Baby Talk - Part 2

[pocahontas]

Originally Posted by CARLINI

Stella!

Just a quick update on me... I had a miscarriage last night. I was bleeding from day one with this baby, but I was closely monitored and I believe we did everything we could, including bed rest. I need some time to heal, but will probably consult a RE as our next step when we’re ready.

[KQT]

aww crap. I'm so sorry Carlini. i'll be keeping you and DH in my thoughts.

[jillybean720]

Originally Posted by CARLINI

Just a quick update on me... I had a miscarriage last night. I was bleeding from day one with this baby, but I was closely monitored and I believe we did everything we could, including bed rest. I need some time to heal, but will probably consult a RE as our next step when we’re ready.

I'm so sorry to hear this Take some time to rest and rejuvenate

[DisneyPrincess]

I'm so sorry carlini

[Suzie]

I'm so sorry to hear that carlini! You are in my thoughts and prayers. I agree take some time to rejuvenate and relax.

[SouthernCJ]

Carlini I was hoping so hard for you. Take some time for yourself

[Oregon Transplant]

Carlini- I am so, so sorry. I was hoping things would work out for you. Oh man... Take care of yourself lady. I'm thinking about you... Big hugs.

I'm just checking in to let you guys know I won't be on here as much. DH and I have decided to take a break from actively TTC until we get in to see the RE, which will likely be in April or May. Until then, we won't be doing anything to be preventing pregnancy but I won't be charting, using OPKs, etc. We need a mental break! I'll still be checking on everyone, but not posting as much!

[Lori37]

Originally Posted by CARLINI

Just a quick update on me... I had a miscarriage last night. I was bleeding from day one with this baby, but I was closely monitored and I believe we did everything we could, including bed rest. I need some time to heal, but will probably consult a RE as our next step when we’re ready.

*hugs*
So sorry, will be praying for you.

[pocahontas]

Originally Posted by Oregon Transplant

I'm just checking in to let you guys know I won't be on here as much. DH and I have decided to take a break from actively TTC until we get in to see the RE, which will likely be in April or May. Until then, we won't be doing anything to be preventing pregnancy but I won't be charting, using OPKs, etc. We need a mental break! I'll still be checking on everyone, but not posting as much!

Shana - Pop in every once in a while so we know how you are doing! Good luck!

[SouthernCJ]

Originally Posted by Oregon Transplant

I'm just checking in to let you guys know I won't be on here as much. DH and I have decided to take a break from actively TTC until we get in to see the RE, which will likely be in April or May. Until then, we won't be doing anything to be preventing pregnancy but I won't be charting, using OPKs, etc. We need a mental break! I'll still be checking on everyone, but not posting as much!

Yes come in and say hi once in awhile! But you definitely deserve a break, TTC can be so emotionally taxing

[suzanneyea]

I understand needing a ttc break. We had three failed ivfs and I was totally done after the last one.
James is nine months now and crawling everywhere. He loves his playgroups. Today we went to an indoor play area and it was a lot of fun.

[Arctic_Mama]

Awe Carlini, I'm so sorry for your loss

[Arctic_Mama]

Originally Posted by Oregon Transplant

Carlini- I am so, so sorry. I was hoping things would work out for you. Oh man... Take care of yourself lady. I'm thinking about you... Big hugs.

I'm just checking in to let you guys know I won't be on here as much. DH and I have decided to take a break from actively TTC until we get in to see the RE, which will likely be in April or May. Until then, we won't be doing anything to be preventing pregnancy but I won't be charting, using OPKs, etc. We need a mental break! I'll still be checking on everyone, but not posting as much!

Breaks can be such a blessing, ttc is stressful business when it isn't going easily. Take care in the meantime!

[Arctic_Mama]

Well ladies, I'm finally back in town after almost three WEEKS gone. And I had my 29/30 week appt yesterday. I'm just going to copy and paste my latest blog entry for the summary which is most awesome cheers and only one slight downside.

*****

Just checking in again - we made it back home in one piece, though unfortunately everyone came down with nasty colds/possible unconfirmed flu while in California, and my husband and I are still trying to shake it. My case was the mildest of the family, but the sleep deprivation in caring for throwing up/ear infection/coughing children made me go from improving to sicker again. Lesson - when sick, rest up, otherwise the immune system WILL suffer for stress

So. I was gone the entire Christmas break, eating at family's homes, airports, theme parks, and restaurants. I managed to not eat any off plan food at all, though I did eat ad libitum of the foods I was allowed. Yesterday morning I had my midwifery appointment, with a three week lapse between this one and the last. I hadn't gotten on the scale at all because who knew how much water illness and travel was making me retain? The answer? Apparently not much! I was up only ONE POUND from my mid-December appointment. That means that with a baby putting on half a pound a week and traveling/holiday business, I managed to essentially maintain my weight and/or lose a smidge of bodyfat, during the most diet-challenging circumstances I could undertake. Cue the party poppers and confetti!

As of this point in my pregnancy, I am STILL under my prepregnancy weight for my last baby, with only 10-12 weeks left to go. Woohoo!

To add to the immense pile of awesome that is my health? I got my results back just now from my midwife regarding my hemoglobin A1C - even with pregnancy funkiness thrown in, I was measuring at 4.9%. She said that is the lowest she has seen in a LONG time, and absolutely incredible for pregnancy. That means my efforts at controlling my nutrition and mitigating insulin impact of my food has worked and my blood chemistry in that regard couldn't be better. My blood sugar control is excellent, which for a metabolically deranged former fattie is about the best I could ask for

The only results of concern for treatment were my ferritin levels. My iron (serum levels, I think) was at 11 mcmol/L, which is a little low but still within healthy range. But my ferritin levels were only 6 ng/mL, which is extremely low. So though I am managing well enough day to day my stores of iron are depleted, and I'm hitting the point in pregnancy where blood volume increases for the baby are massive. I've always struggled with anemia but haven't needed iron supplementation with the high amount in my daily diet. I didn't want to add that in unless it was medically indicated. In this case, in addition to my dietary iron sources, the midwives are asking I supplement 50 mg of ferrous gluconate daily and they will retest my levels at the 36 weeks appointment. That is the best assimilated and least 'binding' way of supplementing iron, so I'm on board and will be beginning that tomorrow.

All in all an excellent appointment and they are VERY pleased with my current health. Recommendations are to keep doing whatever I am doing and keep up my exercise, too. The iron supplementation is simple enough and since I have actively avoided iron in my supplements (it's SO easy to overdo when eating a diet like Atkins, which is rich in dietary iron sources) adding it in is no big deal. I would guess, based on my levels, that if I'm not nursing or pregnant my dietary intake would indeed be sufficient, but the demands of growing a person have depleted my stores a bit and more is needed, even with lots of dietary iron daily. That being my biggest health concern is a victory in and of itself, I can't tell you how much the minimal weight gain, solidly healthy blood pressure, and excellent A1C, made my week!

Furthermore, baby is in an excellent position (head down and left-occiput anterior) and not measuring as far ahead anymore - I'm at 31 cm fundal height, and since I'm a multipara it is considered completely normal to measure up to 2 cm ahead of gestational date. Even having fasted for 12-ish hours the night before (they asked that this be a fasted blood draw, so I went in at 9:30 am) the baby was kicking up a storm and moving around like crazy. Heart rate was at 130 BPM - perfectly healthy and the midwife speculated it would go up a smidge as soon as I ate. Really nothing of note, which is my FAVORITE kind of appointment.

Summary - by all accounts we can observe physically and through normal prenatal diagnostics, my dietary/exercise experiment here in the second and third trimester has been a total success. I feel great, my vitals are excellent even for a non-pregnant person, and the only area of even minor concern is easily corrected and not diet related (I have had low iron/anemia in every pregnancy, including the ones on the Brewer diet, standard American diet, and now Atkins). It's one of the few conditions I am prone to, and being a reproductive aged young woman with closely spaced pregnancies makes iron a bigger issue than for most of the rest of the population.

I'll be continuing on here in my happy spot of 1800-2000 calories, to my hunger, of low carb (rung four is a happy place for me) foods with my net carbs being in the 25-30 g range. I'm going to focus on getting in more iron rich food, I've been eating more fish and less red meat in recent weeks and I'll be making a concerted effort to have dark meat poultry and red meat for dinner, at least, each day.

Exercise continues to be TTap five-ish days a week. I took a break from it on vacation due to a lack of space in my hotel room, and my exercise vids disappearing off my iPad when it was replaced and content restored right before the trip. But I FELT the lack of workout and ended up doing primary back stretch almost every day, for the second half of the trip, just out of necessity. My neck and back were so sore from travel and the hotel beds that I had to add it in, and it made me feel notably better. But now that I'm back home I'm back to my normal schedule. I did MORE chair yesterday and that was good, I'm thinking another light workout today could also be beneficial, but I don't want to push too hard since I am still under the weather. So the TTap will happen, just with varying degrees of intensity depending on how I feel.

[guilietta]

Hi DisneyPrincess, I'm new to this thread but saw you posts in August re: rib pain... I was wondering if you had solved it at all during pregnancy or if it went away after delivery? It sounds like costochondritis which is something I had with both pregnancies. It was brutal! Anyway, just something to maybe look up if you have another babe someday

[DisneyPrincess]

Originally Posted by guilietta

Hi DisneyPrincess, I'm new to this thread but saw you posts in August re: rib pain... I was wondering if you had solved it at all during pregnancy or if it went away after delivery? It sounds like costochondritis which is something I had with both pregnancies. It was brutal! Anyway, just something to maybe look up if you have another babe someday

I still have the pain. Doctor said it could last for weeks still. Going to go look up costochondritis. Thanks

[jillybean720]

Taryl - AWESOME job sticking to on-plan foods while travelling over the holidays! That's quite a feat, but now you've got such great results!

Originally Posted by Oregon Transplant

I'm just checking in to let you guys know I won't be on here as much. DH and I have decided to take a break from actively TTC until we get in to see the RE, which will likely be in April or May. Until then, we won't be doing anything to be preventing pregnancy but I won't be charting, using OPKs, etc. We need a mental break! I'll still be checking on everyone, but not posting as much!

Relax, let loose, and get back to it when you guys are good and ready

Originally Posted by suzanneyea

James is nine months now and crawling everywhere. He loves his playgroups. Today we went to an indoor play area and it was a lot of fun.

Ben is 9 months, too, but he's not crawling yet. We have hardwood floors, so he just gets himself on his tummy and slides himself around that way. Doing this, he's still very mobile, but our living room is sunk down a step, so he's still relatively contained...for now! Everyone tells us he'll be crawling "any day now" because he gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, but...he's been doing that for nearly two months now! I think he may skip crawling since he's able to move around without it and seems quite content with that. And I'm totally okay with him not crawling yet since it makes him easier to keep track of We haven't been to a playgroup in quite a while, but our daycare provider now watches another little boy the same age as Ben, so he has a playmate daily

[suzanneyea]

James is short and smaller babies usually walk and crawl earlier. I was with my friend yesterday and her baby is ten months. He is really long! So, he commando crawls and does not stand up yet either. The one advantage to being short!

[Lori37]

Originally Posted by Arctic_Mama

Well ladies, I'm finally back in town after almost three WEEKS gone. And I had my 29/30 week appt yesterday. I'm just going to copy and paste my latest blog entry for the summary which is most awesome cheers and only one slight downside.

*****

Just checking in again - we made it back home in one piece, though unfortunately everyone came down with nasty colds/possible unconfirmed flu while in California, and my husband and I are still trying to shake it. My case was the mildest of the family, but the sleep deprivation in caring for throwing up/ear infection/coughing children made me go from improving to sicker again. Lesson - when sick, rest up, otherwise the immune system WILL suffer for stress

So. I was gone the entire Christmas break, eating at family's homes, airports, theme parks, and restaurants. I managed to not eat any off plan food at all, though I did eat ad libitum of the foods I was allowed. Yesterday morning I had my midwifery appointment, with a three week lapse between this one and the last. I hadn't gotten on the scale at all because who knew how much water illness and travel was making me retain? The answer? Apparently not much! I was up only ONE POUND from my mid-December appointment. That means that with a baby putting on half a pound a week and traveling/holiday business, I managed to essentially maintain my weight and/or lose a smidge of bodyfat, during the most diet-challenging circumstances I could undertake. Cue the party poppers and confetti!

As of this point in my pregnancy, I am STILL under my prepregnancy weight for my last baby, with only 10-12 weeks left to go. Woohoo!

To add to the immense pile of awesome that is my health? I got my results back just now from my midwife regarding my hemoglobin A1C - even with pregnancy funkiness thrown in, I was measuring at 4.9%. She said that is the lowest she has seen in a LONG time, and absolutely incredible for pregnancy. That means my efforts at controlling my nutrition and mitigating insulin impact of my food has worked and my blood chemistry in that regard couldn't be better. My blood sugar control is excellent, which for a metabolically deranged former fattie is about the best I could ask for

The only results of concern for treatment were my ferritin levels. My iron (serum levels, I think) was at 11 mcmol/L, which is a little low but still within healthy range. But my ferritin levels were only 6 ng/mL, which is extremely low. So though I am managing well enough day to day my stores of iron are depleted, and I'm hitting the point in pregnancy where blood volume increases for the baby are massive. I've always struggled with anemia but haven't needed iron supplementation with the high amount in my daily diet. I didn't want to add that in unless it was medically indicated. In this case, in addition to my dietary iron sources, the midwives are asking I supplement 50 mg of ferrous gluconate daily and they will retest my levels at the 36 weeks appointment. That is the best assimilated and least 'binding' way of supplementing iron, so I'm on board and will be beginning that tomorrow.

All in all an excellent appointment and they are VERY pleased with my current health. Recommendations are to keep doing whatever I am doing and keep up my exercise, too. The iron supplementation is simple enough and since I have actively avoided iron in my supplements (it's SO easy to overdo when eating a diet like Atkins, which is rich in dietary iron sources) adding it in is no big deal. I would guess, based on my levels, that if I'm not nursing or pregnant my dietary intake would indeed be sufficient, but the demands of growing a person have depleted my stores a bit and more is needed, even with lots of dietary iron daily. That being my biggest health concern is a victory in and of itself, I can't tell you how much the minimal weight gain, solidly healthy blood pressure, and excellent A1C, made my week!

Furthermore, baby is in an excellent position (head down and left-occiput anterior) and not measuring as far ahead anymore - I'm at 31 cm fundal height, and since I'm a multipara it is considered completely normal to measure up to 2 cm ahead of gestational date. Even having fasted for 12-ish hours the night before (they asked that this be a fasted blood draw, so I went in at 9:30 am) the baby was kicking up a storm and moving around like crazy. Heart rate was at 130 BPM - perfectly healthy and the midwife speculated it would go up a smidge as soon as I ate. Really nothing of note, which is my FAVORITE kind of appointment.

Summary - by all accounts we can observe physically and through normal prenatal diagnostics, my dietary/exercise experiment here in the second and third trimester has been a total success. I feel great, my vitals are excellent even for a non-pregnant person, and the only area of even minor concern is easily corrected and not diet related (I have had low iron/anemia in every pregnancy, including the ones on the Brewer diet, standard American diet, and now Atkins). It's one of the few conditions I am prone to, and being a reproductive aged young woman with closely spaced pregnancies makes iron a bigger issue than for most of the rest of the population.

I'll be continuing on here in my happy spot of 1800-2000 calories, to my hunger, of low carb (rung four is a happy place for me) foods with my net carbs being in the 25-30 g range. I'm going to focus on getting in more iron rich food, I've been eating more fish and less red meat in recent weeks and I'll be making a concerted effort to have dark meat poultry and red meat for dinner, at least, each day.

Exercise continues to be TTap five-ish days a week. I took a break from it on vacation due to a lack of space in my hotel room, and my exercise vids disappearing off my iPad when it was replaced and content restored right before the trip. But I FELT the lack of workout and ended up doing primary back stretch almost every day, for the second half of the trip, just out of necessity. My neck and back were so sore from travel and the hotel beds that I had to add it in, and it made me feel notably better. But now that I'm back home I'm back to my normal schedule. I did MORE chair yesterday and that was good, I'm thinking another light workout today could also be beneficial, but I don't want to push too hard since I am still under the weather. So the TTap will happen, just with varying degrees of intensity depending on how I feel.

That's awesome! I think about you often as I am low carbing too now. You inspire me! Since getting the ok to low carb 3-4 weeks ago I too have only gained 1 pound! I knew this was the way I should be eating from the start, that GD diet really piled on the pounds!

[Lori37]

My blood sugars are doing much better! Fastings in the 90's again. 90 today! WOOHOO!

Today is my baby shower, the only high carb temptation will be the cake and maybe fruit. I've asked people to try to bring low carb options. We are having meatballs, chicken satay, deveiled eggs, meat and cheese platters, veggie platters and fruit platters.
About 40-50 people RSVP'd, but gee about 10 have had to back out due to deaths in the family or their children being sick with high fevers and they didn't want to spread it to me. Kinda bummed, because these are some of the people I most wanted to be there. But life happens, nothing we can do about it.

[DisneyPrincess]

I never heard of that before Suzanne. My son is very short and was a late crawler/walker though

Have fun today Lori!!

Baby Stella is doing wonderful. She sleeps well and eats well and loves to cuddle she does have a blocked tear duct though

[suzanneyea]

Originally Posted by DisneyPrincess

I never heard of that before Suzanne. My son is very short and was a late crawler/walker though

Have fun today Lori!!

Baby Stella is doing wonderful. She sleeps well and eats well and loves to cuddle she does have a blocked tear duct though

Lol. Every time you think there is a "rule." there is an exception? My doctor says it is becausevmy babies have a low center of gravity, they can stand and walk easier than a taller baby. But, who really knows?

[pocahontas]

Well BFN today so off I go for my dental work in the morning. BOO!

[suzanneyea]

My last post came out weird. I did not mean to put the question mark. So, it looks shaky and it is not meant to. Sorry.

[Arctic_Mama]

Originally Posted by Lori37

My blood sugars are doing much better! Fastings in the 90's again. 90 today! WOOHOO!

Today is my baby shower, the only high carb temptation will be the cake and maybe fruit. I've asked people to try to bring low carb options. We are having meatballs, chicken satay, deveiled eggs, meat and cheese platters, veggie platters and fruit platters.
About 40-50 people RSVP'd, but gee about 10 have had to back out due to deaths in the family or their children being sick with high fevers and they didn't want to spread it to me. Kinda bummed, because these are some of the people I most wanted to be there. But life happens, nothing we can do about it.

I'm glad your blood sugar looks better, woohoo! And have fun at your baby shower!

If it makes you feel better, people are treating RSVP's much more casually these days. I had almost 75 guests RSVP for my wedding seven years ago, but only about 30 showed up! Given the cost of cake and the like, I was pretty annoyed over that

[Arctic_Mama]

Originally Posted by pocahontas

Well BFN today so off I go for my dental work in the morning. BOO!

I'm sorry about the BFN

[jillybean720]

*sigh* I'm still waiting for my "click" for my diet. I always know what I SHOULD be doing, but there are just these times when it somehow just clicks, and I am 100% gung ho about it. I need to find my clicker Tomorrow is a new day...

Originally Posted by suzanneyea

James is short and smaller babies usually walk and crawl earlier. I was with my friend yesterday and her baby is ten months. He is really long! So, he commando crawls and does not stand up yet either. The one advantage to being short!

I'd never heard that before. Ben is smack dab around the 50th percentile for height/length, so he's very...average :P

Originally Posted by Lori37

My blood sugars are doing much better! Fastings in the 90's again. 90 today! WOOHOO!

I'll second that WOOHOO! Anything in particular that seemed to help? Or maybe your fastings just needed a bit of time to catch up with the rest?

Originally Posted by DisneyPrincess

Baby Stella is doing wonderful. She sleeps well and eats well and loves to cuddle she does have a blocked tear duct though

Aww, I'm glad she's a good sleeper and eater. This early, those are most important! What do they do for a blocked tear duct, or does it just sort of fix itself in time?

Originally Posted by pocahontas

Well BFN today so off I go for my dental work in the morning. BOO!

Sorry about the BFN, but at least you can get your deal work done and put that behind you so you don't have to worry about it when you're pregnant. I had just a cleaning scheduled for March of last year and cancelled because I couldn't even stand the thought of going through that in my last month

[suzanneyea]

You do not want to get me started on people rsvp'ing! Try planning a child's birthday, no one ever calls back! So annoying. I end up having to call them and they are all casual, saying their son is coming. Umm, it takes 5 seconds to email or text me that so I can plan!

[Lori37]

Jilly I've just been waking up at 4am instead of 530am. Waking up before the "Dawn phe" sets in and eating working out, eating breakfast early. Today after being so exhausted from the shower I slept til 530 and my blood sugar was 102. Could be the time, but could also be that I ate a few carbs yesterday.
Really seems I just need to wake up earlier to beat it!


The shower was amazing. So many people cancelled last minute, but Im kinda glad they did. It was overwhelming as it was! Too many people to chat with, too many presents to open. Too much stuff to load in the car! LOL.
Got some adorable clothes. Lots in Newborn size that says up to 8 pounds, since Rose is supposed to be almost 9 pounds at birth I'm guessing it will never fit, so whatever has gift reciepts I'll try to return for a bigger size. I think we're set for clothes for a while.

[jillybean720]

The crap stops today. Protein shake for breakfast, Atkins meal in the freezer for lunch, chuck roast already cooking in the crock pot at home for dinner. No more starting tomorrow or next week or after this next holiday/event...

Originally Posted by Lori37

Lots in Newborn size that says up to 8 pounds, since Rose is supposed to be almost 9 pounds at birth I'm guessing it will never fit, so whatever has gift reciepts I'll try to return for a bigger size. I think we're set for clothes for a while.

Another frustration...baby clothes, just like women's clothes, don't always only fit as they say they should. Ben is smack in the middle of average for weight and height, and he's 9.5 months old, but some of his 6 month clothes still fit, and some of the 6 month size pants are still even quite loose around his waist! He weighs less than 21 pounds now, but the diapers he's been wearing for well over a month say they fit 22-30 pounds. The newborn size outfit I bought to take Ben home from the hospital in was insanely huge on him, WAY too big for him to actually wear, and he was born 7 pounds 11 ounces, so something fitting "up to 8 pounds" should have been pretty perfect He ended up coming home in a plain white hospital t-shirt with a bunch of blankets piled on him in the car seat (it was cold out).

I do agree, though, that you don't need a ton of newborn size even if she does fit into them at first simply because they grow so quickly, so I think exchanging is a good idea. Just be prepared for maybe more to fit her than you think!