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Weekly Check-In Week of 10/24

amccurlsamccurls member
in February 2023 Moms

EDD / Weeks + Days: 


Baby is the size of a(n):


Team blue/pink/green:


Upcoming Appointments: 


How are you feeling?: 


Rants/Raves: 


Questions:


GTKY: What is something that always makes you smile? 

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Re: Weekly Check-In Week of 10/24

  • seeds_of_joyseeds_of_joy member

    EDD / Weeks + Days: 23 days tomorrow 


    Baby is the size of a(n): almost a grapefruit 


    Team blue/pink/green:pink


    Upcoming Appointments: next week I have an appointment with my digestive doctor


    How are you feeling?: Mostly good


    Rants/Raves: just family drama. Seems to come hand in hand with pregnancy. The biggest stress right now is a severely manic aunt stopping over unannounced and speaking toxic words about other family members. I don't know if I can deal with the stress of it this time around. I feel like it partly messed with my last pregnancy. And the neighbor boy broke my 6 year old's wrist in two places while they were rough housing outside. He's ok though. Yesterday was just really crazy but on the wonderful side, it ended up with the most beautiful baby shower I've ever been to where we prayed over the expectant mom and I realized how important that is.


    Questions:


    GTKY: What is something that always makes you smile? When Willow Joy wiggles in my womb

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  • amccurlsamccurls member
    @seeds_of_joy that sounds like such a sweet shower. Prayer is so important and needed, especially for us mamas ❤️
    I’m so glad your son is okay! That’s scary. 
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  • seeds_of_joyseeds_of_joy member
    @amccurls @itsjess627 it was really sweet and makes me wonder why more people don't do that. I'm really hoping friends will bless me in that way too! 

    @itsjess627 that sounds soooo stressful. I'm sorry you're dealing with overstepping boundary family members. Pregnancy and birth are already super sensitive times and it's irritating when people have the "me first" mentality. You could just say as my manic depressive aunt says, "I'm taking you all to court for narcissism!!"  😜 The amazing husband makes up for it though I suppose. It's just hard when you have to battle other forces of negativity besides the high risk worries but at least you know he's on your side.
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  • itsjess627itsjess627 member
    @seeds_of_joy let them know that would be something you would treasure and feel blessed by 😊

    The amazing husband does make up for it 😊
    and lol!!! That’s a hilarious line from your aunt. I might have to use it 😜
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  • fertile-turtlefertile-turtle member

    EDD Weeks + Days:  Feb 4/25+2


    Baby is the size of a(n): cauliflower 


    Team blue/pink/green: blue


    Upcoming Appointments: Nov 1 regular check-in, plus glucose screening


    How are you feeling?: Much better than last week! It’s amazing how much supplementing additional iron and vitamin D has improved my energy levels.


    Rants/Raves: Rave: Both my in-laws and my parents have been great about respecting that things are done differently than they were 30 years ago when they had kids, to the point where my parents traveled up this weekend to take a “grandparenting class” that our hospital offers about updated safety guidelines and things like how to support us postpartum. Rant: Their class was canceled with less than 24 hours notice, so we’re waiting to see when they reschedule it to and whether they can make it up here again to go at the new time and date. Like I think their willingness to learn new information is honestly probably good enough, but it sucks that they drove 6 hours round trip and scheduled around a Sunday morning class only to have it canceled on them.


    Questions: natm


    GTKY: What is something that always makes you smile? My plants. Houseplants and garden plants, I really enjoy watching them grow new leaves, seeing the first bulbs sprout in spring, sharing tomatoes and peppers and zucchini, and some of the heirloom plants I’ve got from places like my grandma’s garden that just always remind me of home.

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  • seeds_of_joyseeds_of_joy member
    @fertile-turtle there are grandparent classes? That's pretty cool. Never heard that before!! Do they teach that babies don't wear fuzzy, scratchy polyester jumpsuits anymore?  ☺️
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  • fertile-turtlefertile-turtle member
    @seeds_of_joy 😂 sadly, I don’t think that’s covered! But it does cover things like new car seat guidelines, like rear facing until after 2/ideally for as long as they fit the limits, sleeping on their backs and not their sides, etc. All things my parents had to fight my grandparents on when we were little, since my grandma was “so sad that the kids can’t just crawl around in the back anymore!” and remembered “how much better babies used to sleep on their stomachs! And the crib just looks so empty! You should give her a blanket!” So they’re pretty eager to be up to date and to take a different approach to that aspect of being grandparents, and this is the first grandchild on either side, so they all want to be prepared. It’s the sweetest thing. 

    Now, once their grandson is old enough to eat ice cream and cookies and spend the night and stay up past bedtime and eat half a pound of bacon for breakfast… that’s when the fun starts for them 😂.
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  • ttc3yttc3y member

    EDD / Weeks + Days: 22 weeks 4 days


    Baby is the size of a(n): coconut


    Team blue/pink/green: Team Green til Birth!


    Upcoming Appointments:  Tomorrow I have my monthly checks up with my new midwife and Anatomy scan.


    How are you feeling?: Overall amazing! I have enough energy to get stuff done but sometimes still requiring naps. And I have plenty of energy to stay active by going to tennis, pilates, and yoga class. Also, I think i found the right dosage for my thyroid medication too and my body is functioning normally again. So far my blood sugars are behaving with the diet and lifestyle changes I’ve made weeks ago and I’m hoping it stays that way. I’m wearing a continuous glucose monitor to help me stay on top of things. It’s much easier to use than poking my fingers 2-4x/day. 


    Rants/Raves: Currently, my office space is in the baby’s room but I’ve been slowly making changes to transfer into another room.  Last night, my husband and I did an awesome job collaborating on how to reconfigure our office space to fit our current work needs and I’m really happy with the change. 

    I’ve also started thinking about the nursery and decor. I think we have settled on a sage green, tan, and a white color palate with a fun woodland themed room. My sage green storage cubes arrived last week that will fit perfectly in the big massive tan bookcase that we have in the room. Also, the cloth diapers arrived and they are super cute!


    Questions: natm


    GTKY: What is something that always makes you smile? 

    I’m definitely happy and excited when I have successfully helped patients heal, particularly when I find an elegant natural solution that worked for them. 

    And I’m also really happy when connecting with people I love like family and deep friendships. My trip back home in September to the east coast was really amazing and my heart and soul was rejuvenated.

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  • seeds_of_joyseeds_of_joy member
    edited October 2022
    @amccurls definitely smile worthy!  What age/group
    do you teach?

    @fertile-turtle that sounds like a handy class, especially with car seat guidelines (my parents were basically set on the floor or window area and I think my big sister sat on my mom's lap when they got into a parking lot accident... perfectly legal in the late 70s...I guess? 😬). But as a mom of 5, I actually agree with the older generation that says babies sleep better on their stomachs. That one flipflops so much anyhow. I'm also a rule breaker and sleep with my babies so you don't have to take my advice. 😆

    @ttc3y sounds like an adorable theme! A good theme to give up office space for. Are you a doctor? Or some type of medical field worker?

    @angbaby83 that sucks that you still feel terrible..and cleaning up after parties that big is never fun as it is!






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  • fertile-turtlefertile-turtle member
    @seeds_of_joy yeah, the car seat one is a big change for some people. My dad’s parents in the 60s and 70s put the seats down in the station wagon and put a mattress in so the kids could sleep better on road trips. Weirdly, my mom and her 3 siblings had a homemade “car seat” so they could all be strapped in in the 1950s 😂. I wish we had pictures, because it was apparently 2x4s and plywood and some kind of straps, and it sounds hilarious. And well-intended, since my grandma was an ER nurse and had been on duty when a family of 5 came in with all their kids thrown from the car, and it stuck with her. 

    There are actually published studies that show they sleep longer on their stomachs, and definitely no judgment for doing what works best for your family because sleep is so hard and so valuable. That said, I think DH and I are going to be sticklers on most of the safe sleep guidelines with everyone who watches him because of a personal experience that probably isn’t worth adding to everybody else’s anxiety. (The baby in question is now a healthy, happy 3 year old, so it turned out ok!) But we also are getting an Owlet because of the anxiety from that experience, which isn’t compliant with AAP guidelines, so 🤷‍♀️. It’s always good to start with the up to date information, but every baby and every family is different and can end up making different decisions for good reasons.
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  • justkpjustkp member

    Hiiii, back from the world of being hysterically busy :D Good to see you're all still doing well and your pregnancies are going great! 

    EDD / Weeks + Days: 23+2, wow! 

    Baby is the size of a(n): Eggplant

    Team blue/pink/green: Blue

    Upcoming Appointments: Ah. A few. Regular GP ckeckup in 10 days, physio next week, blood test + asthma control next week (have not had a checkup since I was 18 but apparently pregnancy/birth can cause it to flere up). 

    How are you feeling?: Struggling with a headache these days, but I don't know how much is pregnancy and how much is work. I also started to feel the extra kg and wake up so many times every night. Other than that, I'm doing fine. Time flies and february starts to seem close!

    Rants/Raves: I wake up 8 times every night! Braxton hicks, needing to pee and/or not feeling comfortable/back pain. Is this my body deciding to peepare me for what motherhood will be like?!

    Questions: Nope 

    GTKY: What is something that always makes you smile? 

    Playing tennis, spending time with my family and whenever we have cake day at work :D

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  • seeds_of_joyseeds_of_joy member
    @fertile-turtle I remember one family vacation where my sister and I slept in the van, parked in the garage so my parents could leave early while it was still dark. The back seat turned into a bed and I remember waking up and seeing "skyscrapers" and going over a bridge still not buckled in obviously. My husband would probably go for that sort of thing still but I'm a bit more of a worrier when it comes to propper car seating.  I would love to see these homemade car seats too!!! 😂🤣
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  • amccurlsamccurls member
    @seeds_of_joy I teach Kindergarten, so they learn a lot! 
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  • seeds_of_joyseeds_of_joy member
    edited October 2022
    @ttc3y that's awesome...wish you lived close by as we're in search of a replacement for our family doctor (doesn't necessarily need to be a doctor). It's hard to come by healthcare providers who value a natural approach to healing. It seems science and nature go hand in hand and for some reason many just don't understand that.

    @ammcurls this is probably my least favorite age group to teach so far. I homeschool my kids and I feel like the younger ones get left in the dust sometimes because I'm more focused on what the older ones are learning. I'm so glad there are people like you to have patience to teach the little ones on a regular basis. ❤️ 
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  • seeds_of_joyseeds_of_joy member
    @tessiesmom26 don't you love it when places hire snotty, unfriendly receptionists? I'm glad you found somewhere else to give your business too. That's an adorable thing your son said!! 😍
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  • ttc3yttc3y member
    @tessiesmom26 omg…your conversation with your kid is just so sweet and adorable. 🥰🥰🥰 I look forward to those moments when becoming a parent. 
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  • ttc3yttc3y member
    @seeds_of_joy You may want to check out the Institute of Functional Medicine to locate providers in your area. A lot of them are trained in both conventional and natural therapies. 

    Also, I can’t remember who was concerned about perineal tearing a few months ago but Evidence Based Birth recently put out an article on birthing positions and which ones are less likely to cause less trauma down there. Standing, squatting and lying on the left were the best. Pushing in the lithotomy position (the typical position we usually see in the movies) was actually the worse.
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  • seeds_of_joyseeds_of_joy member
    @ttc3y I found a doctor that I really like for my gut health issues that's all natural but she doesn't take insurance so it would be way too much for the whole family. I have a group of crunchy friends and we follow each other to new doctors when we lose a good one and we're all searching again as of this fall.  it's hard to come by someone locally that meets our criteria. Thanks for the tip! Also I totally agree with birthing positions. My best delivery was squatting on a toilet after being in a very warm tub for transition. I meant to deliver in the tub but my attempts always turn into something else. Maybe this time!
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  • karbaudkarbaud member

    EDD / Weeks + Days: 25 weeks today

    Baby is the size of a(n): Cauliflower

    Team blue/pink/green: Blue

    Upcoming Appointments: Glucose testing on Friday; November 21st for my next routine check-in

    How are you feeling?: Mostly good. Things that seem so normal/standard are becoming difficult like rolling over in bed, standing up from sitting down (especially if on the floor), walking up stairs, etc. I'm only 25 weeks, so I'm not looking forward to how difficult it will be later.

    Rants/Raves: Rave—I've been participating in Inktober creating a drawing each day this month. I haven't drawn in so long, and it's been refreshing to do something creative. 

    Questions: How did you prep for the 1-hour glucose test? One doctor told me not to worry about fasting. Another doctor told me to not eat anything for two hours before the test. I've read a lot of people who failed their first test and say it's because they didn't eat. I'm not sure what to do.

    GTKY: What is something that always makes you smile? My cat

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  • PaturkeyPaturkey member
    @ttc3y Yes RE better for not tearing positions. I mentioned this in the other thread but in case not everyone was reading it - I had my second child specifically in a lying-on-my-left-side position while the MW supported the perineum while I was delivering. I still tore, but significantly less than I had with my son.
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  • PaturkeyPaturkey member

    EDD / Weeks + Days: 24 weeks, 16 Feb

    Baby is the size of a(n): eggplant/ear of corn

    Team blue/pink/green: blue

    Upcoming Appointments: Tomorrow, 24-wk scan with the MFM and we'll see how the placental blood flow is doing. Accepting all positive vibes <3

    How are you feeling?: I'm feeling okay now. I came down with a cold on Monday and took the last two days off. If I repeatedly tell my students not to come to class sick, I can't be showing up sick myself. It's not fair to everyone else. I'm not sneezing and snotty anymore, just a mild sore throat so I think I'm mostly over it. I spent my first pregnancy sick so I'm glad that I haven't had a lot of illnesses this pregnancy. I also had my Covid booster (and flu jab) two weeks ago which is a relief since a few of my students have been out with Covid.

    Rants/Raves: Rave- my partner proposed to me last weekend :blush: We're both older (42 & 39) so we had already discussed it and were planning to get hitched at the courthouse before baby just for legal purposes (this kid will have triple-citizenship), but it was still a nice surprise. Hilariously, that morning I had made a snide comment about how he may be good at making *some* decisions but we were only going to get married if I made it happen 😂 The look on his face made me realize he might be up to something after all. (However, I am correct in noting that my ultimatum about my age is what got us trying for this baby so he does have me to thank for that 😁) It was very sweet and the ring he designed for me is lovely. It's way too big though, because the only ring of mine he could find I inherited from my grandmother. We'll get it resized eventually. It's taking me some time to get used to having a ring there, though! Also, his mother cried when we told them and I am SURE she is more excited about us being engaged than she is about having another grandkid 😂 Bless her, I think the Catholic guilt is strong with her but she keeps it to herself and doesn't push it onto the rest of us <3 

    Questions: Nope

    GTKY: What is something that always makes you smile? She doesn't do it much anymore, but for ages my daughter would run at me with open arms when I picked her up from nursery or school <3 That always warmed my heart. Another thing that always makes me smile is climbing into bed at the end of the day. I am always soooo happy to climb into a nice bed ready to sleep 😂

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  • karbaudkarbaud member
    Congrats, @Paturkey! How wonderful. I also made a similar comment to my husband a week before he proposed. Apparently, he already had it planned. Funny how that happens. 😂 
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  • kb1322kb1322 member
    @karbaud, I wonder if there’s any way you could ask your OB for the two hours test rather than the one hour. In the nutrition books that I’ve read it suggests that the two hour can be more beneficial data and have less false-positives because of the fasting aspect and that it measure your sugars in more than one sitting. It’s what I requested, and although it was torture having to fast for 12 hours and sit in a lab for over 2 hours, I felt better receiving accurate data (but I’m also a little too researched-based these days so take everything with a grain of salt!). 

    If anything, I’d follow the advice of the doctor that prescribed you the test and is the doctor that will be reviewing the results with you! That’s the medical professional you’re interacting with for that test and that data so it’s most applicable with that practitioner 🤓

    It’s so frustrating trying to deal with multiple doctors when you get conflicting information 🤦🏻‍♀️
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  • ttc3yttc3y member
    @Paturkey CONGRATULATIONS!!!🎉 I’m so happy for you and your fiancé! And I think it’s so cool that your child will have triple citizenship too! Wishing you positive thoughts on your next MFM visit and visions of a beautiful birth center birth!

    @seeds_of_joy I know exactly what you are talking about. With my micropractice, I struggle to figure out how to come up with a financially accessible practice model. Most of us don’t take insurance because the insurance model really doesn’t compensate us for the time we need to take care of patients.

    @karbaud Fasting may help the oral glucose test (8 hrs fasting is enough) but if you need to eat (because let’s face it, we are hungry all the time now), eat a high protein and high fiber rich meal or snack with no carbs to give you the best advantage a couple of hours before the the test. It takes us 3 hrs to fully digest protein, 2 hrs to digest veggies, and 1 hr for carbs, so eating 2-3 hrs prior is a reasonable recommendation.

    Based on my research, what helps passing these tests is how much refined sugar you are consuming on a regular basis already. If your body is used to consuming refined sugar regularly, most likely you will pass this test more easily than someone who has completely eliminated refined sugar out of their diet because your body is already used to processing products similar to the orange glucola they give you to drink for the test. Other lifestyle factors that can help is exercising regularly which increases your insulin sensitivity and ability to metabolize glucose. If the lab will let you, walk for 20 - 30 min after drinking the glucola to improve the chances of passing. I hope this helps you find clarity in how to approach the oral glucose test. Wishing you a normal boring result with your glucose test! 😁
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  • fertile-turtlefertile-turtle member
    @Paturkey Congratulations! I did the same thing to my husband in 2020 😂 he’d already had the ring for 6 months but Covid derailed his plans to propose on a cruise and he was working on a Plan B. He still managed to surprise me a few weeks later, but I definitely should have seen it coming, or even just seen the ring that he’d hidden in my dresser. For a scientist, I can be remarkably unobservant.

    @karbaud I’m not planning on eating before mine, but that’s because my appointment is at 8:40 in the morning and I’m supposed to drink the Glucola 30 minutes before it, and I don’t really want to wake up at 5 am just to make sure that if I eat something, it’s early enough to not screw up my results. If yours is later or you can’t stand to not eat in the morning, you’ll definitely want to make sure that what you eat is a few hours before you drink the Glucola (not just before the end of the test) and either high protein or high fiber or both. You definitely want a pretty empty stomach when you drink it, because you want to absorb it pretty quickly, let your blood sugar peak, and then have it fall within 1 hour. If you’ve got other things in your stomach with it, even something high protein or high fiber, you could absorb it more slowly and have a later peak and then your 1 hour time point is too early for when it was actually absorbed, or any glucose that’s in your food (including natural sugars) could contribute to an even higher peak so it has farther to fall to get back into passing range.

    The 1 hour screen does suck because something like 25% of people fail it and have to go on to the 3 hour test, so some places are moving to different options like frequently monitoring blood sugar at home or just doing a 2 hour test. Just don’t be too alarmed if you have to do the 3 hour one. The 1 hour test is designed to catch all cases of gestational diabetes before they cause complications, so there are a lot of false positives unfortunately.
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  • amccurlsamccurls member
    Congratulations @Paturkey !!
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  • seeds_of_joyseeds_of_joy member
    @Paturkey congratulations!!!! 😁

    @ttcy3 I love the medisharing program my husband and I are part of. We have it instead of insurance so we can go anywhere and get reimbursed and actually get to choose our care and see doctors like you. I would love for the kids to have it too but it would be far too expensive and they qualify for state insurance which comes in handy when you have so many boys who break bones. 🤦‍♀️ Do you see a lot of that kind of program with patients? I'm hoping more people will leave traditional insurance and ban together in groups to help cover bills. Insurance really does make things pricey and because we pay in cash, we often get our bills cut by 1/3 and even more sometimes!
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  • ttc3yttc3y member
    edited October 2022
    @seeds_of_joy I have heard of medisharing, particularly with church groups. I have also heard of Direct Primary Care financial models which completely cuts out the insurance middle man and ask patients to spend a reasonable monthly membership fee for primary care instead. I need to research the financial model more before diving in. My current vision/ career ambition/ dream is to eventually open a Women’s Integrative Medicine Primary Care with a possible DPC financial model (I really don’t want to take insurance for various reasons) and scale up the clinic to include care for children and families. In fact, I would love to build a whole wellness organization and facility that can offer various health support and treatment in one place and help people build community around health and wellness. If I had 10 more years before wanting to build a family, I would have focused on that, but I just turned 40 and this was my last chance to build a family if I ever wanted one. As much as I wish I had the constitution to be super mom, I’m not. One step at a time and I trust that the universe will support me in the right direction when the time is right. 😊 
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  • seeds_of_joyseeds_of_joy member
    @ttc3y one of our doctors left in order to have her own practice with the model you're referring to. I really liked that idea but we already were paying for our medishare program so it didn't work for us. I think a lot of doctors are thinking along the lines of you and wanting to step outside of the normal healthcare system. I'm sure one day you'll get a chance to collaborate with others and maybe you're vision will happen...maybe not while you're raising little ones but someday! Motherhood is your most important work ❤️
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