Well, I guess this is really more of the same growth update. I had my ob appointment and my u/s results finally posted, so I could see where nugget is growth-wise. Her weight is right at the 50%, and all the measurements are right on - the only one that is a bit strange since we have so many tall genes is her femurs are only measuring in the 37%. But then I remind myself that these measurements are done in millimeters, so there is a reason they give a +/- for the measurements. Otherwise, she is measuring right in between the measurements for SB and BW for the same timeframe. If that keeps up, she will hopefully be right between them weight-wise at birth, which would put her at about 7 lbs. OB also declared at my appt that nugget is still breech. He said if she hasn't flipped by 36 weeks he will schedule a version to try and turn her. She is also posterior much of the time. I have another u/s coming up already - that should be the last or second-to-last one, I expect. I am very relieved that I haven't had any complications from the circumvallate placenta so far.
SB and BW get very excited to say hi to the baby, touch the baby, kiss the baby etc. with my bump. I'm fairly certain they don't actually get the concept, but it's fun to see them so excited.
I'm starting to get fairly anxious about 3 under 3. As I was doing bathtime for SB and BW the other night, and they were all giggly and goofy, I started thinking about how bath/bedtime will work once nugget is here. I expect that the hubs and I will need to split bath and bedtime duties for a while, as I will be nursing and probably busy with nugget while SB and BW are getting ready for bed. Hopefully once nugget is sitting up on her own bath and bedtime will become more of an assembly line and group activity and will be a bit more manageable. I am so lucky that hubs is willing and able to help out, but I also love bedtime. I have so little weekday time with SB and BW the way it is, I hate to also give up bedtime routine every night.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Friday, March 6, 2015
Circumvallate Placenta update
I have been impatiently waiting for the clinic to update my electronic health record so I can look at the actual measurements from our latest ultrasound, but so far, no dice, so I'll post a brief update on our latest ultrasound and I can perhaps fill in more info once the actual report is posted. At 30 weeks, nugget is measuring a few days ahead, so no growth issues to be seen yet, which is such a relief! She is breech, but seems to be quite the gymnast, as she extended her feet down into my bladder and then pointed them up by her head several times during the ultrasound - all of the "pike" and "straddle" exercises that SB and BW love to do (carryover from toddler gymnastics) must be a favorite of hers too - this also explains why I have a hard time telling what direction she is. I am a little concerned that she is so comfy being breech. SB and BW were head down from 20 weeks on, so I'm hoping she gets the memo soon that the exit is the other way.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Doula indecision
I'm trying to decide if we should hire a doula. We are very, very strictly budgeted right now because of some unexpected expenses, trying to eliminate our debt, as well as trying to make sure we have enough money set aside to cover expenses while I'm on maternity leave.
I had hoped for a natural childbirth with SB and BW, but my labor was an induction that I didn't handle very well. I feel like I can honestly say I never felt a true contraction. I went from not feeling anything, to feeling some dull period crampiness to feeling a constant, unrelenting pain. There were no peaks and valleys, no breaks. I made no progress the majority of the day (I was dilated to a 3 prior to the induction) and when I finally made it to 4, the doctor okayed the epidural and I asked for it immediately. Once I received the epidural, I snuck in a little nap and went from 4-10 in about an hour.
I learned from my labor with SB and BW that DH is a very passive birth partner. I think he wanted me to ask for help and tell him what to do, and if I didn't say anything, I didn't need anything. I'm very indecisive myself, so that last thing I wanted to be doing when I was in pain was giving someone else suggestions on how to help me. We didn't receive any suggestions from the nurses on positions or anything to help with the labor process at all, so I felt very alone in the process.
This second time around, I'd really like to go into labor naturally and give birth without pain medication. I have a reasonable chance of having a fast labor - I progressed very quickly once I started making progress with my last labor, and my mom had 2 quick labors. So I'm debating the doula. I'd really like one, but the cost is deterring me a bit, and DH doesn't really seem too on board with it yet. I probably need to discuss it seriously with him again, but like most things, I'm procrastinating. If we aren't going the doula route, I need to prep more for doing things on my own and giving DH more direction.
I had hoped for a natural childbirth with SB and BW, but my labor was an induction that I didn't handle very well. I feel like I can honestly say I never felt a true contraction. I went from not feeling anything, to feeling some dull period crampiness to feeling a constant, unrelenting pain. There were no peaks and valleys, no breaks. I made no progress the majority of the day (I was dilated to a 3 prior to the induction) and when I finally made it to 4, the doctor okayed the epidural and I asked for it immediately. Once I received the epidural, I snuck in a little nap and went from 4-10 in about an hour.
I learned from my labor with SB and BW that DH is a very passive birth partner. I think he wanted me to ask for help and tell him what to do, and if I didn't say anything, I didn't need anything. I'm very indecisive myself, so that last thing I wanted to be doing when I was in pain was giving someone else suggestions on how to help me. We didn't receive any suggestions from the nurses on positions or anything to help with the labor process at all, so I felt very alone in the process.
This second time around, I'd really like to go into labor naturally and give birth without pain medication. I have a reasonable chance of having a fast labor - I progressed very quickly once I started making progress with my last labor, and my mom had 2 quick labors. So I'm debating the doula. I'd really like one, but the cost is deterring me a bit, and DH doesn't really seem too on board with it yet. I probably need to discuss it seriously with him again, but like most things, I'm procrastinating. If we aren't going the doula route, I need to prep more for doing things on my own and giving DH more direction.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Unfinished projects
If you sift way, way back through my blog to the pre-kid days, I posted about a blanket I was making step-daughter, called the Babette blanket. It is a beautiful pattern that I highly recommend, although I was lazy with switching yarn on my granny squares so I've had to do some remedial work on it and it isn't a blanket that can handle the wear and tear of everyday use because of the way I switched colors without tightly anchoring the yarn. Lesson learned the (very) hard way after squares started to unravel.
In that post, I posted that I was probably going to make another, since I had to buy 17 skeins of yarn to complete the blanket. I didn't make another, because it frankly was a really, really time-consuming blanket. However, I did have a large amount of leftover yarn that I was able to use to make crocheted blankets for SB and BW. Neither of which is finished, and they are almost 2. It's a good thing that I grossly overexaggerate the size that a baby blanket needs to be, because they will be able to use these blankets into their teens if they wish. I have mostly finishing left on one blanket, and probably several more rows of crochet on the other. one is a bubble pattern, that has the colors from step-daughter's blanket plus a few more, and the other is a wave pattern that uses 12 different colors. I love them both and need to finish them so SB and BW can love them, too.
Now, I'm stuck a few months from nugget's arrival, and I haven't a start on a blanket. Haven't even thought about a blanket, and don't really know what to do. I think I may wait a few years, and start then.
Then there are the photos. I wrote letters to SB and BW periodically through the first year, and I had grand plans to do photo memory books for them and incorporate the letters and other milestones. I am 4 months into BW's book, haven't started SB's book, and SB and BW are quickly approaching 2. We still don't have any, ANY framed pictures of SB and BW in our house, primarily because by the time I get around to printing pictures, it is months after the pictures were taken, and they feel out of date. I don't know how other people do this. Do they just survive on less sleep than me? Should I be putting this stuff as a higher priority? Do I just give up and try again in a few years?
I'm also feeling third-child guilt already because, in addition to not having any sort of baby blanket project in the works for nugget, I have taken like, 2 bump photos this pregnancy. No weekly photos, no love for nugget-still-in-the-womb. Don't get me wrong, I feel very bonded to her, I am excited for her arrival (although also terrified) but I have horrible pregnancy acne, and it's just work to remember to take the photos before I am comfortably ensconced in lounge pants and a huge t-shirt.
In that post, I posted that I was probably going to make another, since I had to buy 17 skeins of yarn to complete the blanket. I didn't make another, because it frankly was a really, really time-consuming blanket. However, I did have a large amount of leftover yarn that I was able to use to make crocheted blankets for SB and BW. Neither of which is finished, and they are almost 2. It's a good thing that I grossly overexaggerate the size that a baby blanket needs to be, because they will be able to use these blankets into their teens if they wish. I have mostly finishing left on one blanket, and probably several more rows of crochet on the other. one is a bubble pattern, that has the colors from step-daughter's blanket plus a few more, and the other is a wave pattern that uses 12 different colors. I love them both and need to finish them so SB and BW can love them, too.
Now, I'm stuck a few months from nugget's arrival, and I haven't a start on a blanket. Haven't even thought about a blanket, and don't really know what to do. I think I may wait a few years, and start then.
Then there are the photos. I wrote letters to SB and BW periodically through the first year, and I had grand plans to do photo memory books for them and incorporate the letters and other milestones. I am 4 months into BW's book, haven't started SB's book, and SB and BW are quickly approaching 2. We still don't have any, ANY framed pictures of SB and BW in our house, primarily because by the time I get around to printing pictures, it is months after the pictures were taken, and they feel out of date. I don't know how other people do this. Do they just survive on less sleep than me? Should I be putting this stuff as a higher priority? Do I just give up and try again in a few years?
I'm also feeling third-child guilt already because, in addition to not having any sort of baby blanket project in the works for nugget, I have taken like, 2 bump photos this pregnancy. No weekly photos, no love for nugget-still-in-the-womb. Don't get me wrong, I feel very bonded to her, I am excited for her arrival (although also terrified) but I have horrible pregnancy acne, and it's just work to remember to take the photos before I am comfortably ensconced in lounge pants and a huge t-shirt.
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