10 posts tagged “baby”

So my sweet little baby boy has made his way up into my ribs! There are times when I have to lean to the left to make him some room in there. I feel like his leg is stuck up under my ribs and if I don't lean to the side I'll break his leg! I just didn't know he was that far up in my belly yet. I know my belly is getting very large, but seriously. We went and saw Ratatoiulle (how the heck do you spell that?) and I spent the whole movie at a slant to the side. I've heard preggos complain about having their baby "in my ribs" but until now I couldn't appreciate the discomfort and oddity of it all. He is also continuing to be a wild man and jump all around in there. My OB said to me last week " well, an active baby on the inside likely means a very active baby on the outside". Is that a good thing?

Thanks, Anna, for giving me this website to play around with. I'm sure there are a million things I should be doing, but instead I wasted about 30mins playing on the internet.

On a baby note.....I bought us a packn'play this afternoon. It's all set up and siting in the baby's room. I really want to put it beside my bed and see how it fits, but it's a bit early for that! Plus I really don't want it to become a cat bed.

We have started decorating the baby's nursery! Our crib and rocker/recliner arrived today. They look great and we are very happy with our choices. Now we just need to get a changer/dresser. My mom has been here to visit since Saturday and we have been busy at the baby and craft stores. As you can see in the pictures we have been creative in decorating the walls without paint. It's hard in a rental to decorate because of the limits on painting walls. We figured it out though. We also bought a great planet mobile tonight. It just makes me so happy to see it starting to come together.
I'm also 24 weeks today! Jason felt the baby kick for the first time on sunday, Pre-Father's day! It was great to be able to share that with him. My mom has also since felt baby kick this week. I'm feeling all kinds of kicks and wiggles in there at all hours of the day.

So the baby has been very active the last couple of days. He doesn't really seem to have any rhythm or reason as to when he is awake and kicking. I wish I knew when he was going to be kicking. I have this tremendous guilt that I get to feel him all day and Jason hasn't felt him kick yet. (We think maybe he felt him a few nights ago but maybe not.) I just really want to share the amazing feeling with my husband and I can't do anything about it. I guess we just have to wait until his kicks are even stronger! Or we just need to catch him just right. 

I was totally set on getting a co-sleeper for the baby until we saw on consumer reports that they are not endorsed by the academy of Pediatricians. Apparently there are no safety standards for them and so they are not regulated. I just don't know. I really like the idea of it and how nice and close the baby would be to my bedside. I'd hope that if they were unsafe they would be taken off the market. My other option is to get a packn'play instead.
I know if I actually looked up every single item I buy for this little guy, they all might not be endorsed by this group or that group. Which group do you listen to?
I would appreciate any info or suggestions on this "place for baby to sleep" problem!

I've started really thinking about this whole birth thing now that I've over half way through this pregnancy. I'm pretty much freaked out about it. Being a nurse I know too much of some things and not enough of other specific things related to labor and delivery. I have been an ICU nurse the large majority of my career so I only know the "worse-case senario" of outcomes. Granted, I never saw delivery complications because my hospital did not do that, but either way I saw all the bad things that happen to people. Either way....I decided the best way to deal with these fears are to educate myself about my options.
I've started looking in to hypnobirth. I know some people probably think I'm crazy, but I really think it could be an option. My mom and my mother-in-law both had all of their babies naturally and I'm not living in a city that is all about natural birth. Being a medical person, I like the idea of the least-medical birth I can have (unless problems arise, then bring on the brigade of OB's and other MD's to save the day with whatever medical thing they have!). Women have been doing this for thousands of years without drugs right? Now, I really don't want people to think I'm against using drugs and epidurals. I think birth is a very personal experience and each and every woman needs to make their own choices on this topic. And truly, I'll probably end up having an epidural in the end. But I really think I want to give it a try.
I've been hypnotized before. I know, I was always a critic of the whole hypnotizum thing...until I experienced it. It really did work on me, granted it was a comedy show that came to Missoula a few years back. If you are interested in hearing more about my experience, let me know. It was crazy and fun and strange.
So, I'm interested to hear if anyone out there has had an experience with hypnobirth, good or bad. Bring it on! I want to hear what you think.

I went to a prenatal yoga class with my sister-in-law, Anna, today. It was so great. It's such a neat thing to be in a room with so many other pregnant women. It's amazing to see how different all the bellies look. One girl was only about 2 weeks behind me and she just now is getting the tiniest belly. From my pictures you can see that is not my case! It was, as most yoga classes are, very  earthy and focused on connecting your body and mind. The instructor is great and she often tells the class to "send love down to your babies". It's just such a cool thing. It really makes you relax and focus on your body and your baby. It made me really excited for my relaxation/hypnobirthing class that we signed up for through my hospital. If there is any chance I might be able to have a natural birth I better learn how to center and relax myself. We'll see!

So, this picture actually gives my belly the credit it deserves! The picture I posted last week did not. Or maybe it has just grown that much in one week!

We made our first big baby purchase this past week also. We bought a jogger stroller, the BOB Revolution. It's so great. We can even get a kit to make it so a car seat can just clip right in to it until the baby is older! We HOPE it may been the only stroller we need. We'll see though.

I've begun the baby shopping spree! Right now I'm very limited to just yellow and green, oh and orange. Just wait until I know what this little baby is! Then I'll go crazy on either little sporty boy clothes or adorable girlie clothes. I know you get lots of clothes for showers and such but right now with the looming move I have to buy very packable things. It's just so strange to be buying clothes for our baby. I've bought my share of baby things for friends but now it's for my own baby. It's still sinking in. 

For starters, thanks for the new word Julie! I love it.  I also just have a tell everyone the newest things I've learned today in my lactation counselor class.

FIRST AND FOREMORST: SORE NIPPLES MEAN BABY IS NOT LATCHING CORRECTLY! Nipples should not be sore! I know everyone has either heard of someone or maybe even experienced their nipples "cracking off!". You poor souls.  Sore nipples are the body's way of letting the mom know that she needs to get help with latching her baby. Once the baby latches correctly, even if your nipple is half falling off, it should not hurt. Components of breast milk will also help soothe and heal the area.

Here is a senario: A woman has tried and tried and has not been able to carry a pregnancy to full term OR she has not been able to get pregnant. She decides to adopt a baby but is very upset on missing the breastfeeding experience. Is she out of luck or maybe, just maybe, there is hope.

.............surprise! There is hope. It's called relactation. Women are able to produce milk and successfully breastfeed an adopted infant. Now, this must take in to account if the baby WANTS to nurse. If you adopt a 15month old baby who is taking solids, you are out of luck. If anyone wants more info on this please let me know and I can give you details.

Here is another amazing fact that has quite a bit of solid research behind it:

When a baby is placed on the mother's breast, her breasts will actually HEAT-UP to keep the baby warm. No kidding. Also, if twins are placed on mom's breast and they have different temperature needs, the mom's breasts will heat up independently to adjust to which baby needs more heat. I believe my instructor said up to three degrees different.

Did you also know that babies ALWAYS go to the left breast when they are first born and laid on mom's chest? If the baby is able to do his/her magic (and I've seen the videos) and wiggle, or "crawl", to the breast, they will make their way to the left breast. An intact baby is able to locate the breast, then nipple and start to suckle on their own if they are allowed the time to do so. There are glands in the nipple that secret a fluid that smells and tastes like amniotic fluid. This fluid creates a "path" for the baby to follow to the nipple.

So as you can tell, if you made it to the end of this blog, that I am very, very excited about all I am learning. Sorry to those of you who are grossed out but, GROW UP and OPEN YOUR EYES TO THE MOST IMPORTANT FUNCTION OF THE BREAST!!!!

******I recieved some input from friend/pretty much family member who said she has seen a few lactation counselors and still is having problems with soreness. First of all, I'm so sorry hon. That sucks. You are a wonderful mother and a strong woman for working through the pain for your sweet little one! A friend of mine who is also in my class was so upset today because she had sore nipples with all three of her children and saw three different lactation counselors. I'm going to take a few ideas back to my instructors and pick their brains a bit more about this "total happy nipple" idea. Julie, any thoughts from you?