Ok, this is for moms of two or more. So after @carly79s spontaneous labor, something switched in me and I'm feeling like I need to get my ducks in a row. What was your plan for your children when you went in labor? How did the logistics of someone coming to get them work? Did you have to bring them to LD with you?
I had a fast birth with my first and my midwives keep telling me to not waste any time once labor starts. I need to get to LD ASAP. I'm just picturing a really chaotic situation figuring out how to get someone to drive me and pick up DD if DH is still at work. Anxiety!
If you have any family or friends you trust that live nearby then I would make a plan with them. I have been that person for other people. You're basically on call when they start getting close. So make a plan with a few different people that way you have alternatives in case your first person can't for whatever reason. Then all your bases are covered and you just have to worry about getting there.
I keep seeing to bring "yoga pants a size up" for wearing home from the hospital. Is there a reason why you can't just wear maternity leggings home? If my belly is still 6 mos size, I don't think I'll be super comfortable in just yoga pants.
@cjs260 this is a picture of my belly 2.5 days pp, it shrunk FAST and was not 6 month size remotely. I wore my yoga pants that I wore during pregnancy. And for your comparison, here is my final belly shot.
@underthesea I'm in the same boat. I just asked my October group since many of them already have new babies. Basically, I'm going to install car seats in my mom and mils cars and pray one of them can meet me at the hospital or get to the house before I go to the hospital. My husband works about 1.5 hours away if there is traffic and he takes the train...so.
My mom or mil will stay at our house. I want Els to be at home.
@underthesea, are you far from the hospital? In a face paced situation I would probably drive myself and have at least 2 people know they are on call for caring for your current little one and have them pick her up at the hospital. Or if you have any neighbors you would trust to leave your daughter with until your selected caregiver can get there that might work, too.
@underthesea same boat here, as far as fast labor goes so I'm super hoping she stays put until my induction date buttttt if she does decide to surprise us I'm planning on having a handful of neighbors on call to take DD and I guess to drive me in if DH can't get to me (luckily he's flexible on which job sites he goes to so we'll keep him close those last few weeks.)
Oh geez, now I'm having anxiety about who is going to watch DD when I go into labor. With her, I went to the hospital at 10 p.m. and we only had the cats to worry about. I'm hoping that my best friend and her husband will come to our house and stay until my parents can get here.
ETA: said BFF from above, just texted me and asked if I needed anyone to stay with DD when we went to the hospital to have this little guy. She also offered to pick her up from daycare if no one could if I go into labor during the week during the day.
What to do with Kid 1 is at the top of my anxiety list right now. My mom is 1.5 hours away, and she is who I trust. She's planning on staying with us towards the end, and I'm assuming I won't go early since I went to my due date last time, but you never know, I guess.
Thanks for the input ladies! I'm only 20-30 minutes from the hospital and all my family (parents, in laws and sister) live 30 minutes. That's 1 hour to get to the hospital if someone leaves at the exact moment I call. My first came 2 hours after my water broke at home. I definitely need to make some plans and have people on call and a neighbor or two in mind if I need them.
I have no idea what we're going to do with DD1 went baby time comes. I guess I'm waiting to see if we'll be scheduling another c-section in which case I could get one of the grandmas here. Otherwise I should probably start making some plans... all our family is 700+ miles away and we have very few close friends in the area. Time to plan...
My in-laws are 10-15 minutes from us so the plan is to have them come over and watch DS when we head to the hospital. I'm not worried at all if it's during the day.
With DS I went into labor in the middle of the night and I fear getting a hold of them because both keep their phones downstairs and idk that they would hear the house phone. Hoping as it gets closer one of them will keep the phone near by. Worse case their house is on the way to the hospital so I guess we can always just drop DS to them if needed.
My labor with DS wasn't fast though so if this one is anything like that, we should have plenty of time to get DS settled with someone.
Ok I'm totally laughing at myself while writing this but here it goes...does anyone else notice that their vagina seems to be bigger? I swear it's different (not that I really see all that well ha!) but maybe more swollen than normal?? Am I alone here?
@BriannaE129129 you're not alone. I even asked my midwives about it last time around. By the end it almost seemed like it was swollen open if that makes sense. Totally normal.
@BriannaE129129 haha I hate when people say this but, just wait until after you give birth! I made the mistake of looking the next morning and it was traumatic. It goes away but yeah, it gets a little crazy down there.
@BriannaE129129 haha I hate when people say this but, just wait until after you give birth! I made the mistake of looking the next morning and it was traumatic. It goes away but yeah, it gets a little crazy down there.
Like @katesmama0706 and @emy730 said, don't look! or even feel! Just keep squirting with the peri bottle and analgesic spray and ignore your ladybits as much as possible for a while!!
@cjs260 I would pack some going home clothing options just to be on the safe side. I might be an anomaly but I was actually BIGGER when it came time to go home from the hospital than I was when I got there. The clothes I had worn to the hospital didn't fit and I had to have my mom bring me some of her lounge pants. The bigger size was caused by swelling/fluid retention after a 3-day induction and being pumped pull of pitocin + fluids. And I left 4 days after birth.
Okay STM+ moms, I've been mainly lurking in recent months, but I did want to ask about Insurance...
When did you put your LO on your dental and/or vision insurance? Obviously, I'll put DD on our health plan immediately, but wasn't sure if I needed to add dental or vision before next year's open enrollment...
Ok I'm aware of how dumb this question is, but no one will give me a straight answer and I'm nesting by organizing clothes. How many pairs of mini socks should I have for this baby? I feel like I'm always seeing one lost sock everywhere I go and am anticipating baby needing ALL the socks to compensate.
@aishmc you can never have too many! But I will suggest washing them together in a lingerie bag to kinda cut down on the lost socks factor. I kept one hanging on the nursery door and just put socks directly into it as they came off baby and washed when it was decently full.
@LJ623 I just added DD when open enrollment came around again after she was born. She's 2 (27 months) and still has yet to go to the dentist or the eye doctor though. I plan to do the same thing with DS.
@aishmc Not a dumb question. Socks are one of those things that I find is dependent on the kid. DD is ALWAYS warm and her feet sweat. A lot. She wears socks with her shoes to school and when we're out and about, but at home, she is always barefoot and pretty much always has been. That being said, we were good with 2 packs of Gerber and Carters socks (I think that gave us 12 total, but maybe only 10, I can't remember).
@LJ623 We didn't put my daughter on dental until the next open enrollment period. She was born in May and usually the recommended time for a first dental check up is 1 year so we enrolled her that winter for the following year.
Someone with experience explain fetal positioning to me because I am so confused. My OB hasn't ordered any more scans for this entire pregnancy unless she thinks my fundal height is measuring too big/small (which hasn't been the case) and I feel like my LO is transverse (at 30 weeks) but I don't really know if I'm just imagining crap and freaking myself out over nothing.
Basically, I sometimes feel movement under both sides of my ribs at the same exact time, on the far right and far left. I've tried googling this but am coming up with nothing and unless LO is in there spread eagle digging two feet into my ribs, it seems like he's probably transverse. Half the stuff I read says "It's not a huge deal if they're still transverse at 30 weeks, they can still go back, hell my baby went from transverse to head down at 38 weeks" and then a lot of other sites saying "The baby should be out of transverse before week 30 or you're at increased likelihood of a C-section." But of course, I don't know that he actually is transverse because my OB isn't doing a scan... so... I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Anyone have experience with this?
@canavara I don't have any ordered scans, but my midwife will use the lower tech ultrasound at 36 weeks to check positioning. I think most tend to do this. They did it with me last time at a different clinic. I can't tell my baby's position either. I feel all the kicks everywhere.
@canavara I feel the same way! But I am also totally clueless on what body parts are poking and prodding me. I get the most and strongest movement across my belly button area. This is when my belly will literally stick out from the movement - not sure what body part it is. And then some random kicks high up on my right side. It makes me feel like baby is just sideways. I do also get flutters and random movement down low too though, so I truly don't know what to make of it.
I'm not sure if they will do another ultrasound or not. I plan on asking on Thursday because the positioning freaks me out too. I don't know how some people can tell where the baby is based on the movements. I'm clueless.
@canavara same as @underthesea in my experience. My midwives used the bedside ultrasound to check position if there was concern and then sent me to OB for confirmation ultrasound and consult.
@underthesea@KAShock Thanks for that perspective! I'll have to ask at my next appointment if they plan to do that. I did read something that said only 1 in 300 babies is still in transverse by labor so it made me feel a little better but it's still scary just not having any idea.
@canavara i am with you--I am so confused by the baby's position and my OB has not said anything. i do not understand how I can get such intense rib pain on my right side and then feelings all around at the same time. I mean, I guess the baby is either head up or head down since I rarely feel anything on my left (literally, all the time if I poke my left side it's like poking a water balloon and on my right side it feels like a football), but holy eff how is he so long that I can feel him on my cervix and my ribs and omg how is he going to get bigger.
I plan to ask at my appt. this Friday. It won't take the rib pain away, but maybe if I know he's in the right position I will be less angry at him (kidding--except I'm not).
@canavara this is my 5th baby and I still have no idea about positioning because I feel movement all over. She is not a really strong "kicker" like her brothers but there is movement and bumps on both sides, up by my ribs and down in my pelvic region. I did find out at my last appointment that she now orders growth scans at 30 weeks for all her patients so I know I will be getting one more scan. They also did a bedside ultrasound at my hospital during my last labor to verify that baby was head down. I would mention to your OB you are concerned about babies position but from what I have been told/read is a lot of babies do flip on their own.
@canavara I'm with you. No experience, but I'll be 28 weeks on Friday. And this little boy will go from kicking/headbutting my bladder and under my ribs simultaneously to the opposite sides of my stomach within a few days. I assume he's flipping back and forth between breech, transverse, and "regular." Everywhere I've read is it's not a worry until like 37 weeks. Even then a lot of women say baby can completely flip just minutes before a delivery.
Plus, my midwives don't have another scan scheduled either, but they are pretty good and just feeling around my stomach and can tell me exactly where his head, arms, bottom, etc, is positioned.
@canavara Obviously I'm a FTM but I just experienced all the turning drama. He was hanging out breech and then about two weeks ago, I felt a lot of movement and pressure. I was so uncomfortable and nauseous. I assumed he was turning but then it felt like he just stopped. I became convinced he was transverse. The doctor sort of just felt around at my check in and told me he wanted an ultrasound around 34 weeks to check positioning because he definitely didn't feel the head down. Well part of what landed me in Triage yesterday was that I woke up and my belly looked/felt completely different. An ultrasound confirmed he was head down now. I feel most kicks around my belly button though because of his knees and butt. I also feel hiccups so low now. It's awkward.
However I will add that I know/read plenty of stories where women had no clue where the baby was lying and when the baby turned.
*snip* I feel most kicks around my belly button though because of his knees and butt. I also feel hiccups so low now. It's awkward.
However I will add that I know/read plenty of stories where women had no clue where the baby was lying and when the baby turned.
**Stuck in the box**
This was how I knew where DD was for the last couple of months of my pregnancy with her. So far, this LO has been head-down per the last 2 ultrasounds and the hiccups are confirming it daily.
So I almost always know exactly where each of these babies are thanks to fortnightly scans but I still can't tell what's what or who's who except when the movement is by my hips (because they're mostly stuck on their sides. A has been moving less and less- I can tell her head is still in my ribs because of how lumpy I am during BH but I learned today that she's transverse and I had 4 feet kicking me under my right ribs! (They did get a funny shot of her with her foot on her forehead today though so maybe she's slowly working on turning vertex again?) B is head down, on my cervix, and the movement from her head area is much less intense than from her torso/ feet. I can tell she still does jazz hands over her head lol but foot kicks are just... more. For her, anyway. They're all probably different?
Re: Ask a STM+ Week of 10/24
I had a fast birth with my first and my midwives keep telling me to not waste any time once labor starts. I need to get to LD ASAP. I'm just picturing a really chaotic situation figuring out how to get someone to drive me and pick up DD if DH is still at work. Anxiety!
And for your comparison, here is my final belly shot.
My mom or mil will stay at our house. I want Els to be at home.
DS2: 11/5/14
ETA: said BFF from above, just texted me and asked if I needed anyone to stay with DD when we went to the hospital to have this little guy. She also offered to pick her up from daycare if no one could if I go into labor during the week during the day.
With DS I went into labor in the middle of the night and I fear getting a hold of them because both keep their phones downstairs and idk that they would hear the house phone. Hoping as it gets closer one of them will keep the phone near by. Worse case their house is on the way to the hospital so I guess we can always just drop DS to them if needed.
My labor with DS wasn't fast though so if this one is anything like that, we should have plenty of time to get DS settled with someone.
I drove myself to the hospital with e, so I'm just assuming I'll be in labor with her at my feet in the hospital. She can hold my leg.
Diagnosed with Hashimoto's 06/17
TTC #2: 01/2019
BFP #2 09/24/19--Ended in chemical pregnancy
BFP #3 07/02/2020 Due: 03/10/2021
When did you put your LO on your dental and/or vision insurance? Obviously, I'll put DD on our health plan immediately, but wasn't sure if I needed to add dental or vision before next year's open enrollment...
BFP: 1/31/15; MMC: 3/31/15
BFP: 4/26/16; Baby Girl Born: 1/3/17
BFP: 10/1/21; EDD: 6/10/22
@aishmc Not a dumb question. Socks are one of those things that I find is dependent on the kid. DD is ALWAYS warm and her feet sweat. A lot. She wears socks with her shoes to school and when we're out and about, but at home, she is always barefoot and pretty much always has been. That being said, we were good with 2 packs of Gerber and Carters socks (I think that gave us 12 total, but maybe only 10, I can't remember).
Basically, I sometimes feel movement under both sides of my ribs at the same exact time, on the far right and far left. I've tried googling this but am coming up with nothing and unless LO is in there spread eagle digging two feet into my ribs, it seems like he's probably transverse. Half the stuff I read says "It's not a huge deal if they're still transverse at 30 weeks, they can still go back, hell my baby went from transverse to head down at 38 weeks" and then a lot of other sites saying "The baby should be out of transverse before week 30 or you're at increased likelihood of a C-section." But of course, I don't know that he actually is transverse because my OB isn't doing a scan... so... I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Anyone have experience with this?
I'm not sure if they will do another ultrasound or not. I plan on asking on Thursday because the positioning freaks me out too. I don't know how some people can tell where the baby is based on the movements. I'm clueless.
I plan to ask at my appt. this Friday. It won't take the rib pain away, but maybe if I know he's in the right position I will be less angry at him (kidding--except I'm not).
BFP#5 5/22/17 EDD:1/27/17 It's a GIRL!!!!
Plus, my midwives don't have another scan scheduled either, but they are pretty good and just feeling around my stomach and can tell me exactly where his head, arms, bottom, etc, is positioned.
However I will add that I know/read plenty of stories where women had no clue where the baby was lying and when the baby turned.