January 2025 Babies

Weekly Check-in, w/o November 11th

Name:

Location:

Age:

EDD / Weeks + Days:

FTM/STM/TTM+:

Baby is the size of a (an):

Team blue/pink/green: 

Upcoming Appointments: 

How are you feeling?: 

Rants/Raves: 

Questions: 

GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out?  If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook?  If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine?

Re: Weekly Check-in, w/o November 11th

  • Name: April

    Location: Arizona

    Age: 39

    EDD / Weeks + Days: Technically Jan 3; Probably Dec 13-20 / 32w 3d

    FTM/STM/TTM+: STM

    Baby is the size of a (an): I'm going to say between celery (33 weeks) and butternut squash (34 weeks).  On Thursday he was about a week ahead so...

    Team blue/pink/green: Blue

    Upcoming Appointments: Friday; I'm going weekly now.

    How are you feeling?: I feel like every week it's getting harder and harder to do things.  I'm getting winded pretty easily; I'm pulling muscles, getting charley horses, or having some nerve pain left and right.  I had a bit of insomnia last night.  My daughter woke up crying around 3am and woke me up.  I was wide awake.  I did end up finally falling back to sleep about an hour and a half later.  Also, this didn't happen with my daughter so I'm curious to see if anyone else is feeling this.  I noticed that sometime when I bend over that he gets in a position that makes it almost painful to stand up all the way.  There is just a lot of pressure on different things.  It's kind of hard to explain.

    Rants/Raves: We are having a very small baby shower at our house this weekend.  It's more just to celebrate this new baby since we already have so much from my daughter.  I'm really excited to get some family and friends together.

    Questions: natm

    GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out?  If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook?  If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine?  We prefer cooking during the week but we'll eat out on the weekend.  My husband has taken over a lot of the cooking due to work schedules so I started buying him some cookbooks.  He really likes the Pioneer Woman books because there are pictures for each step.  One of his favorite go to meals is her Sheet pan quesadilla.  It's not the healthiest but it is really good.
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  • Name: Kelly

    Location: Tanzania

    Age: 35

    EDD / Weeks + Days: Jan 2 (but will prob be early as well!). 32w 5d

    FTM/STM/TTM+: stm

    Baby is the size of a (an): coconut

    Team blue/pink/green:  blue

    Upcoming Appointments: 11/20

    How are you feeling?: like a whale. haha. I've somehow gained like 10 lbs in the last month which feels insane especially because I haven't changed anything? I barely gained anything at the beginning so maybe this is catching up? 

    Rants/Raves: carpal tunnel will be the death of me. I just want my hands back.

    Questions: For all you who will probably deliver early, how are you feeling about it? It's interesting to me how many drs are on the "37 weeks is plenty" because I feel like I never heard that when I was pregnant with my first - which was 8 years ago. 

    GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out?  If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook?  If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine?
    I like cooking when it doesn't feel like an obligation, haha. I'm generally pretty proud of things I make and feel like I am a good cook, esp having mastered a lot of traditional local dishes for Tanzania or making American dishes fully from scratch as a lot of things are available here. But the tediousness of deciding on and making dinner every night (especially pregnant) is exhausting. Luckily my husband is a good cook too so he does help out when I'm too tired. 
    *American in Tanzania, East Africa, since 2013
    DH - Tanzanian
  • Name: jaclyn
    Location: NJ
    Age: 34
    EDD / Weeks + Days: 30w1d
    FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM
    Baby is the size of a (an): zucchini
    Team blue/pink/green:  blue
    Upcoming Appointments: hematology appt this week, OB check up and growth scan next week
    How are you feeling?: pretty good! No more nausea, energy is up compared to recent weeks... I think the iron supplements are helping me out there. Appetite is up. Overall I really can't complain.
    Rants/Raves: my belly is growing fast now, I get so excited over it ☺️ the number on the scale is going down though.. it's extremely confusing to me and makes me wonder if there could be some other underlying health issue. I'm trying not to dwell on it and just focus on the growth scans going well so far.. but it's always in the back of my head. It's just not adding up for me, with my growing belly and eating much more than I did pre-pregnancy.
    I'm also very tired of the blood thinner injections. It's a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things... but my arms and legs are bruised all over from these shots and I really hate needles so it's just something I dread every morning and night.
    The nursery has really been coming together finally! I'm definitely reaching full nesting mode, constantly wanting to clean and reorganize 

    Questions: None right now 

    GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out? If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook? If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine?
    In general, I love cooking and eating at home. Throughout pregnancy I have been veryyy lazy when it comes to cooking though... 😬 luckily my husband loves cooking and is happy to make dinners for us. I don't necessarily have a favorite to cook, but I will happily eat any and every pasta that i come across. A simple steak/mac n cheese/ spinach mushroom and onion meal is probably my favorite at home meal.
    I will say though... my first meal after giving birth will be a giant platter of sushi 
  • Name: Kaycee

    Location: Washington, D.C.

    Age: 43

    EDD / Weeks + Days: January 7th; 32 weeks - officially 8 mos pregnant, can't believe it!

    FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

    Baby is the size of a (an): Squash

    Team blue/pink/green: boy

    Upcoming Appointments: Routine OB check-in Thursday 11/21 @ 33 weeks. I am seeing my chiropractor that specializes in pre and postnatal adjustments 2x a week now and have my final meeting (prior to labor & delivery) with my doula on 11/19 to discuss postpartum planning. We are taking our childbirth prep class this weekend too!

    How are you feeling?: Large and in charge! haha Wondering how and if my belly is going to get any bigger - feeling like there's no more room left. Full nesting mode - getting home ready, baby's room and all the gear ready, starting all the hospital bags and postpartum essentials, pediatrician selection, etc. - goal is to get this all done by Thanksgiving, where I'll be just over 35 weeks. I'm also starting to feel a bit anxious. I was told fair game for labor and delivery starting Week 37, which is 6 weeks from now. It's starting to get real! I'm not as anxious about the actual labor and delivery (although I'm doing what I can to prep for it) - - it's more about being a first time mom, will I know what to do? Will I be a good mom? I know I'm mid-life, but I still feel like "am I ready to be a mom?" haha 

    Rants/Raves: I'm feeling baby move around more often now - perhaps because he's getting bigger, so the movements are stronger. It's wild! 

    Questions: 

    GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out?  If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook?  If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine? I'm definitely not a chef or cook - - preference is going out, BUT with that being said, my husband and I have started to cook at home a lot more for cost saving reasons - we cook about 4-5 times a week. 
  • I have to say I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling huge! haha. Guess we are just at that point in pregnancy now.
    *American in Tanzania, East Africa, since 2013
    DH - Tanzanian
  • Name: Kalyn

    Location: Alabama

    Age: 33

    EDD / Weeks + Days: Jan24 / 29+5 (However, it's looking like baby girl is going to make her appearance 1-2 weeks early!) 

    FTM/STM/TTM+: STM

    Baby is the size of a (an): Acorn Squash!

    Team blue/pink/green: It's a girl <3 

    Upcoming Appointments: Just wrapped up my last nurse-navigator appointment to go over my potential birth plan. Have another follow up appointment next week!

    How are you feeling?: Like everyone else, huge and tired LOL. I also feel so bad complaining all. the. time. but LORDY I'm struggling. Also my nausea has returned with a vengeance... not fun.

    Rants/Raves: Just the above. Tired, uncomfortable, ready for this baby to be here.

    Questions: NATM

    GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out?  If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook?  If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine? Obviously I PREFER going out LOL. Especially here lately. But I do enjoy cooking and trying new recipes... when I can stand for more than 10 minutes without getting winded LOL.
  • Name: Isha

    Location: Colorado

    Age: 38

    EDD / Weeks + Days: January 15 / 31w

    FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

    Baby is the size of a (an): asparagus - or a small Caboodle  :D

    Team blue/pink/green: boy

    Upcoming Appointments: in a week and a half

    How are you feeling?: Tired, achey, emotional. Mostly tired. Work has ramped up recently and I'm really annoyed by it lol. 

    Rants/Raves: Truly all my rants this week are about work so I will just keep that to myself.

    Questions: I'd love to know about everyone's plans to take off from work (if you are working). How long will you take leave? Will it be paid by your company and/or your state? How else are you covering it? When you go back to work, are you going to dive right back in or ramp back up?

    GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out?  If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook?  If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine? I very much prefer baking to cooking! I love homemade food, but I just really don't love doing it. I am mostly in charge of cooking at home because my husband doesn't (though he will grill), but I'm so slow, it always takes forever and it rarely turns out how I want it to. I also hate the process of contantly having to decide what to make. I'm a big fan of stews but my husband isn't; he eats meat and I don't, so that complicates things. It's a constant irritation, honestly. I order meal delivery boxes (like HelloFresh) to help with the decision-making, but it's too expensive to do every night of the week. When I'm just not up for cooking, we'll order in. I love Thai food, so we'll order that often, but also a big fan of Mediterranean, Italian, a solid basket of fries... lol.
  • Name: MT

    Location: Athens, GA

    Age: 33 (turning 34 on 11/30)

    EDD / Weeks + Days: 33 weeks tomorrow. Jan 3

    FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

    Baby is the size of a (an): lava lamp (lol read that today and I can picture it easier than fruit)

    Team blue/pink/green: pink

    Upcoming Appointments: 32 week midwife appt today. Went to chiropractor yesterday. Booked a birth/breastfeeding & newborn life class for Dec 15, and I’ll be 37 weeks soooo I’m pretty worried I did it too late, but the other option was Nov 3 which felt too soon to remember everything.

    How are you feeling?: ooof I’ve been SO active and on it during my second trimester and things are really slowing down. Had my baby shower on Sunday and I’m overwhelmed with writing TY notes, and finding places to put the gifts since we haven’t finished the nursery. Anxious to finish the nursery (move dresser/ glider chair around) find a bookcase for books, and the crib won’t arrive until early Dec.  

    Rants/Raves: I splurged on a cradlewise crib (like a snoo but is a bassinet AND and crib so it’ll last longer) and it comes with a monitor and goes up and down when it senses the baby stirring. I’m pretty jazzed about it since my husband doesn’t get maternity leave and Jan is the biggest month of the year (he’s in insurance). Anyone else heard of this crib? 

    Questions: what workouts are y’all doing? I’m walking the dog every day and I was doing Purebarre 2x a week until about a month ago (made me feel so strong). But now that I’m slowing down a ton I’m debating buying a prenatal program (if I can get the motivation to work out from home). Are y’all using belly bands? Is that helpful? And will you or have you seen a physical therapist or pelvic floor therapist?

    someone asked about jobs- I’m fully remote for a start up. I’m taking 12 weeks off and will get 100% base pay for the first 8 weeks but then it drops to 60% that third month unless I want to work part time (which depending on what life is like month 3, could be doable for a couple hours of work a day…) I’m going to play that part by ear. 

    GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out?  If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook?  If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine?

    odvi I love eating out the most. We cook the same rotation of meals bc I can’t take the mental load of coming up with new things. Lots of chicken thighs in the air fryer, veggie and sweet potatoes/ a starch. My formula is pretty much just find a protein, a carb and a veggie and we’ve made it through another day.
  • Name: Becca

    Location: Kentucky

    Age: 34

    EDD / Weeks + Days: Jan 6 / 32+3

    FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

    Baby is the size of a (an): box of a dozen donuts

    Team blue/pink/green: baby girl!

    Upcoming Appointments: I have a growth ultrasound today. I am excited to see baby girl!

    How are you feeling?: I am tired. We have a LOT going on and I just feel lethargic and unmotivated. Work is a mess (I feel you Isha). We just closed on our new house so we are working on moving stuff over to the new place and getting our current home ready to sell. We had our baby shower this past weekend which was lovely but a lot of people canceled at the last minute which was disappointing. 

    Rants/Raves: By the time 5p rolls around, I am SO uncomfortable. Also, these burps... oh my goodness they are constant. Is anyone else dealing with nearly constant burping?

    Questions: To answer about work - I am taking off three months. My employer only gives two weeks paid leave so I will supplement with 2 weeks of holiday/vacation/sick time and then my short term disability insurance kicks in at 4 weeks off work and will give me 70% (I think) of my paycheck until I go back at 12 weeks postpartum. My spouse is taking the first month off which I am super grateful for!

    GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out?  If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook?  If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine?
    Either! I do enjoy cooking with my spouse but it is always nice to have someone else cook and clean for you :)
  • Name: Angelena

    Location: VA

    Age: 20

    EDD / Weeks + Days: Jan. 16, 31w

    FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

    Baby is the size of a (an): Asparagus

    Team blue/pink/green:  blue

    Upcoming Appointments: 12/4

    How are you feeling?: tired and sore

    Rants/Raves: I just want to hold him so bad🥺

    Questions: NATM

    GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out? If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook? If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine?

    Do I prefer cooking or eating out? 
    . . .
    Well if I have to cook then I prefer going out (lol), but if I could choose between my husband cooking or going out, I'd choose my husband's cooking 7/10 times. I love anything with red meat! So steakhouses are usually where we go if we're going out. If I'm cooking, my go to is either lasagna or chili. Welp, now I'm hungry 😅
  • @strongishmom I work for a small business and it's 80% men so there isn't really a maternity leave policy.  With my first, I used our short term disability.  I had to be off of work for 2 weeks before it kicked in.  I had 1 week of PTO saved up and my boss paid me for the other week.  The short term disability pays 66% of your pay and my boss paid me the difference.  For natural birth, you get 4 weeks (so 6 total with the 2 off before it pays) and for a c-section you get 6 weeks (8 total).  If I had more PTO saved up, my boss would have been fine with me taking more time off but I didn't.  This time I'm pretty much in the same boat.  I have a little over a week of PTO saved.
  • @strongishmom I run a small business doing graphic design, so maternity leave isn't really a thing for me haha. However, on the plus side it could look kind of however I wanted. Ultimately I decided to set up different arrangements with different clients so I could ease back into things gradually, plus my work is remote and flexible, so that is a huge blessing as well as I will still be home with the babies and can shift my work hours around as needed. I'll be starting to work again at 4 weeks, and plan to be fully back into the swing of things by 8 weeks. My husband plans to take 2 weeks off, then work from home for 2 weeks.
  • First time posting, the app is not very user friendly on the community page!!  

    Name: Priscilla

    Location: California

    Age: 30

    EDD / Weeks + Days: Jan 27th , 29wks

    FTM/STM/TTM+: FTM

    Baby is the size of a (an): Some kind of squash/pumpkin?

    Team blue/pink/green: Pink  <3

    Upcoming Appointments: 30wk ultrasound to check her growth 

    How are you feeling?: Good, big and tired.

    Rants/Raves: I do love feeling baby moving, she just chooses to stomp on my bladder whenever I'm close to feeling like I need to pee.

    Questions: Will my pelvis ever feel better?? Standing up in the morning, I feel like my hips are two separate pieces. 

    GTKY: Do you prefer cooking dinner or going out?  If you prefer cooking, what is your favorite go to meal to cook?  If you prefer going out, what is your favorite restaurant or cuisine?

    Before pregnancy I prefer cooking, a nice glazed salmon with rice and veggies. Now that I'm pregnant I'm indulging in all the cravings, burgers are always a win.
  • Thanks all for the input on taking leave! I’m partly just curious because I work in HR 😂 and partly because I’ve started working on my own leave plan so it’s front of mind. I’m taking 12 weeks paid, covered by a combination of short term disability, Colorado paid leave (thank god), and my org’s new parental leave policy which is literally going into effect in December. I’m grateful for the time and yet it still doesn’t feel like enough! I have a cousin who lives in Germany and she’s taking off for over a year. Can you even imagine. 
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