February 2023 Moms
amccurls
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Weekly Check-in Jan 2
amccurls
member
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 would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery?
Re: Weekly Check-in Jan 2
EDD / Weeks + Days: 33 weeks tomorrow
Baby is the size of a(n):celery bunch
Team blue/pink/green:pink
Upcoming Appointments: next week
How are you feeling?: It's a bit difficult to move about because of my hip on one side but getting better. I'm seeing the chiropractor today and that should help. I'm also dealing with preggo insomnia and weird dreams which is completely normal for me around this time.
Rants/Raves: my goal for the month is basically to not rant. I'm really just excited about getting everything in order for Willow's arrival, especially the awesome baskets I ordered. Time is just flying and it's going to fly even faster.
Questions: none
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery? Buy a newish 12 passenger van so we can fit our entire family and a few extra friends. And then I would buy my husband a farm with a country home that doesn't need work. I would give some away too but I'm not a gambler so that's not going to happen. I did find some Powerball tickets in my husband's wallet once though so if he won the lottery, I'm 95 percent sure he would do the same. 😄
EDD / Weeks + Days: 34w!!
Baby is the size of a(n): butternut squash
Team blue/pink/green: blue 💙
Upcoming Appointments: tomorrow
How are you feeling?: pretty good! Definitely tired but not in a bad way. I’m getting a bit anxious as we get closer knowing we’ll be in the hospital a while for his needs and not knowing 100% what that looks like but working on continually handing it to God. It’s a daily surrender for sure.
Rants/Raves: I’ve been enjoying the slowness of the past couple days.
Questions: none currently
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery? Pay off our house so we could be 100% debt free then do the same for family/close friends. After that I’d put aside money for a trip or two. But like @seeds_of_joy, neither myself or my husband are gamblers 🤣
@seeds_of_joy the name Willow is so pretty 😍
EDD / Weeks + Days: 34 + 5
Baby is the size of a(n): butternut squash or tickle me Elmo
Team blue/pink/green: Pink
Upcoming Appointments: tomorrow
How are you feeling?: Good overall. Definitely struggling to stay awake all day though.
Rants/Raves: none really
Questions: not currently
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery? Like you guys, we don’t gamble either. But I’d definitely pay off my house and get a new vehicle to accommodate the space needed for kids. Trips and donations too. Then save for kids college if they decide to go.
EDD / Weeks + Days: Feb 4/35+2
Baby is the size of a(n): pineapple
Team blue/pink/green: blue
Upcoming Appointments: Friday (35+6) for an ultrasound and consult for an ECV 🙃 hopefully he’ll have flipped himself by then, but I’m not optimistic so we’re preparing ourselves for a 37 week ECV (and if that fails, a 39 week ECV + induction or a 39 weeks C-section).
How are you feeling?: pretty good considering. Large, immobile, with some pelvic laxity that isn’t super fun, and mostly just done with being pregnant… but the end is in sight!
Rants/Raves: we’ve made a lot of progress on organizing the nursery in the last few days, which is good. Friday’s appointment has motivated my husband to do more early, since he’s usually a more last minute kind of person, so he’s done baby laundry and put away clothes and today we’re hanging the last pictures (a wall of 30 photos of family members, so not a small task). It’s almost done, and we’re almost 100% ready!
Questions: natm
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery? We’re pretty comfortable, so just small stuff like paying off the house, replacing carpets, redoing our patio. Then set up some savings for our son that would allow him to get whatever education he wanted, and there’d be a lot to donate or maybe fund my own research - neither of us are the type to want to quit our jobs, and we love where we live.
EDD / Weeks + Days: 33+4
Baby is the size of a(n): Celery bunch
Team blue/pink/green: 💙
Upcoming Appointments: Thurs
How are you feeling?: Ready to not be pregnant anymore; it's a struggle getting out of breath by the smallest tasks!
Rants/Raves: natm
Questions: natm
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery?
Go to a day spa to be pampered!
EDD / Weeks + Days: 34+5
Baby is the size of a(n): Cantaloupe
Team blue/pink/green: Blue 💙
Upcoming Appointments: Thursday for an NST and check-up.
How are you feeling?: The same as last week. Intense pain and burning behind my shoulder blade, my groin feels heavy to where I limp when I stand up to walk, pops in my groin when I roll over in bed, tired, and out of breath.
Rants/Raves: I’ve been off from work for two weeks and don’t want to go back! I’m so ready to not be pregnant, but I’m not prepped for everything yet. I feel like I have a lot to do still. My rave is that I think we may have settled on a name.
Questions: Natm
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery? I’d buy a bigger house. We live in a two bedroom. Now that we are expecting, we don’t have a spare room for family when they visit. I also don’t gamble, so I’ll have to find another way. 😁
EDD / Weeks + Days: 32+3
Baby is the size of a(n): Squash or a Polly Pocket Adventure Playset
Team blue/pink/green: Pink
Upcoming Appointments: Wednesday
How are you feeling?: Good for the most part. I'm still having all the same issues (heartburn, back pain, fatigue) but it's all manageable. I had a lady ask me if I was ok today lol. I was at the grocery store with my husband and he was looking at something down the aisle. I was with the cart and my back was starting to hurt so I was leaning on the edge of the cart. It was sweet and I laughed about it when my husband came back.
Rants/Raves: Rave - My parents will be back out here on the 10th. It's a one way ticket so they will be out here till at least after the baby is born. I'm excited but it will be weird having my parents living so close. It's a good weird though.
Questions: None
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery? Pay off my student loans, pay off our house and do some renovations that we have been talking about since we moved in 6 years ago.
EDD / Weeks + Days: 34 weeks
Baby is the size of a(n): savoy cabbage
Team blue/pink/green: green!
Upcoming Appointments: had one this morning and will have one on the 16th for an ultrasound because this baby is still breech.
How are you feeling?: oh feeling miserable as usual. My uti has not gone away so trying more antibiotics. And back pain and nausea. Just really feeling the typical 3rd trimester discomfort.
Rants/Raves: this baby needs to get it in gear and turn around. Rave is that my dad is here helping because my sons daycare is closed this week and that means my husband and I will get to sneak out for a date night.
Questions: none
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery? Pay off debts and buy a house. But alas I don’t buy lottery tickets so that would make it difficult to win 😂
@angbaby83 glad you have some help and will be able to have a date night! Hopefully that will distract you for a little bit.
I think my insomnia is worse the day before dr appts which are currently weekly.
EDD / Weeks + Days: 34W today
Baby is the size of a(n): Butternut Squash
Team blue/pink/green: blue 💙
Upcoming Appointments: Wednesday AM, once a week here on out. No NSTs until mid-month.
How are you feeling?: Tired, kind of stressed, not super prepared for baby’s arrival. I don’t think this baby’s dropping yet, which would probably help me out a little bit. Right now, I get that great numb/burning sensation right up against my rib cage. Also feeling nice and woozy on and off. Just kind of wussy and tired most of the time, almost always needing to pee. Typical third trimester good times 😂
Rants/Raves: Rave- I think we have all of the pieces for the cool pack-n-play plus bassinet we bought and barely used at all for our toddler, so that’s a win! Our friends are also giving us their Bjorn baby swing, which is awesome. Rant- most of my ranting is just complaining about how I’m feeling right now, which I already explained above, lol. Probably my weirdest is a rant/rave- my husband has used the last couple of months to exercise/eat healthier and has lost quite a bit of weight. He really looks great! I on the other hand feel like a sick hippo who can’t work out without feeling sick and/or weak. Looking forward to this little guy getting out so I can have my body back!
Questions: Anybody had a noticeable baby drop yet? I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen it on myself really, and this is round 3 for me 🤷♀️ Also, I’m not sure I’ve ever had experienced Braxton Hicks contractions. I’ve definitely noticed some big movements and some cramping courtesy of those moves, but I don’t think it’s BH contractions. How would I know??
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery? Going with the same answer as a bunch of people- paying off all debt, buying a house, probably buying multiple homes for fam/friends. After all of the obvious family care stuff, I would probably use the opportunity to go back to school for music or something that I didn’t finish as a first round student, and I would love to travel! We buy lotto tickets *sometimes*, but only when the payoff is really exciting. We’re pretty cheap, lol 😂
At my last appointment, the midwife said they used to induce right after turning a breech baby at 37 weeks. I would absolutely take them up on it at this point if it was still an option 😂 I know he’s better off having a few more weeks inside, but I’m so done being pregnant at this point that it’s almost cruel to know that that used to be an option, even if it’s outdated.
I was thrown a curveball at work yesterday. So, not only can I not sleep due to pregnancy, but my brain is racing with various conversations that need to happen at work.
I’ve never had sleep issues in my life. I could fall asleep mid sentence and sleep through anything. I know I’m in for some sleepless nights, but I was hoping that wouldn’t start until after the baby arrived! Lol
@karbaud it's our body's way of training us for the marathon of not sleeping afterwards...ever.
EDD / Weeks + EDD / Weeks + Days: 2/7, 35+1
Baby is the size of a(n): pineapple or Swiss chard
Team blue/pink/green: 💙
Upcoming Appointments: 1/10
How are you feeling?: This is a tough one now. I went into my 35w appointment yesterday and was feeling all great ready to review my vaginal birth plan with my OB- she had to cancel our 33w appt because she had COVID so I haven’t seen her for almost a month. We learned that my BH contractions & tightening have led to my cervix being very soft and primed for dilation, and that my baby is not only breeched but also facing my spine, which she said can make it difficult to turn him at this point. Now I’m scheduled for a NST on 1/10, and an ECV (the procedure where they try to physically turn & flip the baby on 1/17 at 37w. She walked me through the ECV and had said that if there’s any complications or if the baby’s heart rate drops/goes into distress then they have a c-section that same day. In the case that it fails but there aren’t any complications then I’m scheduled for a c-section on 2/2. When she did the Doppler for his heartbeat both of our bpm were very fast but then his leveled out. She is having me do constant checks for movement until my NST because she is being cautious that my cramps & tightening isn’t due to preterm labor or any umbilical cords/placenta issues; if there’s any changes in movement or if my cramps don’t ease after changing positions she suggested calling her as we head into L&D just in case because she doesn’t want early labor to start with him in the breech position.
Rants/Raves: I’m trying to be as positive as possible so I’m grateful for the yoga positions she showed me to try and get the baby to flip naturally on his own (I’ve been doing these the whole pregnancy but now I’m putting in the mindset that this little pineapple needs to shake things up in there!).
Rant- my OB just told me that she’s going on vacation from 1/8-1/22 and her office will be closed but if there’s an emergency I need to head straight to L&D and call her office line to be transferred to her on-call doctor she partners with 😅😑
Questions: does anyone who’s already had a baby & went through an ECV at 37w have a successful story of having a vaginal birth they can share?
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery?
Growing up in Nevada I LOVE gambling, but I’d never bet more than I was willing to lose. We moved to CA in May of 2021 and I’ve definitely bought a power all ticket here and there, and I love the scratcher tickets 🤣
When I finally hit those big bucks I’m buying a lakeside house in Truckee at Donner Lake, and a cabin in the Sierra Mountains somewhere again by water but is farther off the beaten path. I’m a big alpine fan with lakes and pine trees (wayyyy more than a sunny beach and ocean girl) so put me up there with some books and good boots and I’ll be a happy little clam 🤤
1) Success rate: ECVs are around 40-60% successful, depending on the study. It may be that that difference is due to different criteria to offer an ECV (like some places I wouldn’t be a candidate because of an anterior placenta, but others, like my hospital, will still attempt it because the risk isn’t really higher although the failure rate is).
2) Adverse events: In general, there’s a 6-10% chance that the version leads to labor or an emergency C-section. Serious events like a placental abruption or NICU stays are less than 1% though, so it’s generally an issue of fetal distress or the process triggering contractions that develop into labor. You can ask about your specific risk factors for anything serious.
3) Timing and Multiple Attempts: Offering the ECV at 37 weeks is pretty standard and fairly successful, but they can be performed up to 39 weeks, and at 39 weeks, they can induce labor immediately if it’s successful to prevent them from flipping back to breech. The challenge is that it’s easier to flip them from breech to cephalic at 37 weeks because of their smaller size and the larger volume of amniotic fluid, but that also allows a small number to flip back. You can ask whether they would try again at 39 weeks before performing a C-section if you want, the worst they could say is no. This is our current plan, midwife-approved pending OB review and scheduling availability: try an ECV at 37 weeks, and if it fails or he flips back, try again at 39 weeks before going for a C-section. Also, given that your cervix is already ripening, you may have a higher chance of going into labor after the ECV, which if it’s successful is fine, and if it’s not could mean a C-section, so I’d have bags packed and in the car just in case before heading in on 1/17.
4) Drugs and Pain Management: ECVs are most successful when you’ve been given a drug (some kind of tocolytic, it seems there are a few that can be used) to relax your uterus. They should offer this routinely, but you can definitely ask about it before you go in. Pain management isn’t “necessary” but it’s generally reported to be uncomfortable at best and unsuccessful ECVs are reported to be more painful than successful ones. They should offer you a spinal or epidural and possibly other pain management depending on what they use (mine offers nitrous oxide as an option as well).
This is all from our discussions with our midwife, Evidence Based Birth (there’s a podcast episode on it that you can find on YouTube to listen to), and a few papers I found. I’ll let you know if anything interesting comes up in the consultation Friday, and here’s hoping we all get the safe births we want, even if it’s a little harder to get there than we’d hoped!
I wouldn't say the procedure was painful but it did cause contractions in a way and it was intense and I cried afterwards for some reason. I think it must have caused hormones to be released that caused the emotions. That and I was relieved!
EDD / Weeks 32w+ 5d
Baby is the size of a(n): Squash
Team blue/pink/green:💚
Upcoming Appointments: just had my appointment with my midwife today. From here on out, I’ll be doing weekly appointments and starting NSTs and BPP scans. In other good news, my baby’s position has returned to head down for me thanks to Cranial Sacral Therapy and doing regular spinning babies exercises.
How are you feeling?: I’m doing ok. Just like everyone else, I’m feeling the 3rd trimester discomforts. My yoga teacher noticed my belly dropped before I did but I can definitely feel more pelvic/ cervical pressure and some hip and sacrum achiness. Sleep has had its ups and downs. But recently it wasn’t my pregnant body that woke me up but my continuous glucose monitor false alerted me at 3:30am thinking that I was hypoglycemic. Afterwards, I couldn’t fall back asleep. In better news, I’m still spry enough to play tennis doubles yesterday evening at 8 months pregnant!
Rants/Raves:
Rant: my husband tested positive for COVID today 😕. I haven’t developed any symptoms and I’m hoping the immunity I gained from my COVID infection in November will protect me. He quarantined last night and hopefully I was able to evade a 2nd COVID infection. 🤞
Rave: I have completed re-organizing my pottery tools, toolbox, and I’m mostly done with my craft room reorganization. So I’m onto focusing on how to set up for success with the nursery and a newborn set up in our bedroom. I just need to pace my energy since I’m requiring more naps. I miss 2nd trimester.
Questions: natm
GTKY: What would be the first thing you'd do if you won the lottery? Like most of the ladies here, I would make similar practical choices. I would pay off our house. My husband wants us to buy a new car even though my current car is still running fine at 12yo. But he would like to see me drive a car with more safety features with the baby. If we have money left over, I would want to use it as seed money to expand my practice and create an integrative medicine complex where I could build a community to improve health and wellness for women and families.