Angela-So Uncomfortable

Hey Ladies, I totally agree with Nicole's post about being uncomfortable. It is getting so hard to work and continue going about normal day-to-day activities. I don't know how mothers with children already do it. Thankfully, my daughter is pretty well behaved, but she still has needs too. How do you juggle what your body is doing and maintaing a household and still not neglect your other children?
I plan to only work one week more, but we'll see how my doctor's appointment goes tomorrow. Each pregnancy is really different. My little guy has been chillin so low in my pelvis that it is hard to sleep and now moving around is getting increasingly harder.
I wish the rest of you best of luck managing your aches and pains. If anyone finds a miracle cure, (beside just having the baby), share it.

~Nichole ~ 2 Weeks and charts

I've got two weeks left. We've had to start making some hard decisions. This baby feels bigger than my previous two, that could be because he's already dropped further down than my first two did until I was actually in labor with them. I'm worried that he might come early, in which case I'll have to find someone to watch my kids and have Derrick rush home from work and take me to the hospital. We'll also miss out on a big bonus that Derrick will get if he doesn't miss any work. We're trying to decide if we should just ignore the bonus and have him home for the next couple of weeks to help with everything since I've been put on semi-bedrest (I'm supposed to sit as much as possible and not do many chores or lift heavy things), or try and make it to 40 weeks and hope he gets the bonus if I can put off having this baby until the due date. We could really use the bonus but at the same time if Derrick does take work off he'll be here if I go into labor or with his help we may be able to put off labor until we have family here to help with our other kids while we go have the baby. We keep saying we'll see how the next dr. apt. goes and make decisions from there, in hopes that the doctor will say "you're going to have this baby soon" or "looks like your progressing well for where you're suppose to be". I guess you never really know when the baby will come. I wish they could say that because I am dialated to 2.5cm and 50% effaced and the baby is in station +2 that I will go really soon, but some people go months being dialated and effaced and others don't dialate or efface until the day of labor. It's hard to be patient.

We've been seeing the doctor every week now and I am getting so excited to be done with this pregnancy, although I know that I'll miss being pregnant and feeling those little kicks... which aren't so little anymore. Now that they're checking the babies progress everytime I've been studying up on all the numbers and percentages and terms they start using. Most I knew from previous babies, but I forgot exactly what a station meant when my doctor told me I was at a +2 yesterday, so I thought I'd share my findings with you all. Maybe you already know this, or maybe it's too much info right now, but I'm hoping it will be helpful.

As pregnancy gets closer to ending your doctor will probably be saying things like "you're __ cm dialated, ___ % effaced, and the baby has dropped into __ station/position/engagement.".

Here are the charts I found most helpful in letting me know what it all really meant and looked like.

The stations range from -5 "floating" to +5 "crowning". A zero means the baby is engaged in the pelvis. There is a centimeter between each station.

Kris .... I'm back!

Happy Mother's Day Ladies!! I know it's been a while but things have been crazy. I am happy to report though that we finally registered at Target today. We are still aiming for Babies R Us too, but it will probably be a couple weeks. We are such slackers! Next Sat we are doing the 3D/4D imaging of our baby Kamaera. We still havent finished painting the room. We havent ordered a crib set yet, or finished the bamboo curtain rod. Yes thats bamboo. We are doing a Tropical summer theme for her room. That is probably the thing we're most excited about. As for my health, im good. Dont think about the prego thing too much. I feel a lot is expected of me Army wise so I rarely have a chance to slow down and think about the baby. I know that must sound bad but its true. I remember about her when females at work make comments like "Dang youre big!" or "Youre only that far along?". It just makes me feel fat and depressed for a few minutes then I have to shove that aside and move on with life. The males seem to think i look good or not prego at all. LOL they must just think im a x large woman all the time. Reguardless of their reasoning, their coments make my day. I had to go to the promotion board on Monday. A Panel of 6, rapidly firing questions on 15 diff subjects I had to answer. Scarry. So glad its over and they approved me for advancement to the next rank. Just have to get more points and ill make Sergeant. This next wk I have Safetey Stand Down. Im my clinic's rep so I was put in charge of the Heat casualty/environmental safety portion of the instruction for my unit. A little crazy but im getting use to being in front of the unit (+60 people). Till then Im just chugging along. Hope you all are doing well and getting as much sleep as possible. Have a wonderful day!

Nichole ~Inducing

Up until yesterday my doctor appointments were monthly and now they will be weekly. I went in for the Strep B test and they made sure everything was going ok. We found out that I am already dialated to a 2. I am used to dialating a little early, but I think this might be earlier than my first two. I was told to try to stay sitting throughout the day so that we can put off having this baby until we are officially to term. I'm hoping we don't go early. I'm due on Derrick's last day of school and so I'd like to wait until thats over, I guess I don't have a lot of say though.
Science is always changing. When I was getting ready to have my first they told me that they like to wait until you're 1-2 weeks overdue before they induce and so I was a week over when we induced. With my second they told me they induce between 39 and 41 weeks and wouldn't let you go more than a week over. We ended up getting induced on his due date. They kind of pushed being induced in my 39th week. With this little one they told us they won't let us go over the due date by more than half a week. He said that they don't recommend going in before 39 weeks still, but that the risks of going in a little before then are about the same as going in after the 40.5 weeks. We'd like to try and go to at least the 40 weeks. I like the idea of the baby having all the time he needs to develop. I understand that when pregnant women start to get to end of their pregnancy they just want it to be over or for the convenience of it, but I don't know if it's worth the risks of inducing early. What do you guys think?

Nichole~ Uncomfortable

So my countdown officially started awhile ago, but now it's really up and going. I am getting so ready to meet this little guy. My pregnancy hasn't been bad so far but now that I'm in the final stretch I can tell he's taking up more room then my body wants to give him and he's starting to settle down into my hips. I also notice that every time I bend down to pick something up that my diaphram/lungs don't work at that angle anymore and I almost unawaringly grunt. I first noticed this the beginning of April while out picking up garbage on the side of the road with my ward young women. We had a couple miles of road that the church adopted and it was our turn to help, so I walked up and down the side of a busy road looking huge and grunting. Great fun.

We are now among the 3-D group. We had a 32 week ultra sound where they did the 3D thing and we got to see our little boy. It was neat to see. We only had one ultra sound during my first two pregnancies, and that was at 20 weeks to see the sex of the baby. It was cool to see our little baby so fully developed, inherited Capps chubby cheeks and all.

Angela: Picture...finally

Been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to post this from March's 3-D ultrasound. Hope you can make it out, it's a picture of our little boy's face with his hand by his chin. Sometimes looking at these ultrasounds it's hard to tell what is what. It took us two tries to get some good face shots. Have any of you tryed out the 3-D or 4-D thing?

-Angela

Vanessa: Baby Stuff

So I have obviously been looking at baby stuff lately, deciding what we need to get. And I was just wondering what you guys think the most important things are, and what you didnt really use? I guess mainly Angela and Nichole what did you find to be the most useful baby items other then a crib, clothes, and diapers? :)