Weekly Check In Dec 19

amccurls · December 2022

EDD / Weeks + Days:

Baby is the size of a(n):

Team blue/pink/green:

Upcoming Appointments:

How are you feeling?:

Rants/Raves:

Questions:

GTKY: If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be?

justkp · December 2022

EDD / Weeks + Days: My god, I'm 31+1! Where did all the time go? I was 1st trimester mere moments ago?!

Baby is the size of a(n): Melon

Team blue/pink/green: Blue

Upcoming Appointments: Not until the new year

How are you feeling?: Sleepless, irritable and with constant heartburn. But apart from that not too bad, actually. I'm super busy at work and have started counting down to my maternity leave just 4 weeks from now.

Rants/Raves: My best friend is struggling a bit with money at the moment and can't afford presents. So as a Christmas present, she has learned to crochet and has crocheted a baby blanket for my child. And it's so sweet it nearly made me cry!

Questions:

GTKY: If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be? Hmmm... something lilw wave surfing in the canary islands or something. Would love to learn it properly, but my country is a bit cold for wave surfing as a beginner!

ttc3y · December 2022

EDD / Weeks + Days: 30w 3d

Baby is the size of a(n): Zucchini

Team blue/pink/green:💚

Upcoming Appointments: This Thursday with my midwife.

How are you feeling?: Mentally feeling better and hope to feel even more better when I see my midwife again for reassurance. Physically, I have minor discomforts with the most notable being pregnancy insomnia sometimes where I wake up at 4 am for no reason. I just rest and meditate until I fall back asleep or until it’s time for me to get up.

Rants/Raves:

My husband and I went on a date last night and we had a great time together attending a quirky theater show. I’m enjoying all of these last moments of marital bonding before everything changes

Questions: natm

GTKY: If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be?

Can I have more than a week off? I would love to live in other countries for at least 6-12months, learn languages and embrace another culture. The top 3 languages I would love to learn are Cantonese, Tagalog, and French. I probably would benefit living in a Spanish speaking country too and improve my functional sub-par Spanish. I got to live in Argentina for a month over a decade ago where at least my listening comprehension improved and I can functionally survive in a Spanish speaking country when traveling. But I am no where close to being able to have a philosophical conversation. That would be the next level for me to reach.

amccurls · December 2022

@ttc3y I would love to do the same! My moms side of the family lives in Spain and I don’t speak Spanish. I know enough basics to get me by, but I’d love to be fluent as well.

@justkp surfing sounds fun! I’m too scared of the ocean creatures though.

EDD / Weeks + Days: 32 + 5

Baby is the size of a(n): squash

Team blue/pink/green: 💝

Upcoming Appointments: Tomorrow for a normal checkup

How are you feeling?: Decent. I’m pretty tired. I too wake up every night at the same time. Usually 3:30 and I’m up until 5:00. Then I fall asleep until my son wakes me up around 7. I’ve still got pelvic pain that sometimes pops when I stand up. I also had some serious Braxton Hicks on the drive home from visiting family yesterday. I had to get out of the car for a few minutes and stretch. I was almost starting to think it was early labor, but it stopped after walking around.

Rants/Raves: rants - the pains above.

Questions: none for now

GTKY: If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be? This is a hard one! I asked the question because I thought it was a neat idea. But I’m not 100% sure. I’d like to be fluent in Spanish. But I’d also like to learn something useful that I could do after teaching. Like making something I could turn into a small business.

cpk3535 · December 2022

Hi everybody, sorry I’ve been so quiet! Just busy, sore, and freaking exhausted 😩 I’ll try to keep up better these last few weeks!

@amccurls I have that same fear of the unknown in the ocean, lol. The one time I’ve tried surfing was a total bomb and I was super paranoid around a ton of sea weed underneath me!!

————

EDD / Weeks + Days: 32 weeks tomorrow- feels like 42 weeks, lol

Baby is the size of a(n): bunch of celery

Team blue/pink/green: blue 💙

Upcoming Appointments: I think I have an ultrasound next week (if somebody helps me schedule it, lol) and then a regular office visit next week after Christmas.

How are you feeling?: Big, sore, BIG, still on-and-off nauseated, dizzy/woozy... I’m looking forward to this little guy coming out to see us so I can do some normal stuff again!

Rants/Raves: We got to see my in-laws this weekend for Christmas and do an early gift exchange. Nice and low-key compared to the normal drive 6+ hours and hopping from house to house. I’m hoping this week is pretty relaxed. Everybody has been pretty understanding that driving long distance is not our thing right now with me super pregnant and our toddler hating the car. Another one- I’ve been going through interviews for a few jobs, but this time of year if pretty difficult for communicating with these people. I’ve had to do a lot, and now I’m just waiting and trying to see if I hear anything back before the end of the year 🤷‍♀️ I also found out that I got accepted into a sonography program to train to be an ultrasound technician! Now I just have to figure out how to get the loans I need for the non-government funding portion…

Questions: Has anybody else gotten semi-badgered by their doc to get their tubes tied if they do a c-section birth? A) I don’t really want to do a c-section unless I need to for emergency reasons. I never asked about getting my tubes tied and I don’t really see much benefit to it unless I was crazy fertile (which I’m not). Is it a big deal to just let things be?? I’m sure I’m not too far off from at least the beginning stages of menopause.

GTKY: If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be? I would take a week to immerse myself in a culinary school baking program with big technique work! I love baking, but there are definitely some things I have a tough time getting just right. I would probably do a bread clinic!

fertile-turtle · December 2022

EDD / Weeks + Days: 33+2

Baby is the size of a(n): celery or cantaloupe (those feel like very different sizes 😂)

Team blue/pink/green: blue

Upcoming Appointments: Dec 30

How are you feeling?: tired and big, but mostly decent considering

Rants/Raves: I was recruited into a study on the long-term effects of Covid in pregnancy and had my intake appointment today. I’m excited to be part of gathering the data that I wish had been around when I tested positive, and a fun bonus is that I get all the test results. So like today, I discovered that my vitamin D levels are still borderline low (I’ll be asking about increasing my dosing next week), that my blood is clotting perfectly (I have a moderately irrational fear of blood clots thanks to family history), and that my liver and kidneys are working beautifully. There were no real concerns about most of it (except vitamin D and iron) but it’s nice to see the reassurance, and for me personally, just very fun to have data to mull over.

Questions: natm

GTKY: If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be? I’ve done this for my school/job twice now, which has led to some really fun adventures (like learning the Argentinian tango from a very butch Russian in Ohio) and learning some really cool, specific techniques. But if I were doing it for personal, non-professional reasons… probably cookie and cake decorating. I love baking but my presentation leaves much to be desired, and it would be cool to learn how to make things look as good as they taste. Plus, I have fond memories of making birthday cakes with my dad, and want to do the same with my son because it’s so special and such a fun tradition.

fertile-turtle · December 2022

@cpk3535 bread is so tough! And every style is so different - I got decent at sourdough and pretzels, and then tried to learn a type of potica dough for a family recipe and it threw me for a bit because the techniques only translate so much. A workshop to understand the whys of the process would be so cool!

seeds_of_joy · December 2022

EDD / Weeks + Days: 31 weeks tomorrow

Baby is the size of a(n): bunch of asparagus

Team blue/pink/green:pink

Upcoming Appointments: Wednesday morning (thankfully before we are supposed to get 14 inches of snow because it's out of town.)

How are you feeling?: A bit tired, sore back, heavy, underfed. Otherwise not bad

Rants/Raves: rant and rave in one? back to the stress of full time housework and homeschooling now that my seasonal job is done and my hubby is going back to work tomorrow. I'm realizing it's way less stressful to work part time than to contend with the constant mess and noise at home. But that's only if I have a stay-at -home husband...which doesn't pay the bills long term... 😂 So homemaking it is! And it is good to be home when I'm having a right attitude about it.

Questions: natm

GTKY: no idea. There's a lot of things I want to have the desire to learn but most of them I question if I actually want to learn them enough to take away from the life I already live. 🤷‍♀️

justkp · December 2022

cpk3535

If ocean creatures refer to, you know, great whites, tiger sharks and killer jellyfish, sea snakes or any other things that pump you full of lethal toxins if you happen to get close to them, we don't really have those around here. I suppose hypothetically they could stop by the Canary Islands, connected body of water after all, but they don't really seem to do it. Sharks wouldn't even be on my radar. Biggest risk is, like, having a small crab grab your toe or something. 😀

amccurls · December 2022

@justkp my cousin and his family live in the Canary Islands! I’ve heard it’s beautiful. I totally assumed all oceans had scary creatures haha

itsjess627 · December 2022

EDD / Weeks + Days: 32w1d

Baby is the size of a(n): squash

Team blue/pink/green: blue 💙

Upcoming Appointments: 12/27 (NST, BPP) I’ll have appts every week until he’s here.

How are you feeling?: good overall. Feeling a little overwhelmed about temporarily relocating in a month for the best care for our buddy but I’m thankful for the time to plan as much as I can in that regard.

Rants/Raves: rave: this is random but I found a new safe restaurant to eat at for our food allergies yesterday in the town we are relocating! Our choices can be quite limited.

Questions: if you’ve ordered or previously used a breast pump, which one did you go with?

I have no choice but to pump exclusively (at least for a little while) this time where as with my daughter I exclusively breastfed so I’m clueless about which one to go with.

GTKY: If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be?

I think I’d want to learn to scuba. It’s always been on my list.

fertile-turtle · December 2022

@itsjess627 You might check with your insurance, because they may cover a hospital pump rental in your situation. I know mine covers that cost as long as your baby is in the NICU, and you can still order a regular pump for when you get to go home.

I ordered an Elvie Stride through my insurance because wearable will be incredibly useful at my job, but I can’t really review it yet. I did join a Facebook group to get an idea of what problems to expect, so you might consider doing some research that way because it’s really enlightening (although of course you see only the worst experiences because it’s all people looking for help).

karbaud · December 2022

@itsjess627, I went with the Spectra S2 pump. I wanted to start with the Elvie, but my OB told me that anyone exclusively pumping or planning to pump the majority of the time needs to start with a more powerful pump to get the milk flowing. Later, you could switch to a wearable pump. I also took a pumping course, and they said the Spectra S2 was great for exclusive pumping.

I ordered through https://aeroflowbreastpumps.com/

This site goes through your insurance provider to see what’s covered. The Spectra S2 was considered an upgrade, so it wasn’t fully covered for me, but I only paid $75 usd. You also get to take free zoom courses through this site when you order a pump.

With all that said, this is my first child, and I’ve never pumped before. I just selected my pump based on what I’ve read and heard.

angbaby83 · December 2022

@itsjess627 usually if they are having you pump in the hospital they have a hospital grade pump. My hospital had the medela hospital pump and I rented it for a month after. It was great and I think really helped with making sure my supply was good because both of my kids had trouble feeding in the beginning. Afterwards I used the spectra s1 because I liked not being stuck with a plug in pump. It has a rechargeable battery. With my son I exclusively pumped and inevitably I would start pumping and my daughter would need help so I liked being able carry it with me to assist her. It’s a great pump. I bought adapter parts so I could use the medela supplies that came with the hospital grade pump.

angbaby83 · December 2022

EDD / Weeks + Days: 32 weeks today

Baby is the size of a(n): Pomelo? I have the Ovia app and I don’t love their size comparisons. My growth scan says baby is average size and right on track.

Team blue/pink/green: green!

Upcoming Appointments: just had one yesterday! Tried to get a 4d photo for me and baby said no pictures please and kept putting hands on its face 😂

How are you feeling?: so much back and hip pain and nausea. I don’t know what it’s like to be able to eat without discomfort and feeling like I’m going to throw up anymore.

Rants/Raves: loved getting to see baby and be reassured that everything looks good. I was super crampy the other night and was worried about pre term labor but the the doctor assured me that my cervix is really long and closed and baby isn’t going anywhere lol baby is still breech and in the same position as last time. Hoping all the movement I’m feeling today means it’s doing something. I know I don’t need to worry yet but come on kid get moving.

Questions: not at the moment

GTKY: If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be? I’m jealous of all you bakers. My mom wasn’t really into that so I didn’t learn. I would love to be able to take time and become a really good baker so I can pass that on to my daughter.

kamays54 · December 2022

EDD / Weeks + Days: 30+4

Baby is the size of a(n): Zucchini

Team blue/pink/green: Pink

Upcoming Appointments: Today

How are you feeling?: Tired. Achy when I over do it. Still having heartburn and haven't been able to get the prescription for it because of insurance issues. I have more good days than bad days right now so I haven't pushed the issue yet but I will bring it up at my appointment today.

Rants/Raves: Rave - Finally got the rest of our decorations up this past weekend. Rant - One of the cats is on a mission to destroy all of them. lol.

Questions: None

GTKY: If you could take a week off from your regular life to immerse yourself in learning something new, what would it be? I would love to learn and be fluent in Sign Language. I learned some basic signs when I was little and I took a beginners class in college when I was thinking about going into Speech Pathology but lost a lot of it because I don't use it.

itsjess627 · December 2022

Thanks @fertile-turtle, @karbaud, and @angbaby83 for the input. I really appreciate it and I’ll do some looking on those. From my understanding the hospital will have one for me during our time there, it was almost a comes with the deal kinda thing. I know insurance or us ends up paying for it but the hospital is fortunately super encouraging with breast feeding.

@angbaby83 I’m glad to hear it helped with your supply as well. That’s super comforting!

fertile-turtle · December 2022

@itsjess627 good luck! And as @karbaud said, wearable pumps probably aren’t ideal for exclusively pumping, it just made sense for my specific job and breastfeeding goals. But for any pump I would look for any kind of board or group supporting people with the ones you’re considering to get a good idea of the problems people have with them, in addition to regular reviews and that kind of thing.

amccurls · December 2022

@kamays54 I love sign language! I’d love to be fluent too. I know enough to have a conversation but I’m terrible at the proper grammar. My para last year is deaf and taught me a lot. Then I took two online classes at a local university. I got a basic certificate and I planned to take level 3 but it starts 2 weeks before my due date 😩 definitely a useful foreign language though!

ttc3y · December 2022

@angbaby83 No one in my family baked. I just decided when I was a teenager that someone in the family should bake and started baking cookies for Christmas. Since then, I enjoy baking and will try recipes that sound interesting or delicious beyond cookies. Drop cookies (like chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin) are pretty easy and quick to make and is a good place to start as a beginner.

kamays54 · December 2022

@angbaby83 that is so sweet to want to pass something like that down to your daughter. Something to think about...Both of my parents families loved to cook and bake but there were so many recipes that weren't written down. So unfortunately when the person passed no one knew how to make them. My parents do know some of the old recipes so for Christmas one year I got them each a blank recipe book so that the could write them all down in there (plus any new ones they love to make). This way they can pass them down to me and I can pass them down to my kid(s).

@amccurls that is awesome. I still have my book from college so I might have to get back into it.
Also, my husband and I have talked about teaching the baby some signs. Has anyone else done this or are thinking about doing it? I'm interested in hearing how it went or how much you are planning on teaching them.

fertile-turtle · December 2022

@kamays54 having parents write down the recipes is such a good idea, but with baking, you might consider trying to have them make some of them with you, too, if you haven’t already. Even with a written recipe, we’ve had a few things my grandmother made that took my aunt and I years to get right because of the little details that weren’t written or are hard to describe.

We’re planning on teaching some signs. My husband bought a book on baby sign language, though we haven’t read it yet, and our daycare also teaches baby sign and also has a teacher who is fluent in ASL so as an older toddler, we could opt for him to have additional instruction and exposure, assuming nothing changes in the next few years.

amccurls · December 2022

@kamays54 I used baby signs with my son and it was great! So before he could talk he could communicate some needs. I also teach him basic signs now (he’s 4) and he uses them whenever he gets the chance. He can sign all his colors, hungry/full, different animals, and we’re working on numbers now as he learns them for school. There’s other random things he knows too from asking and me showing him or sitting in on some of my zoom ASL classes. He loves it and is a little sponge so he remembers them. Worth it!

kamays54 · December 2022

@fertile-turtle you are absolutely correct. Sometime even when they show you how to make it, it doesn't come out the same too though. My dad had his aunt show him how to make stuffed cabbage but no matter how hard he tries it's not the same. He did find a small Polish deli that he said that makes the closest ones to hers.

That's so nice that the daycare has that option. Hopefully we could find something similar here. I would love that.

kamays54 · December 2022

@amccurls That's great to hear. That's exactly what I am hoping for!

itsjess627 · December 2022

@kamays54 we taught our daughter a few signs and it was so helpful with communication!

I’m sure we’ll use them with our little guy too.

tessiesmom26 · December 2022

@kamays54 We did signs with DS because he had a speech delay. We did basics (all done, more, eat, milk, water, please, etc) and it was so helpful! Even after he did finally start speaking, he kept up with the signs. I plan to do them with this baby as well, as it really did help with communication.

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