Pregnancy after LT TTC #14

Lairdoz, you're so right about not comparing PG weights or weight gain as everyone is different. My OB is not fussed one way or another about my weight gain. All he worries about is that the babies are growing well - which is really all that matters. Nice to hear you're having good weather. Whereabouts do you live?

Leabie, sorry to hear you're sick also. That's no good at all. Hope you get better really soon.

Juniper, yay for 100 days to go!

Kelly, that's interesting about your placenta slipping further down nearer birth. I'm probably having a CS anyway; it's just whether it will be a general or spinal anaesthetic. It's very reassuring to hear that your blood loss was normal. I am freaking out about going in for a general and then bleeding to death on the table and never seeing my babies! I'm going to make my OB promise that if I have a general I will wake up to see them. FX both your placentas implant nice and high this time round.

Brunette: Is there a reason why they are considering a GA?? Even though my placenta was low I had a spinal with DD and the aneathatist (sp??) just made sure that he had a blood match done prior to the surgery in case I needed blood during or after the procedure.

Kelly, I think my OB is very cautious and conservative. When I mentioned to the MW who was conducting our antenatal classes the possibility of having PP and needing to have a general, straightaway she said,`Is X your OB?' So he must be known to do generals for PP. I think it's to do with the different anaesthetic used in the spinal and the general, and if you have a spinal and go into shock you can lose more blood than if you have a general. Plus when the patient is out to it they don't need to worry about any freaking out happening. As I'm sure you know, when the placenta attaches low it doesn't contract as it would if implanted higher so again more of a chance of bleeding more. I always find it interesting how different OBs operate differently even when a patient's symptoms are the same, do you know what I mean? So maybe if I had another OB even in Brisbane I wouldn't need to be knocked out if I have PP? I do like my OB though so will go with what he recommends.

Hello Girls- I have been so slack with writing in here but I have been stalking and catching up on everyone's stories!!! I'm so glad everyone is going so well!!!
Congrats to KellyD and any other new people in here, we seem to have slowed down with our new arrivals- fingers crossed we get an influx of BFP's soon!!

I'm doing really well. 30 weeks tomorrow! Still can't quite get my head around it all. It seems to have gone so quickly but now I feel like 10 weeks is too long to wait! I can't wait to hold my baby!!

Anyway- just wanted to pop in and say hi again, I'll try and be good and post more often
xx

Also- Brunette- I may have pp as well, I have a scan booked for 32 weeks to see if my placenta has moved up at all, it was quite low when I had my 23 weeks scan but I'm hoping that was so long ago, we've had plenty of time to move!!

Wow girls, I don't check in for a few days and now so much catching up to do.

Brunette, great news on the scan, hoping that placenta continues to move upwards for you...

Loving the discussion on the nappies / formula etc etc. Funny that I found that some of the most judgemental people are new mums! I remember at my new mums group, with DD she had colic and so cried every single session (actually all day for the first 3 1/2 months - luckily not all night though). At the end of one session these two mums said to me 'so are you going to feed that baby?'. I was so shocked, luckily the CFHN came to my rescue and told them the baby had colic and overfeeding would make it worse!

I used disposable with DD and started using cloth with DS when he was 18 months I think. I think the first few weeks would be difficult with cloth, firstly it can be difficult to get a good fit with small babies, and they just poo constantly so I just didn't want to wash like crazy whilst trying to recover. So I will probably use disposable for the first few months this time. If you want to go cloth there are heaps of different ones - I tried about 6 brands before finding one that I liked, a pocket nappy. Also different styles suit different baby builds as the type I like doesn't fit my neice very well. I have found a brand of biodegradable nappies called natures babycare or something like that at Coles, they are great and I use them for nights / going out as found using cloth at night gave DS a rash.

On the bottle thing, I didn't give DD a bottle of EBM until she was 3 1/2 months old when I started working one day a week and it took her a good month to work out how to drink properly. The first few weeks she drank hardly anything. DS we tried a bit earlier (about 6 weeks I think) even though I didn't go back to work for another 4 months and he got it alot quicker. Never really used a bottle unless I was at work, as found that throwing them on the boob was quicker and easier. But I think if you do plan to use bottles to supplement starting within the first few weeks makes it easier on bub. And I don't really see how they would get confused, they know their mum and what it is to cuddle up to a boob compared to a bottle given by someone else (just my opinion here).

On the breastfeeding thing, the best advice I ever got was to read about it before you have the baby, so you know about attachment etc and aren't trying to work it out in the first feed. Also each maternity unit should have a lactation consultant, I found one really helpful with DD. And with DD I did get sore / bleeding nipples for the first few days (common at the start I think) but once I got the attachment right they healed and after that it was never painful at all.
I found BF pretty easy but I know some people don't, so I think you just go with what feels right.

I can't remember who it was who was worried about the labour etc, but just remember that billions of women have done this and you will too and it is only the start of a wonderful journey. Kind of like what a wedding day is to the whole marriage. So don't worry too much about 'getting it right', it's what you do after that to nuture your beautiful bub that will really make a difference. Hope that makes sense.

AFM - had 19 week scan today. All good. Was still undecided going into the scan if I wanted to find out, and we had DD and DS with us, so told the guy to write it down as we def didn't want the kids (ie and everyone else) to know. And then I thought we can take the paper with us and decide later. But then he froze something on the screen and said 'that's pretty self explanatory' - low and behold we were looking at a (large looking) penis! Then he got a great shot of the scrotum as well. So I guess I found out anyway! I have never seen boy bits on US before, do they normally look big????
Anyway we are happy, the weird thing is even through I did think I was having a girl, we have only been able to think of one boys name this time around, and no girls one at all. So it's kind of good we can stop thinking about it now.... I feel bad for DD as she is so determined it's a girl as she really wants a little sister! Think we will end up telling her so she isn't disappointed when he is born.

Well should go and do housework....

Sorry for no persies but brain like a sieve and can't remember what everyone wrote....

Congrats Grub & wishing you a H&H 9 months.

Hey Maggie, congratulations on having a boy! Wow, and what a boy, from the sounds of it! Just kidding. Also, I really liked your comment about the birth and the labour and nappies, bf etc. Really helpful. You're so right, it's easy to focus on the birth (because you get so much info) to the exclusion of the big picture, like caring for that baby. I'm freaking out about both, but deep down, I know ... what will be will be. I will do my best, that's all I can do.

Congrats Glenny on 30 weeks.

Jaki and Leabie, hope you're both better soon. I'm sick too with a sore throat virusy thing. Bit of a drag.

Juniper and Brunette, glad that both of your scans went well. On the subject of internal scans, having had so many for IVF, it was kind of funny when I first saw my OB and he offered an extra scan and I was almost off with my jeans and undies before he could say "ah no, that's not necessary" and I was like "what? There's another way to scan?".

Also, Brunette, you sound like you have confidence in your OB and there's nothing wrong with cautious and conservative at all, I reckon.

WW, lol at whipping the jeans off. At our first OB appointment (12wks) I did ask about the pants issue before getting on the table and was so excited about keeping them on for once! Then at my NT scan (4 days later) they decided to switch to internal half way though. :( I swear the internal probe at the u/s place was at least twice the size of the ones either of my FS's had! :o

MaggiePie, congrats on a great scan and your little boy! I hope your DD takes the news well when you tell her.

Brunette, I'm torn on the GA if I end up needing a c/s. I'm really keen to avoid the epi, but also don't want everyone else to meet bub before I do... If your OB recommends the GA then no doubt he has a good reason to. I do seem to remember there being some connection between an epi and the amount of bleeding, but my sieve-like brain can't remember the details and it may even have been one of the other pain options.

:rofl: worrywort - i'd love to see the doc's face..."what is that lady doing?" hahaha

thanks all for the welcome :)

maggiepie - i did sposies for the first few months for a couple of reasons... had to get my head around having a baby and was focussed on getting feeding established; and i had a long, thin bub. so the mcn just didn't fit him properly for about quite some time.

and that's great advice re bf with Ds i knew all about labour and birth and such but not a thing about bf. i just assumed it "would happen" and when we had to really work to make it happen, it was hard. I bf for 7 months or so and all but probably one month was a struggle. in the end ds just refused the boob. But my great piece of advice for the first timers is try to avoid putting heaps of pressure on yourself on what you 'must' and "must not'' do. Do whatever you NEED to do and cut yourself some slack. I really did find my greatest critic was myself and i caused myself a lot of angst as a result.

oh and I love little boys! they are so adorable :)

as for the weight thing, I put on about 30kg with DS and only lost about half that. So am worried i'm going to be struggling to lose the weigh after number 2! I just found after DS was born I still haven't got the energy to exercise (nor the time mostly) so i can't imagine what it's like with TWO!

hi glennyc, lairdoz, brunette, kellyd, juniper76, leabie, jacki80 and all the other loverlies on here.

Has anyone got names picked yet? and if so care to share (no pressure tho)?

We aren't sure if we are finding out the sex yes. we did with ds.
gotta go. child clmbing into shower

Hi Girls

Everyone is a chatty lot today, but just wanted to drop in and let you know that all was good at the Ob today and both babies have grown with Twin 1 now measruing 9w3d (exactly to date) and Twin 2 9w2d. We even got pictures of them showing there little arms and legs... DH has now convinced himself that they are both girls (which I think they are) after being sure it was one of each, I think he is scared of being overrun with little girls in the house. Only thing Ob has advised re diet is to now along with my pregnancy multivitamin to take, iron, calcium and folate supplements as well, the health food store is going to love me.

He also advised that our aim is to get to 38 weeks for a c/s and is hoping to delivery 2 6lb plus babies, OMG I was huge with DD and she was only 7lb I will be an elephant if his predictions are correct. So next scan in 3 weeks (12 NT scan) and then I get a scan every 4 weeks, which will be so fantastic to see the babies grow and fingers crossed we might get to see the sexes at the 16 week scan.

Oh, DH has also decided that after today's positive Ob appt where everything appears normal that he is now going to start letting people know - with DD he had to wait until after 12 weeks as he is so concerned about something happening - but the Ob was very happy and can see no reason for something to go wrong - touch wood.

Anyhow, enough about me. I hope you are all doing well and love hearing how you are all going, it brings back so many memories from DD's pregnancy.

Grub & Kelly D - I just wanted to say a quick congratulations for your new little bundles on the way. Also, a quick question. I have been told that I will need to stop BF 3 months prior to my next FET, to give myself the best chance of success. I was wondering how true this is and if you did this?

Big hello to all the other lovely ladies cooking in here. I pop in every now and then to check up on you and look forward to the next big news.

xo

Our little boy will be Wyatt James. Unless we decide later we don't like it anymore.

Mitf- I've never heard the FET & BF thing but I have never asked. We planned on going straight back not long after this one is born so I'd better look into that!

Just a quickee before the boss gets in!

Brunette - I'll put together all my notes from the Dog/Baby class from last weekend, and type them this weekend when I have some spare time. It was actually pretty interesting. Fingers crossed your OB goes with a spinal so you can see those gorgeous twins straight away. Good theory too on why NW would have more c-sections.

Juniper - regarding googling my OB to get c-section rates, when you google my OB you get people commenting on how he's the 2 minute OB (you're in, then you're out). My quickest appt so far has been 4 minutes so I know exactly what they are on about. I guess because I haven't really had any issues with the pregnancy he doesn't need to answer a lot of questions and spend much time with me.

Grub - I love love love the retort "I don't find it that strenuous to do a load of washing", I'll be filing that one away for use down the track!

MaggiePie - thanks for the tip on those Coles nappies, I'll keep an eye out for use at night and for trips out. And massive congratulations that you're having a boy!! I'm sure DS is going to just love a baby brother to play with! Hopefully DD will be okay with getting a little brother.

I think I got some good news the other day (it's yet to be officially confirmed). Even though in 30 days :dance: I am redundant here at work, I *might* be eligible for maternity leave!! (which really doesn't make sense as the policy is that if you don't have a job to come back to then you don't qualify for maternity leave). So hopefully I'll find out about that within the next week and if so that adds 14 weeks of pay onto my redudancy so I might not have to search for a job as quick as I thought - - YAY!! That will be a massive load off my mind.

My 32 week growth scan is after work today, I've only put on 1KG in the last month so I'm hoping the little one is growing nicely, I'm a bit worried that I'm not giving him/her enough nutrients, even though I know the baby takes what it needs and then leaves me with whatever's leftover, it's still worrying.

Okay, boss is about to arrive, enjoy the rest of the week - Hi to everyone I missed.

Chrissy xx.

Hi everyone,

I am procrastinating , should be finishing off DHs tax but thought I would check in first. Thanks everyone for nice comments about having a little boy, I am getting really excited now. We have decided on Joseph Alan (both family names) of course unless he doesn't look like a Joseph when he comes out! Actually we had only just started thinking about names and that was the only name (boy or girl) we could come up with so so I think it's meant to be.
It's funny when you don't know what you're having you wonder about this the whole pregnancy, now that I know I find myself thinking more about 'what will he look like', 'will he look like DH or DS??'. Puts a different perspective on things I think.

Worrywart - ha ha ha about whipping those jeans off. I wonder what the Dr thought??? Hope you are feeling better, I also have a sore throat and itchy cough so annoying and it is testing out my pelvic floor big time.

Grub - for my preg with DD I exercised all the way through (did an aqua class the day I went into labour) and started back at the gym when she was only a few months old. I thought I was supermum. Then fell preg with DS and this stopped me. Just didn't have the energy. And it hasn't returned. Two will keep you busy but it is so great to see them playing games together and saying they are 'best friends'. It was then I decided that I wouldn't bother until I had finished having kids and then it will be my turn to get fit again (still don't know how I will find the time with 3 but will give it a go). Won't rush back to the gym until bub is one I think.
And I totally know what you mean about being your worst critic. We put so much pressure on ourselves to be the perfect mum, perfect wife etc. And it's not that anyone else expects it anyway. It has taken me two kids and a stunt of PND and counsellling to work out that I should just give myself a break! I'm much better at it now. And I no longer feel guilty for booking my kids into daycare one day so I can just catch up on house stuff. Like my DH says, the mum is the centre of the house and if she isn't well then the whole house suffers. He is a wise man....

Kelly, congrats on the great scan, glad to hear things are coming along nicely. Have fun telling people especially when you tell them there's two! That will be fun.....

Mitf, sorry can't help you with details on that one but I have heard something like that...

Jaki - love the name Wyatt!

Chrissie - hope the scan went well, and really hoping that you get maternity leave, what a relief that would be!

Well ok must go and do tax now....

Have a great day

grub, we've had the name for our first daughter picked for 7 years now... However, since two people in the company I work for have used the exact first/middle name combination since we picked it (most recently in May, by the man in the office next to mine), we're adding an extra middle name. Hopefully she won't mind since they're short names... Anyway, we plan to name her Amber Emily Rose (2 syllable surname). Emily was the middle name we had picked for a second daughter, so if we do have a second daughter we'll have to pick two new middle names now, but I'm thinking we could make one of them a "flower" name again.

CK, great news about possibly getting the maternity leave! Sounds like they want to look after you! FX you do get it!

Chrissy, that will be fantastic if you can get 14 weeks maternity leave on top of your redundancy. FX for you. Thanks in advance for typing up some notes on the dog/newborn class. My ****er spaniel thanks you for it, too :) Let us know how you go at your 32-week scan today. Are you having this to see if your placenta has moved up?

Glenny, FX that your placenta has moved up before you have your 32-week scan.

Maggie, I've heard from quite a number of women now how it's so much easier if you're going to put your baby on a bottle at some time to do it early on so there's less resistance. I've also read it in quite a number of books, too. Nazi ABA women! I think I told you guys about what happened with me, didn't I? Placenta brain strikes again. If I haven't I went to an ABA store to find out about expressing pumps for hire and was basically told to read the literature as it's not a good idea to BF and bottle feed as it leads to confusion for the baby! I could have strangled the woman. I wanted to express my own breast milk so DH could do a night feed and give me a break, and also in case I don't have enough supply for the twins. I don't know where some of these women get off, but I told her I had read the literature and quite a few experts contradicted what she just said. Ha, ha. Felt better after that. Congrats on having a baby boy cooking away! Joseph Alan has a great ring to it. I imagine it would be completely different to have one PG where you didn't find out the sex and to have another where you know the sex. Definite advantage is you start bonding with a son or daughter in your mind I think, and if you're clever enough to have already decided on a name then you can talk to them and call the by name. That's what I would do if I could decide on names!
WW, gee you made me laugh with you nearly whipping off your jeans for the scan. It's so true, though, isn't it? I mean how many times did we have to have the internal ultrasound wand thingy-me-jig?! It's nice to leave your clothes on and sometimes even your shoes :)

Juniper, this might give you a laugh. At my 31-week scan the sonographer didn't think she was going to get a clear shot of my low-lying placenta due to T1 being in the way. She said she'd probably have to do an internal. I was thinking she meant with her hand! Ha, ha, ha. It was obviously one of the ultrasound internal wands! Ha, ha, ha. What my OB told me about a general v spinal is that with spinal there's more of a chance if you go into shock you will bleed more because of the type of anesthetic used in a spinal. A general uses a different type of aneasthetic with less chance of haemhorraging. You know what, on my shortlist is Amber Rose. No word of a lie. Freaky. But then again, I currently have 15 names on my shortlist for girls :) One of my faves has become too popular and I'm really torn about letting it go or still choosing it. Maybe `Amber' is on its way to the favourite list if two of your work colleagues have chosen it for their daughters?

Grub, I am in name hell ATM. Bought a couple of baby books but I feel like I take one step forward and two back. It's so hard, and we've got two bubs to find names for. Aaagh! If you do find out the gender, are you sharing it or keeping it a secret?

Kelly, if you get two 6lb babies you will be doing really well. My cousin had identical twin boys and they were both low 6lbs so it can be done. Still it's an awful lot of baby weight, hey? Have you got two placentas and sacs, too? My last scan estimated both twins to be about 1.5 ks, so about 3lb 5oz each. My OB will deliver the babies at either 37 weeks (if I've got PP) or 38 weeks if not. Seems so long to wait but also not long at all, if that makes sense? I had an US at a specialised clinic for women at 12 weeks, 19 weeks, 27 weeks, 31 weeks and the next one will be at 34 weeks. You mentioned you would be scanned every four weeks. Is this at your OB's clinic or at a specialised US clinic? Just curious to see if they do things differently in different states with scans for mums carrying multiples.

Mitf, sorry can't help with your query as I don't know.

Jaki, Wyatt James is a beautiful name. Must be such a relief to have a name picked out. I'm so envious.

Hey Brunette: yep 2 placenta's and 2 sac's or DCDA Twins (fraternal). My scans will be at a specialist US clinic with reports forwarded to my Ob, although I've been told the sonographer is also an OB/GYN so is good at telling you what is going on with the babies. My Ob also told me that from 32 weeks onwards I'll also be having weekly checkup's at the hospital as well, with non stress tests and fetal monitoring etc...

Wow, it's been very busy in here!!

Re:BFing and bottle feeding, I can attest that it can be done personally. I had awful trouble BF'ing and ended up expressing from day 2, and my DD had both BF and the bottle everyday after that. She did go through a three day period when she was about 8 weeks where she rejected the breast, but I kept expressing until she came back to BF'ing again. I was never able to fully BF because of all the trouble I had at the beginning, my milk supply was never great and I had to take drugs to keep it up as expressing didn't stimulate supply in me as it does most other women. I only gave up BF'ing so that I could get my cycle back to start IVF.

Chrissy - great news on maternity leave, if you were supposed to/ and had already applied for maternity leave to start maternity leave before you were were given notification of your redundancy, then I would have thought you were entitled to maternity leave regardless. Have you checked with the fair work people (not sure what they are called, but there is a government body that can help find out that kind of stuff I am sure).Fingers crossed!!

Lovely for you ladies who have decided your bubs names - we are 99% sure of ours, but will wait until Junior arrives to confirm they look like the name we have chosen.

Glenny - hope your placenta moves up for your scan too.

Mitf- I know my cousin was also told not to be breastfeeding for a FET because prolcatin produced during BF'ing can impact ovulation or something like that.

Sorry - just got interrupted by DD and have to get off computer, hello to everyone I have missed and hope you are all enjoying your day
xxx

Can we lay off the Nazi comments, please?
The ABA is a volunteer group of mums trying to support other mums, they've not been rounding up and killing millions that I'm aware of.
Thanks,