Pregnancy- July 2011

Rachel -- HA! Thanks for that video. It made me want a kitten for half second.

Rachael -- I so know what you mean about the happy/jealous feeling. That's how I feel about you being induced on Monday. :laugh:

In the last 12 hours I've gone from completely sure I would schedule an induction for tomorrow to completely sure I'm going to wait until my appointment on Monday to completely sure I still have absolutely no idea what I want to do. I have a pretty long list of pros and neutrals about induction and almost nothing on my con list yet for some reason I just can't bring myself to call the doctor about it. I don't get me.

By the way, by "induction," I mean the breaking of my water -- my OBs think there's a huge chance pitocin won't even come in to play (though of course there's a chance it will if nothing happens for hours after my water is broken).

Good Morning Ladies. Today is my due date and no baby yet last night i had a false alarm i was in crazy pain for about an hr then all of a sudden it lifted. I so want to get things rolling my contractions are back to being sporadic there is constant menstral pain and pressure pain down below and I'm pretty sure the rest of my plug came out yesterday. Sry TMI.

I have an appt tomorrow afternoon I'm def going to ask my doc to check me for dilation I'm so anxious to meet my LO.


Welcome to the the new mommies to be!

Julie: Sorry bout the appt I would completely understand if you went ahead with the induction.

Katrina: I'm sorry about your DH I hope he gives you the support you need. *hug*

Maureen: I hope your appt goes very well.

Racheal: Yay for a set date *hug* for the funeral thoughts and prayers your way.

Here's to another day of contractions and menstrual pains I know they just get me closer to my LO so bring on the pain.

Hi Everyone,
Sorry too busy to read since Tuesday and I'm sure I've missed loads

Julie - fill me in - why are you thinking of having your water broken and not just waiting for natural progression?

I'll have time to read back later tonight.....see you later !!!

Oooh - I just noticed I hit the 100 days to go mark !!!!!

Hey girls. So sorry I've been MIA. I log on for a second to check and see if any babies have come and to log in exercise. Other than that I'm off pretty quickly.

Maureen- I can't believe that baby isn't here yet! As a due date twin, I would be going crazy if Emma was still in my tummy right now. Hopefully the little one will be here soon so you won't have to get an induction. I say that just because I know you don't want one, but it won't be the end of the world if it has to happen. I realized with my c-section that if you just approach the situation positively, you can still have a very positive birth experience.

Julie- You are almost there! I really thought your baby would be here by now too. With all of those contractions... geeze. You are a trooper! If you want to go through with the induction, I say go ahead. It is what is right for you and your family, not what anyone else thinks. Just make sure you are comfortable with the decision. Don't worry about being a bad mother. Oh my gosh I've had so many of those worries lately. If you give in and let yourself start thinking like that you'll just cry all the time. haha.


Maria- Where is your little one!? Geeze, these babies love to test their mamas' patience. Hope you get to see your precious bundle soon. I'm sorry you're experiencing discomfort.

Things are going well for me. I've had major difficulties with breastfeeding. The lactation consultant at the hospital and the nurses made me think I was doing it right and sent me home. Apparently I wasn't getting her to latch correctly and she ended up destroying my nipples. I'm talking bruises, deep cracks, bleeding. It got so bad that my whole body would just tense up when she got on and I would burst out crying. I told myself in the beginning that it was just me healing from the initial bruising I got when I was learning in the hospital and that maybe the way my nipples looked was normal. NO! If you are in any pain and have any questions, go to a consultant at the first signs. Don't let it get bad. I finally went to a consultant on Monday and she told me it is "to my credit" that I didn't quit because the damage was so severe. She taught me how to get Emma to latch properly and gave me lots of advice for letting myself heal. Good thing is I'm still able to breastfeed during this process. It's just slow healing. Anything I've had that is close to baby blues is related to my breastfeeding issues, so I can't wait to be healed and be able to enjoy the experience.


Julie and Maureen- Don't worry too much about c-sections. I'm not going to lie, it was a scary experience- getting the spinal and knowing that they are cutting into you, but as soon as you hear that baby cry you are on top of the world again. It was like the scariest experience of my life followed immediately by the happiest and most miraculous experience of my life. Everyone is different with healing, but I healed really quickly and didn't need pain meds for more than two days when we got home. Even then I didn't take every dose. I feel like my nipple issues have been much worse than the c-section healing.

Here's a picture of my little sweetie.

Victoria -- This is going to be long and probably nonsensical because it's going to a random jumble a lot of the thoughts that are rambling around in my head right now.

I'm positive for strep and I've been having consistent contractions for 5 weeks. The last 1.5 weeks, the contractions have been significantly stronger and more uncomfortable. I'm tired, I'm in pain, I'm using up all of my paid leave because I can't work in my current condition (randomly squealing out uncontrollably in pain is a bit distracting in the office ), and the fact of the matter is there's little to no benefit to her being inside of me anymore. Yes, labor will surely start on it's own in a few days (or not since I've had tons of painful contractions and yet made no progress for over a week) but why bother waiting? What's the real benefit?

As it turns out, I don't put much value into things being "natural" for the sake of being natural at this point. I don't think natural is necessarily better. As your surely know by now, I feel that way about a lot of things. I'm a fan of modern medicine and in my opinion there really aren't any legitimate cons to induction in my situation nor are there any pros to waiting it out.

Now that I'm in this situation and I've looked into it more, I don't understand why people are so adamantly opposed to induction. Even though there's no definite medical reason for me to be induced, there certainly are medical reasons induction would be a plus rather than a negative (antibiotics before my water breaks, me not being exhausted and in pain for who knows how much longer, placenta life, potential cord complications, baby's size, etc). Since my cervix is so "ripe" and far along in the process, induction doesn't even increase my chances for c-section according to the OB I talked to yesterday.
If my water broke on it's own, which it's likely to do at any point according to the 2 doctors who have checked me the last 2 weeks, I'd be in the exact same situation. Except if it breaks on it's own, I'm not in a sterile environment and I haven't had antibiotics, so yeah, there's actual legitimate risk involved in me letting it happen on it's own (even though the risk involved is quite small). On top of small pros on the medical side, there's also comfort and convenience on the side of induction. We can have someone here to take care of our dogs so hubby doesn't have to intermittently leave the hospital. I don't have to have my water break while I'm in bed or sitting on the couch or while I'm grocery shopping. Since I'm already 3cm dilated and fully effaced and I'm positive for strep, my whole plan to labor at home as long as possible is already completely out of the question for me.

Very logically convincing argument. Yet I admit I still have some irrational emotional reservation about induction and that's why I haven't scheduled it. I think I may, though. Because I sat myself down earlier and thought okay, so what if I make it to my appointment on Monday and I have an ultrasound and everything is okay to wait another week or so before they start insisting on inducing me. Am I really going to be okay with that? Using another week of leave from work? Being worthless and incredibly uncomfortable for potentially 11 or 12 more days? On one hand it's like, sure, I can wait it out. On the other hand, um... why? Seriously, am I overlooking something important? I don't consider "it's not natural" to be a legitimate argument against having the doctor break my water.

I very much thought I would be against being induced unless I was a week or more past my due date. Now that it's come up I've realized I honestly don't have a valid argument against it. So now I'm stumped and indecisive and driving myself crazy.

Thanks for the well wishes about the GD test but I already know I have it. My doctor ordered to have it done at 24 weeks because of my previous history and my family history. I did the 1 hour thing at 11 AM and by 4 PM my doctor was on the phone telling me my levels were at the point where she isn't even going to bother making me go through the 3-hour test.
I've been pricking my finger for weeks now and my levels aren't horrendous or anything. It's just a huge hassle to have to deal with again.
Not to mention I don't have medical coverage (the only person covered on my husbands coverage at his work is him) ... testing strips are very expensive so I've just been getting them from the Diabetic Clinic, but they only give out strips in packs of 10 so I'm running there every few days because I have to test 3 times per day. Annoying!!

Wow Jules, sounds like lots of reasons to induce and no real reasons not to. I think I'd get on with it if I were you. :flowerforyou:

I really do think it's a logical decision and yet I'm still struggling with it. I feel like I'm having a hard time making a decision for no real reason and that's what's so frustrating to me. If I had valid arguments for and against that would be one thing but my argument for makes sense to me while my argument against is purely emotional. I don't know why I'm clinging to the emotional part so much. Then it starts making me think "Well, maybe there's a reason." But honestly, no, there's no reason. Just emotion. Bah! I'm actually starting to wonder if it's some deep seated subconscious me being terrified about her actually being here thing
See? Nuts.
Alright, I'm calling it -- Board hog!

Brittony: Emma is such a cutie pie!!

Brittony! What a cutie! Glad your recovery is short and sweet! I'm impressed that you are logging exercise. I have my 6 week tomorrow and haven't started back yet other than the occasional walking. I'm a super whimp when it comes to my period though - i DESPISE pads so I tend to do nothing but sit on the couch and be miserable for how uncomforatble I think they are. :laugh: I finally am more active this week now that the bleeding stopped. If you are a tampon user - know that about 2 weeks in your Dr might let you go to tampons since you don't have the same trauma as a vaginal birth. That was one perk to a C/S for me! Since the little one is in the hospital and the older one is at grandmas I'm thinking that I might have the chance to actually get to the gym a few times in the next couple weeks! I thought about going to spin Saturday, but then i thought that was still a bad idea! :laugh: :laugh: Still bruised down there for sure (mildly... but spin hurts on a normal who-ha day! :laugh: )!

I just mentioned to Dragonfly on the other board - get some lanolin if you don't have some already. Works wonders on the nipples!

This is just what I was looking for! I just joined MFP about a week ago, so while I'm at work, I dip in and out of some of the threads and I saw this one and it's exactly where my husband and I are at. We've been married for 3 years, living together for just over 1 year and we're now finally ready (as ready as we'll ever be) to have our first baby. It will be my second baby and my husband's first. However, I'm a little *ahem* overweight. I'm 6' tall and I've struggled with my weight my whole life. About 2 years ago, I did the phentermine thing, lost a TON of weight only to pile it all back on and then some, in less than 6 months (those damn Egyptians can COOK!). My son is 7 now and when I was pregnant with him, I had high blood pressure and was bedridden for the last 3 months of the pregnancy. I weighed 280lbs at the height of my pregnancy (10lbs. 9oz of that being baby) and I'm not looking to be there again. It's not healty for me and it's definitely not healthy for the baby.
So, I've decided that I need to get to a healthier weight and learn how to maintain it before we go down the baby road.

P.S. I also tend to overshare and over-explain, so don't be surprised if my posts are novel-esque.

Had a prenatal this afternoon.
BP is good and I lost 7 lbs. Wicked!!
She wants to see me again next week to monitor my glucose levels which are borderline needing insulin. I can deal with that as long as my BP is staying good I'm happy!

Julie - I can understand your "irrational" (not the right word... but...) thought of just waiting. I was really sad to be induced because I (providing I am prepared with work, the boy etc) was really looking forward to the spontaneity of labor. When will it come? Will water break or not? How long can I hold off before going to the hospital? Will my retard hubby try to take a "short cut" to the hospital like he did last time and have me almost try to kill him again when it turns out to NOT be a short cut? Who will win the guessing pool for a due date? How accurate is my "due date"... etc etc. You give some of that up when scheduling.

Julie - Will my retard hubby try to take a "short cut" to the hospital like he did last time and have me almost try to kill him again when it turns out to NOT be a short cut? Who will win the guessing pool for a due date? How accurate is my "due date"... etc etc. You give some of that up when scheduling.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: ahh you just made my day