole time... I'm not particularly modest, but in other circumstances I would definitely feel uncomfortable being the only nude person in the room 😂 I think since I labored in the water I got naked right away and putting clothes back on whenever I was out of the water never felt like a good idea. 

In case you’re  wondering, I would have stayed in the water the whole time but because I wasn’t progressing they kept wanting me to get out and move/try different things— they basically had to pry me out of the water— it honestly felt that good. Ha

mrosek91

@emqbee to give you the other end of the spectrum, I'm a very modest person (partly nature, partly religious requirements). I remember when my doula recommend I get in the shower during transition, I said I didn't want to because I didn't want to be naked in front of other people. They told me I could get in in the hospital gown, so I did, and then when I got out they got me a new dry gown.
During labor I was completely covered above the waist, and then as soon as baby was born I made them put a sheet over my bottom half, and I opened the top so I could have baby skin-to-skin on my chest, and try BFing. Yes, I showed a lot more than I ever would in public, but I still managed to feel modest-ish.

emqbee

Oh I gotcha! I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing some factor that only previous mommies would know about! I totally laughed out loud at the part about being the only nude person in the room...that would be very uncomfortable in any other circumstance! 

@mrosek91 I guess that end of the spectrum had t really even occurred to me...it is something to consider. When it’s all said and done I don’t think I want to just be chilling completely naked...that makes me think I should find a nice light weight robe that can be easily put on/opened up for skin to skin contact. 

Im also typically modest so it’ll be different for me to be nude in front of an essential stranger...but I also know that I get super uncomfortable with clothes when I’m in pain. I’m going in open minded I guess-whatever is comfortable at the time is what I’ll do. 

wiscobabies

@emqbee I also had a water birth with my son, but I had a sports bra on the whole time. I mostly chilled in depends and my sports bra until I got in the tub. You may not know what you want to wear until you’re in labor, and that’s ok too. 

emqbee

@jma_18 so per my usual, sounds like I’ll need to overpack so I have options

agpandme

Last night this boy was kicking up a storm when I laid down in bed. I had DH put his hand on to feel it. He let out the biggest kick right into DH hand.  It was shocking in a good way for DH since it was his first time and for it to be so strong.  I'm like "yeah and thats happening inside me constantly!". 

BigBadWolf12

Ugh leg cramps!  I got the worst Charlie horses I've ever had simultaneously in the middle of the night 2 nights ago,  one in each calf.  Every step I take still feels bruised.  And Fridays I teach back to back all day and can't sit down whenever I need to, so Braxton hicks are always bad on Fridays.  I was a crampy mess this afternoon between my legs and belly 😂😣 but it's the weekend now and in lying on the couch recovering haha

suzycupcake

TB aint got nothing on FB Mom groups. The snark there is endless as well as the flames. 

Also, my husband and I have come up with some code words for things when I am in my birthing time. We decided to say, "Winter is coming" when the bloody show starts. 

Eta: The baby just kicked so hard twice that it felt like my whole torso moved. 

MollyH1987

@suzycupcake love that! Now I feel like we need code words.

@agpandme That's awesome! Every time I try to get DH to feel the kicks, baby stops kicking

cato99

“Any day now!” —a well meaning restaurant server yesterday at lunch.

I was like... I have a few months to go but thank you?