Cyros, that’s a beautiful cherub. Nice to see that I am not the only one that documented all my baby’s body parts 
BTW, I’ve had chronic plugged ducts (I have them drained via a syringe every two weeks at the doctor’s office. Yikes). How did you solve it?
Yeah, we’re a little camera crazy around here
For plugged ducts, I took ridiculously hot showers while doing fairly intense breast massage several times a day. In between, I used other moist heat (hot towels, hot water bottles), and I pumped every couple of hours. While pumping, I’d use the other hand to massage the tissue especially around the lump (the size of an orange!), and I’d frequently alter my posture and change position to encourage all the ducts to drain.
I think part of what contributed to the plugged ducts is I can only nurse using football hold and it wasn’t efficiently removing milk from all the ducts. Pumping while massaging the different ducts has made a big difference. No more lumps!
Oh Cyros , I’m so glad that you and Lauren Grace are doing okay!! She is absolutely beautiful!! I’m sorry your hospital experience was less than wonderful though…but thank goodness that is all behind you now!! She looks so healthy and happy. You must be extremely relieved!
As for me, I actually had my son Hayden on my due date, September 16th! (The doctor told me it was very rare to give birth on your due date, but I guess after all was said and done Hayden decided to be punctual!) He was 8 lbs. 2 oz and very healthy (whew!)… My water broke in my kitchen (I was so happy that it didn’t happen when I was in bed or on the sofa!) at 10:30 PM, on the 15th…My OB told us to make our way to the hospital, which we did. Then we proceeded to wait for me to go into labor. And we waited and we WAITED…After about 9 hours of that, my doctor talked me into being induced. I wasn’t too thrilled with that option, but I guess my impatience won out in the end. That was NOT FUN. I finally got some Stadol for the pain, which did help, but it made me ridiculously silly. My mom and my husband are still teasing me about some of things I did when I was drugged up. (Apparently I was singing and carrying on for quite some time 
) I did use my Lamaze breathing - and that did help me get through some really tough contractions I have to say…but finally I went for the Epidural, which took all the pain away. However, after 22 hours of labor I was only 4 cm dilated. So again, my OB persuaded me to get a C-Section. I think the only reason I agreed was because I was fed up with being paralyzed from the ribs down. She thought that the baby was too big to fit through my pelvic station and that I would have had a hard time of it…so in the end I think it was the right thing to do. I am finding that major surgery is a little harder to recover from than I anticipated though. Still, I’m getting stronger everyday.
Hayden is such a little charmer. I know this sounds dreadful, but I didn’t expect to ADORE him as much as I do. I am completely and utterly besotted and smitten
Congrats, Shana! It’s amazing how much you love them isn’t it? The first few months are overwhelming.
Take it easy and try to get some sleep ;), glad to hear you and baby are doing well.
Congratulations Shayna!
I’m hoping 22 hours was a typing error!
If not, well, my Ob/Gyn textbook says that C-section should be performed if delivery doesn’t look imminent at 12 hours, so I’d say you gave it a very, very good shot, but that the c-sections was the way to go.
Do we get a photo of the new man in your life? C’mon, baby Hayden sounds so cute!
Congratulations Shana on baby Hayden! I hope you’re recovering well!
Hi all - I’m arriving a little late to this thread, but I have read all your experiences with great interest - my own little Pixie (Pixel? Pixlette?) is due in January and mum is getting to the leg cramping, tummy bloated, uncomfortable whichever which way she sits, kicked by the baby, phase of pregnancy. Plus she has a cold, so is not a happy bunny!!! Baby on the other hand, seems to be growing well and very active. A lack of any evidence to the contrary seems to indicate that it will be a girl (or as some “friend” observed the other day - “It’s either a girl or his friends will make fun of him in the showers”) which is just fine by me - the fact that its a girl I mean, not the shower gag ;).
It has been a very odd experience, being somewhat on the sidelines during these last 5/6 months - I can encourage and support, offer back/leg/foot/etc rubs and help out in other peripheral ways, but ultimately, I am wallpaper - or sometimes it feels that way…
Mrs Pixie’s blog site, in case anyone’s interested 
Grim
Thanks Velma ,Cyros , and irishgirl ! You know, I posted some pictures in the other Doper picture thread, but now seem to have lost the abilty to do it again…Probably it’s from sleep deprivation. I keep trying to post a picture, but no dice! I have some pictures of Hayden on Photobucket.com. Does anyone know which little icon thingy I’m supposed to press to insert a URL? I’m beyond daft with anything even remotely techy. It’s amazing I can even turn the computer on (no, really!)… :smack: Anyway, I’ll keep trying. Maybe it’s my PC spazzing out?
grimpixie , welcome to the thread! I just wanted to say that the encouragement and support you give your wife will not go unnoticed later on. Even if it seems to have no affect or if she is inconsolably cranky now - Trust me, when the intense hormonal cocktail she is experiencing dies down she will remember how lovely and wonderful you were to her when she was a complaining, nasty, bloated harpy! I look back on what my dear husband put up with when I was pregnant and I am in AWE. From crying jags because my back hurt to going out to get me pomegranate juice and black olives at 3 AM - he was a rock. And I love him for it. I know it must be a stange feeling to be on the “sidelines” as you say. My husband expressed something similar to me…but believe me. You have an extremely important role, much more than you know!
Alrighty…I’m going to try again!
Here is my husband (extremely tired, but proud) holding Hayden in the hospital…
Here is one of our dogs, Olive, meeting the baby for the first time. (I think she wants to TASTE him something terrible! 
)
Oh gosh, not sure if I should post this one because it’s so embarassing, but here is me at 9 months and ready to pop any minute…You can see why Hayden didn’t want to come out the traditional way!
Shana- honey, you’re gorgeous, and you have a gorgeous husband, baby and dog to boot.
You’re one lucky lady!
Congratulations, Hadyen is every bit as cute as I thought!
You all look great!
Aw, thanks so much irishgirl and Cyros !
Congratulations on your beautiful baby, Shana! I’m sorry the delivery didn’t go so smoothly, but it all turned out well in the end.
If it makes you feel better, here’s a pic of me and my gigantic belly about a week ago. My friends tell me I look great, but all I see is a very tired pregnant lady.
At my last visit to the perinatologist, Baby B, who had been transverse way up top for the longest time, finally decided to drop his head down, and I’m feeling him knocking against my hipbone now, so it looks like I may be able to avoid a c-section. fingers crossed Now all they need to do is decide to COME OUT.
Thanks - I have so far been spared the 3am trips to the shops, the closest she has come to a craving has been for micorwave popcorn and episodes of “The West Wing” (halfway through series 3 and counting)
Well, I’m 15 weeks today and I’ve felt “sensations” of some sort twice. The first time was last Sunday night in bed, I felt 2 faint “pops”. I knew it wasn’t gas, since I’m having so much of that, I know exactly what it is! So I looked it up on the net and that’s how it was described–either as small bubbles popping or flutters.
Then today at work I felt flutters while sitting at my desk! That was even better because it really felt like a tiny creature moving around inside me. I got teary and emailed my husband, “I felt flutters! I’m so excited.” He wrote back: “That’s great, honey! What’s a flutter?”
Hey! I resemble that remark! I got really snippy yesterday and he just said, “I’m sorry. I promise to remember that the next time. It won’t happen again.” He was being completely sincere. It was adorable, but I felt so guilty about making him feel like he has to do that.
Congratulations, Shana. I’m sorry to hear about the 22 hour labor, but I’m glad Hayden is healthy. BTW, a friend of mine has a 2-year-old named Hayden, too. Great name!
Well had another visit yesterday. I am 1cm dilated. Now, too bad that doesn’t mean a quick delivery. My doctor said it could still be a week or so.
He did suggest walking though. So today I walked to my local post office instead of driving! I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
I hope everyone else is doing well!
Could be a week, could be tonight. When my doctor told me I was 1 cm dilated (and 80% effaced) at an office visit, he told me a week. I gave birth 14 hours later! I was in labor for 7 hours without even feeling it. Here’s hoping yours is as easy as my first was!
Well - I’m still home…so I think I may be falling into that ‘could be a week’ category.
So far I am having some menstrual like cramps - but they aren’t regular at all. My sister-in-law says that was what the beginning of her labor felt like. So I’m happy about that, but they aren’t really ‘doing’ anything that I can see.
So now I am really thinking I will still be pregnant next Tuesday when I go back to my doctor. I just hope at that point he tells me I am further dilated!
I’ve updated my webpage to show more pictures of my daughter Anya. Sadly, I had to drop the www.dulcemichael.com URL, since I wasn’t happy with the host.
That said, I found a new mo’ better host and got the pictures and updates here:
http://www.dulcemichaelanya.com/
She’s fully crawling now.
