September 04 due dates

How are you feeling, seven-monthers? Enjoying your beautiful belly?
Any braxton hicks? Aches and pains, or are you carrying on with life as
usual? Everything lined up for the birth, maternity leave, found a
doula, taken a breastfeeding class, toured the birth center/hospital,
happy with the care you're getting so far? Hormones going crazy?
Enjoying those secret smiles that other women give you on the street?
Stretch marks are hard-earned badges of honor, just remember that.

How are you feeling, seven-monthers? Enjoying your beautiful belly?

My belly is, um, REALLY beautiful. LOL. It enters the room before I do
these days. I could do without the getting my shirt all wet when I do
dishes, too! 28 weeks is a cool milestone to hit. It feels official.

Sprout's favorite thing to do lately is sneak up on me and blow a big
raspberry right into my belly button, laughing like a banshee. "I'm
talking wiff the new baby." Er, thanks. She has decided that she's
getting a baby sister, who will be a boy. Opinions have been very
mixed so far; about half are guessing girl and half are guessing boy.
I'm still feeling girl (but is that because that's all I know?).

Any braxton hicks?

Nope, and I never got any with Sprout. I wonder if I'll feel some this
time around. They sound weird and cool, LOL. Just tons and tons of
kicks and somersaults, which is still my favorite part of pregnancy.

Aches and pains, or are you carrying on with life as usual?

Oh, both. But fewer aches and pains than my first pregnancy; these two
are as different as night and day. I get back-and-feet-achy if we've
been running around all day and doing a lot of toddler lugging, but
thank goodness it's not the awful sciatic nerve pain of last pregnancy.

Everything lined up for the birth, maternity leave, found a
doula, taken a breastfeeding class, toured the birth center/hospital,
happy with the care you're getting so far?

Very happy with the birth center, but not doing anything new, or any
special prep, this time around. Unless you count my obsession with
avoiding back labor. They say the odds are against me, with another
anterior placenta, but I'm in willful denial. I've started doing lots
of daily pelvic rocks, sleeping as much on my side-to-stomach as a bunch
of tilty pillows will let me, and am wiping down the floors on hands and
knees rather than using the vacuum cleaner or Swiffer. I think I can
tell when the baby is posterior and anterior, based on how it feels.
Which is kind of neat; I wish I'd been this tuned in to my own body and
baby the first time, too.

Enjoying those secret smiles that other women give you on the street?
Stretch marks are hard-earned badges of honor, just remember that.

Hopefully I'll continue to escape those particular badges. It's funny;
I know very well that it does no good, but I'm religious about rubbing
lotion into my belly every morning. I'm planning to go all bold and
Earth Mother in a bikini this summer (actually, it's that I can't find
any other type of suit that fits!). Is there anything more depressing
than maternity swimsuit shopping? I'm looking forward to getting in the
water and actually feeling buoyant, though.

With DH out of town, I've been bored and a little tired lately (mostly
in that 4pm bleh time when I just want to flake out and do nothing), but
we've settled into a routine. The playground is a staple outing of our
day, which both exhausts Sproutykin and gets me about a mile's worth of
exercise, walking there and back. I'm on exactly the same weight curve
I was with her, i.e. a TON, despite having a much more nutritious diet,
so I'm throwing up my hands and figuring that's just what my body likes
to gain.

Sometimes (especially late at night, waiting to fall asleep, with my
hands spread across my belly feeling all the taps and thumps against my
fingers) I wish this time of life could last forever. But then more and
more I'm starting to itch with impatience. I want to hold my tiny
newborn so much!


Mary S.

Great update Mary! You *have* to stick around and keep us updated. You simply
have to! I want to be added to your delivery email, BTW. I keep meaning to
email you to tell you that!

Aww, thanks! If life gets hectic and I have to drop off again when DH
comes home, I'll put you on the email list.

Do you have names picked out, or is it secret?

They might be a secret if we had them! LOL. We're such indecisive name
people. We were tossing around Julia Rose for a couple weeks, but I
think that one's been decided against. We keep coming back to a
slightly-more-favored girl name (although we keep switching the middle
and first names), but there are a few others on the short list still,
too. We went in with two girl choices last time, and chose the one that
fit her best (that we had slightly favored going in). I think we decided
the next morning -- we were doing check-out stuff and the midwife came
over to the bed with the birth certificate papers, and we looked at each
other like, "Oh yeah, she gets a name." I looked at her, and put her in
DH's arms, and he studied her, and we looked at each other and nodded.
It didn't even occur to us until then. Duh.

Boy names are just all over the map! DH really loves one that I like,
but am not wild about, but he really dislikes my choices. I liked
Andrew but he really didn't at all. No boy name really feels right so far.

Mary S.

Sometimes (especially late at night, waiting to fall asleep, with my
hands spread across my belly feeling all the taps and thumps against my
fingers) I wish this time of life could last forever. But then more and
more I'm starting to itch with impatience. I want to hold my tiny
newborn so much!

Mary S.


Great update Mary! You *have* to stick around and keep us updated. You simply
have to! I want to be added to your delivery email, BTW. I keep meaning to
email you to tell you that!

Do you have names picked out, or is it secret?

laurie
mommy to Jessica, 3 years
Christopher, 14 months

"Mary S." wrote in message ...
Enjoying your beautiful belly?

I think I -would- be enjoying my beautiful belly, if all my friends
and family didn't take it upon themselves to comment so often on how
BIG it is. And it is BIG. I have decided that if my mother and the
old wive's tales are right, this is definitely a little boy kicking
around inside me -- I am carrying him/her low, stuck STRAIGHT out.

Any braxton hicks?

I think so. Right after I mentioned to DH I wasn't feeling them, I
started to notice a funny tingly tension that didn't seem to be any
sort of baby movement. So far not painful.

Aches and pains, or are you carrying on with life as usual?

No major aches and pains... Just when I try to bend over to get
something or get up from sitting on the floor with nothing to grab
ahold of. The closest thing to a "pain" I've got is my new-found
overactive bladder. My goodness! A few nights ago, I had to get up
11 times to pee. Eleven!

Everything lined up for the birth, maternity leave, found a
doula, taken a breastfeeding class, toured the birth center/hospital,
happy with the care you're getting so far?

No doula, no maternity leave available (sigh and pout). I am signed
up for a childbirth class for next month when I'll get a tour, but I'm
turning down the breastfeeding class, along with the baby care basics
classes, etc. I feel like with all I've read, it's all well-covered
territory. Now lets hope that decision doesn't bite me in the ass
later...

-Carlye
EDD 9/26/04

"Mary S." wrote in message They say the odds are against me, with another
anterior placenta, but I'm in willful denial. I've started doing lots
of daily pelvic rocks, sleeping as much on my side-to-stomach as a bunch
of tilty pillows will let me, and am wiping down the floors on hands and
knees rather than using the vacuum cleaner or Swiffer. I think I can
tell when the baby is posterior and anterior, based on how it feels.
Which is kind of neat; I wish I'd been this tuned in to my own body and
baby the first time, too.


Ya never know, Mary. My placentas (at least the ones I've asked/been
told about) have all been anterior or almost anterior and I've never
had an OP baby. I had one OT baby but he was induced early very much
against his will. Never had back labor once but then that 'roomy
pelvis' I'm blessed with may have had something to do with that too.
Keep doing what you're doing and maybe you'll beat the odds!

K-

"Mary S." wrote in message
...
They might be a secret if we had them! LOL. We're such indecisive name
people. We were tossing around Julia Rose for a couple weeks, but I
think that one's been decided against.

Julia Rose is certainly a pretty name!! Rose won out in our case, but
Julia was almost her name.

We keep coming back to a
slightly-more-favored girl name (although we keep switching the middle
and first names), but there are a few others on the short list still,
too. We went in with two girl choices last time, and chose the one that
fit her best (that we had slightly favored going in). I think we decided
the next morning -- we were doing check-out stuff and the midwife came
over to the bed with the birth certificate papers, and we looked at each
other like, "Oh yeah, she gets a name." I looked at her, and put her in
DH's arms, and he studied her, and we looked at each other and nodded.
It didn't even occur to us until then. Duh.

It always took us a little while to see which name worked the best. The
second two babies went nameless for about 3 days before we could choose what
name suited them. I think we had three each for boy and girl names.

Boy names are just all over the map! DH really loves one that I like,
but am not wild about, but he really dislikes my choices. I liked
Andrew but he really didn't at all. No boy name really feels right so
far.

Boy names were sooooo tough for me.


--
Joy

Rose 1-30-99
Iris 2-28-01
Spencer 3-12-03

Ya never know, Mary. My placentas (at least the ones I've asked/been
told about) have all been anterior or almost anterior and I've never
had an OP baby.

Oh, bless you! I'll keep tilting myself forward, and praying.

Mary S.

In article , "Mary S."
wrote:

How are you feeling, seven-monthers? Enjoying your beautiful belly?
Any braxton hicks? Aches and pains, or are you carrying on with life as
usual? Everything lined up for the birth, maternity leave, found a
doula, taken a breastfeeding class, toured the birth center/hospital,
happy with the care you're getting so far? Hormones going crazy?
Enjoying those secret smiles that other women give you on the street?
Stretch marks are hard-earned badges of honor, just remember that.

I've got Braxton-Hicks, general aches and pains, sciatica, and general
grumpiness. I'm also horribly hormonal (my poor, poor husband) and have
the tendency to burst into tears at the drop of a hat. And yet
strangely, I'm going to really *miss* being pregnant.

They've hired my maternity leave replacement which seems weird and
scary. I don't want to be replaceable!

And no progress on baby names (sigh). Do other people have as much
problem choosing something as we do? We're down to 31 boys and 38 girls
names.

Zannah.

"Mary S." wrote in message
...
Boy names are just all over the map! DH really loves one that I like,
but am not wild about, but he really dislikes my choices.

That is exactly how my DH and I were for names too. The one(s) he
loved, were OK with me, but the ones I really loved, he *hated*. But I
love the ones we ended up with.
--
Cheryl S.
Mom to Julie, 3, and Jaden, 10 months