keller237: I"m sorry you're having such a rough time with family right now. Sending you sweet thoughts and prayers over this.

Bianca: Welcome and hi, nice to meet you When are you due?

Mindi - sorry your husband isn't being helpful in getting things organized!

Keller - it sounds like this is an argument you need to have with your husband. He needs to understand how his family is affecting you. I have had huge issues with Sarah's family (her dad's partner said some things to me at one point that were permanently damaging, and the whole group sort of fell apart for a while), and while I had to work on the issues themselves, she was in charge of setting up any space for discussing them. You have three options - remain miserable, you and your husband find a way to manage the issues with his family, or cut his family off.

We're officially registered for childbirth classes as of today - there's another check off on the list.

Bianca - I am also strongly leaning toward a waterbirth, but in a hospital birth center that permits them. But as long as you have strong advocates and a strong idea of what you want, you should be able to have a non-medicalized birth, even in a hospital. You may be able to negotiate to have a hep-lock instead of an IV, for example, or intermittent fetal monitoring instead of constant, so you can move around. It's all your choice, of course, and if you want to be at home, more power to you! But it's not necessarily true that hospital birth = high medical intervention birth.

I may or may not have eaten 8 delicious, soft, chocolate chip cookies just now. You can't prove anything.

Gale- You crack me up- as i May as well be sitting here eating girl scout cookies!

Mindi- Glad the tylenol helped out a little bit more. Hope you get it figured out soon.

Manda- You're right. And i'm sorry bout the issues with her family as well but it sounds like you guys have a great way of figuring it out now!

We did sit down and talk it out when he got home from work. Surprisingly, because it's usually something he gets really upset and angry about. He told me that he was going to have a talk with his mom and sisters as they are the main cause of it all. However, they refused to talk to him about anything and claim they do nothing wrong, rather that i'm the cause of it. So then he told them that until they are willing to talk, he won't be having contact with them. I myself will be avoiding them until A is here or at least that's my plan. Maybe by then they will come around.

I think as long as they aren't causing drama and talking to DF that everything should be fine as he won't be so angry about it. blocked his mom and sister off of FB so that drama will be gone and they can't contact me, as I don't answer my phone. I also suggested to him to find counseling and told him I would go with him if he would like me to.

Glad some of the family stuff got resolved for you, Keller! It's hard not talking to family, but maybe they'll come around soon for your DH's sake.

I'm about to have family drama of my own with my sister-in-law (DH's sister). She said she's going to plan a shower for me, but hasn't done anything at all that I know of. I'm needing to know dates and times, and she's dragging her feet. That's not the big issue though.

The big one is this baby's name. She's being SO pushy!! I told DH to not tell anyone what we're deciding...I want something to be just for us, you know? So he hasn't. We haven't picked a middle name yet, and our first name search is narrowed down to a few. But she is being SO over the top pushy trying to make us pick names she wanted for the little girl she didn't have (she had a boy and won't have another). And she's pushing family names - for their side only of course. I'm trying to stay AWAY from family names because I don't want to offend anyone on my side. My brother mentioned once that it would be nice to name a girl after our grandmother or mother...and I honestly don't like their names at ALL. So going to the other family will just cause problems.

This baby needs to quit stepping all over my bladder. Really.

Sounds like everyone has a lot of things going on.

Keller - I'm glad your DF is standing up for you, I know that will go a long way towards easing some of your troubles. At least you can know he's on your side

Mindi - Stick to your guns girl! That's your baby and you do what you want.

I've been pretty close to a meltdown lately - Hubby has been really patient with me, I think the whole world is just starting to get to me and I'm feeling quite overwhelmed. He sat me down yesterday and explained patiently that everything I'm panicking about is not a huge deal and that life is going really well right now. He somehow managed not to make me feel belittled while also making me realize that I overworrying (not easy to do with me when I get all wound up right now). I'm trying to stay quite calm... just a few more days until I find out if we're having a boy or a girl. That will be awesome!!

Hope things get calmer for you all as well. I'm going to read a bit and then head to bed early.

It just sucks because it's not really resolving the issue, just ignoring it. Better than not as I don't want the drama in my life but i know DF doesn't really want to avoid his family that lives here but sees it as his only option right now without putting stress on our relationship.

My sister randomly texted me today and asked me if her and my mom could throw me a shower. Not the sister who suddenly changed her mind as I have three. I said whatever, I just don't want anything to do with it other than a guest list. DF offered to help if they needed it.

I'm really going to try and destress/not stress for the next 14 weeks and let nothing bug me. Hormones/Emotions just drive me up a wall. My mechanic is looking for a car for me(so i don't have to go through the stress of a dealership. I gave him a list of exactly what I want and he said he'll do whatever it takes to find it for me!) We found a company with apartments we really like. They won't hold a deposit this far in advance but they said they should have many aots opening up in the next 6 weeks that we could put one down on. And i'm looking for a place that does prenatal massages around here and taking a spa day before he is here!

I bought the crib and nursery furniture today and it should be arriving in about 3 to 4 weeks. I just want to get everything done now.

Off to do homework- I have a million things to do and no energy to do them!

Manda - where did you find your pregnancy pillow? I was thinking about getting one... we just improved our bed by ditching the crappy, broken box springs!

Keller - my date range is late August to early September, not for sure but will know when I get my first US in about 2 months. Also, sorry that your DF's family is cray-cray and can be mean/rude/disrespectful. Glad he stepped up to the plate for you!

Gale - LOVE IT

Sparkle - <3 your hubby! He is great for helping to calm you instead of ignoring it and saying you'll "get over it", or making it worse. Keep us updated on the baby-gender front Do you have a preference on gender?

My mom sent me the best text ever this morning! She said, "Happy birthday, mama" ;-) I sent her a cute, sappy message back that said she's the best mom ever and when she graduates to Best Grandma Ever I get to become Best Mom Ever, like Miss America for moms

Today I have an interview scheduled which I still think is awkward because I'm not showing in and can probably conceal it for quite a while with passing it off as weight gain... but I don't want to spring "I'M PREGNANT, BYE!" on my new employer after being there for less than 90 days (no maternal leave) or more than 90 days (to make it seem like I just jumped on to GET maternal leave). DH is taking me out to lunch today and we are touring one of the facilities one state over (really just a 10 minute drive) that I would like to have a baby. It's part "birth center" (which has rooms for water births and other low/no intervention type births) and part hospital (so if something does happen, heaven forbid, they can rush momma and baby there). The lady who runs the center/hospital is super nice, so I am excited to go :-)

So...after my workout this morning I had some bright red bleeding. Just on the TP and not a ton, but everything I read online (obsessively and immediately) said to call the doctor immediately. Well it was 6 am so I had to wait for the clinic to open at 8. So I've got an appointment at 9:30 this morning.

Just worried. I haven't had any bleeding so far at all, and now suddenly at 24 1/2 weeks I'm bleeding? I worry about my cervix because of the LEEP procedure I had years ago, and I've heard that can start causing problems in the second trimester. No workout has bothered me at ALL so far, so hopefully it isn't that. Guess I'll see in a bit.

I came on to work to wait for my appointment, though. The dogs were spazzing out about someone across the street and yapping non-stop, and DH is 4 hours from home working and having a HORRIBLE day and taking it out on me. I haven't told him what's going on today because he has a pretty bad anxiety issue and will go into a panic attack when it may be over nothing. I'll tell him later...

MindiV- egads I hope everything is okay. Let us know how it goes.

I just started working out consistantly (sp) Cardio with a little toning with 5 and 2 pound weights. I've gained my limit of 15 pounds, not sure if my Dr will say anything though..I figure I'll just keep in shape and eat as good as I can (which I fail at daily)

Yikes, Mindi! Keep us posted! Could be something minor but it's good to be sure.

I bought my pregnancy pillow on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Leachco-Preggl...pr_product_top They're all annoyingly expensive, but honestly, the comfort I'm getting makes it worth it.

My mom and dad are coming this weekend to help with the heavy lifting in moving furniture around. Also, our crib mattress got here yesterday, and the crib is due to come on Monday! We still have some major purchases to make, though - a glider/rocker (about which Sarah is INSANELY picky, so the only ones she likes are horrifically expensive), a long, low dresser for our bedroom (which will replace 2 pieces of furniture in there, our current tall dresser and our TV stand, so that we will be able to fit a playyard for the first few months), and a futon to replace the guest bed in our guest room since there is just no space for it anymore. My savings account is NOT happy!

Oh, and we ordered nursery paint samples, so we can pick a color and get moving on that. And it looks like we're going to be having a shower the first week of April.

I just love reading about all of the preparation you guys are doing! It reminds me of when I was pregnant with my first and setting up the nursery, buying clothes, etc. Now, I'm pregnant with boy #3 in 3 years and we live in a 2 bedroom house so there's not really any prep to do. :-/ It's nice in some ways, but does take some of the excitement of anticipation out of it all.

Enjoy it all, there's so much fun in the preparation!

Mindi - I hope everything is ok! I'll be praying for you. Keep us updated when you get a chance.

So here's the update:

Cervical length measured a 3, which the doc said is fine. He said they want anything above a 2.5. So that was good. And it made me feel MUCH better knowing it wasn't too short. He did a visual exam too, and said there was some discharge that could indicate an infection, so he called in a couple of medications to knock it out before it gets too bad.

As for what caused the bleeding, it could be the infection. Or I may have pushed it too hard on the elliptical this morning. Got to playing with the incline a lot and might have pushed it too high. May back off a bit from now on.

AND now good news!! After the sonogram dude checked my cervix he did another full anatomy scan "for fun." Brain was "great," heart "looks wonderful and strong," got to see the frontal view of the face for a second and there was no sign of any problems there. He measured the femur and said the baby has loooooooong legs. Still mostly leg!

And then....the money shot....100% girl!

Mindi, I'm so glad everything is okay and that the baby girl is healthy!

I want a pregnancy pillow, now.

I am very exhausted. I've a theater major and was in my last show this week before the semester ends. (There's two more shows to go but I'm not going to be casted and will just do wardrobe or something.) Anyway, I was playing Charlotte in "Charlotte's Web" and had to climb up and down the ladders for 8 shows this week. I am going to drop dead now and I have two more shows to go this weekend. I haven't told anyone in the cast I'm pregnant but anyone who complains they're tired I want to smack them. I am so physically worn out. I'll be so glad when this weekend is over!

On another note, performing for 500 five year olds is making my heart melt. They're so cute. It doesn't help me make my decision of what to do any easier. There's nothing better than a little child you don't know come up to you and give you a big hug.

And I'm very scared I'll miscarry still. I'm nine weeks along, but I'm still so worried.