Instead of a bullet point
post, I’m going to do 4 mini-posts in one.
I know you are excited!
Nesting
The nesting has begun. We cleaned out the “scrapping” room to make
way for the baby furniture we bought. I
still have to clear out half of the closet but we are well on our way to having
a real nursery. We even installed some
shelves in the closet. The lady at work
that had her baby girl 7 weeks early gave me a box full of clothes that her
little one has outgrown. I can’t believe
that I have baby clothes in my house. We
brought the crib and dresser home and set them up in her room. I fought tears a couple of times because I was
just so overcome with joy and love and disbelief that this is happening for us. BJ didn’t see the tears. He went down to the neighbor’s house for a
little while and I took that time to hang out in baby girl’s room and have a
talk with her and God. Of course the
flood gates opened up at that point. We
had put her bedding in her crib to get an idea of if we liked it (we love it)
and to see what color(s) we want to pull from the bedding in order to
paint. I kept looking at the empty crib
in awe. There’s finally going to be a
baby in our house (hopefully) and it’s so emotionally overwhelming that
sometimes I just cry. I pulled myself
together and by the time BJ got home I was fresh faced again. He doesn’t like it when I get over emotional
like that so I try to keep it all to myself until I’m alone. It makes him uncomfortable and he knows there’s
nothing he can do to prevent the tears so I try to protect him from feeling
like he can’t protect me…confusing, yes, but it works. We also started clearing out the
basement. We have a huge load of stuff
to take to the thrift store this weekend.
Once we do that he will have room to work down there whenever he feels
like working. It will be nice to get
started on the basement finally. I
really need my scrapping space back. :-)Registering
We started a baby registry when we picked up the crib and dresser. We picked out the bigger ticket items that we’d both need to agree on and then added some smaller things here and there. It was so fun to watch BJ with the scanner…he walked passed a teddy bear and scanned it and looked at me with a sly smile on his face and said, “she needs a big bear”. There are some things that I still need to research to make sure we didn’t pick something that got bad reviews. There are many, many small things that still need to be added. BJ said that he was fine with whatever I picked as far as bottles and breast pump and stuff like that go. I don’t blame him for opting out of another big visit to the store. It’s so overwhelming to have to choose what we want. So here’s my question…I plan on nursing but know that I still need bottles. What kind of bottles did you moms out there love or hate? I want to make sure that baby girl isn’t getting too much air and that she’s getting a bottle that is as close to the breast as possible. Also, are there things that you really couldn’t live without in the first several months? What did you get that you had no use for? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Melting
So you all heard about BJ feeling
baby girl for the first time and now you get to hear about the Little Guy’s
first experience. We ordered pizza from
Dom.ino’s on Sunday because we were so worn out from working in the basement we
didn’t feel like cooking. Anyway, I had
2 and half slices of pizza and the boys had pizza and wings and then we all
crashed on the couch. The LG always sits
between us while we watch TV. Baby girl
started kicking and wiggling away in there.
I thought I’d take a chance and told the LG to give me his hand. I lifted my shirt and gently placed his hand
on my stomach. I told him to be very
still and concentrate. Sure enough she
kicked! I asked him if he felt it and he
said he did. AWESOME! Then she did it again. Then BJ wanted a turn. His hand is so much bigger and he knows what
he’s expecting and he could feel her rolling around. Then the LG wanted to try again. He felt a very small kick and then couldn’t
feel any more. She was moving around a
lot so she either liked the pizza or didn’t like the pizza. Then the LG said to me, “it seems like she’s
never going to get here.” Awwwww…so
sweet. I assured him that she will be
here before he knows it.
Worrying
I had my regular OB check up
yesterday. Now is the time she’ll start
measuring me from the outside and I was very excited about that. She showed me where my uterus was and how to
feel for it myself. I thought that was very cool since I had been
unable to detect it up until that point.
Baby girl’s heart beat was between 147 and 152 bpm, which was perfect. When she measured me, however, I’m only
measuring 21cm, which is basically 21 weeks.
I was 22 week and 5 days yesterday.
She said that at this stage it’s nothing to worry about as long as I’m
within 2 week either way. I scheduled my
glucose test, my flu shot and my pertussis shot and was out the door. Then the worry set in. I did a little googling and decided that I
wasn’t going to stress about it. But of
course that is easier said than done. We
had our anatomy scan less than 3 weeks ago and she measured exactly with her
due date. How is it possible that now I’m
almost a full 2 weeks behind? Then I
started to worry about the amniotic fluid.
I know baby girl is fine, I feel her kicking and dancing and
cartwheeling in there all the time…but what about the uterus? Is it too small for her? Will I go into pre-term labor and lose
her? Oh my gosh I’m tearing up just
thinking about that. Then the cashier in
our cafeteria was amazed at how small I am for 5 months. I almost started crying right there as she
was giving me my change. BJ has been
trying to reassure me that everything is fine.
He even looked up pictures of 5 month pregnant women on his phone while
at work to see how I compare with them.
He told me we have nothing to worry about right now. We’ll see what happens at the next appointment
before we start to worry about anything.
Yeah, easy for him to say. So I
will just have to pull out my mantra of “baby’s fine, baby’s fine, baby’s fine”
to get me through the next 4 weeks. As I’m
typing my baby girl is doing flips and spins to let me know she’s ok. It’s not her I’m worried about right
now. It’s the uterus in which she calls
home. Anyone else have this experience
that can set my mind at ease, at least a little?
12 comments:
So exciting! Try not to worry about the measurements. A friend of mine was measuring behind for a while, and she ended up having a totally normal - if not a little larger than normal - sized baby.
Don't worry about the measurements! I measured behind by 2 weeks at one appointment and ahead by 1 week the very next week. It's pretty subjective. Besides, if they're worried they'll order an ultrasound. Take care.
Those fundal length measurements are SOOOOO inaccurate. Seriously. Don't stress about AT ALL. The anatomy scan gives a MUCH clearer picture of size so go with that. Seriously. I measure normally and then Isa ended up being NINE POUNDS when she was two weeks early. They had NO IDEA! And that is because those measurements are so inaccurate. That is why they have such a big space on each side. Don't worry about, it's really nothing.
So excited you got started on the nursery. That is so much fun. ;)
I would say try not to worry, but its impossible to stop worrying so instead I will tell you about bottles :)
I love Dr. Browns but they are just normal shaped bottles. They are good at not letting air in, but if you want something more like a breast, I recommend BreastFlow by First Years. They are shaped more breast like and also don't let air in. I was lucky enough to have a little one who doesn't mind going back and forth so we use both depending on what is clean. My only complaint is that it is hard to get the last little bit of milk out.
It's perfectly normal to measure behind/ahead. This is your first pregnancy, I was always behind in my first pregnancy. At 7 months I had someone ask me if I was pregnant or had just eaten a big lunch. Your little girlie is having a ball in there so don't worry yourself.
I'm going to pipe in on the bottles here. I do have 3 children from my first marriage. I am now re-married to someone younger who has never had kids so we decided several years ago Hey, let's have a baby...cuz I'm fertile Myrtle. Wrong! I had chemical pregnancies, weird bleeding episodes so we never did have a baby and now I feel too old to bother trying anymore. But, I did find out my uterus is basically a fibroid farm and, on doing some research on why so many women have fibroids now, a lot was mentioned about possible toxins in plastic. If I were to have a baby girl, call me paranoid but, I'd honestly only let her drink out of glass! I know it can break and it's heavy and all that but I've just read so many scary things about plastic and how it may play a part in infertility etc. Just something to look in to.
Anyway, sorry for that lengthy comment!
Yes, those measurements are notoriously inaccurate - the anatomy scan is much, much more reliable. Try not to dwell on it too much...
Re bottles - I'm a Dr. Brown's gal - they worked fabulously well, especially for my more reflux challenged boy. My twins went back and forth from breast to bottle without any issues.
Re must haves in the first year, good swaddling blankets, boppies, swaddle sacks, and a gazillion cloth diapers (for burp cloths) were my survival tools in the first few months. Also, a swing chair. That is a little more baby specific - some like bouncing more, but the swing chairs were a total godsend for us.
Glad you are starting to enjoy things a bit! Feeling them move is the most amazing thing ever.
Elizabeth
Sweetie the fundal height is totally a guess!! it's a matter of 1cm on your belly!! And I got a lot of "oh my god you look tiny!" to the point that really upset me. One thing my fab OB told me when I told him about the comments is that people only have a clear idea of what a nine-month pregnant woman looks like and have no clue about the time in between. Please don't worry at all (though I did, just like you!) because I'm sure there is absolutely nothing to worry about. Well done on all the rest of the achievements! Love, Fran
Nice article, thanks for the information.
The measurements are just a guideline and everyone carries differently. Everyone told me how small I was carrying small and I didn't have ANY pre-term issues and NO contractions before she was taken by c-section at 39 weeks due to my fibroid surgery. Don't stress about it...I know easier said than done! Here's a pic of me at 23 weeks, http://someday-soon13.blogspot.com/2010/02/thumpthump.html.
Other than the obvious car seat, stroller, etc. must have items for the very beginning for me were mostly around nursing since babies do that A LOT =) A boppy pillow, extra cover for the pillow for spit up situations, Medela lanolin(found it superior to lansinoh) and gel pads you can refrigerate and put in your bra between feedings (found at Target). Other loves right off the bat were our wipe warmer, receiving blankets, pack n play with the infant napper top (we slept her in that in our room), reclining bouncer chair, bath mits (we used socks with holes cut out for our thumbs) because it's amazing how slippery a wet baby is, toiletries (nail clipper, nasal aspirator, gas drops, infant tylenol), breast milk pumping bags. In the 2-6 week range we also found a love of swaddle sacks, the play gym mat you lay on the floor and they stare at. At 4 weeks we started her on bottles. The Mr fed her once a day and it got her use to them. We used Medela bottles and they worked well for us.
Sorry this go so long, hopefully it was a little helpful =) It's great to see you writing about all this fun stuff! The overwhelmed feeling of joy is something you should prepare for a lot more of =)
Wish I had some advice for you but I've never made it that far. Good luck!
As many others here have said, please do not worry about the fundal height measurements - so inaccurate! And people told me I looked small until the day I went into the hospital. And babygirl was 7 lbs 3 oz. and is ridiculously healthy.
RE: bottles, my advice is not to buy too many of anything. My experience was that we went through several different kinds until we found one that worked. I was even able to borrow 3 Nuks from a mom friend to try them out. Oh, and borrowed some Dr. Brown's too, which didn't work either. Ultimately, we ended up sticking with Breastflow which the lactation consultant had recommended when we needed to supplement in her first weeks (after the Medela bottles/nipples didn't work so well). They are a pain in the a$$ to wash (I always had to wash by hand, dishwasher was useless), but they've lasted until last week when we went totally sippy cup and whole milk! :-) We never had any colic problems or really anything other than run-of-the-mill spit up so I just needed to find bottles that she would drink out of.
So glad to hear all is going so well for you! Hang in there! She'll be here sooner than you can imagine!
The others have a lot of great comments about the fundal height - so variable! Regarding the bottles, we started with the Playtex drop-ins, and they were convenient, but then we moved to Dr. Brown's bottles due to reflux - so much better! I agree with a previous comment - don't get too many of any particular type, as you never know what that little girl will like...
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