Weekly Check-in, Week 3 (10/15-10/21) - 5/4

carrotsandpeas3

Estimated due date: 

Week of pregnancy:

Upcoming appointments:

Rant/Rave:

Questions?:

GTKY: What are you most worried about with this pregnancy or having a new baby? What are you most excited about?

carrotsandpeas3

I just started my week and am going to leave the other weeks alone so we can have some GTKY variety if people would like (or you can just copy this one, all up to you!)

Estimated due date: 10/21

Week of pregnancy: 15+5 today

Upcoming appointments: not until 6/8 for anatomy scan, skipping my 16 week appointment

Rant/Rave:
Rant: total FWP, but I am ready for the Goodwill drop off to reopen near me! I've been deep cleaning and just have piles and piles of stuff to donate. I want it all out of my house!
Rave: I'm feeling good. Energy coming back and enjoying WFH a lot more now that DD went back to daycare. She's so much happier too with her usual structure and friends. 

Questions?: Trying to decide how soon to move DD to her "new room." I don't want it to be too close to when baby comes so she doesn't feel kicked out, but also I'm sleeping in her future room right now bc I always snore terribly when I'm pregnant and DH and I just can't sleep in the same room. I'm thinking I might wait until 7ish months. 2 months should be plenty of time for her to adjust? Anyone done this before and have any suggestions?

GTKY: What are you most worried about with this pregnancy or having a new baby? What are you most excited about?
Worries: The idea that something could be wrong or go wrong is always in the back of my mind, especially since I didn't do NIPT. Will feel better post anatomy scan at least. My biggest worry though is managing two kids when I go back to work. I was a disaster for at least 6 months after I went back with my daughter. I'm hoping I will be a little more relaxed with this one since I've done it before. I stressed so much that I was doing things wrong, was a perfectionist with breastfeeding/pumping, my kid was sick CONSTANTLY, and I was sleeping very little. I'm scared of going through that again.
Excitement: I loved having a little squishy, snuggly baby. As fun as an older baby and toddler are, I did enjoy the days of just snuggling and nursing all day while I binge watched TV. I'm also very excited for DD to have a sibling and to see her in this new role.

babyodo

Estimated due date: Oct. 18th

Week of pregnancy: 16+1

Upcoming appointments: Tomorrow for MSAFP labs, then May 18th for AS.

Rant/Rave: Rant - I'm right there with you @carrotsandpeas3 I need Goodwill to open back up to taking donations. My trunk is currently full with 3 large garbage bags and two boxes of stuff to donate. Normally I'd drop it in one of those donation bins outside the school or dollar store parking lot, but it's a lot of stuff and with our unpredictable weather I don't want to risk setting it next to the bin and it all getting ruined. Rave - We got our crib all set up on Friday and unboxed our stroller system on Saturday. Having those two big things crossed off the to-do list has definitely raised my spirits emotionally/mentally, and made this all feel more 'real'. With all this downtime at home, I've started working on my hospital bag checklist, as well.

Questions?: Nah, none right now.

GTKY: What are you most worried about with this pregnancy or having a new baby? What are you most excited about? Oh, goodness, as a FTM with major anxiety, pretty much everything worries me. I have adopted the mindset of just taking it one day at a time for now. As for what I'm most excited about, I'd have to say just the whole prospect of this new chapter of our lives. For the longest time when MH and I first got together, we were pretty much staunchly anti-kids, but as we got older we started to realize we wanted more for us, so this is an exciting time and I'm just so grateful to have this to share with him.

amapa20

Estimated due date: Oct 19

Week of pregnancy: 16

Upcoming appointments: May 11

Rant/Rave: Rave: I'm finally getting a real bump! Feels like having something to show for the past 15 weeks, and getting to watch baby grow in a way.

Questions?: I guess speaking of bumps, what is anyone doing about maternity clothes? So far I've only needed to get a few sleep bras, but I don't know what to do not being able to actually shop for clothes. Website recommendations?

GTKY: What are you most worried about with this pregnancy or having a new baby? What are you most excited about?

Worry: Assuming there is a fall semester, hubby is starting grad school in August. I worry about him having time and energy to bond with the kiddo, especially with all the traveling he'll be doing for school.

Excited: Everything! I'm just excited to experience motherhood.

- amapa

kalesix3

Estimated due date: 
October 18th

Week of pregnancy:
16+1

Upcoming appointments:
Hopefully this week or next, I'm still waiting on masks to come in. 

Rant/Rave:
Walking in crowded neighborhoods is really hard for me to do with anxiety and everything, but I felt really really bad for not getting outside, so I've been walking an hour every day recently, it's been amazing. I guess that's a rave lol

Questions?:
I'm wondering if I should wait to get a stroller until spring 2021, instead of buying it now.. I'm just not sure we will take the baby anywhere stroller worthy during the winter, my SO and I don't really go anywhere in the winter on our own. Idk, is everyone else getting a stroller for their newborn?

GTKY: What are you most worried about with this pregnancy or having a new baby? What are you most excited about?
Most worried for pregnancy right now is trust issues and red flags with my midwife practice, I guess it's too early to tell if it's me being unreasonable about everything or if they're actually just a really neglectful practice. They weren't my first pick, so I don't know if I'm being open minded enough... I'm just so overwhelmed and anxious about picking another provider who's an absolute mistake and I have to deal with everything going the same way as last time. I don't even trust myself or my intuition so I'm basically on the struggle train over the situation. 
What I'm most excited about is giving birth to a baby that can live, and take a breath, more than that, I don't really know, after my experience it's hard to think of anything to get excited about past that... 

@babyodo that's a great idea to work on the hospital checklist, I need to start on that too, I've mostly just been watching videos and making mental notes. 
What stroller system did you get? I'm sorry if you've already said somewhere else! 

babyodo

@kalesix3 we got the Evenflo Pivot Travel System. It was a gift from MH's parents. They were bummed when we bought our own crib/changer set since they had their heart set on surprising us with it, so we mentioned that Target was having a sale on baby stuff so they asked us which travel system we had on our registry and they went ahead and got it for us. It's surprisingly easy to put together, collapse, and get used to using. I playfully put the packing materials from the box inside the stroller and wheeled it out to the garbage can to show it off to MH while he was working in the garage. It made him laugh.

I think we'll use a teddy bear to practice buckling the baby into the car seat, taking it out, etc. I've had practice doing that with my nieces and nephews, but MH is a complete rookie, so this will help him with his anxiety over that process. We haven't installed the car seat's base yet, since we're considering upgrading my sedan to an SUV soon, and we want to get an extra base for MH's car but don't want to install that until he quits smoking (he smokes in the car, ugh).

kboydbowman

@knottie I highly recommend ThredUP. It's basically like an online consignment store, see you can get high quality maternity stuff for pretty cheap. I average spending about $10 an item on there, and the nice thing is they're so cheap that if 1 or 2 things don't fit it's really not a big deal. You can also use them as a consignment shop and have them re sell things for you too. I've been really pleased with my experience getting maternity clothes through them so far. Wearing one of the dresses I got from there today actually lol

carrotsandpeas3

Amapa--most of my maternity stuff is from motherhood (more expensive but nicer), target, and Old Navy. I'm not buying any this time because I have all my old stuff and my sister gave me her stash bc she's done having kids. I'd just start with a few things (pants or shorts depending on the temps where you are). I can usually get by with normal tops for a little while longer than pants.

kalesix3

Thank you @babyodo Evenflo wasn't even on my radar ( there's so many brands 😬)  I see it's compatible with a bassinet so I don't have to use a carseat with it, I really like that idea! It's so snazzy too! 
I should practice when we finally decide on a carseat and buy it, I have a lot of experience, but my SO doesn't and I could use a refresher since it's been a hot minute since my youngest sister is 8.

coldbrew

Estimated due date: 10/19

Week of pregnancy: 16

Upcoming appointments: today, just another virtual pointless visit lol

Rant/Rave: I want to shop in person for maternity clothes and baby things 😕

Questions?: nothing really

GTKY: I’m worried that I won’t get to enjoy this pregnancy which is my last. My second pregnancy was awful. DD2 had a long list of medical conditions diagnosed starting at the anatomy scan and it was just constant fear, worry, appointments, and testing. 

I am most excited to experience a normal newborn phase (praying that I get that opportunity). DD2 was in NICU for the first 2 months so we didn’t get that opportunity, and I was a serious FTM with no baby experience with DD1. 

coldbrew

@carrotsandpeas3 we just moved DD2 into DD1s room. We have a 3 bedroom house but have one of the bedrooms set up as a playroom instead of a bedroom. I wanted them to have plenty of adjustment time and we will be using her crib for the new baby. I think 2 months is plenty of time though if you need to wait due to snoring.

AB518

Estimated due date: 10/16

Week of pregnancy: 16 weeks 3 days

Upcoming appointments: June 2nd (anatomy scan)

Rant/Rave: I am worried about how I will survive at work this pregnancy. Work has been so much worse since the pandemic started. I feel like I am suffocating when I wear a N95 mask, and I don't know how I can do this much longer. I felt like I hit a breaking point last week after wearing a N95 mask for 12 hours on one of the days. At this time, I have thought about taking the risk of catching coronavirus over wearing a N95 mask. I just want to be able to breathe normally.

Questions?: nope

GTKY: What are you most worried about with this pregnancy or having a new baby? What are you most excited about?
  I am worried about the anatomy scan. I want a healthy baby, and I am constantly worried about how she is doing. I'm worried about getting bad news at the anatomy scan. I have heard and seen almost everything bad that can happen, so I'm a little too aware of what can happen.
  I am excited that DS will have a sibling. I can't wait for him to meet her! This past week, he has started coming up to me to kiss my belly and say, "Hi baby!"

edit: fixed spacing

AB518

@amapa I got most of my maternity clothes from my sister. Also, I tend to wear a lot of non-maternity shirts for a good portion of pregnancy because I have shirts that are already stretchy or looser fitting. I recently bought some maternity clothes from Target when there was a sale a couple of weeks ago. I was a little worried about ordering online because I do like picking out clothes in person, but I ended up being very happy with everything that I ordered. If I can, I try to buy items that I can still wear after pregnancy without them looking too much like maternity clothes.

mamahosch

@amapa I found PinkBlush Maternity online and have loved the things I bought so far! Their jean shorts are by far my favorite thing I’ve purchased. I also got a couple of basics. A lot of clothes I currently have I can wear most of my pregnancy though. 

Estimated due date: 10/20

Week of pregnancy: 16 weeks

Upcoming appointments: tomorrow morning! Finally! 

Rant/Rave: not pregnancy related but I’ve been really sad about having to pack up my preschool student belongings which I did this morning. When I got home there were flowers from my husband on the counter for Teacher Appreciation Week. I cried. So I guess it does have to do with pregnancy because hormones 😂 also really excited that my bump is starting to show! A couple fellow teachers were in their rooms today too and made an excited comment about it (from a safe distance lol)

Questions?: When did you start taking pregnancy classes if you’re a STM+?

GTKY: What are you most worried about with this pregnancy or having a new baby? What are you most excited about?
worried - that something will still go wrong before my due date. 

Excited - to find out the gender! We are team girl desperately due to all of the boys on both sides. But we will love the baby either way 💕 also just excited to finally be a mom!!