Congratulations, Mindi!!

Congrats, Mindi! I knew when you disappeared that there had to be an update!

Yay! same here. So glad everything went well. Congrats MindiV. That's must of been quite a suprise to have your water break out of the blue with no contrctions and very little pain.

Things are better over here. More of my family has started contactin me (about time) and they've been pretty suportive. it's nice to know I'm not going to be left high and dry to deal with the fallout after all is said and done. it makes things a little less scary. I want to thank all of your for your words of support. It's nice to come talk here and not be judged. I wish more peopple could be more suportive, I don't know why that's so hard.


Suddenly very aggravated!!! I don't know what's going on with me. But the past few days I've felt nothing but frustration. I think i'm finally ready for this to be over.

Like this morning, even though we did nothing all weekend, I was so tired I passed out on the sofa and couldn't help DF with the morning chores. He woke me up and got me in bed where I slept for 3 hours before becoming so uncomfortable that I had a dream I got up to use the bathroom and I saw in th mirror that my baby droppped so low, i didn't even look pregnant anymore. It was so painful. So I woke up right then and was instantly wide wake and after laying there for another hour before getting up.

So now i'm cleaning to pass the time. Maybe I'll get sleepy again soon.

Sakai- It'll be oevr soon enough. Glad to hear your family is being supportive! And definitely rest as you need to.

Mindi- Congrats!! She is a big girl! Happy to hear that all went well and dh is helping out more. Don't give up on your milk. It's frustrating though. We've had to switch to formula completely because the most I can get in one day is 4 ounces no matter how often I pump/feed.

Manda- What a sweet picture of your family. He is gorgous =]

Pics at the bottom!!!

This morning I pumped a lot, like 4 ounces, but that was after not doing anything all night long except attempting to feed her around 11 pm. She ate from each breast for about 30 minutes then was starving and we had to give her a bottle. Anyway, after 4 ounces this morning early, I pumped again after three hours. Got about 1.5 ounces total. Three hours later....left breast got NOTHING and right got less than an ounce. All afternoon I didn't get to pump, then tonight I got right at 2 ounces total in 15 minutes.

My doctor called me this evening to check in (one major perk of a small town), and told me to be sure I'm eating and drinking enough and to make it priority to pump every three hours to keep the supply going. It's SO hard to remember to do anything with a newborn. I mean, I'm lucky to eat at all a lot of times, much less eat a LOT and make sure it's healthy. I had the baby and was in the hospital on "grocery shopping weekend" too, so we're rapidly running out of food anyway. Gotta send DH to the store (30 miles away) ASAP. But he's off 'til Tuesday now, so things may get better. He'll at least be able to give me my water bottle when it gets left across the room and I'm feeding a baby, and make me remember to eat!!

Mindi - what you can express from a machine is not what the baby can get. Put the baby on the breast frequently - like FREQUENTLY. Both my babies nursed every hour to 90 minutes in the beginning and then would nurse for 30 minutes to an hour at a time. That natural sucking of the baby is much more efficient at getting the milk to come in than pumping with a machine. Believe me.

No pacifiers, if she wants to suck, put her on the breast.

YAY Mindi!!!!! :)

So many cute, healthy babies! :D

Went in for the 3 hour glucose test, and failed the FASTING test--my fasting blood sugar was so high combined with my high blood sugar the last time meant I have gestational diabetes. I texted my family, one of my new (2nd time) moms here, DF and best friend (who is a nurse). My best friend called me almost immediately in the "ready to console you" mode, but honestly I've known I had GD or at least been borderline so I didn't really need consoling. For this week, I will be monitoring my blood sugar five times a day (poor little sore fingers). At my next dr visit next Thursday they will check my blood sugar log and see if I can keep regulating my blood sugar levels on my own with diet and exercise, or if I'm just a person who has naturally high blood sugar levels. If I can maintain safe levels, they will not add any more medication. If I can't, they will go to the insulin pill first and then daily insulin shots as the last measure.

I'm hoping that I don't have the preggo trifecta: high BP, GD, AND pre-eclampsia/eclampsia. I dodged morning sickness, so maybe this is the trade off. *shrug* I can already tick off high BP, GD, and obesity for this pregnancy. Probably shouldn't consider future children until I get back to a healthy lifestyle, although this was a good time to have this one because I was eating healthy and losing weight before this baby came. :) Definitely already had the "post baby birth control" talk with my doctor, I think he was a little surprised I was so well informed. My only question was "which can I start the soonest, nuvaring or mirena?" (4-6 for nuva, 6-8 for mirena, in case you wanted to know!)

I am also being stressed out majorly because I am helping a doctor/friend do a study for a supplement that he created. He texts, calls, or emails me DAILY to ask where the results are (and someone on his staff calls or emails me about every 3-4 days). I enjoy being his friend, but I hate the fact that he is hounding me so much. He broke down and told me some personal things that were motivating him to start this study, so now that the "testing" part is done, the "results" part needs to be compiled/written. However, he had a team of people helping him with the testing (3-5 at least); *I* am the only person doing the data compilation/data analysis/paper writing but I don't think he gets that. >< I work 10 times slower because I am 1/5 of the people working at 1/2 of the speed.

EDIT: I may also be working at Motherhood Maternity next week. Which would be awesome because I need new pregnancy pants and bras very badly.

I've been having contractions for about 9 hours now. They've stuck at 9-10 minutes apart for about 7 hours. DH went to work around 8:30, and I'm just doing my thing waiting for things to progress. Hopefully this will be baby weekend for us! :)

How exciting! Good luck Gale, call someone to take the kids and try and get some rest.

PS can I join you gals, I'm an October so not really a summer but the other one is dead!

Of course you can join us, Sacha! How are you doing these days?

Thanks! How you feeling? Tightenings gone??

I'm good, I'm 19 weeks! I'm at the easy stage, no sickness and no pains, lol the 'honeymoon' ;)

I'm glad you're feeling good. That second tri can definitely be a nice time. :) I'm still having contractions. Still about 10 minutes apart, but getting more painful as the day goes on. I'm hoping it's the real deal, I'm very ready to be done.

MindiV I love the pictures! she so tiny and snuggly!

Binaca- Sucks that you failed the test. but at least now you know and can now do something to help it. good luck. I would hate to have to get the shots too.

Gale- Sounds like the real deal to me. Are the pains getting closer?

sacha- Hi! welcome. I remember being 19 week and thinking this pregnacy was going to take forever...trust me...it goes fast, enjoy it while you can.

As for me. - i can't sleep anymore. This is the 3rd day I've lived off of 3-4 hour naps. My carple tunnle in both arms/ hands makes it hard to get comfy, and for some strange reason as soon as i lay down my bely starts to ache something awful. i think this is the root of my aggravation. I keep feeling I need to do something and i'm just pacing the house.

I want to go for a walk but it's 100+ degrees outside and i'm getting horrible hip and thigh cramps and it makes me nervious to go out alone.

Otherwise, no sign of labor yet, baby still hasn't seemed to of dropped, though her head is down, no mucus plug. Now I see why women sometimes feel they are going to be pregnant forever.

Yep, more pain and closer together. When I'm walking they're 4-5 minutes apart, when I'm laying/sitting they're 7-8. We have to leave for the hospital when they're about 6 minutes apart since it takes us about an hour to get there. Here's hoping! :D

Oh good luck Gale!!! :)

*hugs Gale* Keep us posted!!!!!!

Sakai - Have you considered walking in the evening or early morning? At least that way it won't be ridiculously hot.

Hi Sacha! You may get more ladies for fall/winter mamas as the fall/winter mamas realize they're pregnant or become pregnant ;-) I think I'm juuuuuust inside the "summer mama" party at Aug 24th! LOL (Dr thought I was Aug 4 until the ultrasound!)

Contractions got stronger but no change in my cervix. :-/ Still having sporadic contractions but they aren't regular anymore this morning. Let the waiting recommence.

Bianca- I normaly do walk in the mornings but i don't like going without DF as i am getting really bad cramps in the hips and legs. He's at work in the mornings and so I'm kinda stuck walking around the house.

Gale- Hmm false labor? or real labor that just hasn't stuck? sucks though that it's been going on for so long for it to just tapper off like that.

I have Dr. apppointment today...I wonder if they will check me for dialation. I'm 2 days from 38 weeks. When do they normally check for dialation?
I know my Dr. was thinking of inducing me if i'm dialating because the OB's will all be pout of town the days before my due date.

Edit: Just got back from my appointment. They wern't going to check me till I was 38 weeks, but because it's only 2 days away I asked my dr. and she was more than happy to have a quick look.

So I'm 1 cm and 80% thinned out.

I know I'm late but congratulations Mindi! She's lovely! :)

I'm very stressed in terms of where the heck I'll be living when the baby comes. I'm hoping something will work out.

I'm starting to get more aches and pains, but swimming is wonderful. I'm going to live there this summer.

Hang in there, everyone!

Mindi she is so cute! Congrats. I agree that the baby is way more efficient at getting out milk then the pump. If you can get naked from the waist up and get into bed with baby and put her to the breast whenever she shows any signs of wanting to nurse. DS lost a pound just after birth and he wanted to nurse consistently in those first few weeks. i had him on my breasts every 30-90 mins sometimes for 45 mins. i would keep waking him if he dozed shortly after getting on the breast and did lots of skin to skin. He had almost doubled his birth weight by 10 weeks. Also if you can get your DH to make you up a food basket with muffins, fruit, nuts, etc to keep near you with your water bottle. You really do need to eat and drink lots especially when it is hot.

Gale - I hope things pick up for you again.

Sakai - you may beat me to the finish line :) Not sure if I am dilated at all but when my midwife checked on Friday morn. Baby had dipped into my pelvis and I was measuring 2cm less then last week. Not really feeling any other signs of eminent labour though and am torn between wanting labour to start and holding off as i have soooo much left to do and really am not ready at all to bring a baby home.

So exciting everyone :)

Thanks y'all! And thanks for all the advice! I think Miss Laney is going through a growth spurt! It's all eating and crashing... busy busy busy

Mindi your little girl is so adorable!

I'm still holding up and have started to have sporadic contractions -- never more than three in a row, but glad to know that things are still moving forward :)

I have started calorie counting again. I know it's a little early but my Dr. asked that I slow down my weight loss, so I thought I would just make sure I'm eating 2300-2600 calories each day and ensure that I'm trying to get a good portion of those from healthy foods. It really hasn't made much of a change to my eating except I've cut out the cookies/milkshakes that I've been wanting at the end of the day.

Have a great day ladies. More babies to come soon I'm sure!

I am getting close to the 200 lb mark. I'm around 193 right now and started at 178 lbs. I know the doctor is okay with how I'm doing but I'm starting to feel panicky and eating disorder driven again. It's freaking me out and I'm trying hard to just eat and exercise in a healthy way. Did anyone else feel this way?

Oh, and I'm 27 weeks on Wednesday. I'm just crossing into my third trimester. I feel so behind all you ladies.

I hope everyone has a great week. Take care!

Racrane-...yeah i broke down in tears the day I went over my heviest ever mark. it took years to get down to 220 from 260 (mostly from falling off the wagon for a few months every year) and now I've gained it all back plus some. 277 now. And I was trying soooo hard not to gain more than 15..pish, I gained 40..

I can't wait to get back to my working out and getting back to work and going on my normal diet without worrying that I'm hurting my baby. It kills me that I know I have to wait 6+ weeks before starting.

You're doing good because i slacked in working out once I hit the middle of my second tri...I just felt so clumsy i was worried I was going to hurt myself. I did swim for a month but it made me sooo hungry that i would go home and eat a huge meal and then go to bed. @.@ so I stopped that.

I think if i don't go into labor by next week I'm gonna cry. LOL I'm so ready to not be pregnant anymore. i feel like a walking bomb and the anxiety is killing me.

Butterflymama- I don't know, I have a feeling that I'm going to be over due, because life likes to spite me like that. At least you have a 100% sure end date. lol

Is 80% thinned out 2 weeks before due a sign of anything? I know I can be dialated for weeks and it means nothing. but I don't know anything about thinning out. She hasn't even dropped yet. @.@

Sakai- Thinning out just means your cervix is preparing for labor. My doctor said it can happen as early as two months before you deliver to the same day. I wasn't effaced at all until ten hours after they began the induction, then went to 70% at 2 cm dilated where I stayed until i ended up in emergency C-section. Hopefully she comes soon for you. Any woman whose been pregnant can sympathise with you about the last month being no fun.

Racrane- As for the weight gain, it's normal to feel that way when you reached your heaviest yet or a breaking point you don't want to be at. My heaviest was 268. I started at 254 and ended at 282. I cried when i hit 270. He's 20 days old today and i'm down to 249. As long as you are eating pretty healthy and working out, most of the weight should come off shortly after- but don't expect it all to fall off right away. I was told- it took 9 months to put it on, expect the same to take it all off.

Sprkle- You're so close as well!!

Gale- Baby yet?!?! Hopefully this was the weekend for you!

Sasha- Welcome! As other ladies mentioned, the second half of the pregnancy did fly by. Though the end drags out a bit. Sit back and enjoy it while you can.

Mindi- She's adorable!!

Drece has been waking up more often now and DF is still working two jobs so focusing on school has been a bit hard for me. Other than that, all is well over here. He's finally an ounce heavier than his birth weight and his head is no longed coned from getting stuck during labor. I wish I could start working out already but doc won't let me because the chance of ripping my incision open. He wants me to wait until 8 weeks =/ I'll probably end up waiting until 6 weeks because i'm already sooo impatient. I'm just watching what I eat right now.

No baby this weekend. I'm 37 weeks today. I have an ultrasound on Thurs that I'm anxious to go to. I've been measuring 2-3 weeks ahead so if we got my dates wrong (a distinct possibility) then I'm more like 39 today. Meh. We'll just have to wait and see. I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore, but I'm not sure I'm ready for a newborn just yet. It makes me exhausted just thinking about it. ;)

My mom helped me get my kids' closet cleaned out this weekend. I have boy clothes from sizes NB - 5T and they were all shoved helter skelter into one closet. Now it's all nicely organized and stored. It made me really glad we're having another boy, I don't have room to store complete wardrobes for boys and girls!

I hope you're all having a great weekend! Cuddle those little babies and try to get a couple hours of sleep. :)

Thanks Keller and Sakai. :) I'm trying very hard to be okay with all this.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

So tired!! I'm feeling like a zombie. The baby had started to drop earlier, but he must have dropped the rest of the way over the weekend. I have to pee like every half hour... this is an adventure. I have an ultrasound tomorrow afternoon - the Dr. wants to determine if the baby is as big as my tummy is measuring, if so she wants to schedule an induction. So we'll see how this goes. I'm ready to not be so huge.

racrane -- the easiest way for me to think about the weight was to only think of the health of the baby. It wasn't about how I felt or how I was dealing with body image issues, I'm making a lung today, I'm making toes tomorrow, etc. Feed the baby -- but don't feed the baby only french fries :)

I was obese when I got pregnant, I had lost weight, gained some back in a bit of depression and was just kind of floating along. So I didn't need to gain very much weight, but as I crossed the 30 lb mark, my Dr. asked me to stop/slow, so now I'm calorie counting again, but mostly to just make sure that I don't eat too few or too many calories. I don't have a scale though, we put it away when I got pregnant to make sure that I focused on the baby and not on myself. We'll get it back out once he's here.

Racrane I totally hear you about the weight stuff. When I got pregnant with this baby I was about 7 mons into a really healthy lifestyle change. I was losing weight (40 lbs) and exercising and my mind was in the right place. I loved my body instead of loathing it and it felt good and healing to give myself healthy food instead of deprivation of all the unhealthy food I had loved so much in the past (french fries are my obsession)

I wasn't planning on getting pregnant so when I first found out I can't say I was overly excited. One of the first thoughts I had was "Oh no I am going to gain back all the weight I just worked so hard to lose) Well after that first U/S and seeing my little appleseed I started to be really happy to be pregnant and I decided no I would still stick with my healthy lifestyle and try to only gain 15-20 lbs.

Then the horrible morning sickness started and the only food I could tolerate/keep down was junky food (veggies made me gag just thinking or preparing them for my family) I lost about 10 more pounds in the first trimester and slowly put that back on as baby grew. I was doing really well and went into the third trimester with only a 5.2 lb gain over my pre-pregnancy weight. I was really happy. Well the last 3 weeks I have gained 9lbs! I am now over the 20lb weight gain goal I had and am trying not to be freaked out. Part of it is water weight and part of it I know is that my anxiety levels have been pretty high this past month and well I have turned to my emotional eating. every day I try to eat healthy and every day I end up consuming something I wish I hadn't. Pregnancy is a crazy time, I don't really have good advice for you but to say that sometimes you just have to do what you can do and let nature take it's course. Just wanted to let you know you are not alone in the feelings. :hug:

Good idea! I wish I would have done this...I keep feeling horrible when I step on the scale so now I try and avoid it. Good mindset to have though - focus on the baby and get back to WL once baby arrives.

My water broke this morning at 2 :30....walking around the hospital now. 3 cm. Dilated. I'll keep everyone posted when I can. Was hoping to labor mostly at home, but my water decided to break first. I'm hardly feeling my contractions.

YAY! C'mon baby!!!

See Sakai I knew you would beat me :) I will be thinking about you and wishing you a glorious birth. I have tears in my eyes right now and wish I could give you a big hug :hug: Will be checking for updates! Come on baby :carrot:

Wshing you an easy and complication-free birth Sakai. Can't wait to see updates and pictures!

5cm dilated now. Contractions are every 3 minutes and boy am I feeling them now. The labor was going slow so they gave me pitocin at 11.
butterflymama- yeah it's crazy, I had no sign of labor at all...I was certain I was about to wet the bed when my water broke during my nap. The only thing that told me maybe it was time was that it was pink...I thought maybe a really bad UTI...nope..lol
Thanks for all the well wishes ladies...still very nervous.

Thinking of you, Sakai! Good luck!

I am having breastfeeding issues and honestly, I'm pretty devastated. Lactation consultant is fairly certain it's because of my PCOS, but we're trying to get my supply up anyway. Unfortunately, it seems like everything we try to get food into the baby (like a supplemental nursing system) makes him less effective at actually nursing (which is what we want, but we can't do 100% of the time, because he was still losing weight at two weeks, and even our breastfeeding-friendly, "some weight loss is totally normal" pediatrician, who is married to a lactation consultant, was worried).

I just feel like we did EVERYTHING right (non-medicated birth, good prenatal care, skin-to-skin after birth, nursing on demand, good diet, etc) and still my supply is very, very low.

Yay Sakai!! I'm praying for you and baby, I hope all is going well.

Amanda - Nursing issues are so tough. :hug: I had issues with my second one and cried for a long time after I had to quit nursing him early. I'm sure that doesn't help (sorry), I was just trying to say you're not alone. Try to remember that it doesn't make you any less of a fantastic, loving, perfect mommy to Spencer if you end up being unable to nurse. I'll keep you guys in my prayers, I know how hard it can be.

8-9 cm dilated. Just over 2 hours till it's been 24 hours since my water broke...
I broke down and tried the iv pain killer for 4 hours. It worked nice butthey kept upping the pitocin. And the pain was too much. I was so tired and the nurses were surprised I lasted so long with pitocin.
So I got the epidural about 9pm. Cried and nearly changed my mind when they were about to give it to me but cf and the nurses were great.

Had to stop pitocion a hour later and put me on oxygen because baby was having a hard time.
midnight they started it back up for that last cm...it's gonna be soon now.

Sakai you are doing great! Thinking of you.

I've bet you're done now Sakai - Congrats. Praying for you sweetie.