British Bun in the Oven

[TracyTN 237]

I'm glad we're able to help! A year and a half ago, I was like a deer in headlights, lol. But we've been pretty lucky with what we've gotten - I can't say anything was particularly useless. Tracy and I disagree on monitors, and apparently on wipe warmers too, lol. Nick HATES being wiped with a cold wipe, and screams his head off. Although sometimes my hub will just hold the wipe in his fist for a minute to get the cold out, and that works too.

HA! I don't disagree with you about the monitor. I just wasn't big about using one - its a personal choice. I can be obsessive enough where I knew if I heard her move at all, I'd hone in on that and get no sleep of my own (which wouldn't do anyone any good).

As far as the wipes go, we warm the washcloths with warm water so it's not a huge shock to her. I do think the 'cold shock' factor is a much bigger deal when you're changing a boy, too, so I can understand that.

[Fandango 1,439]

HA! I don't disagree with you about the monitor. I just wasn't big about using one - its a personal choice. I can be obsessive enough where I knew if I heard her move at all, I'd hone in on that and get no sleep of my own (which wouldn't do anyone any good).

As far as the wipes go, we warm the washcloths with warm water so it's not a huge shock to her. I do think the 'cold shock' factor is a much bigger deal when you're changing a boy, too, so I can understand that.

Trace, you know I'm just bustin your chops

[TracyTN 237]

I do.

[Fandango 1,439]

good!

Meanwhile, I just read that Daily Mail article, and I must be a sucker, cos my MIL sent us a Beaba baby food maker, and it was the shizz!

I remember one night we put a piece of lean prime rib in there and 10 mins later, it was paste. Nick lurrvvvvvved it. I still bought jarred veg/fruit though - read an article where they said that the veg/fruit they use for baby food is more highly regulated than the frozen/fresh veg/fruit for adults. So I'd wait for a BOGO sale @ Publix and I'd stock up on the organic Earth's Best stuff

Eh, what can I say? I liked me some gadgets! I wouldn't necc say this was a do or die purchase like the monitor, but it was a pretty cool 'extra'.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Hi, ladies

I hope everyone is well. When I have a bit more time, I'd be glad to share my experiences with useful and not-so-useful stuff! Since starting a regular job, I have much less VJ time, and InterWeb time generally. Geez! Also, my computer is in Mad-Ag's room (notice the change in wording here...before, her crib was in my office), and I don't want to wake her up w/ the keyboard and glowing monitor at night.

Rachel, did you have your appointment today? How are you feeling? I'm a little late to the nausea remedies discussion, but none of the usual recommendations worked for me. I just had to have something in my stomach at all times or else I'd feel terrible and possibly get sick. This wasn't easy, because I had no appetite. Mostly I ate peanut butter on plain bagels and cold cereal. Fruity Pebbles were a favorite, and I rarely eat that sort of stuff. I think Lisa, Tracy, and I all had nausea well past the first trimester, but most people I know felt a lot better at 12-14 weeks. I actually did feel a lot better at 14 weeks, now that I think about it, but it's all relative. At 9 weeks, I felt godawful and couldn't imagine food ever tasting good again, but at 14 weeks I had something resembling an appetite.

[TracyTN 237]

good!

Meanwhile, I just read that Daily Mail article, and I must be a sucker, cos my MIL sent us a Beaba baby food maker, and it was the shizz!

I remember one night we put a piece of lean prime rib in there and 10 mins later, it was paste. Nick lurrvvvvvved it. I still bought jarred veg/fruit though - read an article where they said that the veg/fruit they use for baby food is more highly regulated than the frozen/fresh veg/fruit for adults. So I'd wait for a BOGO sale @ Publix and I'd stock up on the organic Earth's Best stuff

Eh, what can I say? I liked me some gadgets! I wouldn't necc say this was a do or die purchase like the monitor, but it was a pretty cool 'extra'.

HA! Well Chas makes Emily's baby food and just uses a hand blender thingy. (Don't you love my grasp of the technical names for kitchen gadgets!!?? ) She is not a fan, however, of anything that involves pureed meat so we've stopped trying that.

Hi, ladies

I hope everyone is well. When I have a bit more time, I'd be glad to share my experiences with useful and not-so-useful stuff! Since starting a regular job, I have much less VJ time, and InterWeb time generally. Geez! Also, my computer is in Mad-Ag's room (notice the change in wording here...before, her crib was in my office), and I don't want to wake her up w/ the keyboard and glowing monitor at night.

Rachel, did you have your appointment today? How are you feeling? I'm a little late to the nausea remedies discussion, but none of the usual recommendations worked for me. I just had to have something in my stomach at all times or else I'd feel terrible and possibly get sick. This wasn't easy, because I had no appetite. Mostly I ate peanut butter on plain bagels and cold cereal. Fruity Pebbles were a favorite, and I rarely eat that sort of stuff. I think Lisa, Tracy, and I all had nausea well past the first trimester, but most people I know felt a lot better at 12-14 weeks. I actually did feel a lot better at 14 weeks, now that I think about it, but it's all relative. At 9 weeks, I felt godawful and couldn't imagine food ever tasting good again, but at 14 weeks I had something resembling an appetite.

Yep - it was around 14 weeks before my nausea started to ease off, too. My sister, however, was sick pretty much her entire pregnancy with her son. Yuck! I sure hope Rachel has the same experience as us though!

[Alex & Rachel 78]

I hope so too! Yes, I'm also usually okay (at least, not vomiting) if I have food in my stomach but like you say, Empress, it's sooo difficult to eat when you have no appetite and 90% of food tastes bad! I used to be such a foodie, too.

And I did have my appointment! It's real! I kept talking about it every five seconds (and annoying Alex, I'm sure) because it's very hard to really believe there's a baby in there until you see it. The appointment went really well. I have a family history of absolutely nothing, fortunately, which impressed the nurse taking my records, and I must say that one advantage of going through immigration was that I was able to tell her with utter confidence that I had no STDs, infectious diseases and that all my immunizations were up to date!

And I saw the baby! Just one, and I should be at 10 weeks 4 days but the baby measured 11 weeks. Doctor counted all four limbs and said it looked very healthy! I didn't hear the heartbeat but I did see it, which was very cool.

Then I went to the clinic next door and they took TEN large vials of my blood! Luckily in between I'd eaten a very large sandwich, so I didn't feel as faint as I might've done!

Eh, what can I say? I liked me some gadgets! I wouldn't necc say this was a do or die purchase like the monitor, but it was a pretty cool 'extra'.

Alex loves his gadgets too! Oh boy - there might be a major spring-cleaning coming before the baby arrives, because we have so much stuff. Trouble is, Alex has perfected the puppy-dog-eye look, so even when we have absolutely no more room and when I'm trying to watch our budget he somehow manages to persuade me to let him buy things. You can be sure he's been eyeing up blenders and I think he's more interested in making a list than I am!

[TracyTN 237]

Oh I remember that 'you want all of my blood?!' appointment! LOL It's also fun to see the little peanut the first time. Fun and surreal! I'm glad everything went well and that measurements are on track, etc. What did Alex's face look like? I recall Chas having a look that borderlined utter shock and pure joy all at once during those appointments. But I will never forget his face watching Emily being born.

It's hearing stories like these that kinda make me miss those days. Not enough to want a second child, of course, but it's still all so fun and sweet.

The vomit - I do not miss though.

ETA - Will you be finding out the sex of the baby? (I know you've told us this but I obviously have a short term memory problem. LOL)

Edited October 6, 2011 by TracyTN

[Alex & Rachel 78]

No, I will not be finding out the sex. I'm a little afraid of attaching a name to the baby and having something go wrong, or then it turns out to be the other sex instead - etc. Also, as it's my first, I really don't mind! I might consider finding out for a second or third child.

BTW I had three people tell me, independently, that it currently looks like a rabbit, and two that it looks like a guinea-pig! Alex says it looks like a football, but honestly I think 'bean' is probably the best description right now!

As for Alex's face... haha, he had the same expression as he has in any kind of situation where he feels shock, surprise, nervousness or happiness. He's really not a guy that shows much emotion facially. (He does, however, have a variety of body tics I've learned to read). So he looked, well, blank! But once we got home he immediately posted the scan pic on facebook, twitter, google+ - you name it - and was responding really enthusiastically to all who replied.

[TracyTN 237]

Understand. If we were having a second, I would want to know, mainly for practical reasons (would we need to buy all new clothes or would we have that covered, etc).

That is so sweet of Alex. Dads-to-be are adorable, esp. when it is their first!!!

[Alex & Rachel 78]

Aww - they really are!

Okay - I've been bored at work today, so I've read this entire thread! I'm a little sad I wasn't posting last year. Anyway, random thoughts:

I haven't really been all that bad, really. The nausea's horrible on some days but that's really the main extent of my symptoms. I think I had too rosy-cheeked a view of pregnancy, because apparently both my mother and Alex's mother are amazing baby-producing machines. Reading up and hearing from my co-workers of other people's experience makes me realise my mother/MIL were probably in the minority with their easy pregnancies and births!

I'm really hoping I can stay working as long as possible - however, never know what the future may bring! On my side I have my relative youth and the fact that my job is a very easy desk job - I'd probably only sit at home anyway, so hopefully sitting here at work won't be all that much different. I am being prompted to look up information on Paid Family Leave in California. I'm thinking that perhaps I can work part-time for a while and be compensated somewhat for my lost wages - that would help me hugely.

I have already made one concession, however - I did not sign up for classes this quarter. I've been working full time and going to school in the evenings the past six months. I do have a degree, but it is in a completely unrelated field, and if I want to progress in my career at all I'll need further qualifications. I'm not on a bad salary at the moment, but I also live in San Jose... so my salary is $30k below the average here! It was a real toss up between having a baby now (I'm 28) or waiting to finish school... but as school could take years I opted for the former. I've been very fortunate to meet and marry Alex so young, and I wanted to make the most of the opportunities that have been afforded me. At school my GPA is pretty important to me, and I just knew I wouldn't be able to give it my all this quarter.

My MIL is still really keen to be our child-minder after the birth, which is still a huge relief to me. She also said that she plans to maybe leave a webcam running on Skype so my mother can also virtually participate in caring for the baby! I think it's a really sweet idea. If anyone opposes my MIL's plans, it'll be my FIL. He is 60 this year - not that old, but old enough that he is constantly worried about his employment and finances. I really can't blame him. He was unemployed for a short while a couple of years ago and it was a really difficult time for my in-laws. At least during that time my MIL had her job, even if she is not very well compensated as a teacher.

One last note... one thing I am grateful to my mother for *now* (not at the time ) is that she had twins at 41, when I was nearly 15. I've had plenty of experience changing diapers, rocking babies to sleep, etc. Alex has zero experience, and he was even too nervous to hold his cousin's baby at the last family gathering. He'll have to learn quickly!

[Fandango 1,439]

That is sooo awesome, Rachel!!! <3 <3 <3

[Alex & Rachel 78]

Thank you!

And my 10 year greencard was just ordered! This is a good week.

[Jewel-8 21]

Congrats on the bean, Rachel!!

Our #1 product was the Boppy knockoff we bought at Walmart. I like it better than the real boppy because this one has a cover that you can strap the kiddo into. It keeps her from moving down like she does when I don't strap her or use another cover. I also got a smaller, portable swing and it's been a godsend.

I did my research on the pumps and found the Phillips Avent was the one for us. I usually pump into their bottles, but transfer into freezer baggies THEN Dr. Brown's bottles for feeding time. I'm considering getting more Avent bottles and just having 3 of those ready each time I drop her off for daycare(if you still want to get rid of yours Tracy, let me know).

I'm feeling much better about things. It feels like the PPD has lifted and things are going well. My in-laws were GREAT. My husband and I just signed a contract to build a house, and we just need to get on the same page about one or two more finance/parenting outlooks before we can have perfect harmony - but I think that is normal for the first two years!

[Alex & Rachel 78]

Thanks Jewel!

And that's another recommendation for Dr. Brown's. Slowly building up my list!

I'm glad to hear you're feeling better! Good in-laws are a godsend. And building a house sounds really exciting!

And yes - it's very normal! Alex and I have been married nearly three years now, and this is the first year where we managed to get a grip on our finances without one or the other of us getting frustrated/exploding. We're even hoping to be fully credit-card debt-free by the end of the year.