Pregnancy & Parenting Stories

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

If I drink any more damn water per day I’ll never get out of the bathroom, or have to resort to wearing Depends to do errands outside the house. I drink at least 64 oz, more like 90 or so. The midwife told me the same thing about getting into some water. I go for an hourlong swim down the street each day as well as my usual bathtub floating. Doesn’t seem to help much with the swelling but feels great.

I asked my mom if she had this early labor stuff. She didn’t remember having any but said once she was in labor it went pretty quick (6 hrs with me, 4 with my sister.)

It sure would be nice to have him tomorrow- it’s my mother in law’s birthday.

PR

42

For each of my three pregnancies, by the time I reached the ninth month, the only thing I would eat for breakfast was Ralph’s brand (local grocery store) chocolate chip ice cream.

-Melin

I’m a woman phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That’s me
(Maya Angelou)

43

Chocolate anything for breakfast…ewww. I developed a distaste for chocolate and coffee first trimester that never completely went away. Odd considering they’re two of my favorite vices.

I really would like some bacon at breakfast, but the sodium would make things worse. So I’ve been sticking to oatmeal and fruit…oh well.

PR

44

Cool, PR! I didn’t know they had canals in NE!

My wife had constant nausea throughout each of her pregnancies. It got so bad that when she would ask me to bring her some ice cream (or cake, or pickles, or whatever she happened to be craving), I would ask “Do you want to eat it, or should I dumo it directly in the toilet?”. That’s me, always trying to be helpful :wink:

The overwhelming majority of people have more than the average (mean) number of legs. – E. Grebenik

45

Ok, ok, what I meant to say was that I’ve been swimming at the pool down the street from my house. But if we get much more rainfall this summer, we could theoretically have canals around here… :slight_smile:

PR

46

My wife had constant nausea throughout each of her pregnancies. It got so bad that when she would ask me to bring her some ice cream (or cake, or pickles, or whatever she happened to be craving), I would ask “Do you want to eat it, or should I dumo it directly in the toilet?”. That’s me, always trying to be helpful
I had the same problem with my last two pregnancies…severe morning, noon and night sickness that lasted the entire nine months. I was hospitalized several times during each pregnancy in order to be rehydrated with IV fluids because I couldn’t even hold down water. It got to the point where I was literally eating my meals while sitting on the bathroom counter, because I knew that I was going to be sick within minutes anyways, so I might as well be close to the toilet.

Okay, so maybe that was a little more information than you really wanted…

Shadowfox

47

Wow, Shadowfox! You have my sympathy on that! I was lucky enough not to get queasy (other than when smelling coffee or chocolate) and never once did throw up. But the pregnancy gods are having a fun time with me now…

If you’re squeamish, stop reading here! I ended up at the hospital today because I was sure my water had broken. I got up to go to the bathroom and felt a splat, followed by dribbles. So after a call to the midwife we went to the hospital. Even had some pretty good contractions. Turns out there’s a clear thin (egg-white) mucus that’s normal at this stage. I was sent home. :frowning: I haven’t read anything about this or heard about it. I feel like such an idiot.
This time I’m not leaving for the hospital until I’m in hard labor. When I go in again, I’m walking out of there with a baby in my arms, dammit.

PR

48

{{For all of you preggos out there who are tired of hearing those “I was in labor for 47 hours!” stories}}

Ha! 47? Mine was 52. Ouch.

To Prairie and her 21 lbs… bite me. I gained 60 lbs by my 7th month and am now a nice, even 100 lbs more than my pre-pregnancy weight.

To read my birth story, check out
http://fathom.org/opalcat/birth.html
See the fruits of my labor:
http://fathom.org/opalcat/NickyBoober.adp

My son will be 4 in September… I want another but we’re waiting til Nicky is in “real” school… like 5 or 6. (He goes to preschool 2 days a week right now)

When I was pregnant, we lived in Tucson, and giving birth in mid September means that I was big and huge during the awful desert summer months. I have two things to say to people who say “but it’s a dry heat”:

  1. it isn’t always a dry heat. The rainy season in AZ is July and August
  2. Watch the weather channel. You’ll hear that “heat index” stuff that takes the humidity into account… they’ll tell you that your 87 degree day feels like 103. Whoop-dee-doo. Try a for-real 114 degree day (very common) and tell me how your “feels like 103” is somehow worse, again?

Dry heat is more dangerous, too.

Oh, and in the desert, poor folks like us have swamp coolers, not air conditioners. In short, they suck. WOrse than that, the first hint of moisture in the air, and they don’t work at all. Worse event than that, they blow hot, wet, smelly air though your house. I remember looking at our indoor/outdoor thermometer one day, I remember seeing the outdoor temp: 111… indoor temp: 103.
If you’ve been pregnant you know that you turn into an oven. You’re hot in 40 degree weather. Imagine 103 being the coolest you could make your house.
So you’d go to take a cold shower, but the ground water was too warm. You’d fill a tub with “cold” water and let it sit for a few hours to cool down.

I am very glad that my next pregnancy won’t take place in the desert (unless something very very unexpected happens between now and then).

>^,^<
“Cluemobile? You’ve got a pickup…”
OpalCat’s site: http://fathom.org/opalcat
The Teeming Millions Homepage: fathom.org/teemingmillions

49

All these stories remind me of the months of hell before the birth. Your wife goes through all this stuff you have no idea how to relate to and no advice, either. There isn’t much in your experience you can draw on. You keep hearing just about anything is “normal”.
So now we have two kids and can look back on this as mostly stuff you can forget. Until someone reminds you.
I bet by the time you have grandkids, you won’t be much help with your advice. And if it’s your daughter in law, you should keep your advice to yourself and just be around to help.Like stay with the older kid etc.

50

OpalCat, I wasn’t trying to make anyone feel bad with my weight gain. And it’s up by 23 lbs now, and will continue to rise unless I can put down the damn peanut m&m’s. I don’t know why I’m craving them- I’ve never liked them before! And I was hardly svelte before I got pregnant- I was a size 16!

When we leave next time I plan to not tell my mom and sister. My aunt (doula) will be told and my friend that’s watching Sox, who has instructions to lie to everyone and say we went out. My mom means well but she really tried to modify my birth plan, basically pushed my hubby aside and took over, and I was in no emotional or physical shape to argue. I figure I’ll call afterward and tell her that it went so damn fast that I didn’t have time or energy to call. Maybe she’ll be pissed at me. Hopefully she’ll be so distracted by her new grandson’s cuteness that she won’t…

PR

51

Prairie, 23 pounds…in the words of Opal…bite me…I put on 40. One of my 2 ob/gyns (the guy and a prick) wanted to put me on a gestational diabetes diet because I was getting too fat. I looked at him and said, " Hello, we’ve just gone thru Xmas and New Years AND I’ve been constipated for a week. I’m not going on your diet. There’s nothing in it that allows me my comfort foods." He countered with " It will be harder for me to lose the weight after the baby is born." and my response was, " That is not your problem, now is it?"

I chucked the diet away (the nurses loved me for standing up to this Dr., btw) went home, two days later I had the most magnificent poop in my life) stepped on the scale and was eight pounds lighter. I lost all the weight by the post 3 month mark and by the 7 month mark was 10 pounds lighter than pre-preggo weight.

I met a woman who’s mother only gained 6 pounds when she was pregnant and she was only something like 100 pounds to start with. That wasn’t safe and her daughter (now 45 years old) was an dingbat of the highest order. When she told me that story, other coworkers all said (behind her back) that it explained everything about Nancy. And it did.

I am working on a home page, but I’ve had some tech problems on my end with my phone lines so bear with me…

52

So when are you due, anyway, Prairie?

53

Well, it’s been a good six weeks since this thread was at the top, but I have some great news to add to it!

My best friend Robin delivered her fourth child this morning! It is a girl, and she is 6 lb., 16 oz. and 20.25 inches long. A nice healthy set of lungs, plenty of dark hair and SUPERLONG finger and toenails. Since I didn’t really get to see my own boy being born (glasses across the room, doctor’s head blocking mirror) she let me be there for the birth. I have to say it was the most wonderful, disgusting, gross and beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I was at the hospital at 5:00 this morning and stayed with her till about 12:15 this afternoon. It was her longest labour and shortest delivery of all her kids. I feel so fortunate to have been able to witness it.

A little bit of cool: Today is not only the new baby’s birthday, it’s my husband’s birthday, too!

A little more cool: They haven’t decided on a middle name yet, but the girl’s first name is Zoe. Those of you who’ve read the “Trendy Kid’s Names” thread will know that I love that name because it means “life”.

It’s a lovely day to be born.

Veni, Vidi, Visa … I came, I saw, I bought.

54

Congrats, Chris!

I used to post alot on the old SDMB, but took a break. Just came to this one recently, and just found this thread today. So nice to hear other normal people sharing their stories.

I’m expecting a boy in October. I’ve given birth twice already. Never had a lick of morning sickness with the first two. This one I’ve been queasy quite a bit, and even thrown up a few times. Gained 53 pounds first time, 25 with the second, and I’m currently at 40 pounds with this one. Also having back trouble (never had that before), and, shall we politely say, bladder trouble. Sigh.

My first two were girls. I think the new problems I’m having are due to the fact tht this one is a boy–testosterone poisoning. :slight_smile: My biggest problem, though, is this–my butt. It is growing faster than my belly. It’s gotten so enormous that when I asked my husband if it was just my imagination or was my butt really getting positively huge, he risked his life by saying “well, actually, it has changed a bit–but you’re pregnant, honey, it’s okay.”

Thanks for the laughs in this thread, folks! Sure did need 'em…and congrats again, Chris!

55

I hope this post only goes in once…

I have 2 girls, ages 4 and 2 (in two weeks she’ll be 2…close enough). I have many horror and wonder stories about pregnancy and parenting.

Let’s see…first labour, start to finish, exactly 72 hours, 4 minutes…NO tearing or stitching of any kind, either time…NO morning sickness (except a slight queasiness at 4:30 pm for 3 weeks–you could set your watch by me)…a daughter whose first words were signs–and she was only 5 months old…etc, etc.

As for staying home with your children…go for it, if you can. I’m sorry. I love my girls dearly, but if I’d had to stay home full time with a newborn and a 2 1/2 year old, one of us would have been dead within weeks. I CANNOT survive without grownups to talk to, and my time away from my kids makes me appreciate my time with them even more. My husband works nights, I work days, and we have a sitter come in about 3 mornings a week to watch the kids while my husband sleeps. SOMEONE we love and trust is with our kids at all times, and we don’t have to put them in a group care situation. Ok, hubby and I don’t see EACH OTHER much, but hell…we see each other often enough for me to have gotten pregnant…twice! :slight_smile:

Love the thread.

56

Ok, all my ernest attempts to build a web page came crashing down around me when I had a major computer melt down and had to get a mother board and lost everything.

So, until I figure out what in the hell I did before ( why didn’t I leave a trail of crumbs?) it’s gonna be this here thread.

I remain your humble, but technologically challenged servant,

57

Shirley’s gonna pop in a few weeks. Time to revive this thread.

Also wanted to let you all know that I’m working on my new website (hopefully online by the first of February) and that there will be a message board on it.

Been a long time since this thread was around the top…Bowen’s now almost 21 months old. He’s learned quite a lot, and absorbing and displaying more of what he’s learned everyday. He’s completely in awe of my friend’s new baby, Zoe (who is now four and a half months old). Everytime we go to visit, he’ll lay down with her on the floor and give her hugs and kisses. When we’re at home, out of the blue he’ll say, “Baby? Zoe?” over and over again.

So, how are the kids?

“Wednesday the 15th - Chris made one of her rare good points today.”
Guanolad

58

Good thread, didn’t know it was here. My son is well, thank you, entering month 19. He understands every damn word I say to him but will still only articulate about a dozen words of his own. Of course he does makes quite a production out of saying ‘mooooRRRe?’

Does every one who has one child immedietly start jonesing for a second? I didn’t but all of my friends in the local baby loop are well on their way into parenthood II - 5 couples at last count and one just had her 5th child last summer.

A question - when you were pregnant did you have A FOOD. One you couldn’t stand the sight of, let alone eat. Every one of my friend had A FOOD, for one poor soul it was tomato sauce, for me it was fried eggs.

And for the record I put on about 65 pounds during pregnancy - too much for my comfort really, I’m not that big a person - still working on loosing those last 15 or so pounds.

~There is no statute of limitations on karma~

59

for the cencus:27.5 hours strart to finish,
was it worth it yeah! I just wish I could remember more of the details (i was exhuasted towards the end,could barely open my eyes,… )
Anyways the purpose of my post is to share a story that I believe every parent can or will eventually be able to relate to.
My daughter was 6 years old when this happened. Kelli was over with her kids and the oldest and Ashley were up in the play room. Kelli and I noticed it had become a little too quiet up there and called the kids to come downstairs. Upon lenghyy questioning and one bawling little girl we discovered that Ashley told Ted she could cut hair…if she wanted to. Ted told her "yeah prove it " so, Ted ended up with a trim compliments of Salon Ashley!
The crying started when we couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the whole situation…Ashley thought we’d be very mad.
The best advice I can give is hide the scissors until they are older!
By the way she used Crayola safety scissors!

60

Yankee Blue: For me it was Chinese. Normally, I can’t get enough of it, but during pregnancy, even just passing by an Asian restaurant would make me nauseous.

“Wednesday the 15th - Chris made one of her rare good points today.”
Guanolad