[Artful]

Love reading everyone's posts

Thanks for the tip re the body pillow Jacapanthus! Stupid question though, why can't you sleep on your back or side when you're pregnant? How else can you sleep? Surely not on your stomach?

I have a friend who is about 19 weeks at the moment and has just developed SPD sounds horrific poor thing. She has to sleep sitting up of all things

I'm sorry to say that my DP is being a bit of a brat at the moment. Sulking about cooking for one night, passive aggressively refusing to do things like go shopping or cleaning. He even said, when I said I was worried that I had been using mortein lately (we have so many flies at the moment it's unbelievable) that if I'm not worried about eating carcinogenic 2 minute noodles then I shouldn't be worried about using mortein. It p*sses me off just writing about it. My theory is that he is so used to me being totally capable that he can't handle it when I start to not being able to do things. I am not putting up with it though because it is pathetic and totally unbecoming. My vent

Sam - I have heard that calm birth is awesome. Unconscious birth maybe even better haha

Laneige, maybe tmi but my constipation seems to have gone away at 9 weeks. I winder if it's because I am back having a small coffee every morning? I tried so hard to give it up, but when tea started making me feel sick I had to have something!! Anyone else still drinking a bit of coffee?

This post has been edited by Artful: 07/01/2012, 12:38 PM

[bindy30]

Jacapanthus- great tip re body pillow. I am in the same boat as you with symptoms, I had a couple of days last week where I was really bloated and my weight went up by about 5kgs on my pre preg weight. I have since gone back down to about a 2 kg gain. My MS is easing off, I do have the odd feeling of like I want to be sick but then that goes. Boobs are only moderately sore. I am finding food aversion the biggest thing at the moment. I really had to try to think of something that interested me for dinner last night. I ended up making a home made chicken and vege pizza. I am also still mega tired. Was falling asleep on the coach at 8 last night. I am sure everything will be ok.

I have my first OB appointment on the 23rd. I will be about 12 weeks then. Can people tell me did they take hubby/partner to OB appointment?? I dont think DR has a scanning machine in the rooms so there wont be anything to see. Our first scan is booked in for the 30th which hubby will be coming to. thought it might be a bit pointless for hubby to sit an listen to all my medical history chat with OB.

LaNeige- Scarey as it sounds we have a name picked if its a girl. My husband is sure it will be a girl. Haven't really thought about boy names.

magicalsurprise & Decafe Jane- I am with you on the 60 minutes clip. Tears well up when I see it. I remember been so emotional during the first run of it even without all the preggie hormones. Its tough all the flood stories being revisited as its a reminder of what a sad time a lot of people had around this time last year. There was however a very inspiring story today on the front page of Courier Mail today about a lady who gave birth to her daughter a day after being evacuated from her home and losing everything. She said the birth of her daughter and kindness of complete strangers helped her deal with the loss of all her possessions.

[BusyBee01]

Sam - I think your birthing technique sounds fantastic, it would have to be a controlled induced coma because there is no way I could sleep through labor!

Artful - as you get bigger you will probably find it uncomfotable to sleep on your back as bubs squishes everything and you have a major blood supply that can also get squished. Having said that, I slept on my back the entire time with one of mine, but not with the other 2 and without the pillow felt like my stomach was going to "fall off" ! The pillow was just a small wedge shaped foam so not the same as the body one.

Artful & Curious Chicken - I hear you with the mature behaviour and help around the house, I asked my hub to change my sons wet top bunk this morning and I got well you go spray the weeds then! Grrrrr, its only because its the top bunk, really painful to change, and the mattress needed airing outside. Apart from that he's been really great. I guess in my case he is still trying to deal with the news (big shock and totally unexpected) so I let it slide. I think when I start work I'm going to hire a cleaner just for bathrooms, floors and windows - it will only be 2 hours per week max so $50 or $60 - there is no way hub will do those jobs, but he will do others.

BTW Curious Chicken, have you tried vinegar and water mix for shower screen and bi-carb & water paste for tiles? I know it's not the point but it's not fumey or dangerous to you or bubs. I get to the point where i have to do something because I can't stand to look at it anymore!

I'll be booking my NT scan for 3 weeks time, bloods in 1 week. My next app is 5 weeks, but that is too long so going to change to 4 weeks so I don't have to wait so long to get NT results. Had really high numbers with #2 - 1 in 17, and really freaked me, ended up having the extra tests (not amnio, the sample one - CVS - huge needle - yuk) but all was ok. Will do the same if it is high again. Can't wait til all the tests and scary parts are over then I'll be able to enjoy the pregnancy because this is definately going to be my last!

[Jacapanthus]

La Neige -

I'm sure DP will whinge about it taking up room on the bed, but if he doesn't like it, he can go sleep in the spare room! I won't need him when I've got a Snoogle to cuddle anyway!

LOL, my Dh is going to moan when he sees mine again. He did last time I got it out "Oh not that thing again...". Mind you we have a king size bed now so it shouldn't be a problem for him.

Bindy - Sounds like we are in just the same place symptoms wise. I am very tired too, just had a big nap but I think I actually feel worse after it. My DH didn't come with me to the OB. He did in my first pregnancy though. He came to the first appointment, then the scans and then the appointment where we talked about the delivery I think. Second pregnancy he came to the first appointment (there was a scan) and the two ultrasounds. This time he will come to the scans and that's it I think. I think its quite good for them to come along as there is a lot to learn and it gives them a bit of an idea of what is going on, especially the first time.

Artful - You can't sleep on your back (when your bump gets big) because the weight of the baby can cut off a main blood vessel - makes you feel yuck. Obviously you can't sleep on your stomach so on your side is the only option. Its torture for me as I really like to sleep on my back. The side pillow just helps support your legs and belly so there's not as much pulling on your back and hips from the weight. Grr to your DH. Mine has hurt his back so has been lying around for two days asking me to bring him things....only surprise surprise miraculously he was ok to play cricket today!!

Curious chicken - Grrr to your DH too! The other night I was putting away laundry and I asked Dh to get the kids ready for bed (they just needed pjs on) and he said "AGAIN!?". That did not end so well for him.....

I haven't booked my NT yet. I will get the referral at my next appointment with the OB and do it then.

[MizRhi]

Hi girls.

I just posted this on the FB group, and thought I would share it here also for those who arent on the FB group. Cheers!

I mentioned the Pregnancy and Baby Expo (2012) below somewhere today. I just went and looked it up. Dates are as follows:

Adelaide: Friday 16th to Sunday 18th of March 2012
Sydney: Friday 18th to Sunday 20th of May 2012
Brisbane: Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th of June 2012
Perth: Friday 10th to Sunday 12th of August 2012
Melbourne: Friday 12th to Sunday 14th of October 2012

Free tickets to the event are available at the moment on the website. http://www.pbcexpo.com.au/ (If I remember rightly, there was some sort of issue with the free tickets going off display last year a few weeks before the event. Might be wise to print it off now!)

Who is excited? I will be going to the Brisbane Event

[MizRhi]

Oh so much more is happening in this group compared to the other one. I think I might just have to lurk on both!

Someone mentioned their body pillow splitting in half as the stuffing settled. That happened with BOTH of our body pillows (We adore them. Joe and I have one each). For both, I just opened a seam and added some new stuffing. I bought a huge bag of pillow stuffing from Lindcraft or Spotlight for like < $10 a bag and it does both pillows. I find they need re-stuffing every 6 months or so. Easily fixed, and it is actually BETTER than it was originally cause it is rounder and firmer at holding me on my side and off my stomach / hips. (trick is to cuddle the pillow to you, and put it between your knees to keep your pelvis 90 degrees from the bed!)

[twilightangel]

Sam78s - I am usually very fond of the snack chocolate too plus peppermint and turkish delight but have found in the last 2 days when I have eaten the turkish delight (it's all I have in the house) I have ended up with a really upset stomach and cramps. Hmm interesting way to give birth. I must be a weird person cause I actually dont mind giving birth, I love knowing that I am sooo close to meeting my little one.

DecafJane -I doscovered that when I referred to DS2 as he from the moment I fell pregnant that I was right, so it might be the case for you too. There has only been one of my pregnancies where I didnt get an exact feeling towards the gender, with the rest of them I have and have been correct. Will be interesting to see if I am right this time around too.

BusyBee01 - Your Dr sounds like a lovely man, doing shared care to be apart of the experience. I am missing my OB from Perth heaps, he was a lovely man and being he was my GP and OB for 9 years we had a very close relationship. Do you think if I offered him enough money he would fly here and do a home delivery, lol? Congrats on the new job. I hope it goes well. Wow I hope you dont have to go through the CVS again, those tests always seem so scary to me.

HoneyBee12 - I hope the wedding goes well today and that you didnt feel too sick. I would have packed a few snacks into my handbag to take with me if necessary.

Jacapanthus - Sorry but lol to your dream, very weird. I find I am too much of a restless sleeper for the body pillows, they just end up annoying me. Your OB sounds very supportive with offering you another attempt at a VBAC but glad that you are happy with your decision.

Magicalsurprise - I'm glad you have a sympathetic husband, that helps so much. I'm sorry to hear that you are still feeling so sick too. How are you going with the kids rooms? I did my kids rooms yesterday. The girls room was by far the worst.

LaNeige - I hope the you finally get to get rid of the ear infection soon, must be awful. I hope you manage to book your appointment for your NT scan soon? I am having mine done on the 20th and the place I am going to dont want me to have my bloods done until 4 days before the scan so luckily I have a few days to work myself up to having them done after my bad experience last time. I have been thinking about names, we have 4 girls names picked, one is a clear winner, we just need to decide what we are going to use as a middle name. DH and I like to use family names as middle names so that will take a little research too. Boys names are impossible, DH and I have very different tastes when it comes to boys names.

Curious.Chicken - Vent away, I would be pretty annoyed too. Glad that you are feeling better now with all the symptoms easing.

Artful - They recommend that sleeping on your left side is better than your right for optimal blood flow. Sleeping on your back is the same as the weight of the uterus presses on the major vein that returns blood from your legs to your heart. I have suffered SPD with 2 of my pregnancies, OMG it is awful. With my last pregnancy it wasnt as bad as the previous one though as I regularly saw a chiropractor and he kept the pain to a minimum. I'm hoping I dont suffer with it this time around. Best of luck to your friend. Wow our other halfs seem to be annoying us all at them moment, lol.

Bindy30 - Hope your food aversions settle soon. The pizza sounds yummy. My DH wanted to come to my appointments, maybe ask yours if he would like to be there but explain it will probably just be chatting about medical history etc.

[magicalsurprise]

Artful - as twilightangel said, right side and back alters blood flow when you get bigger. I also get lots of muscle cramps in my belly if I sleep on my right side later into the piece. Oh and thanks for mentioning 2 minute noodles! I hope there is some in the cupboard.

Twilightangel - I'm with you. I actually like labour and the birth process (except in the last half hour or so but then you know its close lol) Its soo exciting! and the next 12 hours after that are amazing really!

I've managed to do an awesome job in DS's room this morning! Looks great (for the next hour anyway). But still have the 2 girls rooms. I seem to reorganise rooms every few months and there is still TOO much stuff. Before I got pregnant we were going to paint the rooms and they the kids keep bugging me but I think I will leave that till second trimester.

[LaNeige]

I have the opposite problem with my DP - he's a clean freak! He'll get up at 5am and clean the whole house before I even get up and then get all passive-aggressive moody with me for not pulling my weight with the cleaning. He doesn't even give me a chance! He's been on holidays for the last two weeks and has been doing all the cooking, which has been much appreciated, as I can't stand the thought of preparing anything more complex than a fried breakfast. I just wish he wasn't so grumpy all the time!

Edited: typo.

This post has been edited by LaNeige: 07/01/2012, 04:56 PM

[MegsW]

I realised today that I haven't really increased my need to go to the toilet? Now I am worried about that - I would have though I should have increased urinary frequency. Maybe because I haven't been drinking much due to not feeling well? I don't know but now I am stressed out about it LOL! Just another thing to add to the worry.

My DH gets on rants where he goes nuts cleaning up and gets really heavy handed with throwing things out, but then other times he is happy to do nothing. It is really one extreme to the other. Right now I have learnt to live with it and figure at least he is picking up the slack for me because I am just so unmotivated to do any housework!

As for sleeping, I am a tummy sleeper so I hate once I can't sleep on my tummy. I do however find I sleep on my left more now than I ever did, maybe I have gotten so used to doing it during pregnancy that it has become a habit LOL!

I don't mind birth either. I usually have a bit of a worried/stress cry once it starts but then the last three have just gotten on with it. Our last was a home birth and I actually enjoyed it. Am hoping I will be able to do it again this time if I get approved through the hospital midwife program.

Chocolate - I am normally a chocoholic, but that has been once good thing, barely feel like it at all. I have had a small caramello bar in the fridge since Friday and haven't touched it! It is only still there because everyone else is still away!

Tea and coffee - I am normally a full on tea and coffee drinker but for a couple of weeks just thinking about it turned my stomach. I had a cup of tea on Friday morning and it wasn't too bad, but I don't really crave it like I did before i was pregnant.

Re the sex of the baby - I have only had one pregnancy where I wasn't 100% sure with my feelings and that was Finn (my last). My early symptoms could have been either girl or boy but as the pregnancy went on by the time I got to the 20 week scan I was certain it was a boy. I am leaning more towards one than the other but also don't want to get it stuck in my head in case I am wrong. We will find out for sure though.

Honeybee - hope the wedding went okay and you managed to get through it okay feeling alright.

I need to get stuck into my kids rooms - just can't find the motivation. We are actually going to move our eldest daughter into our 'front lounge' that is currently just being used as a playstation room so that our eldest son can get his own room. We were planning to build on asap but after going over the finances I really want to try to sock as much money as I can into the credit cards and home loan before we borrow more. I need to get a finance person to give us some advice because I am sure that having an extra child is going to make it much harder to get a loan, so I am unsure if we should apply before the baby is born or spend more time paying it off and then hope we can still borrow afterwards - so hard. I know we will have to change banks because our won't lend it with such a large family! So hard to know which way to go. So for now we are going to just move the rooms around and wait and see what advice we get.

LaNeige - hope your ear goes away soon for you. Sounds awful you poor thing. Regarding names, if we have a boy, I have no idea because we have well and truly used all the names we really liked. We have a girls name that we both like so that would be easier. I think we will wait until the scan and if we can find out at least that will narrow the choices down.

My DH doesn't come to the appointments but usually the scans. He will be away for the 12 weeks can though as he has an army reserves course when it will be due so I might take Mum with me. He had to miss the 20 week scan with Finn as he was interstate with work, but Mum came to that too. All the others he came to all the other scans. Because I only see midwives there isn't much for him to see or do when I go to the appointments so we haven't really worried about it.

Feeling really tired tonight. I should be sewing but just feel like lazing on the couch. I have been a bit like that for the past 3 weeks though so no surprise I guess. And it is weird being here at night without at least the kids to keep me company so I am not sleeping very well either which means I am tired tonight. And sitting here crying at a stupid Ben Affleck movie - bloody hormones LOL!

Finn is ready for a feed and to go to bed. Have a good night all.

xxxx