We pride ourselves on having the friendliest
and most welcoming forums for moms and moms to be! Please take a moment
and register
for free so you can be a part of our growing community of mothers.
If you have any problems registering please drop an email to boards@justmommies.com.
Our community is moderated by our moderation team so you won't see spam or offensive messages posted on our forums. Each of our message boards is hosted by JustMommies hosts, whose names are listed at the top each board. We hope you find our message boards friendly, helpful, and fun to be on!
I didn't really keep a pregnancy bog with my other two children; with ds we didn't have the 'net and will dd I just didn't have the time. So, I figured, why not? Here's my brief intro: I'm 32 years old, married to dh for 10 years. We have a 5-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter, then two losses. With this pregnancy, I am trying for my second VBAC and my goal is to go completely drug-free this time, although I am not completely opposed to getting a low-dose epidural (I got one after a good 15 hours of back labor with dd). I also want to be more committed to doing Spinning Babies techniques (I got kind of lazy about it last time), in hopes of this baby having a better position and (dear God, please!) a less hellish labor. Pushing was such a walk in the park compared to labor!
Anyway, (if anyone is interested) these are my birth stories from ds and dd
4/20/10: 6 weeks
What a day (and it only 3:00)! I dropped the kids off with the sitter so I could get some more painting done at our house (we're about 2 weeks behind because of plumbing issues), and it worked out great: I got the second coat done on the half-bath and the first coat done on ds' room, while dh finished the tiling. We're going back tonight with friends to get some more painting done. I picked the kids up and when we got home dd had pooped... but the baby sitter didn't put the diaper on straight, so the poop was actually down her pant leg! Gross!!! Then ds spent the afternoon having fits because he couldn't sit out on the front steps and watch the sprinklers across the street. Normally I'd sit with him but I needed to get some stuff done before we headed back to the house to paint, and I can't leave him out front alone obviously. I swear, anytime I get a little help I pay for it later! Anyway, oh yeah, I forgot that I'm pregnant. I can't wait to put my feet up tonight with a cup of red raspberry leaf tea...
Last edited by Tofu Bacon; May 3rd, 2010 at 07:37 AM.
5/3/10: 8 weeks
What a week! We moved in to our house last weekend, with the bathroom finally done, but not the kitchen. So, I had no kitchen for almost a week, and just a tiny little sink to wash dishes in. We've got some talented folks in our congregation, so we've had people in and out all week. The kitchen is almost done, and can you believe it: I have a dishwasher for the first ever!! I am officially spoiled. The only disappointment is how how narrow the cabinets and drawers are: its so hard to fit everything in. But I've noticed that this seems to be the new trend in kitchen, so I'm just going to have to get creative. Hey, I'm not going to complain because its gorgeous and didn't cost us anything (a young woman crashed into our sign last year, and apparently her father is a cabinet-maker so he offered to install a new kitchen as payment for the sign, so her insurance wouldn't go up). Anyway, as soon as the kitchen is totally done, which should be midweek, the floor guy is coming to put in our kitchen floor and the carpeting, and then we can finally move our stuff into the rooms! The kids are loving having a huge yard, but I've been more vigilant about staying out there with them because its not fenced yet and the roads that run along our property are rather busy. The fence is going to have to wait now because dh has to replace his office computer; the church *should* be paying for it, but the budget is tapped out, so we have to pay for it ourselves; we're hoping the deacons will get wind of it and arrange to at least have the church split the cost, especially since dh took a pay cut this year. In the meantime, dh is using my computer for his work, which means I can't Ebay.
Oh, about Baby Bun. Nothing new, which is good news! Chasteberry extract is amazing, and I can't believe how well it worked to keep my hormones balanced, long after I stopped taking it! I'm also drinking red raspberry leaf tea daily, which help prevent miscarriage, in addition to being an all-around amazing tonic for the female reproductive system. Morning sickness hasn't been too bad, just a queasiness that won't let up. And I'm so exhausted!! I had to reschedule my first visit with the midwife, so my appointment isn't until next Wednesday.
UPDATE: Dang, I'm good! Remember my problem with the too-narrow kitchen drawers? I came up with a way to store my silverware. I don't want it sitting in a caddy getting dusty, so it hit me: my not-narrow-enough silverware tray from Target has little adjustable "spacers" that you can pop out and move around the tray, so I popped them out of the tray and glued them inside the drawer itself... amazing! The silverware is neat and out of my view. Yay!
Last edited by Tofu Bacon; May 3rd, 2010 at 07:36 AM.
I had the strangest run-in with our new neighbors yesterday. Where we are situated, we have two roads that run parallel to our property, with our dirt driveway (about 200 feet long) running perpendicular between the two. Down the street is a sand and gravel yard and the trucks have been constantly been cutting through our driveway to get to the other road, so dh and I are going to put up a fence to cut-off one end of the driveway and prevent people cutting through. So yesterday, ds was driving his monster truck across the driveway, when a young man comes driving through slowly and stops. At first I though maybe it was one of dh's students, but then he started motioning me to move ds and his toys so he could pass through. I told him he would have to turn around because this is a private driveway, not a place to cut through. He starts to try and go anyway, so I stepped in front and said "Dude, what are you doing? My kid is laying here and I'm asking you not to cut through our property!" He got a little irritated and said something to the effect of "letting my kid play in the road" to which I was so ready to flip, but I held myself in check and repeated that it is not the road, it is our driveway.
Next thing I knew, another car comes cutting through and I told them to turn around as well. Turns out they are the lad's parents. Ruh roh. They weren't rude, but they were argumentative and were telling me that this has been a road for 15 years and its never been a problem, so I corrected them and said "No, it was driveway to the church for 15 years, and now it is the driveway to a private residence; it is no more a road than your driveway is." They kept going on, and the kids were getting upset because they could tell I was upset, so I told them "Look, we have trucks and cars cutting through here throughout the day. I know you go slow, but most of them don't and they don't bother looking either. I have a toddler and my son is autistic, so neither one has the capacity to move out of the way quick enough; they have a right to be safe in their own yard, so we have to block off one end." The son starts to say "Well, why can't he just play over there?" and I'm like "Seriously?! This is our home; we are under no obligation to keep our kids out of certain parts of their own yard in order to accommodate anyone!" He starts to open his mouth again, then thinks better of it, swerves around ds' stuff and cuts across to his driveway. Gotta have the last word, eh? The parents kind of hemmed and hawed a bit about us putting up a fence, but they left after that.
I don't know... dh knows them and says they're the sneaky type who will break tail lights under the cloak of darkness, and he had kicked the son out of youth group a few years back. So I'm sure its not the last we've seen of them. Whatever. If they want to be vindictive, so be it. God forbid they were to run over one of our kids or damage something, I don't want it ever coming back on us that we gave them permission to cut through, kwim? Truthfully, if it hadn't been for the son acting as if WE were in HIS way, I would have waved him through, but the attitude ruined it. Only on Long Island would you be considered the crazy one for not letting someone treat your private driveway as a public road!
Last edited by Tofu Bacon; June 25th, 2010 at 07:13 AM.
5/8/10: 9 weeks
At work last night, I had the strongest craving for Pepsi. Can I just tell you, its been many years since I drank soda (I can't stand) it... but I drank it and enjoyed every dang sip.
5/12/10: 10 weeks
Woo hoo, I bought our living room set today, so now we finally have a place to sit I wanted to go to Bob's Discount Furniture, but its such a far drive to the one up-island that I was going to take the ferry over to the one in Connecticut. As luck would have it, a new Bob's opened about 15 miles away, so I went there instead. What a showroom! It is absolutely gorgeous, rivaling any Ethan Allen! I had a sofa in mind, but in person it was kind of meh, so I ended up choosing a set that doesn't look like much online but is stunning in person. Its a chocolate brown with turquoise toss pillows, which is neat because it matches my turquoise curtains and the turquoise table I use bought to use as a TV stand. Yay!!
My first appointment was this afternoon, and everything is good so far; the midwife was even able to pick up Bun's little heartbeat on the Doppler! I have to go back on Monday for a sonogram to confirm how far along I am, since my cycles are so much longer than they used to be. Unless the sonogram says something different, no twins for me. I'm fine with one-tuplets. And I need to make some time to go get the prenatal blood work done. It would be so much easier if they just took it right there at the office.
Last edited by Tofu Bacon; May 14th, 2010 at 05:09 AM.
5/14/10: 10 weeks
Okay seriously, you'd think I could hang a curtain rod without incident. Upon hanging the kitchen cabinets, my father-in-law discovered that the kitchen window is slightly crooked. Turns out that all of the windows in this old barn are slightly crooked, so we have to hang all of the window coverings slightly crooked, lol. Well, in the living room we have this big beautiful picture window... and one the panes is crooked. So, I hung the rod crooked enough to compensate... when I came down from the ladder I discovered that the ceiling is slightly crooked as well, which makes the curtain rod look even more crooked!! Gaaah! I swear, this crap is so beyond aggravating we just have to laugh or we'll be downing cyanide capsules. Note to self: if we ever move again, the house must be in move-in-condition.
Woo hoo, I scored a great deal on Craig's List today! I had really been wanting to get an Arm's Reach mini co-sleeper, but just couldn't justify the $160 price tag, so I've been stalking Ebay and Craig's List for the past month. I found someone selling one locally, so I stopped by today and ended up getting it for only $80, in brand-new condition. I really like the mini because its compact, plus we simply don't need the play pen that comes as part of the standard size co-sleeper. We always did bed-sharing from birth with our babes, but dd was a bed-hog and poor dh was always getting booted out, so I figured a side-car set up is a good compromise
Last edited by Tofu Bacon; May 14th, 2010 at 10:29 AM.
5/18/10: 11 weeks
Had my first ultrasound today, and baby looks like s/he is doing well! That's about it until my next appointment at the end of June (my appointments are only every 6 weeks).
Today was also our first day back homeschooling, as we took of the past 5 or 6 weeks while we dealt with all of our moving drama. Ds is excited to get back to it, especially since our book for the week is Madeline (one of his favorites). Since France is one of our "rabbit trails" we made blueberry crepes, which were really good! I've been having a dilemma with curriculum: many of our friends homeschool, and have been kindly passing down there old curriculum materials to us... the problem is that these particular types of curriculum are more of the "school in a box" types of things, while we're more geared toward eclectic, creative learning... not quite unschooling, but more Waldorf-inspired. I feel bad about spending money on something else when we're getting all of this stuff for free, but at the same time I'd have to purchase the workbooks anyway. Doesn't it make sense to spend that money on materials that suits our style? I love Oak Meadow homeschool curriculum (I attended the actual school for several years) but academically he is way beyond their kindergarten curriculum, so we're going to start using Oak Meadow when he's ready to start first grade.
We hit an awesome tag sale today! I got a bag full of baby clothes, a walker, an abacus and a set of silicone bakeware.
As a side note, even after living here for a good 17 years now, I'll never understand why tag sales are called "garage sales" here; they're not selling the garage, nor are they selling the things out of the garage. LOL. I can understand "yard sale" because the merchandise is spread out on the lawn or in the driveway. Alas, in my mind, New England is superior in every way, so to me it will always be a "tag sale"
We'll be having a busy busy day today! Over the weekend, the line from our well to the house went; on Saturday morning I went to take a shower but there was almost no pressure for the hot water, then next thing I know there is no water coming out when the faucet is turned to hot. Dh was gone and forgot his phone, so there really wasn't anything I could do about it. Later on, when we got back hot water, dark rust-colored water and particles of rust was coming out of the pipes! The cold was fine, so dh figured out the problem was that the well lines went. We haven't been able to do laundry because we are afraid of the rust water ruining our clothes, as well as the rust clumps clogging and ruining our brand new washing machine and dishwasher. Gaaahh!!! So, it looks like we have no choice but to get municipal water now, which costs $15,000 if we have the water company do the installation; the bulk of the cost is just to run the line to the house, which involves digging 4ft down to install the 250ft long line to tap into municipal water, so dh is going to get a crew together from church to help him run the line. Dh is leaving for his missions trip in a few weeks, and there is no way he will be able to get it done in time, so the deacon board approached our next door neighbor (very sweet lady, has lived next door to the church for years) and offered to pay her water bill if we can tap into her line until the project is complete. She agreed, so tomorrow (weather permitting) dh is going to be running a line from her line to ours. It won't effect her water, just her bill, so she was fine with the arrangement.
On top of that, our two kittens are coming tomorrow!! We haven't had cats in so many years, I'm really excited! The kids can't wait, either
On a pregnancy-related note, I still have yet to get the prenatal blood work done. I need to get a move on it, considering my next appointment with the midwife is only 2 weeks away! Its funny, with my first I got the blood work done the very next day. With my second, it took a week or so to get to it. This time around I'm like "Sure, if I can get a day without some sort of catastrophe, plus arrange babysitting for the kids, one of whole I'm homeschooling... who the heck has time to drive 30 minutes to get blood taken, to tell me the exact same thing it said with my last two pregnancies??" By the time I get around to it, Bun will be crowning.
I have really been lucking out with buying secondhand! The other day I bought off of Diaperswappers some small and one-size fitteds, then today I bought an entire stash of medium/larges for an obscene deal! There are so many more choices now than when I first started cloth diapering 5 years ago, but I've had good luck with prefolds, fitteds and covers, so there's no sense in spending so much on things that might not work for us. Anyway, I still need to get covers for Bun (I didn't save my small covers from ds and dd), but altogether I will have spent about $175 for a cloth diaper stash that will cover Bun's buns from birth to potty training
Oh, and I also found some maternity clothes, too. For $25 I got 4 shirts and a tankini.
Finally got that blood draw done today. It worked out because Wednesday is dh's only day off, so we all hopped in the car and he sat with the kids while I got it done. Oh, and yesterday I am almost certain the I felt Bun move a little! It could very well have just been a spasm or something, but I really think that it was a little kick
Got a nice little compliment from dh today. He casually mentioned that my butt is looking really good, so I guess adding pilates to my usual bike riding is paying off, LOL. He's not the type to throw out compliments just to get some lovin, so this was totally music to a pregnant lady's ears!
Oh, and tonight was the first time dd didn't nurse before bed! She also didn't nurse before her nap (since she slept while we were in the car) Could this be it?
Last edited by Tofu Bacon; June 9th, 2010 at 09:55 PM.
What the heck was dh thinking when he decided to bring home two 10-week-old kittens? And worse still, what was I thinking when I agreed to it?? First off, he agreed that he would have to be the one cleaning out the litter box until Bun arrives, but he's been less than consistent (in all fairness, he does have a busy schedule) and I've had enough cats to know that if you don't keep their box clean, they'll find somewhere else to "go". So, in desperation, today I had enlist ds' help in scooping out the "clumps"... yeah, that's my idea of a good time: supervising an autistic 5-year-old, tossing cat crap in the garbage.
Second, just as I predicted, the kittens learned in a matter of days that to sleep all day (to avoid the kids) and be up all night. These poor animals, we've got ds picking one up by the back legs "Look, Mom!" and dd picking the other one up by the neck. I'm like, when are you guys going to grow a pair and scratch these kids all friggin ready?? Anyway, the kittens have been up all night playing, including last night when they were climbing up on the AC and diving onto sleeping dh! When they finish with him, they move onto me, sitting on my face and having wrestling matches with my pony tail. I always have the worst insomnia when I am pregnant, so I can't get back to sleep once they wake me up. Man, they are so lucky that they are so dang cute!
Anyway, we've decided to let them have the run of the playroom at night, which ds was furious about because he likes them to lay in his bed. Oh well! Mom and Dad need some sleep! I don't think our two babies put together ever woke us up as much as these kittens have this past week! Honestly though, they are so cute and cuddly, I can't stay mad.
Well, there's no doubt about: dd is definitely my daughter. This morning, there was a Daddy and toddler workshop at the library, so dh and dd went. When they came home I asked dd about everything that happened; this is how it pretty much went:
Dd: the boy looked at me and he smiled at me
Me: he probably thought you were cute
Dd: I'm not cute, I'm smart
Now let your mind's eye spin an image of a proud feminist mama, dabbing at here eyes with pride
Also, on a dd-related note, she found a pair of scissors and before she was caught, she managed to give herself a set of bangs. Now, I personally am not a fan of bangs, but I must say that she did a really good job!
6/26/10: 16 weeks
I had an appointment with my midwife and all is well My next appointment is 7/20, where I'm also having an ultrasound. I'm still undecided about whether or not to find if Bun is a boy or a girl... I want the surprise, but at the same time I kind of want to know. Not so I can pink out pink or blue stuff, but because one thing has been nagging at me: we've had a few "Are you hoping for another boy?" inquiries and it bothers me because its like people think we need another son to "make up for" Bobby being autistic . It doesn't help that we've hit another rough patch with him (he normally has a regression every 3 or 4 months, some more severe than others), and dh's family is prone to appointing a "Golden Boy" , so I'm afraid of exacerbating that. The only thing is, dh absolutely does not want to know ahead of time, so I'd have to keep it a secret from everyone, which will be really tough, lol. I promised dh that I won't even tell him whether or not I know either. I don't know, I've got 4 weeks to decide... part of me just wants to know so I can stop worrying about it.
Well, I made my decision: I'm not going to find out Bun's gender at the ultrasound; I don't think I'll be able to keep it a secret from dh, and I don't want to spoil the surprise for him. BUT, I am going to go on record with my official prediction With ds and dd, right around 4 months along I sort of had a "feeling" of what their gender is... not so much a definite feeling, but more where I'd get irritated if anyone suggested that they were the other gender. I'm getting that feeling about Bun now, leaning towards it being a girl. Totally unscientific, I know... but I was right bother times! Now, according to the Chinese gender chart its a boy, but according to basic biology (conceiving at the start of ovulation), Bun should be a girl. I guess we'll see in 5 months, LOL. We're tossing names around, too. For a girl we're wither going with Nina or Shelby (a shout-out to the Mustang), and for a boy we're looking at Mitchell or Nathan... but in all honestly, I'm just not able to focus much on boy's names...
Man, I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy is flying by! I'm starting to feel kind of sad that its nearly half over, since this is almost definitely our last baby. I mean, I'm glad to be half way to meeting our baby... but that means I'm also half way to needing to work-off the baby weight . I dropped the weight very quickly after dd (within 2 weeks), but it took a lot longer with ds (nearly 18 months to ditch that last 5 pounds).
Dh has been away all week on his missions trip, so today I got a much needed break, when my friend came over to watch the kids for, and I quote, "As long as you want!" Its nice because she's a grandma, but since all of her grandchildren live out of state, watching little ones puts her in grandma heaven. And she's so understanding with ds, which is really a rarity (it amazes how many people are still so clueless about autism).
So, I got my hair cut. Its been a year, so a good inch of split ends needed to be pruned away. Got some layers, too. It came out like Erin's hair from The City I grabbed some lunch at the falafel place, and hit the road. I planning was to go to Toys R Us to replace ds' scooter (dh accidentally ran over it), since TRU was having such a good sale. But I ended up not getting it because they didn't have the toddler scooters in stock; I couldn't bring home a scooter for one and not the other. So, I got them some sandbox toys instead, since there's are all broken; they must have gotten 2 or 3 seasons use out of them, which isn't bad! I also went to the thrift store that I've been wanting to visit for months, but its hard to do that sort of thing with kids. I didn't find many baby clothes (just as few of those sleeper gowns I love), but I got a whole bunch of really cute fall clothes for dd, which she will desperately need. Best of all, I had a nice quiet, leisurely visit to the library. Came home to 2 happy, exhausted children I'm surprised at how much I missed them; we're so used to being attached at the hip that it felt weird to be alone for 5 hours!
Yesterday I had my appointment and ultrasound! Baby is growing well, has a healthy heartbeat... and I know what the gender is! The catch is, dh doesn't want to know, so I'm not telling anyone I was afraid I'd feel disappointed for not holding out for a surprise, but honestly, its a fun being the only one who does know. I'm glad we got all of our gender-specific discussions out of the way already, because now I can't mention any of them without slipping.
Last edited by Tofu Bacon; August 31st, 2010 at 06:12 AM.
Nothing pregnancy-related to report, but our big news this week is that it looks as if dd is ready to use the potty!! I had been holding off on "pushing" her until after our vacation next month, but we've decided to cancel and have "stay-cation" this year instead. So, I picked up a copy of Once Upon A Potty , in hopes of inspiring her, lol. She's watched it a dozen times in a row today and then pops up and says she wants to "wee wee like Prudence" so we ran to the potty and she did it! She even wanted to wear undies to bed, so we'll see how that goes... I also picked up a couple of potty training books at the library, since I'm admittedly clueless since ds pretty much trained himself. Granted, he was in diapers until just before his 4th birthdays, but with his developmental delays, it was right on target for him. Seriously, he was changing his own diapers at that point, then just up and decided he wanted to wear underwear... and that was it: no training, no accidents, nada. After 5 straight years of cloth diapering, it would be so nice to get a break before Bun is born...
Update 8/9/10: Well, dd did awesome with the potty for a couple of days (dry every night, lots of successful potty-runs, even wore undies to church!), but today... a few times she told me she had to pee, so we went to the potty and sat for a while, then she'd get bored and run off... only to pee like a minute later. So, quite a few accidents today. She says sh doesn't want to use the potty anymore, but that's too darn bad because I already packed away her diapers, LOL. Oh, and we also made a potty chart, where she gets a smiley face each time she pees or poops on the potty, and after 4 smiley faces she gets a lollipop. Well, it worked all weekend, but now she's throwing a fit because she wants a lollipop, even though she's only earned 1 smiley face today.
I'll tell you what, I'm beginning to wonder of this modern (post 1960) notion of waiting until they are "ready" to use the potty may be a bit half-baked. I think with Bun, I may start "potty-sits" much earlier... like as soon as s/he is walking, but not yet in that contrarian toddler stage.
Last edited by Tofu Bacon; August 9th, 2010 at 01:26 PM.
