My hubby still want a Feb 29th baby, even if officially we need to pick a different date. It's just fun. :-)

Ladies,

I hit my first Pregnant milestone yesterday! I locked myself out of the house in the back yard with Neena. No cell phone. No exterior lights on. Just us two in the dark :explode:

Thankfully we have an extra set of keys to the front of the house hidden - that I was able to get to, BUT we also have a lock on the patio fence door- locked from the outside!!

Although I did play iwth the idea of climbing the fence, and was able to get my leg half way up the fence, the idea of husband never forgiving me if something happened to me or the baby was more than I could bare :sad:

thankfully, I was able to squeeze my wrist through the fence and play with the combo lock long enough to get it open!!

When my hubby got home I told him I was making my first "demand" as a wife and that was for him to either replace the back door lock & make extra keys or I promised that next time that this happened I was just going to throw a brick through the back door. The choice was his. He took one look at me and said he'd change the locks on Friday! :laugh:

Happy Tuesday guys!
Denise
34 wks

Haha!!! Glad he knows to make you happy Denise! Smart man!

Hi everyone!

Denise - that does sound really frustrating about the water intake etc...hopefully you find a balance that works for you soon! That's so crazy too about you being locked out! lol I could totally see myself in the same situation.

AFM - my husband is feeling much better and I haven't had any flu symptoms so I'm really hoping I'm in the clear as well (knock on wood) My energy levels are pretty low lately but I'm thinking it's because of my sleep patterns? I dunno I just feel like laying down all the time! Insomnia has been striking pretty bad as well as heartburn but I'm just trying to take it in stride and have naps when I can. But it's funny I still have a lot of things to do around the house but seriously I just feel I don't have the energy lately.

The pressure in my cervix is still happening on and off so I'm sure that's good and things are getting going in their own way down there lol I have another Dr appt this Thursday so I'm sure I'll be checked again and we'll see if anything has happened. Really no more BH or anything else. So who knows, maybe I will make it to Feb 20th after all?

I'd like to get another massage I think this week, why not might as well!

Hope you are all having a great week so far

Rayna
37 weeks 2 days

Denise - That sounds crazy and things don't sound like they are going well for you right now. Glad you got back in your house and hopefully you will find a balance that works for you and baby really soon. Good Luck!!!

Rayna - Glad you haven't gotten the flu!!!! I had it a few weeks ago....so not fun!!!!

Kristy - Seems like things are going well for you. Awesome job on all the walking and exercise. It does seem to get a little harder at this point, but probably the most important time for some sort of activity! Good Job!

Jessica - I'm totally with you on the sweats...we had a card party a few weeks ago, OMG! I was totally uncomfortable and ended up putting on sweats while everyone was there, couldn't deal with it anymore. My huge belly makes me unfcomfortable enough, jeans just don't really go anymore. LOL

Elce - Sounds like you and I are going through a lot of the same thing right now. Good Luck, I know how you feel. Wonder who's next?

Brenda - Hope things are well for you!! Glad you had a day off to do some things you wanted to.

AFM: Had a doctor appt. yesterday!! Yes made it another week. I can NOT believe I haven't went into labor yet. All these contractions and cramps are doing a good job though. Dialated to a 3, 80% effaced, but baby being in her sideways position is keeping her head from engaging like it needs to. I wish I knew of a way to make her drop, but all I can do is keep working out, walking and WAITING!!! Gained 1.5 lbs in a week!!!! I think some of it's water, I've been swollen lately, so now I'm at 22.5lbs so far. Doctor said baby is just under 7lbs. That's her guess, and I was thinking about 7. (just my guess), figure she will be a little smaller than my son, because she's a girl. LOL. Really hope I go into labor this weekend, my doctor is on call and will be able to deliver, so I'm crossing my fingers. It is amaizing how different this pregnancy is from my first. Overall I'm a lot healthier this time, gained less weight, made it past 37 wks and dialating!! Yay. It took me 13.5 hours to dialate from a 1-2 w/ my son, so being at a 3 is exciting, and I hope that means a lot shorter labor for me. I really need to have this baby! Bending over is almost impossible, my medium pants are too small, large too big, and so far no stretch marks this time!! She needs to come out!!!

Hope you all have a great day!

Jessica...with the car seat base, have your husband kneel on the base (with all his weight on it) and then pull it tight. That's what we had to do. But a little bit of side to side movement is normal. And if you're worried, you can always check with your police station...most of them do car seat installs and could check for you. Also Babies R Us usually does if you have one around you. Good luck!

Misti...Hoping baby comes soon!! Hang in there!

Rayna...Glad your hubby is feeling better...and hoping you're in the clear! And a massage sounds wonderful!!

Denise...thanks for sharing about the bras! I may have to go check them out...would like to add a few more to my collection!

Brenda – hopefully you’re feeling a lot better and the pain has gone away! And I am right there with you on wanting to take off work…I wish I could just be home preparing…but it’s definitely more important for me to have the time at the end with Parker :happy: like you said!

Kristin – big thanks for the tip on the car seat. I think we had it…but you can NEVER be too sure!!! We’re going to give it another go and then take it to be inspected

AFM: We had a nice birthday dinner for the hubs last night at my parents...brought the puppies over and just relaxed...it was perfect. But by the time we got home I was so uncomfortable...just felt like any and all the food I ate was up in my throat and I was so swollen! I know that at this point I am just retaining water...but I am telling you...its driving me insane!!! I can not stand the feeling of being so swollen!!!

And I know we have zero control of when our babies come...but I have been secretly praying that he comes in the next couple weeks. I hit full term today (37 weeks...YAY!!!) and am just ready to go. So here's hoping!!!!

Hope everyone has a great day...its supposed to be another day in the 50's today...Ill take that!!!

jessica - 37 weeks today!!!

Hello friends! I've missed you all and have been meaning to post and actually dreamt last night I was laying in bed posting. So here I am!

Someone asked about some must haves at the hospital so I thought I'd offer my suggestions. I love my Boppy and took it with and used it at every feeding and still use it at every feeding. It took a few days to get the hang of breast feeding and getting into a comfortable position helps so much. (I like the football hold). The Boppy gets used a lot to just hold Daphne a lot of times too. Some other must haves are comfy pants, nursing tops, breast pads, nipple cream, hair bands, toiletries, slippers, and we liked having our laptop to download pictures from delivery to show all of our visitors. Another cool thing our hospital did was have professional photographers come to your room to take photos. I had no makeup, not fixed hair, and they used sheets and blankets in the room and they turned out so good - very natural; I'll post some later. So we were able to put those on the laptop and show to our (many) guests too. Some things I did not use were my robe (that took up 1/3 of my bag), pillow (I opted not to bring it in the room), and baby clothes other than PJs (except for her going home outfit). They put long sleeved t-shirts with hand covers (I love any article of clothing with the hand covers to avoid scratching and also keep her hands warm) on her and that, a blanket, and a hat is pretty much what she wore the whole time at the hospital. They told us not to clip her nails and once I got home, I think b/c they are so flimsy it would have been difficult. I used my emory board (that is pretty worn down and soft) to file the nails down. Her nails were so long when she was born!

So far Daphne has been a pretty good baby. We are still learning what is the best way to get to sleep. The first 2 nights home it took nearly 3 hours to get her settled but then she slept for 4-5 hours. Night before last we went to bed at 9:30 and she went straight to sleep but woke every 3 hours or so and was awake between 5-7 but then let us sleep another 2 hours. The nights we've had people over late or she's been passed arond or overstimulated have been the hardest, including last night. Common sense huh? Also I think I need to start watching what I eat as her tummy was upset last night. She let out some howls that were like nothing we have heard yet. We were getting ready to give her gripe water, but Eric was able to calm her down a little and I was as well with feeding.

Speaking of feeding, she is doing really really well and I'm making so much milk I am pumping in addition to feeding every 2-4 hours. I can pump 5oz. in 6 minutes so I'm already starting a stash! However I started on the nights when she wouldn't sleep to use feeding as a calming mechanism which my pediatrician said is not a great practice. "Mom shouldn't be a pacifier" so I am trying to cut that out and feed her no closer together than about 1.5 hours minimum. Her feedings vary from 5-7 minutes each side to 10 minutes each side. In general feeding is going well. I recommend lanolin after each feeding.

We had her first after hospital pediatrician visit yesterday and she has gained back all of her weight plus an ounce so we get to skip our 2 week check up! Our pediatrician was able to give us some pointers on how to make her comfy for sleeping so that was good too. She suggested swaddling, hat and tucked in blanket which has worked well.

My parents are here until next week I think which has been great. Mom does laundry, cleans, dishes, cooks, and waits on me hand and foot if I let her. It's been a little hard for me as I like to do it myself, but after being sore all day yesterday from a trip to the grocery, I realize a C section is kind of a big deal and I need to take advantage of the help and rest. I've not been napping during the day but honestly it's because I've been able to get around 6-8 hours of sleep each night!

I hope you are all feeling good. It sounds like several of you are very close! I can't wait to hear about all the new babies coming soon. They are pretty fun.

-Ashley (and Daphnen 1 week today!)

Daphne....not Daphnen

Here are some pics from our shoot.

ashley - its SO good to hear from you!!! thank you for all of the tips and your pictures are beautiful!!!! that is so amazing they came in to take pictures!!! what an awesome benefit!!! sounds like baby daphne is a doll and things are going wonderfully. definitely rest and heal up during this time...definitely dont want to overdo it (a lot easier said than done rite!) can not wait to hear more and cant wait to join you on the fit fab after baby board!!!!