Post Punk Kitchen Forum

great bellies!!

and i don't know why but I half expected you to be dressed like the log lady(person in BB's avatar). i was surprised when you looked normal. :)

yay bellies! so cute!

I just had my weekly check-up, and now I'm about 80% effaced, but 0cm dilated and my cervix is posterior. The exam hurts (that is so far for a hand to go!), but I feel better because now I know my intermittent contractions, which are uncomfortable but totally tolerable, are actually productive. Now I feel like I can do this! The doctor estimates the baby is 7 1/2 pounds, but I know those estimates can be way off. Based on how much room is left in my abdomen, I estimate he is at least 20 pounds.

Now we have to hope I don't go into labor on the 22nd, because that's the day the nurses at my hospital are going on strike...

LOVE all the belly pictures. Beautiful!!

I just got back from my monthly checkup. I'm 14 weeks now and everything seems cool but I am now officially without an OB. My Dr. has decided to stop dealing with pregnancy's and I now have to go and find someone new but of course I'm still welcome to come back for my yearly exams with her. I'm sad because I really liked her too.

I'm just so annoyed at this. With all the craziness that has been going on lately with the genetic testing and whatnot and now I have to start over with someone new. This OB and the hospital are right down the street from me. I could have walked there if I wanted to and with my shitty insurance I might not be able to find someone who is affiliated with that hospital in my plan. I'm thinking of switching to a midwife but the closest ones are about 25 minutes away. Which isn't too bad but I was more comfortable with the closeness of this last place.

I'm going to go eat some chocolate chips and salty potato chips now to cheer myself up.

I am so sorry Jenna! Are the midwives associated with a birthing center or another hospital. I don't know about other people's experiences but I really liked being home after Zelda was born so I wouldn't be without Henry. He wouldn't have been allowed at the hospital because of swine flu. You generally get to go home quicker in a birth center environment and would probably be way less stressful than your doctor encounters have been.

eat your chocolate and feel free to come back and vent more. that sucks.

I love all the belly pics!

Love all the belly pictures, so beautiful!

I am so tired. I have the day off today and a long list of things I should be doing, but I just want to go back to bed. Our house is almost ready for the baby, but nowhere near ready for all of the relatives who are going to visit afterward. I don't feel like I can vent anywhere but here, because my husband is working 16 hours a day and then coming home and painting the living room, installing shelving, and fixing the garbage disposal. Between work and getting the house ready, he is only sleeping 4 hours a night, so I don't want to whine to him about being tired. We still don't have the car seat installed or the bassinet set up, and our house is a disaster because of all our remodeling. I look around and see so many things I need to do, but I just want to nap. Blah.

So apparently I am pregnant, but my progesterone levels are almost non-existant. I'm going in for more tests, but the MD's office made it sound like there isn't any way this can be a healthy pregnancy. Has anyone else dealt with this in the past?

Also, my lab (Quest Diagnostics) has f'd up my labs before, but they are the only lab my ob gyn will use. But it seems silly to hope for a lab error....

Oh my! I don't know anything about this, but I hope you get some answers soon. Like, today or tomorrow. I have my fingers crossed and am thinking healthy thoughts for you and this pregnancy. ((hugs))

'fulish, i know some people who have taken progesterone shots to keep a pregnancy going when they had strangely low levels. i hope that's an option for you! or that there's something else going on that's fixable!

just to warn you, mitten, feeling horribly excruciatingly tired was a sign of early labour for me! i was in pretty good shape up until the day before i went into labour. i kept trying to leave the house to get some stuff down and kept ending back up on the couch! listen to your body and REST. seriously sleep all day if you need to. you won't be getting a heck of a lot of sleep in a couple weeks, so store up now!

I'm sorry, Tofulish! My friend with PCOS had problems creating progesterone in the beginning of her pregnancies. This is all second hand, obviously, but I believe the first time they didn't realize it early enough. With consecutive pregnancies they made sure to monitor her progesterone levels from the beginning, and she took shots or pills to boost her levels.

That is really interesting, and I'm going to bring it up with my Ob-Gyn. I honestly hadn't even thought about the progesterone being an issue - but of course people with PCOS convert progesterone to testosterone, so that may be part of the problem here - clearly something to think about for next time.

I called the doctor back after the post and some quick googling asked about getting supplemented and she said that my levels are at 1.8 and they should be over 9 (at which point they would have supplemented), and that they will not supplement an unviable pregnancy, which sounds reasonable. I think we've both come to terms with the fact that this pregnancy isn't working out and we'll be having a ton of X-mas sex :)

i'm sorry things haven't worked out with this pregnancy, tofulish, but i am looking forward to happier pregnancy updates after christmas. hopefully the obgyn will have good advice about the progesterone shots or pills or whatever you might need!

I'm going to be 31 wks on Thanksvegan, and I'm starting to experience braxton hicks contractions. I didn't have these AT ALL last time. They are so not cool. The only positive I can see is that maybe this time I'll have more warning before I have to go to the hospital. Last time, I didn't feel contractions, faux or otherwise, and then all of the sudden I was having contractions that were 2 minutes apart.

Hope all you ladies who are getting close to your dates are staying comfortable!

I'm 22 weeks today and things are going pretty good, other than my ridiculously itchy skin issues - I think I have prurigo of pregnancy, which is harmless, but miserably itchy. I had my big ultrasound last Monday and we found out that we are having a girl! Super excited. Apparently she's already 90% percentile for growth rates, so I'm guessing a big baby is in my future.

I just got back from my 38 week appointment and now I am kind of terrified and have some questions. Two weeks ago I was about 50% effaced 0 cm dilated, last week 80% effaced 0cm dilated, this week back to 50% effaced and 1-2 cm dilated. I guess my doctor is just bad at estimating how effaced I am? People who have given birth before, how long were you 1-2 cm dilated before you went into actual labor?

This seems to be happening so fast--I guess I assumed because it is my first pregnancy I would go past my due date. Now I am on pins and needles not knowing how much time I have left. I don't feel ready--our house is in disarray and all kinds of people are going to insist on visiting. I am having pretty much every pre-labor symptom listed in the books, and have been for about 2 weeks. Strangely (or not strangely?) I am not afraid of the birth; I am terrified of being in charge of a baby. I don't feel qualified. I have not spent any time around babies. Really, I can't believe they are going to let me take an infant home and trust me not to accidentally hurt it.

My other question is did any of you test positive for group B strep? I did, and I am a little bummed because it means I have to have a heparin lock and antibiotics every 4 hours while I'm in labor. I'm okay with it if it's necessary, but I was hoping to avoid needles because they creep me out. The doctor said if my water breaks before I start having contractions I have to labor in the hospital so I can have antibiotics--that sounds like a recipe for pitocin to me. Anybody else had to deal with strep B and was it a problem?

If it were up to me (and it's not) I would like another week. I could really use that time to get organized. I am flipping out a little bit. There is no time and this is all so sudden! Ack!

Yay, ducky! A girl will be so fun.

Oh, mitten! I have no experience, since I'm four weeks behind you on this whole firstbabyventure thing but I just wanted to say: HUGS. I'd be a little wigged out, too. I've been assuming this whole time that I'll probably go past my due date and now I'm sort of banking on it because we're moving when I'm 37 weeks. Stay in there, baby!

i've heard stories about people being dilated 3 cm for weeks in advance of labor. i've always been told it's not highly reflective of how soon you'll go into labor.

personally, i was 3 1/2 cm dilated at my last appt before i went into labor with my first. it was only a few days before i went into labor, but based off some discomfort i'd been having i would guess i was that dilated well before that, too (i just never had the midwife check until that last visit).

i know it's hard, but probably the best thing you can do for yourself at this point is try to let go. you can't control what's going to happen, more than likely it will not be the worst case scenario, so try to let it go and forget that stress. concentrate on listening to your body's needs right now and get what you can done around the house in the mean time.

i totally feel you on the taking care of a baby fear. i've never been around kids, especially babies, before i had one. a lot of it really will come intuitively. pediatricians and experienced parent friends are happy to fill in the blanks when you're just not sure. eventually, you find yourself celebrating your babe's first year, and you give yourself a mental high five for keeping a super tiny, super needy person alive for that long.

mitten....I had absolutely no baby experience before I had Reno. I remember when they plopped her on my belly when she was born the first thought I had was "what the hell did we do and now what do I do?" Once all the birth crazyness died down and I was in my room and she was brought in I just knew exactly what to do and so did my husband who really had no baby experience. It was cool how natural it was to just know what to do for this hour old baby.

Congrats on the girl ducky! I have my big ultrasound next week, but we're not finding out the sex.

So I decided to try a prenatal yoga class on Saturday after not having worked out since I've been pregnant (besides walking). Needless to say, I've been ridiculously sore the last two days. I'm a little afraid to go to another class. In good news, I finally started feeling little kicks!

Yay for little kicks sashi!!! That is so exciting. If the new place i'm going to doesn't give me an ultrasound tomorrow and tell me what we are having then I'll have my big one 2 days before christmas. We are finding out the sex...I can't not know!

I'm going to start prenatal yoga classes next week. I also haven't done anything sort of exercise since I got pregnant and am a bit afraid of how sore I'll be afterwards. :)

Tofulish- I am so sorry about what you are going through. It sounds like you are handling it well, so that's good. If it can't be this time, best wishes for a healthy pregnancy soon!

Mitten- I am sure you will do great taking care of the baby. I had almost no experience either, but so far it has been really wonderful. I wouldn't say it totally came naturally- like at first I wasn't even sure how to hold him right- but I got used to it very quickly and now at 5 or so weeks I am pretty comfortable with everything. So don't worry!

Also, I didn't have strep b but I got a hep lock in the hospital as routine policy anyway. I hate needles too but it wasn't a big deal- it didn't hurt or anything.

Ooooooh mitten, I am sending you a ton of really awesome good thoughts. When I met you, you seemed like you would be an amazing mother. You have this wonderful sweetness and calm about you.

I hope it all goes really well, and that you have the birth experience you hoped for and I can't wait to see pictures of baby mitten!