Weekly Check-In (4/15 - 4/21) 🦋

puzzlehead11

EDD / Weeks + Days:

FTM/STM/TTM+:

Baby is the size of a (an):

Team blue/pink/green: 

Upcoming Appointments: 

How are you feeling?: 

Rants/Raves: 

Questions: 

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? 

crunchberries

EDD: 10/18/24, 13 weeks, 5 days
FTM
Baby's the size of a potsticker
Upcoming apt: 14 week scan, first OB apt after the fertility clinic.
I feel OK, I'm getting some energy back after the first trimester extreme exhaustion. I've caught up on my laundry, but my floors haven't been vacuumed in a couple months...
Rants: I'm starting to feel annoyed by family member's entitlement and audacity. It feels like they think bc I'm pregnant I'm weak, and they can say/do whatever they want to me. It's getting to a level of being unacceptable. I tried to tell my mom where I wanted my babyshower and how I wanted to do gifts and was completely dismissed. My mother asked how we wanted to give birth, and when I said I wanted to try for as natural as possible, she got very aggressive and was yelling at me about how I was going to be crying for an epidural. My sister said she and my mom wanted to help me once the baby came, but said the only way they would is if I had a bed for them. I told her we didn't have room for a whole permanent bed, but I could get them an air mattress, and she said that wasn't good enough, and they were not going to help if I didn't buy them an actual bed.

cheeeeeeeese

knottie6451316820928556 I’m sorry to you’re having so many issues and so much aggression aimed at you. I hope it resolves soon! 💗

lizzzy217

EDD / Weeks + Days: Oct 13th / 14wk+2 (2nd trimester! )

FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

Baby is the size of a (an): peach

Team blue/pink/green: pink

Upcoming Appointments: 4/18 (Thursday!)

How are you feeling?: So good. The best I've felt yet, basically symptom-free. Not even having any weird aches or anything. I was talking to my mom, and she told me she had really easy pregnancies, and never any morning sickness or anything. I think it must be genetic, I feel really lucky.

Rants/Raves: I went on a weekend trip to the Huntington Gardens in the LA area and I had such a great time! Got to see so much interesting stuff in bloom, and I had a great time walking around, the weather was perfect! I'm gonna be so mad when the weather really heats up, I'd like to be able to get some light exercise with outdoor walking for as long as possible.

Questions: Anyone here using any protein powders? I recently bought a Baby Booster prenatal protein powder and I like it so far, but I'm still unsure how pregnancy-safe stuff like this really is. I read that you need 75g-100g of protein starting in the 2nd trimester, so I want to make sure I'm getting close to that goal, but it seems like so much protein! I feel like the powder supplement helps but I want to use it in moderation, and I want to try to get as much protein thru my diet as possible too. Anyone got any tips for getting more protein in your diet?

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? Swiss army knife, handkerchief, protein bar? Nothing all that weird honestly, my purse is pretty small so I keep it stocked with pretty practical things lol

nataleeagui

EDD / Weeks + Days: October 12/14 weeks + 3 days

FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

Baby is the size of a (an): peach

Team blue/pink/green: Pink

Upcoming Appointments: May 7

How are you feeling?: Loving being in the 2nd trimester. Finally have energy again! Did experience some round ligament pain for the first time so that was interesting, but only briefly on Saturday. 

Rants/Raves: It finally happened. Someone finally touched my belly in the wild (other than my mom) and of course it was my creepy uncle. I had to forcibly push his hands away from me I was so uncomfortable. My husband told me if it happens again, he’ll offer his stomach be rubbed instead 😅 so rave for my wonderful husband. 

Questions: n/a

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? Nothing right now. I used to have a vial with a foxtail that had been pulled from my dog’s ear for the longest time, but finally got rid of it!

dotterjudy

Knottie - that’s awful! I’m so sorry family is making this time difficult. 

Natalee - a foxtail in a vial? I feel like there’s a story there… 🙃

dotterjudy

EDD / Weeks + Days: 16 weeks today! - 10/1 DD

FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

Baby is the size of a (an): an avocado

Team blue/pink/green: baby girl

Upcoming Appointments: tomorrow, Apr. 17

How are you feeling?: I’m still getting those first trimester symptoms. Tiredness and nausea…but I think that’s more because of some ongoing cardiac issues I’ve got. I do have more energy and I feel like I’ve got a better routine down though. 

Rants/Raves: the weather has been so up and down, but I feel like the warmer weather is here. Pulled out the patio things after the rain and I’m enjoying some sunshine right now as I do this check in. 

Questions: I feel like I’m constantly looking things up and going down some rabbit holes. The latest is that I might opt for an epidural - but later in labor. I feel like it’ll aid my body and mind in relaxing and might give my heart a break during all that action? Any STMs or more have insight there? I feel like epidural has kind of a negative connotation all around. 

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? My first sonogram. Probably not weird to this group…but I keep meaning to put it up somewhere in the house and then just immediately forget to until I’m out of the house again and see it in the pocket

lizzzy217

@dotterjudy - I'm having the same thoughts on the epidural as well. At first I was like, why wouldn't you get one if you had the option? And then I went down the rabbithole of all the negative side effects and got really nervous. But now I think I've settled on that it's probably fine, but I will probably want to hold out as long as I can before I opt for one, but not so long that I end up so exhausted that I can't make it through the delivery. Too early, and I've heard it can actually slow labor down too much. I've also heard getting the epidural really helps if you have any tearing and end up needing any stitches afterwards, which is definitely something that freaks me out.

My main thought though is that labor is probably hard enough as it is, without placing extra boundaries on it. I'd love to be able to do a natural birth, but if it doesn't work out for me then I don't need to be mad at myself for not being able to do it.

Would definitely love to hear any STMs+ opinions on this though.

With all things pregnancy and parenting related, I've kind of decided that flexibility is the best path. I'm still going to do my research so I can make as informed a decision as possible, but I don't want to stress myself out if something's not working out the way that I hoped.

nataleeagui

@dotterjudy my dog is a cocker spaniel so he would get them in his ears a lot but this was his first time and I felt like I needed to keep it for some weird reason. Probably the same reason I still have my pregnancy test in a plastic baggy. 

blueberrylemonade12

EDD / Weeks + Days: October 12 / 12w3d

FTM/STM/TTM+: STM

Baby is the size of a (an): the height of a crayon

Team blue/pink/green: green 

Upcoming Appointments: next Tuesday 

How are you feeling?: so, so much better! My energy is nearly all back - although my stamina is still lower - and the nausea and vomiting is mostly gone.

Rants/Raves: no rants this week! Just loving this spring weather and all the lovely flowers 💐 

Questions: I still have that weird metallic taste in my mouth - anyone else? Do you know when this goes away?? I didn’t have it with my first and it’s so annoying!

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? It’s not that weird but I carry an epipen because I have a shellfish allergy.

puzzlehead11

@dotterjudy @lizzzy217 - For my first birth my “plan” was to try for a natural birth but knowing that I could change my mind at any moment and ask for the epidural. I say “plan” because I felt like the most important thing going into labor was to be open minded that anything could happen as I felt that a lot of birth traumas I’d heard about resulted from women feeling like birth didn’t go as planned or they lost control of the situation. You really don’t know what level of pain you can handle until you are there and I personally liked the peace of mind knowing the epidural was nearby. My water broke before contractions started so I was put on pitocin immediately and I labored naturally for 12 hours. It was so painful and contractions were so frequent. And when the doctor checked me after all that I was only 2 cm dilated so I was like “oh hell no I need that epidural” haha. Well once I got the epidural I felt amazing and my daughter was born 30 minutes later. So for me it really helped me relax and move things along. Also I had a few stitches and couldn’t feel a thing getting sewn up. So I highly recommend the epidural. But I also do not regret laboring without medication for a while too, it was nice to be able to move around the room and bounce on the ball. Remember that as soon as you get the epidural you can’t walk around anymore. And try to tune out the voices telling you how to do it, there will be many… my mom loved to remind me that she had 3 babies with no medication at all. Others laughed when I mentioned wanting to be unmedicated. At the end of the day, women are amazing however they give birth ❤️

puzzlehead11

EDD / Weeks + Days: Oct 23rd / 12w + 6d

FTM/STM/TTM+: STM

Baby is the size of a (an): plum / scoop of ice cream

Team blue/pink/green: Blue

Upcoming Appointments: This Friday 4/16 with my OB

How are you feeling?: I feel good pregnancy-wise, almost too good... The nausea has subsided and the constipation has eased now that I’m off the nausea medication. I still don’t have a bump yet and I feel like I had a small one by now last time? I am definitely bloated and jeans aren’t buttoning well but it doesn’t feel like the actual baby just feels like belly bloat.. I think my appointment on Friday will ease my mind

Rants/Raves: Rant - This week has been insane. I won’t bother trying to explain everything going on at work this week but it’s pure chaos. I’m been working really long hours and basically don’t sit down from the moment I start until I’m home. My mom left town for a few weeks and she is our regular childcare until the summer so we hired a babysitter for the week but just learned tonight that our daughter likely has hand foot and mouth disease so the babysitter doesn’t want to come anymore. So my husband has to stay home from school for the rest of the week (he’s a teacher). When it rains it pours haha. Rave- my job ends next Friday, and while I’m stressed about finding the next one, I am SO excited for some time off

Questions: None at the moment

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? I just looked and I’d have to go with packets of sugar free kool-aid. And I didn’t even buy them to drink I bought them for the painters at my work to use to dye moss lol

cheeeeeeeese

EDD / Weeks + Days: October 6/15 weeks, 2 days

FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

Baby is the size of a (an): orange

Team blue/pink/green: girl

Upcoming Appointments: Monday 4/22, can’t wait!

How are you feeling?: better!! Getting some energy back and learning to manage small meals better so I’m not quite as bloated in the evenings. ❤️

Rants/Raves: Rant: I keep waking up to pee between 2 and 4:30 and have a very hard time getting back to sleep. 😩 Rave: grateful for the support and excitement from coworkers as I share the news! 💗

Questions: Does anyone have advice on preparing a dog (especially a reactive pup) for the baby? 

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? I always have so many weird things in my purse! Packet of mustard, $2 bill, a playbill, an epipen (for bees), tweezers, bandaids, snacks…it’s a fun game to see what’s in there! 😂. But I’m usually prepared for all things!

hollyvenelle

EDD / Weeks + Days: Oct 8th / 15+1

FTM/STM/TTM+: STM

Baby is the size of a (an): Homer Simpson's donut 🍩 

Team blue/pink/green: blue

Upcoming Appointments: glucose test next tuesday

How are you feeling?: pretty good, a bit sore from my pap yesterday. On the plus side, our daughter got to hear little brother's heartbeat yesterday and she was so excited!

Rants/Raves: loving the Spring weather, but we are in the South and I know the heat and humidity are just around the corner. 

Questions: really debating doing a shower for this baby. Even though it's a boy and we had a girl 5 years ago and have zero baby stuff still, I feel a little awkward asking family to travel and get us things when most still haven't gotten to meet our daughter. I chose to stay at home with her, and the loss of income meant not being able to travel states away for family reunions and funerals, etc, so most who attended her shower have never met her. Am I being weird and we should go forward with one anyway? With my daughter, we had 3 dang showers, lol. My family threw one in TN, hubs family and my work family threw separate ones in VA when we lived there, so I feel guilty she got 3 and he may not even get one. 

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? I don't carry a purse, but in the exterior i.d. holder on my wallet I have about 40+ fortunes from chinese fortune cookies, lol. 

puzzlehead11

@hollyvenelle - I think it’s totally reasonable to have another shower! This baby should be celebrated too! Could you ask your mom to “host” it as in the invites come from her email and such to make it look like you aren’t throwing it for yourself? I did that with my first baby because I’m too awkward. I think I’m going to do something smaller for this baby, maybe a little poolside gathering with my closest girlfriends and family if they’re in town. 

@cheeeeeeeese - lol packets of mustard. I should do that, mustard is my favorite condiment 

aa2024

EDD / Weeks + Days: Oct 3 / 16 week 

FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

Baby is the size of a (an): avocado 

Team blue/pink/green: pink 

Upcoming Appointments: 4/22 

How are you feeling?: I’m ok!  I was getting horrible SIJ pain on my right side so I started taking it easy. Getting some round ligament pain. Can finally sleep comfortably and getting 8+ hours again yay! I am still emotional from my hormones and I’ve been crying A LOT from being overly happy to being sad over craving a food I’ve never eaten. 

Raves: my husband has been enjoying talking and playing music to our daughter recently. He’s very sweet and gentle so it’s soooo cute to see him very excited. He really wanted a daughter first 🩷

Rant: I’m 5ft with a very short torso and my husband is 6ft so I’ve been showing + look bigger when I get bloated. Everytime I show my mom she tells me I’m too big and if I’m sure there is only one. I know she’s not serious but she’s a typical Asian mother who has always commented on my weight so I told her I won’t show her anymore if she says that so she stopped. 

Questions: no questions! 

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? 

I would say my purse itself haha. It’s a JellyCat bag called “Ricky the Rain Frog” which is a grumpy frog my husband bought me. I also have a frog taser in there that my mom bought me. I love green so I’ve somehow accumulated frog items through gifts haha! 

lizzzy217

@puzzlehead11 - thank you for sharing! That's a really good point about being able to move around without the epidural, I totally forgot about that. I like that plan then, to labor as long as you can stand it because I know I would want to move around, and then get the epidural when I'm tired enough to be okay with sitting down lol.

Yeah I remember when my SIL first gave birth, both my MIL and her MIL were aghast that she was getting an epidural because they both had 4 kids without one. I just remember thinking about how she was in so much pain, she definitely needed one.

@hollyvenelle - I think another shower is okay! Another kid is still a big deal so it's worth celebrating. You can call it a "sprinkle" or whatever if you're worried about how others might perceive it. We're planning to do 2 showers for our baby, probably a small one that's just family and a bigger one that'll be more like a party with all of our friends. I don't see my mom/aunts feeling comfortable at the party we want to throw with our friends lol

I was going to ask my mom to host the family one, and just keep it cozy/simple. The bigger one with our friends we were planning to host, although we will probably ask one of our friends to "host" but we will be heavily involved with the planning.

aa2024

@cheeeeeeeese When I first started waking up in the middle of the night to pee, I also struggled going back to sleep! But recently I’ve been trying hard to keep my eyes closed and I stumble to the bathroom, pee with the lights off and stumble back into bed hoping I didn’t lose my sleepiness haha but keeping everything dark and quick has helped. Before I was turning on the lights and just sitting there (cause I was sleepy) but then I would gradually wake up and made it harder for myself to go back to bed.

cheeeeeeeese

Thanks, @aa2024! Also, anything help with your SI joint pain? I had it extremely bad about 5 weeks ago, it was getting much better, but is starting to return. 😩
I’m not tall either and I feel like the bloat has nowhere to go. Some nights I look 7 months pregnant from all the bloating! Haha. So uncomfortable. 

aa2024

@cheeeeeeeese after some research and figured it was because I sit on the ground a lot cross legged haha, I live up a flight of stairs and I drive a lower car and wasn’t getting out of the car efficiently. I haven’t done anything to really manage it (like stretching) but am just trying my best to avoid activities that involve asymmetrical movements and allowing myself to rest when I can! I think I will still determined to do a lot but it ended up in my leg giving out on me a lot.

I also read that strengthening your core and glutes could help too! But some glute exercises can aggravate the issue so just be careful! There are some lists online that mention simple activities that make SIJ pain worse. I hope you feel better soon! 

cheeeeeeeese

@aa2024 thanks! Mine got so bad a few weeks ago that the nerve pains had me bedridden. It was excruciating! Yoga and easing into walking helped a lot, along with heat packs and glute bridges. I can feel the joint moving and have a hard time putting on pants and transitioning weight from one leg to the other sometimes. Trying to manage it, but will take any tips I can find!

crunchberries

I am also waking up between 2am and 4:30 am to pee, and am then wide awake for at least a couple hours. Not sure the reason for this other than it's our bodies preparing itself to be woken up at all hours?

hollyvenelle

@dotterjudy and @lizzzy217, I had the same plan as puzzle did, but after being in the L&D's triage area being monitored, I wasn't dilating past 2cm after 2hrs and they wanted to send me home to labor a while and come back. I did not want to go home at that point, so I asked for an epidural so I could stay, lol. The thought of being home and laboring with no clue if I was progressing or not kinda scared me, plus it was 11pm when we went in and 2am when they wanted to send me home, so I was already tired and wanted to rest if possible to have some sleep before baby arrived. I don't know if the epidural also contributed to slowing my dilation, or it was still just dragging, but they ended up having to give me meds to speed up dilation after the epidural. They also came in periodically flipped me from side to side, and had a "peanut" shaped pillow/ball thing they had between my legs to help speed things along. I got lots of little cat naps between them checking on things, and my girl was born at 4:30pm the next day, so I was thankful for the sleep. 

username4321

EDD / Weeks + Days: October 15/ 14w2d

FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM 🌈

Baby is the size of a (an): hamster 🐹 

Team blue/pink/green: undecided

Upcoming Appointments: GP follow up Apr 29, 20w scan on May 27

How are you feeling?: really good today, almost like I’m not pregnant which makes me anxious

Rants/Raves: someone else talked about the entitlement of family members. I got that sense from my MIL and a coworker. I’m not going to go into details because it isn’t important, just ranting that the reactions rubbed me the wrong way.

Questions: anybody else wake up one day with basically no symptoms? Just asking for a little reassurance that it’s normal. My anxiety!

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? This might be weird in general but I don’t carry a purse. 

saf22

EDD / Weeks + Days: 10/29 or 11/4; 12w3d or 11w4d

FTM/STM/TTM+: STM

Baby is the size of a (an): packet of sugar

Team blue/pink/green: TBD; waiting on bloodwork 

Upcoming Appointments: 4/26 for NIPT US

How are you feeling?: Still feeling confused about how I feel haha. Nausea all day. Some days the nausea is the most intense at night. 

Rants/Raves: Today, I went to tour a daycare for my toddler. It looks promising and the cost is reasonable. The waitlist however is beyond ridiculous though! ugh. Might as well add this unborn baby to the waitlist to that by te time its 1 maybe an opening is available. 

Questions: none

GTKY: What is the weirdest thing in your purse right now? I dont carry a purse. But in my toddler's bag I'm still carrying tampons. Because, of course, I could get my period any day right? 

knottieb24ee0ffa26afe20

@dotterjudy I tried to go as long as possible without the epidural, but in the end it was a must.the contractions were so painful and I was in labor for so long it gave much needed relief. I was nervous about the process of getting the epidural, but in the end it felt like a little pinch (after dealing with contractions lol). There are some negatives and things to think about (my heart rate dropped, it only worked on one side of my body in the beginning) but the nurses were able to help me through. For me the positives outweighed the negatives. Just keep your mind open to it, if you feel it’s needed. Also, it may take some time to get your epidural, bc when i decided i wanted mine both of the anesthesiologists were dealing with other patients!