Posted Friday, November 20, 2009 3:34 PM
I have never before locked my keys in my trunk. But I do lots of stupid things while pregnant so at least I'm aware that dumb moments can occur at any time.
I stopped by Target on my lunch break and was loading the bags in my trunk. For some reason I was smart enough to look for my keys before shutting the trunk - couldn't find them. I looked in my trunk and there they were. I've never ever put my keys in my trunk while loading it up - who would do that? I guess me, dumb pregnant me.
So thankfully I'm aware of my idiot-ness and thought for a split second I might have been that stupid, because come to find out I was that stupid. Whew, that could have been bad. Could you imagine me having to call my work and say, "Yeah, I left the office for lunch and somehow thought it was also okay to run to Target and now I'm locked out of my car and stuck in their parking lot."
Posted Friday, November 20, 2009 3:02 PM
We decided after speaking with my mom's best friend, a NICU nurse, that the amount of immunizations a child receives today is excessive. I didn't want to reject all immunizations as I believe they have great benefits, but I also didn't want to overload my son's delicate immune system with too many before it had time to fully develop. Regardless of what an immunization provides (protection from a serious disease or illness), it is still injecting that very same disease/illness into your baby in a small dose. I wanted to avoid too many "small doses" at once.
Here is a link to the recommended immunization schedule:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/downloads/child/2008/08_0-6yrs_schedule_pr.pdf
We decided Boston would get most of those immunizations, just on our own schedule. We had to follow certain rules and get some shots we didn't want him having due to sending our child to daycare, but we avoided whatever we could.
This is what we did...
At birth they recommend a Hep B vaccination. We rejected this. Unless a nurse or doctor stuck your child with a needle with Hep B on it or is french kissing your child (it's transmitted through blood and bodily fluids), it's nearly impossible to give a newborn. If you are concerned about your hospital's medical facility that they might have employees spreading Hep B to newborns, I wonder about your facility. We had that vaccination administered when Boston was a few months old. His remaining two were spread out over several months, whenever he wasn't due for other shots, and he is up to date.
We stuck pretty on schedule with the Rotovirus vaccination because my cousin's daughter got it pretty bad and was at Children's Hospital for over a week. It's also a liquid and not a shot so Boston actually enjoyed it!
As for DTaP, Hib, PCV (Prevnar), and IPV - we are basically on schedule for these but we did not do them as recommended. Instead of getting all of them at 2 months, we got 2 of them at 2 months, 2 of them at 3 months, then the last at 4 months. Instead of getting all 4 again at 4 months, we spread it out so at 5 months he got 2 of them, at 6 months he got 2 more. He was only one shot behind at this point. Between 6 and 12 months, they are supposed to get 4 immunizations - so why do them all at 6 months. We did one at 7 months, one at 9, and two at 12 months.
Since we have until Boston is 2 until he is supposed to get the Hep A vaccine, we'll wait as long as we can (there aren't too many vaccinations once the child passes 18 months so anything that we can wait on, we'll delay until after 18 months and only get the really important ones up to that point).
We are rejecting Varicella, which is the Chicken Pox vaccine. At this point, I'd rather my son get chicken pox. I badly wish MMR was still distributed broken up into 3 separate immunizations but the CDC recently decided that was worthless so no vendors will sell the vaccine separate. Big disappointment for me. I prefer to not administer 3 shots at once into my children.
Basically they are overloaded with immunizations up until 18 months old, then they have just annual flu shots from that point until they start school. I don't see the rush in giving all immunizations overloaded into every month or every 3 months appointments when there is time to spread these shots out. If you don't mind multiple trips to the doctor (and in some cases more copays), then I highly recommend it.
Posted Friday, November 20, 2009 9:51 AM
Either this nurse was new, has never dealt with me personally before, or she's just an idiot and should keep her opinions to herself. Here's our conversation over the phone yesterday:
Me: I'm calling to schedule some immunizations for my son.
Her: Is this for his 18 month check up?
Me: No, he's still 15 months.
Her: Well why didn't you have all his shots at his 15 month checkup?
Me: Because I break up his vaccinations and I need to get the rest scheduled.
Her: Which does he need?
Me: I don't know, check his chart. I'm at work.
Her: He needs his MMR, Chicken Pox, and Prevnar.
Me: Okay, well we're not doing the Chicken Pox one.
(note that I tell them this at every single appointment - eventually they might actually write it freaking down in his chart)
Her: Why? You know that's a serious illness, right?
Me: Yup, I had it at 15.
Her: It can leave really bad scarring.
Me: I get that. He's still not getting it.
Her: Will you be getting it for him later?
Me: Before he starts school, maybe, but not now.
Her: Okay then, he needs the MMR and the Prevnar shot.
Me: If he gets the MMR, I don't want him to have the Prevnar on the same day.
Her: Why not?
Me: Because the MMR is enough for one visit.
Her: But it's all in just one shot.
Me: Yes, but it's 3 vaccinations and that's plenty. We'll come back for the Prevnar.
Her: Hmm, well I'll put you down for the MMR and then a maybe for the Prevnar.
Me: No maybe needed, he won't be getting the Prevnar on the same day.
Okay seriously, she must think I'm one of those idiot irrational moms who will change my mind as soon as I meet with the doctor or nurse - like I haven't been doing this (spreading out his shots) for almost 16 months now. And guess what, he's still up to date yet never had to have more than one or two immunizations at a time. I was laughing about the whole thing, but seriously - I'm the damn mom.
Posted Thursday, November 19, 2009 11:17 AM
I'm pretty lucky this pregnancy, compared to last. My last was a doozy! I had everything - from dandruff to gestational diabetes, from stage 3 pitting edema (swelling) to nine months of queasiness, from round ligament pain to ogliohydramnios (very low amniotic fluid leading to a 2 week early induction). There was more, I'll spare you.
So this time hasn't been as bad. My weight has been out of control (don't ask me why, I'm not eating that much more than I normally do) and I've put on way more than I did with Boston, but so far that was the worst I had to deal with.
Until now. My body is straight giving up on me. Maybe it's the whole "second pregnancy been-there-done-that" mindset of my body and brain. Maybe it's that I started this pregnancy way less in shape than I did last time. Maybe it's because I have a one year old and less time to really focus on myself. Who knows, but here's my list of fall-aparts.
1. The swelling is hitting hard now. Yes I started swelling at 18 weeks last pregnancy and this time was able to hold off until 33 weeks - but it's getting bad. Not quite as bad as last time (yet) - link below to a frightening picture I posted last year of my swelling - but getting there.
http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/blogs/edmo/archive/2008/04/15/the-first-set-of-photos.aspx
2. My hips are rounding forward, probably to support all the extra weight, so I can't stand up straight without pain. Every night my husband has to press my hips back toward the ground as I lay down on my back, just to remind my hips where they are supposed to be.
3. I have to pee every 10 minutes. I'm not kidding. I think this baby is actually using my bladder as a pillow. I can literally pee, stand up and flush, and immediately feel intense pressure to pee again. I'll sit down, and yes pee will come out.
4. I'm out of breath every second of the day. Forget bringing clothes up from the basement after doing laundry, it's like I just ran a marathon.
5. Whenever I lay on my right side, or any time during or after sex, I immediately need to throw up. Bet that makes my husband feel great!
6. How is it that I can't even get myself up off the floor. I physically cannot use my muscles to lift myself, it's like they've just totally shut down.
And I have 6 weeks to go!!!! I'm scared.
Posted Tuesday, November 17, 2009 3:30 PM
Today is my husband's 30th birthday. I hate that I have to be nice to him and bake him cookies and give him presents because lately he has not been very nice to me.
He says he's just upset about turning 30. Come on! I turned 30 exactly 3 weeks to the day after delivering my first baby - I was chubby and swollen and trying to figure out breastfeeding. I was fine though! It's just 30. Something about my husband turning 30 has made him grumpy, snappy, rude, inconsiderate, and lazy. Yeah, even lazy.
I get that he's not where he thought he'd be financially at 30. He thought he'd be making more money and have more ownership at his company. He didn't think he'd be panicked over the cost of 2 kids in daycare. He thought he'd have a house bigger than 860 square feet. He thought he'd have a nicer, bigger car that would comfortably fit 2 car seats. Whatever, get over it. He has a lovely wife (okay, I may be 40 lbs bigger with swollen ankles and a bit of a short temper right now, but I'm still here!) and a super cute and pretty good child.
Men. Try being a 31 year old pregnant female with dark under eye circles (yes, I'm asked every day if I'm "tired") and back fat and hips that somehow want to round forward due to all the extra weight and skin that itches every second of the day and insomnia - with all the money stresses he also has. He will so not win this battle.
Posted Thursday, November 12, 2009 3:18 PM
We watched a couple of the first hypnobirthing experiences on DVD, which was awe-inspiring since these women essentially just "breathe out" their babies. No screaming, no tensing, no pushing. Of course seeing 1980 va-jay-jay all up close and personal is not so appealing.
Then we did a lot of exercises. We practiced some deep breathing, some scripts for Chris to help me relax, and some self-hypnosis techniques. I'm definitely going to have to practice as much as I can. This class, the book and the music, and the list of scripts will do nothing if I can't get myself into that relaxed state. In order to do that, I gotta keep practicing at home, to continuously try to put my mind at a state of calm and comfort.
Chris acts like he's interested in this class and that he's going to be there to support me through this process, but I get the feeling he doesn't believe it's possible and that he's going to chicken out on feeding me the scripts and going through the techniques to help me get to that state of hypnosis. I'm going to ask my doula to come to a class or two as a backup. If she can't, that's okay because I'm totally fine if I have to manage all this on my own. I know Chris will be there for me, but I'm not sure he can put aside his "manliness" and be that guide for me through hypnobirthing. I mean, so far he hasn't read any of the book. Not even the "For the Partners" section in the beginning that is only 1.5 pages long. He said he didn't have time, but he definitely caught all of Monday night's football game.
Next week we'll continue practicing techniques and watch more videos. The book is REALLY informative so if you're looking for a book about how labor has changed over the last century or how to avoid the Fear-Tension-Pain syndrome, check out this book. I'm sure it's at the library. It's called Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method.
With or without the hypnosis part, I'm learning very key things about labor. It's very much like pooping. Seriously! Here's how (yes, it's funny so you can laugh):
1. Your body tells you when you have to go, it's just instinctual.
2. If you wait until you really have to go, it comes out way easier. If you try to force things before they are ready, you're sitting on the toilet longer, and it very well may hurt.
3. You might have to nudge or push a few times, but really it should come on its own.
So there, that's my lesson for the day!
Posted Tuesday, November 10, 2009 11:13 AM
Our smallest and youngest dog Ireland was trying to tell us something, but we just ignored her! I feel horrible.
She has worms. Round worm, to be exact. And she tried telling us.
She had a couple of accidents in the living room overnight in the last month. Since we weren't there to witness the incidents, we didn't punish her, but we kept her out of that room at night with a gate (and I'm pretty sure we withheld some loving from her after the incidents because we were quite annoyed). Little did we realize she was trying to leave her poop out for us to see so we could make her better.
It wasn't until this Saturday when we took her to the groomers that they called and said she had a baby worm come out of her bum and that we should get her to a vet, which we immediately did. Duh, she has worms - how did we miss that? Poor girl, she's been living with this worm inside her laying eggs and stealing all of her food and we didn't even pay attention.
Chris said to her, "Sorry Baby Ireland, see we have this one year old and a fetus growing and it's kinda taking up too much of our time. We'll pay closer attention to you from now on."
Posted Monday, November 09, 2009 3:01 PM
Boston did not get his second nap yesterday because we were out enjoying the warm weather. Despite popular belief, when a toddler misses a nap it doesn't necessarily mean they are crashing harder or better when it comes to bedtime. In fact, for Boston it's the complete opposite. Missing a nap means a horrible night sleep is ahead.
We put him down around 7:30 pm. He was asleep within minutes, of course, since he hadn't been asleep since his first nap ended at 11:30 am. However, I'm pretty sure Boston considered this bedtime to be his second nap of the day because he was fully awake by 11:11 pm. Chris and I had just laid down a half hour before that but I wasn't asleep yet because my damn husband cannot master his snoring problem since the weather turned colder.
I couldn't get Chris up, and I tried to suffer through about one hour of the off and on crying. Then I realized I wasn't going to fall back asleep (if the crying wasn't enough, the snoring sure was), so I got out of bed, set up the two couches in the living room so they touched (one couch alone is not enough for me and Boston with my big mama belly), then got Boston and relocated us to the living room.
Boston did not understand the concept of returning to sleep. He didn't cry but he was awake, and fidgety. I think he FINALLY fell asleep around 2 am, which is when I maybe caught a few hours of sleep before Boston's crazy sleeping habits had him jerking and moving and twitching all the rest of the night.
How's my husband going to sleep through an hour of crying, me punching and kicking him to get him to stop snoring, me trying to wake him up to get Boston, and me moving around furniture at midnight? He let his hugely big wife (along with the exhaustion of being pregnant and a working mom) do it all. So yeah, he's getting his butt kicked tonight when we both get home from work.
And he's on Boston duty for like the next week!