We already know that we won't be travelling like we have in the past on Christmas day. Normally we go to the in-laws about 2.5 hours a few days away and spend Christmas Eve there and then come back home on Christmas morning. It's very important to me that my kids get to wake up in their bed on Christmas morning (at least most years or until they get older) so we had already said this year we weren't travelling and they would have to come to us (my SIL is in the same town as us so it's just my DH parents and brother). I wasn't sure how this would play out once it got closer but being pregnant, no one will expect us to travel so it's a good way to start this and see how it works.
However, my DS was due 12/6 and was born 11/14 (at 37 weeks) and with GD I am fully expecting to come early which would actually put this little girl being born before Christmas. I am really truly hoping to make it until after Christmas, if even by just a few days. I plan to have all my shopping done before December and we usually put our decorations up the weekend after Thanksgiving so we will still do that. We managed to decorate with a 2-3 week old so I figure we can make something work.
We can't travel (IL live on a farm far from hospitals) so we requested the IL Christmas be at our place this year which has already started drama... I will be 38+ weeks pregnant and could have the baby at any point by then so my DH and I have just decided to state our feelings and let it be. If they have it without us we will be fine as my family lives in town and will still do something... I just don't understand how people can't make exceptions for things especially family. I am not sure if I will even be up for anything so the fact I invited everyone over should show I am trying.
Christmas ends up always being more stressful than it needs to be!
I loooove the holidays, so I'm really looking forward to it this year. Mostly because it's like we get a bonus Christmas gift right after!(baby)
Although I am not looking forward to being sooo uncomfortable and basically missing out on all the fun Christmas shopping.(I love Christmas shopping, I have gone out black Friday every year...) This year will be a lot of online shopping... lol. However I'm not due until late January, so I'm not worried about him popping out early, plus I am expecting to be late. That's just how life works for me, nothing is on time. lol
Lol I totally said the same thing about DD, especially since all 5 of my mom's pregnancies ended as late as they possibly could've, and wouldn't you know she came the day before her due date. I was stunned.
@karaelaine1991 Really?? See I keep saying I expect to be two weeks late because my mom was two weeks late with the 6 of her 7 pregnancies (the last was an emergency C-section due to cord issues. otherwise I bet he would have been late as well. lol)
We plan to travel to my SILs for thanksgiving and celebrate an early Christmas there with my son and two nieces. It won't be anything big, but SIL and BIL won't be coming to FL for Christmas this year since they will have a newborn and we always have a great time getting together. That means gift shopping for them has to be done pretty early!
I can not wait to decorate our house for Christmas as it will be our first one in the new house and I feel like DS will really enjoy all of the festivities this year. Christmas Eve is always pretty laid back, just cooking for Christmas Day and church. My parents and brothers will come over Christmas Day and maybe my in laws, as long as they aren't traveling. Ever since DS was born everyone makes the day about him and we enjoy watching him play with his new things.
I'll be 36 weeks at Christmas, but this baby has already measured 2 weeks ahead. I'm a little nervous at how I'll be feeling and how big I will be, but hopefully it'll all go well, as I'm really looking forward to spending one last Christmas as a family of 3!
I loooove the holidays, so I'm really looking forward to it this year. Mostly because it's like we get a bonus Christmas gift right after!(baby)
Although I am not looking forward to being sooo uncomfortable and basically missing out on all the fun Christmas shopping.(I love Christmas shopping, I have gone out black Friday every year...) This year will be a lot of online shopping... lol. However I'm not due until late January, so I'm not worried about him popping out early, plus I am expecting to be late. That's just how life works for me, nothing is on time. lol
Lol I totally said the same thing about DD, especially since all 5 of my mom's pregnancies ended as late as they possibly could've, and wouldn't you know she came the day before her due date. I was stunned.
@karaelaine1991 Really?? See I keep saying I expect to be two weeks late because my mom was two weeks late with the 6 of her 7 pregnancies (the last was an emergency C-section due to cord issues. otherwise I bet he would have been late as well. lol)
I guess you never know!
Haha yep! Everything I thought I could predict about DD ended up not happening. The other big thing was that I thought she'd have brown eyes for sure because both DH and I have really dark brown eyes, as do most of our families. Nope - she's got bright blue eyes! Recessive genes won out, I guess!
@karaelaine1991@HJMorgan I've also been assuming I'll go past my due date, since my mom went nearly 2 weeks late with all 6 of her pregnancies. I actually joked to her yesterday that maybe my baby will be born early, and she laughed that off like I was nuts . My baby has also been measuring ahead. I know that doesn't mean much at this stage but I'm mentally preparing myself for the possibility that the baby is born in December OR in late January.
@KarliQ88 my advice would be to not have any plans contingent on you, especially that close to your due date. The baby could be born early, in which case hosting might be entirely out of the question. And even if you're not close to going into labor you might just be wiped out and not up for a big celebration. Or you could actually be in labor! Is there anyone else who might be able to host who lives closer to the hospital? My philosophy with the holidays this year is basically that we will plan to show up, but that's the extent of our commitment. If we don't make it for whatever reason no one else's plans will really be disrupted.
I'm hoping the stress of Christmas puts me into labor. Anyone else? I'm hoping for a baby on the 26th or so, to get out of the hospital before Jan 1st. Insurance reasons. Duh
I'm definitely going to bring this up to DH. DD was almost a full month early so we're kind of expecting to have a baby before christmas. However, you never know!
Our RainbowBaby H arrived at 37 weeks on 12/20/16!
Baby E arrived at 37 weeks on 01/31/15!
Married my Marine 05.23.14
*TW* TWIN LOSS 7.2.15 BFP 9.7.15 CP BFP 12.31.15 MC 2.28.16 BFP 10.14.17 CP BFP 3.10.18 D&C 4.13.18
Our family is all local, so no traveling worries. I just mentioned to DH that we should skip a tree this year and he looked at me like I had grown a second head. I always get weirdly emotional about choosing a fresh tree every year and make a big to do about decorating it, but I'm not sure I'll be up for the hassle. Plus, our families have all agreed to have a very scaled back Christmas this year, with less presents. A tree just doesn't look right without gifts under it.
@ThePax89@BAJDesigns Add me to the Please Be Born in December list. Insurance deductibles are no joke and it would save lots of money. Everyone thinks it's because of the tax write off. Nope. Not even worried about that.
Everyone keeps saying how wonderful it would be if I had the 1st baby of the year & I just respond I'd rather have the last baby of this year! Of course, they say tax purposes, but, gosh darn it, I had an ER visit before getting pregnant that took care of my deductible, which has helped a bunch for the pregnancy, and I do not want to pay that sucker again! Especially within the first day or two of the new year.
Me: 33 DH: 38 Married: 1/10/15
1st Pregnancy EDD: 1/1/17 Born 1/10/17 Team Green turned Blue!
2nd Pregnancy EDD: 11/6/18 Born 11/09/18 Baby Boy!
3rd Pregnancy EDD: 12/?/21
Children are like casseroles; it takes a lot to mess them up.
I keep telling everyone I want a January baby because I am a December baby and I always disliked being the youngest for everything. However, I live in Canada so cost is not an issue as its all free and there is no such thing as insurance deductibles for basic health care. I can definitely see where you ladies are coming from deductible wise. Also it's probably nicer to have a baby early rather than a week or two overdue (which all my friends seem to go over on their first).
I'm not nervous because I was due with DD at th exact same time. I was huge and uncomfortable but it was a great Christmas because everyone is so excited and celebrating the upcoming arrival.
Since I'm a Mommy of a Christmas Eve baby I can say that we're doing everything normally as we always have. Instead of me doing everything under the sun I'll boss everyone around to get stuff done. Only exception is family is coming to us for Christmas instead of us traveling. We are going to Memphis though for Thanksgiving...cannot wait to eat all the food!!! I always have all my shopping done ahead of time except for stocking stuffers and besides physically carrying the tree up from the basement I'll be doing the decorating--even the outside. I too love Christmas and it's double awesome because we get to celebrate our son's birthday! He's already talking about Santa Claus and his birthday list and it's only September! lol One of the best things about Christmas is Twisted Peppermint scent is back at BBW! I'm obsessed!
Ahhh Christmas seems so far, yet really not that far away. Since H and I have been together, one or both of us have gone to London every year for Christmas for a few weeks. His family lives there and they make it so special. Obviously we won't be going this year since baby is due Jan. 2 (and measuring ahead at Dec. 26) so we'll spend it with my family who is in town. My sister and her husband even decided to stay in town this year to be with us which is so sweet. I think we're both kind of excited to get a tree and stockings for the first (and maybe last) time since Christmas is always our time with his fam. I'm also excited for LO's birthday to be during London holiday celebrations in the future!
Really, my real anxiety comes from Thanksgiving. Even though I'm a vegetarian I dream about the eating fest year round (love the sides), and I officially cannot handle normal sized meals because my stomach is squashed and I keep getting so many digestive issues (so hot--I know). I just wanna binge eat carbs on Thanksgiving and be the normal full/uncomfortable, not this new about-to-explode feeling... Is that too much to ask!?!?
I brought up this thread to DH last night and he let me know he was already dreading decorating for Christmas. We keep all of our decorations in a storage unit, since we live in an apartment and don't have much storage. He was just dropping off my pre- maternity clothes and his office desk (we are converting his office to the nursery and he is sharing my desk since I use a laptop) when he saw all of the Christmas stuff. The look of relief that came over his face when I said we could/should do a low key decorations this year was priceless.
I'll be about halfway past my 38 week mark. We have already discussed plans with family. My 13 year olds will be going to the family gathering with my mom. This way they don't have to miss out. I already explained to my extended family that if Elliot doesn't make an appearance before Christmas then we will be hunkered down at home just in case. I do have a couple friends who have nothing to do so they will probably stop by and hang out with us. Going to be very low key at our house. As for decorating my teenagers can handle that under my supervision. I'm lucky in that aspect. The other reason for all the planning is we live in Wisconsin. It is notorious for unpredictable weather at that time. I don't want to be stranded 3 hours away from my hospital and then go into labor. That would be what happens with my luck. Good luck everyone!
This post is making me feel more nervous than I was! I started hosting Christmas Eve at my Mom's house last year (because it's huge) and mine was small but we're moving next month so I offered up my house and we'll all do it there. Maybe I should be more stressed?? My family is great at helping and my mom already said she would clean most of it.... but I don't know now??
My goal is to keep this baby girl in until Christmas and after that she can come whenever she is ready. I would love it if she came this year for insurance reasons (we are already at our out of pocket max due to my son) but I also think it would be nice to get in to January to not have a birthday right around Christmas. I'll let whatever happens happen but would love to not have to pay anything for this delivery
This post is making me feel more nervous than I was! I started hosting Christmas Eve at my Mom's house last year (because it's huge) and mine was small but we're moving next month so I offered up my house and we'll all do it there. Maybe I should be more stressed?? My family is great at helping and my mom already said she would clean most of it.... but I don't know now??
Don't feel nervous! I read all the posts and gleaned some advice, but in the end, you (and I, and everyone) need to do what's comfortable for you and your family. I say go for it! Have your gathering! What a story it would be if the baby decided to come.
I have no idea yet what we are doing around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but not because of this baby coming....DH and I just don't really have a set routine down for each year and we dread figuring it out and making the decisions! I would personally rather be with my family all the time, and he probably would too, but we see the importance and value of making time for his, too.
I'm the only one who wants this baby to wait until January no matter what, insurance deductibles be damned! I have a December baby already and I don't think we can afford or schedule another family event in the month of December.
My goal is to keep this baby girl in until Christmas and after that she can come whenever she is ready. I would love it if she came this year for insurance reasons (we are already at our out of pocket max due to my son) but I also think it would be nice to get in to January to not have a birthday right around Christmas. I'll let whatever happens happen but would love to not have to pay anything for this delivery
This post is making me feel more nervous than I was! I started hosting Christmas Eve at my Mom's house last year (because it's huge) and mine was small but we're moving next month so I offered up my house and we'll all do it there. Maybe I should be more stressed?? My family is great at helping and my mom already said she would clean most of it.... but I don't know now??
If your mom is like my mom and she said she'll clean you should be fine! My mom was ready to wait on me hand and foot around the time when DD was born lol!
My goal is to keep this baby girl in until Christmas and after that she can come whenever she is ready. I would love it if she came this year for insurance reasons (we are already at our out of pocket max due to my son) but I also think it would be nice to get in to January to not have a birthday right around Christmas. I'll let whatever happens happen but would love to not have to pay anything for this delivery
This is exactly how I feel. I also hit my out of pocket max earlier this year, so it would be basically free for me to deliver this baby in December. Once January rolls around I'll be responsible for the deductible and then whatever the co-insurance is... On the other hand I'd probably prefer the baby have a birthday further away from Christmas and New Years. So from that standpoint I'm partially hoping I go a week or so past my due date. Agree, though, that I'm just going to let it happen as it happens. Hopefully the baby will know when he/she is ready to make an appearance.
Side note - I realized the 1 thing I am not looking forward to about the holidays is having to get dressed up (or dressed at all??). I have a wedding the weekend before thanksgiving and am already kind of dreading having to squeeze into a dress for that. And I don't even want to think about shoes. I'm sure by the time Christmas rolls around my comfortable clothing options will be pretty limited.
We preemptively started rotating Christmas and Thanksgiving a few years ago with my fam and DH's. so this year is my parent's year and they are 4.5 hours away. I've already warned my mom that depending on how baby boy is progressing that we may not make it down. And now she's guilt tripping me about missing Christmas even though I've offered her the option to come up and celebrate at our place if that happens (not trying to make a rant-filled post just showing how my mom is)
I still plan to decorate and DH has agreed to help me put up all the things I can't reach or do. My MIL has said she'll come over to help me un-decorate when the time is right
Yes! My sons bday is 12/19. We just booked his bday party for 12/17 at a bowling alley so I don't have to worry about cleaning much. I will be getting christmas shopping done asap and making freezer meals for when baby is born.
My 2nd boy was born on New Years Eve and his due date was Jan 8th, I'm due the 12th this time and REALLY hoping for another December baby lol. My last was born 4 weeks early, but my 3rd was a day late...*sigh* so really no clue when baby will decide to come since they've all been so different lol.
lindsladle15karaelaine1991 thanks for the encouragement! I feel like I will be able to do it. I'm sure I will be sitting more than I usually do when I host a party but my family is already treating me very "special" with me being pregnant so I think there will be plenty of help
Same here @Parley I've been so busy building up my amazon nursery wish list that I didn't realize I need to buy Christmas gifts too!
As for me, the holidays never consisted of much traveling. Both my family and ILs are 30 mins away from us. HOWEVER, we do always end up visiting both families on Christmas day. Same goes with Thanksgiving and Easter. It's always been hectic, stressful and VERY tiring. Still doing the same thing this year! But the early online shopping should help!
What I am more concerned about is: what am I going to wear??? Everyone is always super fancy at both family parties, and I don't really want to buy a super expensive maternity dress I am only going to wear once or twice. But nothing cheap either. Guess a knee length flare dress that I can also wear when I'm not pregnant? Don't know how big I'll get to be around that time, so something stretchy is always good. I live in Los Angeles, so no snow here
As for everyone here that needs help with decorating/hosting, don't be afraid to ask for help. Some people might not realize how much work you have to do or may think you have everything under control. And if someone offers help, especially after the baby comes, give them the jobs that take the most time! Washing dishes? You can do that in 5 mins lol. For me, no one has offered help because they don't know that I need it. My DH has been just extremely awesome with this pregnancy so far, so I am very thankful for that. But he can't do everything. So when I need help (which is rare right now, but will be very common in November/December) I always ask. My friends & family don't really want to say no to a pregnant woman
Same here @Parley I've been so busy building up my amazon nursery wish list that I didn't realize I need to buy Christmas gifts too!
As for me, the holidays never consisted of much traveling. Both my family and ILs are 30 mins away from us. HOWEVER, we do always end up visiting both families on Christmas day. Same goes with Thanksgiving and Easter. It's always been hectic, stressful and VERY tiring. Still doing the same thing this year! But the early online shopping should help!
What I am more concerned about is: what am I going to wear??? Everyone is always super fancy at both family parties, and I don't really want to buy a super expensive maternity dress I am only going to wear once or twice. But nothing cheap either. Guess a knee length flare dress that I can also wear when I'm not pregnant? Don't know how big I'll get to be around that time, so something stretchy is always good. I live in Los Angeles, so no snow here
As for everyone here that needs help with decorating/hosting, don't be afraid to ask for help. Some people might not realize how much work you have to do or may think you have everything under control. And if someone offers help, especially after the baby comes, give them the jobs that take the most time! Washing dishes? You can do that in 5 mins lol. For me, no one has offered help because they don't know that I need it. My DH has been just extremely awesome with this pregnancy so far, so I am very thankful for that. But he can't do everything. So when I need help (which is rare right now, but will be very common in November/December) I always ask. My friends & family don't really want to say no to a pregnant woman
Check consignment stores for formal maternity dresses! In my area, we have some consignment shops that actually specialize in maternity clothes; they would be the first place I'd go if I needed a formal dress but only for 1/2 occasions. If you're in LA, you probably have something similar since it's a bigger metropolitan area. If you have no luck with that, try a nicer maxi dress
@AlicjaB And remember, you can always dress something up with a sparkly scarf or earrings that you will wear when not pregnant. But I definitely second the consignment stores. Also, check out Zulily as they occasionally have really good deals on maternity stuff (you just need to order with time to wait and know you can't return it ).
Actually I'm more stressed about my daughters birthday since I'm due on her birthday I don't know if we can even have a party for her and that makes me sad.
I'm the only one who wants this baby to wait until January no matter what, insurance deductibles be damned! I have a December baby already and I don't think we can afford or schedule another family event in the month of December.
Ditto. We have TWO kids with December birthdays already. Baby would be super preemie though if born in December so I'm not worried that will happen. I was chill when pregnant with DS, Christmas didn't worry me. We go to family's houses and there's not much to prepare besides tree and wrap presents.
Re: Christmas 2016
We already know that we won't be travelling like we have in the past on Christmas day. Normally we go to the in-laws about 2.5 hours a few days away and spend Christmas Eve there and then come back home on Christmas morning. It's very important to me that my kids get to wake up in their bed on Christmas morning (at least most years or until they get older) so we had already said this year we weren't travelling and they would have to come to us (my SIL is in the same town as us so it's just my DH parents and brother). I wasn't sure how this would play out once it got closer but being pregnant, no one will expect us to travel so it's a good way to start this and see how it works.
However, my DS was due 12/6 and was born 11/14 (at 37 weeks) and with GD I am fully expecting to come early which would actually put this little girl being born before Christmas. I am really truly hoping to make it until after Christmas, if even by just a few days. I plan to have all my shopping done before December and we usually put our decorations up the weekend after Thanksgiving so we will still do that. We managed to decorate with a 2-3 week old so I figure we can make something work.
Christmas ends up always being more stressful than it needs to be!
@karaelaine1991 Really?? See I keep saying I expect to be two weeks late because my mom was two weeks late with the 6 of her 7 pregnancies (the last was an emergency C-section due to cord issues. otherwise I bet he would have been late as well. lol)
I guess you never know!
I can not wait to decorate our house for Christmas as it will be our first one in the new house and I feel like DS will really enjoy all of the festivities this year. Christmas Eve is always pretty laid back, just cooking for Christmas Day and church. My parents and brothers will come over Christmas Day and maybe my in laws, as long as they aren't traveling. Ever since DS was born everyone makes the day about him and we enjoy watching him play with his new things.
I'll be 36 weeks at Christmas, but this baby has already measured 2 weeks ahead. I'm a little nervous at how I'll be feeling and how big I will be, but hopefully it'll all go well, as I'm really looking forward to spending one last Christmas as a family of 3!
@KarliQ88 my advice would be to not have any plans contingent on you, especially that close to your due date. The baby could be born early, in which case hosting might be entirely out of the question. And even if you're not close to going into labor you might just be wiped out and not up for a big celebration. Or you could actually be in labor! Is there anyone else who might be able to host who lives closer to the hospital? My philosophy with the holidays this year is basically that we will plan to show up, but that's the extent of our commitment. If we don't make it for whatever reason no one else's plans will really be disrupted.
*TW*
TWIN LOSS 7.2.15
BFP 9.7.15 CP
BFP 12.31.15 MC 2.28.16
BFP 10.14.17 CP
BFP 3.10.18 D&C 4.13.18
Me: 33 DH: 38 Married: 1/10/15
1st Pregnancy EDD: 1/1/17 Born 1/10/17 Team Green turned Blue!
2nd Pregnancy EDD: 11/6/18 Born 11/09/18 Baby Boy!
3rd Pregnancy EDD: 12/?/21
Children are like casseroles; it takes a lot to mess them up.
Really, my real anxiety comes from Thanksgiving. Even though I'm a vegetarian I dream about the eating fest year round (love the sides), and I officially cannot handle normal sized meals because my stomach is squashed and I keep getting so many digestive issues (so hot--I know). I just wanna binge eat carbs on Thanksgiving and be the normal full/uncomfortable, not this new about-to-explode feeling... Is that too much to ask!?!?
BFP#4- 9/26 edd 6/5/18
My goal is to keep this baby girl in until Christmas and after that she can come whenever she is ready. I would love it if she came this year for insurance reasons (we are already at our out of pocket max due to my son) but I also think it would be nice to get in to January to not have a birthday right around Christmas. I'll let whatever happens happen but would love to not have to pay anything for this delivery
I have no idea yet what we are doing around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but not because of this baby coming....DH and I just don't really have a set routine down for each year and we dread figuring it out and making the decisions! I would personally rather be with my family all the time, and he probably would too, but we see the importance and value of making time for his, too.
Jan17 Sept Sig: Pumpkin Spice gone too far
Side note - I realized the 1 thing I am not looking forward to about the holidays is having to get dressed up (or dressed at all??). I have a wedding the weekend before thanksgiving and am already kind of dreading having to squeeze into a dress for that. And I don't even want to think about shoes. I'm sure by the time Christmas rolls around my comfortable clothing options will be pretty limited.
I still plan to decorate and DH has agreed to help me put up all the things I can't reach or do. My MIL has said she'll come over to help me un-decorate when the time is right
DS1 - 03/31/2006
DS2 - 12/31/2008
DS3 - 06/26/2012
DS4 - 08/07/2014
As for me, the holidays never consisted of much traveling. Both my family and ILs are 30 mins away from us. HOWEVER, we do always end up visiting both families on Christmas day. Same goes with Thanksgiving and Easter. It's always been hectic, stressful and VERY tiring. Still doing the same thing this year! But the early online shopping should help!
What I am more concerned about is: what am I going to wear??? Everyone is always super fancy at both family parties, and I don't really want to buy a super expensive maternity dress I am only going to wear once or twice. But nothing cheap either. Guess a knee length flare dress that I can also wear when I'm not pregnant? Don't know how big I'll get to be around that time, so something stretchy is always good. I live in Los Angeles, so no snow here
As for everyone here that needs help with decorating/hosting, don't be afraid to ask for help. Some people might not realize how much work you have to do or may think you have everything under control. And if someone offers help, especially after the baby comes, give them the jobs that take the most time! Washing dishes? You can do that in 5 mins lol. For me, no one has offered help because they don't know that I need it. My DH has been just extremely awesome with this pregnancy so far, so I am very thankful for that. But he can't do everything. So when I need help (which is rare right now, but will be very common in November/December) I always ask. My friends & family don't really want to say no to a pregnant woman