STM+ Check-in [January]

Xtabbikatx · January 2018

@rnielsen321 I would also take the Benadryl, but also sleep in the spare room and put the monitor right next to DH's head. He can handle wake ups for one night while you get some rest. I have had to do it before. I don't function well without sleep. Sorry you are going through it.

Also the pregnancy pillow is wonderful. I have one that wraps around me. Used it for DS and now I am using it for this one too.

rnielsen321 · January 2018

So... last night was better... full of butternut squash risotto (yay instant pot), DD asleep, got about 90 minutes before pups were up again. then about 60 minutes before DD was up again a full 45 minutes before DH got home. (he works 2 hours away until midnight) Then a glorious 4 hours until the cat got me up. So... ya.
DH has 2 more midnight shifts this week... then he is going to have to be on wake up duty. Feeling a wee bit more human today. I may just need to resign myself to a series of naps, as opposed to a night's sleep. DD is transitioning into her Big Girl bed, which is currently our spare. Few more weeks nad we should be able to set up the basement bedroom. Then DH is SURE to get DD....

marcus7676 · January 2018

Re sleep issues: magnesium was okayed by my OB during pregnancy. I take Natural Calm before bed and it has helped me with sleep.

rnielsen321 · January 2018

oooh... I am going to check with my OB on Thursday! Thanks for the tip @marcus7676

murraydog2008 · January 2018

I'm soooo late to the game, but jumping in anyway

1. How many weeks are you?
18 weeks 3 days
2. How old are your LOs?

DD is 7 and in first grade. DS is 4 - will be 5 in April and starting Kindergarten in the fall
3. Symptoms/Appointments/Fun Baby related stuff?

I have a dentist appointment on Monday. I've been so very bad about going to the dentist so it's time I go and get checked out.

Symptoms - the only thing I'm really dealing with these days is horrible constipation. I don't know why, but I'm resisting the urge to go on stool softeners just yet. I've resorted to coffee and yogurt. I am lactose intolerant and usually yogurt would have a very immediate effect on me, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. I might have to up my game and eat cheese pizza or something!

4. How’s life?
Busy! The big kids are taking ski lessons on Saturdays so we spend our Saturdays at the mountain skiing. Little man remembered how to ski this past weekend and that was really fun. I'm actually skiing with them and not sure how much longer I'll be able to. I had to buy new pants to fit over my bump, but every time I bend over the button pops. hahah. It's fun though. I'm not out there in crazy deep back country or anything and I'm very conscious of my surroundings so I don't hurt baby sister.

5. GTKY: How do you like your coffee? Black!

Question for you all - Those joining the 3 club, how do you plan on seating the kids in the car? We have a van with captains chairs and then the 3rd row. I don't know if it's better to put the both big kids in the third row so they don't fight over who has to be in the back alone, but we can't reach them to hand them stuff is better or not. What's your plan of attack?

ramennoodlegif · January 2018

@murraydog2008 I am having the same dilemma. DH wants to put DD in the 3rd row and seat DS & baby in the 2nd row, after taking a side seat seat out. DD turns 4 shortly after baby is due, and I am a little uncomfortable having her so far away from me.
I think we could feasibly seat all 3 in the 2nd row, but I am up in the air as to how to arrange them. I read that the middle is the safest spot, so I would prefer to put the baby there, but it would be almost impossible to do that comfortably, especially after it outgrows the infant seat (DS outgrew it before the 6 month mark.) We could put DD in the middle, since she knows how to buckle herself in/out, but it would be a giant PITA to get her car seat out when needed.
I am seriously stressing myself out about this. It's supposed to get warmer this weekend, so I plan on taking everything out of the car (please pray for me!) and staging the scenarios above (because I am a nut) to see if I can get a better handle logistically.

dinodna3 · January 2018

@kfren you’re not a nut. It makes perfect sense to do it now rather than when we’re huge. I never thought about how I’m gonna arrange three car seats! We still have to get a new vehicle before this little guy arrives, so it’s gonna have to wait.

murraydog2008 · January 2018

@kfren I'm glad I'm not the only one worrying about this. Thankfully my older kids are 7 and will be 5 when baby arrives so it is slightly feasible to put them in the back, but I still hand them stuff in the car all the time and pick up stuff off the floor. I'll have to get one of those grabber things or something. We've also thought about trading the van in on something that we can put all 3 kids across the middle row, but I also worry about them being cramped and keeping baby awake when we are counting on her napping in the car.

mytinc · January 2018

@Murraydog and @kfren - This one is number 3 for us as well and we haven't gotten that far yet. All I know is that we need one, if not two, new to us vehicle(s), likely minivans. I've heard that you can fit Diono's 3 across in a sedan or on a bench seat, but that seems like it would be so cramped.

jsl82 · January 2018

I'm only going on #2 but I have a former colleague (and facebook friend) who recently shared a picture of her 3 kids in their car seats to celebrate that they are all forward facing now. I immediately thought of this picture when I started reading the car seat dilemma going on here and just looked up the picture. Her oldest is in the middle- I assume as she has the easiest time getting herself in and out of the carseat. The baby (who is now 2) is on the passenger side of the backseat.

AFM I will have 2 rear facing kids for what feels like forever! DD is teeny so she might not be tall enough to turn around next year when she turns 2. What age do they start to be able to help get themselves in and out of the carseat? I feel like I might want to move DD to behind my seat and put DS on the passenger side, since he will need me to assist him with his carseat the longest- and the passenger seat faces the sidewalk vs the street more often.

ramennoodlegif · January 2018

@mytinc Thanks for sharing about the Dionos. We have the Olympia models for DD and DS, and planned on getting one for baby when the infant seat is outgrown. Nice to know we may be able to accommodate them all in one row.

llamamama14 · January 2018

@kfren @mytinc We have one Diono and it is narrow enough to allow us to do 3 across with 2 other non-Diono carseats (a Graco convertible and a Britax infant bucket seat.) This is in the 2nd row of our Pilot.

NamelessAria · January 2018

@murraydog2008 give in to the Colace. I'm lactose intolerant also and I find it far more comfortable to take some Colace than to drink milk or something. At least the Colace doesn't give me bad gas and the intestinal cramping isn't nearly as bad either. Plus I'll probably just go once instead of being in the bathroom all afternoon.

murraydog2008 · January 2018

@NamelessAria I'm close to giving in. Even with the lactose and the black coffee, I'm still not going. It's really surprising. I guess it shows just how stopped up things are. I'll have to get some Colace over the weekend. This is getting ridiculous.

In response to the car seat discussion: My plan for DH's truck (he has a full sized truck so it is wide) is to put baby in the middle and the big kids on the outside. He will be doing the school drop off and pick up and that will make it easiest to get the big kids in and out. We don't have the baby seat yet, but once we do I will test out my theory. Right now I have the 4 year old in a Britax convertible seat and the 7 year old in a Graco booster. If we don't fit 3 across with these seats, we can replace them and get 2 new boosters for both kids that are a little more narrow. I really think we will fit though. It's the van that I'm really questioning what to do with. I've thought of looking into trading it out for a Honda Pilot but I really love my sliding doors soooo much living in the city! The kids can't give the cars next to us door dings!

Lolalipsy · January 2018

@mytinc ah it's like a dart gun for me. Mind you I tend to listen to my H's audiobooks which are sleep inducing (history books).

catlady1215 · January 2018

question for you ladies. with DS we got a graco infantseat/stroller. the seat is expired so we need a new one... but don't want a whole new system. This seat is 6 years old, how would i know what graco seat will fit on the stroller?

dinodna3 · January 2018

@catlady1215 was the old system click-connect, if so I think it would work with the new ones? Can you take the stroller base to the store and try the new Graco seats on it?

catlady1215 · January 2018

@dinodna3 I believe it was a click connect. It's sad... besides knowing it's a Graco, I don't remember whatelse it was called lol. I need to go pull it out from the basement I guess. I was going to wait till they have their trade in thing. But wanted to do some research ahead of time.

yah taking the stroller and base(cause that was my next question lol) in to the store is doable. Just didn't want to drag it all there cause lazy lol.

ramennoodlegif · January 2018

@catlady1215 If you can find the stroller model, you might be able to go online and find out. I could never remember what mine was, but anytime I needed to know, I just looked at pictures of the fabric patterns til I figured it out. May save you the trouble of lugging it out of the basement.

marcus7676 · January 2018

I second the recommendations to take it to the store. You won't look crazy! We took so many carseats to our car to try them out and one of the stores even let us / recommended we take strollers for a walk with a fake baby doll.

catlady1215 · January 2018

luckily the stroller is still upstairs stored away. so I can pull that out and see if it says anything on it. I just didn't want to weed through the pile of baby stuff for the seat and bases lol. And I hate driving in the direction that our BRU is lol. I tried to google real quick the seat/fabric pattern but I wasn't getting far, then my laptop died and DS woke up. I got to put more effort into this

dinodna3 · January 2018

@catlady1215 Did you register your car seat/stroller on the Graco website when you got it? They will definitely be able to tell you the model. Also, idk if it’s changed that much but my Graco car seat (2014) has a 7 year expriration date. Are you sure yours is expired?

catlady1215 · January 2018

@dinodna3 ah i did! and now that i think of it, i swear i kept all the books that came with all the baby stuff.... somewhere. now to remember where.
oh really 7 years for yours? i was assuming it was 5 years. we got it in 2012, so we could squeeze into that 7 years if older models are that long also.

ok... finding baby stuff pamphlets today. oh fun lol.

meg95995 · January 2018

If you have a boppy breastfeeding pillow, you might try that! I know mine has come in handy in the last two pregnancies for sleeping "on my stomach".

llamamama14 · January 2018

We're having blow-out issues with my 3 year old in both size 5 diapers and pull-ups. It just became an issue. I think because he does one big #2 a day and it shoots up the back and out of his diaper. Hopefully we're not too far from being potty trained but in the meantime any suggestions for a pull-up brand that keeps everything contained?

dinodna3 · January 2018

@llamamama14 Size up in diapers? As for pull-ups, I found that I liked the Pampers Easy Ups much more. They are one piece like underwear and are not stiff like the Huggies Pull-Ups.

llamamama14 · January 2018

@dinodna3 (TMI warning) I sized up to 4T-5T Pull Ups (instead of size 5 diapers) thinking it would help but he still leaked up the back. (He's 37 lbs) Not sure a sure 6 diaper would be any more contained than a 5T pull up. I think the issue is he does big #2s once a day now and squats to go and it gets pushed out the back. Maybe this is our impetus to push potty training.

ramennoodlegif · January 2018

@llamamama14 Have you tried night-time Pull Ups? We use Goodnites for DD at night time. They seem to come up a little further in the back than the regular pull-ups.

Is it just me, or do the words 'Pull Ups' look really funny? Like they almost shouldn't be words?

llamamama14 · January 2018

@kfren I will check those out. Higher in the back is what we need...

Xtabbikatx · January 2018

Is anyone still experiencing morning sickness? Mine went away for a few weeks and now is back with a vengeance. I am 19 weeks and all I want to do is curl up in a ball on the bathroom floor while I am sick.

Also, is the second pregnancy worse than the first?

ramblebee · January 2018

@Xtabbikatx My friend who just had her 4th said her MS was worse and longer with each pregnancy so I think it can happen. Sorry!

May14th2011 · January 2018

@Xtabbikatx yes and yes. Morning sickness is still rampant here, at 20 weeks, ugh. And the 2nd pregnancy is worse than the first and the 3rd is just as bad, but at least we get a cuddly baby from it lol.

May14th2011 · January 2018

2yo DS is doing great on potty training! We went out yesterday with him in underwear for about 45 minutes and he kept it dry! We're almost down to diapers only at nap time and bed time.

catlady1215 · January 2018

@xtabbikatx I don't know if there's any proof behind it. but it always seems pregnancies get worse. I blame it on age lol. maybe I toughed it out better at 30 than I did at 35?

@may14th2011 that's great!! atleast you'll get a few months break from diapers!

Xtabbikatx · January 2018

@May14th2011, @ramblebee, Noooo!!! you guys were supposed to give me hope. Cuddly sweet angel baby at the end, but right now its my little parasite. That is my loving description of it. My doctor laughed when I told him that.

May14th2011 · January 2018

@Xtabbikatx I call baby a parasite too lol.

murraydog2008 · January 2018

@llamamama14 have you tried just taking him when he's in that squat to poop position and putting him on the potty? That's what I did with DS when he was potty training. He was a very obvious pooper so instead of letting him go in his diaper, when he'd start his obvious poop grunting, I'd just plop him right on the toilet and he'd go there. It wasn't exactly potty training, but it saved us the mess of a giant poop in a diaper.

llamamama14 · January 2018

@murraydog2008 I haven't decided how I'm going to approach PT. We just started gauging his interest this month by asking if we wants to go on the potty when we see he's about to poop. (He actually announces when he's about to half the time.) He rarely says he wants to and I haven't pushed it yet. I've been telling myself January is casual potty training month but February I'll buckle down. If I use your method I might have to get some special sticker books to keep him from revolting when I drag him into the bathroom.

ramennoodlegif · January 2018

@llamamama14 One (strange) suggestion I got from our pediatrician that actually worked, but took a little getting used to, is, as they are flushing, tell the waste to have fun at the party. We told DD that when she flushes, her poop goes down the toilet to join ours at the poop party. It was really weird saying that the first few times, but she really enjoyed the idea of there being a party and even started saying it when she just peed.

marcus7676 · January 2018

@llamamama14 - we used the Oh Crap book / method, which worked well. We had to add bribery in to actually get him to use the potty after Day One (he's super stubborn), but it wasn't as bad as I expected.

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