@longliveregina uhoh! that's no good! how is that going to affect your ability to go on maternity leave if you're supposed to teach a brand new subject?
@DrillSergeantCat I'm not sure how I've never checked the 3rd tri boards, but I wanted to say that your response to all of the recent threads had me cackling. Love it.
I was certain my response to the mucus plug one was going to get me a warning.
My sentiments today looking at my kids and considering my LO's future
Haha. YES. My DD is his little mini me. Complete strangers even come up and tell us how she looks nothing like me. I'm hoping this next one has something of mine!
Can't wait for tomorrow's thankful Thursday thread. My co-workers sent me a third-tri bump box full of tea, lotion, massage balls, and essential oil. So thoughtful! I telecommute from another state, so it meant a lot to be remembered.
So I looked into breast pumps the other day through my insurance and a local medical supply shop. They offered 4 brands, one of which was Medela. I was leaning toward a Spectra S1 which I peaked around the internet a bit more and it turns out Aeroflow (which is a national supplier) is able to provide the Spectra so I submitted a request to get info on getting it through them. The S1 is considered an upgrade to the S2 though...any opinions on either Spectra option over the other or over Medela?
married 10.10.14 @ Turks & Caicos yorkie mama to Oscar FTM EDD 3.12.17
@longliveregina that is the worst, does it mean you have to prepare plans all over again for the new subject? do you have to have our plans done as well while you are out for a substitute to follow. DH is a high school history teacher and has a high stress level with all the lesson plans and correcting tests especially because he's in a district where the performance level of students isnt that great so its always the teachers fault if the kid doesn't do well. I can't imagine doing all that while pregnant.
I haven't been posting as much since I've had a busy week at work, but my random for today is that my philandering coworker was finally called out yesterday. I'm sure most of you know about my shitty coworker who's been having an affair for about the last 6 months or so and she doesn't exactly try to hide it. About once/week, the philandering hoe's side piece comes to the hospital and they'll go to lunch together in the cafeteria. The side piece will just waltz in our office like he owns the place, doesn't speak to anyone (which is rude as hell), and off they'll go for lunch. Well another coworker, who's one of the nicest guys ever, is sick of her throwing her affair in our faces and calls her out right before Philandering Phyllis (PP) leaves for the day. He says, "so [PP], the next time [side piece] comes here for lunch, how about you meet him in the hallway instead of having him come in here. It makes the rest of us uncomfortable." My jaw hit the floor because I'm sure PP never ever expected this guy to say a word. She starts stumbling over her words and she's like, "ok...well...umm...he's just a friend." Insert eye roll here for insulting our intelligence. My other coworker says, "well I've heard otherwise so I'd appreciate it if you kept him out of here." She just said ok and ran into the door on her way out she was so flustered. I gave my coworker a high five for a job well done. So naturally, PP calls off work today claiming a headache that's she's had all night, which is code for she couldn't take the heat after being called out. Ha!
@longliveregina uhoh! that's no good! how is that going to affect your ability to go on maternity leave if you're supposed to teach a brand new subject?
Um, I go anyway and the plans are more sucky. LOL!
@longliveregina that is the worst, does it mean you have to prepare plans all over again for the new subject? do you have to have our plans done as well while you are out for a substitute to follow. DH is a high school history teacher and has a high stress level with all the lesson plans and correcting tests especially because he's in a district where the performance level of students isnt that great so its always the teachers fault if the kid doesn't do well. I can't imagine doing all that while pregnant.
Well, I work at an alternative school where a large percentage of the students did extremely poorly at other schools before coming to us. My performance standards are based on improvement...so if there is a certain level of improvement I get full marks on my evaluation. No big deal. I also don't have to turn in lesson plans to my administrator. Thank goodness, that level of micormanagement is ridiculous. Especially since at my school I teach about 35 students across two classes, but all have some kind of PO or IEP or behavior plan so it is a ton of work differentiating for all of them.
The sub plan thing does suck because I have to make new sub plans for pretty much an entire course (4 out of 6 units). :-( At least I've taught the class before, so its not as bad as it seems. It does stink that all my work to make the first set of plans was wasted though!
WWYD: I LOVE the name Hildy. My husband's great aunt was named Hilda, and I jsut love the cuteness of the name. So I am considering the name Alice Hildy Blahbler for this baby. I like the way it sounds, like a 40s movie star. But what if I have another girl? Then I can't name her Hildy! Our other choices would be Alice Jeanne, Alice LaRue, or Alice Nina (pronounced Neye-nuh); all family names. But Alice Hildy sounds the best to me. Arg, I guess no one can help me make the decision, I'm just griping about the inner conflict!
Would you save a name for a hypothetical child? Do you think Hildy is too weird of a name in the twenty-first century for a first name anyway?
I agree with @disneybaby84, if you like the name then use it because you don't know what will happen next time. I do like Alice Nina.
@longliveregina at my DH there are some kids that do well but a good portion of them really don't care and do the bare minimum. He teaches AP government and he tells me all the time about how the kids complain that he gives alot of work or that it's hard. Then he tries to explain to them that it is an AP class and he needs to cover the material so they have a shot at passIng the AP test. @kiyamurph too funny about your philandering coworker that's what she gets for putting herself out there like that and your coworker is right it is disrespectful to you guys and you shouldn't be put in a place where you are uncomfortable in your own work place where you spend most of your time.
@longliveregina Hildy is so cute!!!! Why not have it be her first name? I adore Alice as well but it seems like Hilda has some real sentiment and weight behind it for you. It reminds me of a Norse shieldmaiden and that's a pretty awesome association for a strong beautiful little girl! Maybe save "Alice" for the next one? Or switch, Hilda Alice?
@kjd291 I know that feel. Both my babies and their step brothers favor DH so heavily which pisses BM off and we love that. But its not so funny for me. DH is dark hair and eyes, olive skin, stocky and average height, and strong facial features while I am tall, thin, born with white blonde hair, fair skin blue eyes and all cheekbones, knees and elbows. I just want one of my babies to have my blue eyes!
@pandalily I did a bunch of research on this and decided that it seemed that the medela and spectra are pretty easily tied for best pumps out there, but that a bunch of people claimed to get more milk from a spectra pump and it's much quieter so you don't know you are pumping - both of these were selling points for me as a working mom. Also, the only real difference between the S1 and S2 from what I saw was that the S1 has the ability to go cordless with a battery pack. My insurance covered all of the S2 but I would have to pay to upgrade to the S1 and honestly the upgrade cost wasn't worth it in my opinion just to not be tethered to a power outlet while pumping. It's not like I'm planning on running a marathon while pumping. Hope that helps you.
@Gators&BoSox she's doing well! Was admitted to hospital for bed rest right on Sunday. She's 28 weeks and all 4 babes are looking great! I attached her latest "full" update
I have a WWYD scenario for you ladies: We're moving to Oregon City, OR next month and it's about 20 minutes from downtown Portland without traffic. I need to choose which hospital to deliver at since the midwife group that I plan to go to has privileges at certain hospitals, not all of them, so I need to pick a midwife that delivers at that appropriate hospital. My dilemma is the hospital that's 6 minutes from the new house is small and it doesn't have a NICU. My son ended up going to the NICU after aspirating on vernix, which is super rare, but I now know what those what if moments feel like since it was totally unexpected since I had a smooth pregnancy with him. The hospitals that do have NICUs are all in the downtown Portland area and as I said above, it's a 20 minute trip with no traffic, but traffic is heinous between 6-9am and about 4-7pm. It would take a good 45 min to an hour to get to downtown since the highways bottleneck and traffic is a nightmare. So: would you a) choose the hospital that's close and pray that your baby comes out just fine and doesn't need the NICU even though you've experienced that scenario before and want one there just in case, or b) play it safe and risk choosing the hospital that's at best 20 minutes away and pray that you don't get stuck in traffic and possibly deliver your baby in the car. I know if something happened and the baby needed the NICU they can always transfer, but it does give me peace of mind to have a NICU team there on hand and ready to go if need be. At the same time I can't imagine laboring in the car for god knows how long in case there's traffic. I'm really stuck and need some differing opinions. My husband is no help since he simply said he's on board with whatever I want to do.
@longliveregina I think you should use the name Hildy! It's beautiful and unique.
@JustAnotherUsername16 that seems to be in line with what I've found also. I know the closed system seems much more sanitary than the open system for Medela as well. I heard back from Aeroflow; for my insurance it's $95 to upgrade from the S2 to an S1. When I think with where I'd be pumping at work I really don't need the portability of the battery option so I probably will just get the S2. Thanks for your thoughts!
married 10.10.14 @ Turks & Caicos yorkie mama to Oscar FTM EDD 3.12.17
@kiyamurph I'd take the odds of going with the closer hospital. they have what they need for the emergency "what if" situations and transfer would happen just fine-but that mostlikely wont be an issue. No matter what happens though-you will need to get to the hospital and dealing with drive time.
@kiyamurph if you are nervous about it, I'd go to the closest hospital. I have the same problem. My hospital doesn't have a NICU, but it's the closest and i like the delivery set up. They will have the resources to get baby to a nicu or me to another hospital faster than I can.
@kiyamurph ditto @kjd291... I'd go with the closer hospital. Mine is a smaller one too (level 2 nursery, but no NICU), but the nurses still know what to do if something goes wrong. I'd say if something did go wrong they would be able to get babe stabilized and moved. And it's nice the NICU hospitals aren't far away.
Alex married to M since 6.13.09 T - 3.3.14 A - 2.24.17
@kiyamurph I agree with the ladies above that I would go with the closer hospital. laboring in the car is a definite so time is a big factor. as far as I'm aware you have no high risk implications or they would already have you at a NICU hospital. dr.s and nurses don't live in La la land so like others have said they are prepared for emergencies.
@kiyamurph I'm going to be the odd one out here. as a STM mom of a previous NICU baby I would 100% deliver at another hospital with a NICU just in case. I'm lucky that where I live I have 4 hospitals within 30 min of me and 2 are level 3 trauma centers with NiCUs which I have both as a requirement. Both were a requirement for me last time as well and I ended up needing a NICU in a situation where my pregnancy was not high risk at all. That is just my personal preference.
@kiyamurph I'm going to be the odd one out here. as a STM mom of a previous NICU baby I would 100% deliver at another hospital with a NICU just in case. I'm lucky that where I live I have 4 hospitals within 30 min of me and 2 are level 3 trauma centers with NiCUs which I have both as a requirement. Both were a requirement for me last time as well and I ended up needing a NICU in a situation where my pregnancy was not high risk at all. That is just my personal preference.
Thank you. That's just it; I had a perfectly normal pregnancy with my son and wasn't considered high risk in the slightest. When he went to the NICU it was awful since they originally thought he had pneumonia. That whole situation scared the mess out of me and the idea of being at a hospital without a NICU is really hard to wrap my head around.
@kiyamurph I might with @korpisar. I'm high risk so it's a little different, but our option was a hospital 15-20 minutes away and hope hints run smoothly and I have no bleeding issues, or go to a hospital an hour away that has the lab technology needed to monitor my blood clotting disorder. All clotting factors are elevated in pregnancy, hence the risk of blood clots, but for me my levels are now in normal range. Odds are they'll stay in normal range through delivery, it id rather not take any chances. So I've been driving an hour each way to all of my Drs appts for the last 2 months and will be doing so for delivery. Better safe than sorry.
@kiyamurph is it acceptable to plan to go to the hospital with the NICU so you feel more comfortable? BUT, god forbid, you should pop into a crazy fast labor and not sure you'll make it//mid awful traffic time that you could call L&D and go to the one closer?? Or I guess you could always just call an ambulance and get a speedy trip into the city that way?
So-I cannot wait for this kid to "drop"! I'm trying to remember when it happened last time. Already so over the rib kicks and breathing issues... BUT, I feel like I'm already carrying so low, I don't know what my already low hanging gut is gonna do!? It certainly is not going to agree with my already too short maternity tops.
@kjd291 I carry low too. I think I got kicked in the ribs once with DS. One of my dr.s is funny, she tells me "now that you're a STM expect it to feel like she's about to fall out as you're chasing CJ around" FANTASTIC! can't wait for that lol
I almost went into MM today to look for some new tops to cover the bottom of my stomach, but I won't spend more than like 5 bucks on any of these poorly manufactured clothes when I only have a couple of months left. Looks like I'll be wearing the same 3 outfits for the foreseeable future haha
@kjd291 I guess I could plan on possibly going to both, the only negative being I wouldn't have my midwife and I would get whatever doctor is on call. This is the major downside to moving to a larger city!
@pandalily Like you, I wanted the closed system. Also, even though it seems like the #1 brand is Medela, all of the twin moms in my breastfeeding multiples group RAVED about Spectra over any other brand. Many have used other brands and have liked the Spectra the most (they love the let down setting), and have had the highest output using Spectra! That sold me on Spectra. I ended up going with the S1. My out of pocket ended up being $90. I wasn't thrilled about it, but I decided to pull the trigger for the following reasons:
1) I have two weddings that are within a month or so of my due date. They are good friends and I shouldn't miss these weddings unless something terrible comes up. At that point, I would be on an every couple hour pumping schedule, and I'm not sure I could find a spare room with an outlet at the wedding? With a battery, I can pump in a bathroom, a closet, or my car. 2) A couple of my mom friends suggested that I get an adapter so that I can use in the car, by getting the S1 with battery I don't have to bother with that, or worry about being out running errands too long and needing to pump. 3) The $90 included the upgrade to the S1, a carrying bag (all black, its actually kind of cute and looks like an oversized purse), a cooler bag with cold pack, and 2 more bottles. Of course, the accessories weren't worth $90... but I do like the bag and the cooler bag will come in handy.
@kiyamurph I am also the odd one where I would rather drive to the hospital with the NICU I rather be prepared and not need it than get into a situation where it would be needed. Granted most deliveries are normal deliveries but being that you had that experience just go with what your gut and your heart tells you. I have not had any issues with any of my deliveries or babies but I would rather deliver in a hospital with a NICU and staff ready at hand ( but I am also biased as I am in the medical profesion).
@kiyamurph I would probably plan on going to the hospital that was farther but is bigger and has a good NICU just for peace of mind because I don't anticipate having a super fast labor and delivery. But like PP said, if you can tell that your labor is going obscenely fast, you have the super close hospital you can scoot over to if you had to.
Me: 27 DH: 33 Furbaby: Walther, 4 year old Rottweiler/Coonhound mix EDD: 3/7/17<img
@kiyamurph I agree with @kjd291 I would make it my plan to go to the larger hospital in the city but if it was too heavy of traffic to get there, go to the smaller one. Can your midwife travel to the smaller one if you give her enough of a heads up? -also, labor (sometimes/typically/usually) will last long enough to get you to the city even in traffic. Not that you want that to happen!
I have a hospital 10 minutes away but I am choosing the one 20 minutes away too. I don't think our rush hour traffic is as bad as Portlands but it can be pretty nasty some days..I just think it's worth being at the hospital you want to be at!
Re: Randoms! 1/9
yorkie mama to Oscar
FTM EDD 3.12.17
The sub plan thing does suck because I have to make new sub plans for pretty much an entire course (4 out of 6 units). :-( At least I've taught the class before, so its not as bad as it seems. It does stink that all my work to make the first set of plans was wasted though!
I LOVE the name Hildy. My husband's great aunt was named Hilda, and I jsut love the cuteness of the name. So I am considering the name Alice Hildy Blahbler for this baby. I like the way it sounds, like a 40s movie star.
But what if I have another girl? Then I can't name her Hildy!
Our other choices would be Alice Jeanne, Alice LaRue, or Alice Nina (pronounced Neye-nuh); all family names. But Alice Hildy sounds the best to me.
Arg, I guess no one can help me make the decision, I'm just griping about the inner conflict!
Would you save a name for a hypothetical child? Do you think Hildy is too weird of a name in the twenty-first century for a first name anyway?
@longliveregina at my DH there are some kids that do well but a good portion of them really don't care and do the bare minimum. He teaches AP government and he tells me all the time about how the kids complain that he gives alot of work or that it's hard. Then he tries to explain to them that it is an AP class and he needs to cover the material so they have a shot at passIng the AP test.
@kiyamurph too funny about your philandering coworker that's what she gets for putting herself out there like that and your coworker is right it is disrespectful to you guys and you shouldn't be put in a place where you are uncomfortable in your own work place where you spend most of your time.
@kjd291 I know that feel. Both my babies and their step brothers favor DH so heavily which pisses BM off and we love that. But its not so funny for me. DH is dark hair and eyes, olive skin, stocky and average height, and strong facial features while I am tall, thin, born with white blonde hair, fair skin blue eyes and all cheekbones, knees and elbows. I just want one of my babies to have my blue eyes!
@JustAnotherUsername16 that seems to be in line with what I've found also. I know the closed system seems much more sanitary than the open system for Medela as well. I heard back from Aeroflow; for my insurance it's $95 to upgrade from the S2 to an S1. When I think with where I'd be pumping at work I really don't need the portability of the battery option so I probably will just get the S2. Thanks for your thoughts!
yorkie mama to Oscar
FTM EDD 3.12.17
married to M since 6.13.09
T - 3.3.14
A - 2.24.17
I almost went into MM today to look for some new tops to cover the bottom of my stomach, but I won't spend more than like 5 bucks on any of these poorly manufactured clothes when I only have a couple of months left. Looks like I'll be wearing the same 3 outfits for the foreseeable future haha
1) I have two weddings that are within a month or so of my due date. They are good friends and I shouldn't miss these weddings unless something terrible comes up. At that point, I would be on an every couple hour pumping schedule, and I'm not sure I could find a spare room with an outlet at the wedding? With a battery, I can pump in a bathroom, a closet, or my car.
2) A couple of my mom friends suggested that I get an adapter so that I can use in the car, by getting the S1 with battery I don't have to bother with that, or worry about being out running errands too long and needing to pump.
3) The $90 included the upgrade to the S1, a carrying bag (all black, its actually kind of cute and looks like an oversized purse), a cooler bag with cold pack, and 2 more bottles. Of course, the accessories weren't worth $90... but I do like the bag and the cooler bag will come in handy.
DH: 33
Furbaby: Walther, 4 year old Rottweiler/Coonhound mix
EDD: 3/7/17<img
I have a hospital 10 minutes away but I am choosing the one 20 minutes away too. I don't think our rush hour traffic is as bad as Portlands but it can be pretty nasty some days..I just think it's worth being at the hospital you want to be at!