The Niblet and the ninth month.

[rivka]

I'm 35 weeks pregnant today. I felt really well up until last week. Now I feel "really well, considering," which is not the same thing.

I get pretty fatigued by the end of the day, especially if I've done much walking. I'm having trouble staying hydrated enough. I'm up a lot in the night for bathroom trips and have trouble getting back to sleep. My pubic bone is achy. I have various pressure-related symptoms, including varicose veins that appeared early but have now grown (a) quite large and (b) sore. I have a fair amount of trouble getting up off the floor. And my days of bathing Alex are done for a while - I just can't handle the leaning and bending and lifting. On the other hand, I feel pretty well for the early parts of the day. I'm carrying this baby incredibly low, which means that breathing is much more comfortable than it was with Alex. Surprisingly, I don't have any back pain. And Prevacid is controlling my heartburn.

Next week I'll go back to the midwife for a pelvic exam and a Group B Strep test, which we devoutly hope will be negative. We'll find out if I'm dilated at all, or if these sharp pains in my cervix have just been a useless annoyance. After that, midwife appointments will be weekly until I deliver.

We're moving forward with preparations and plans. Alex takes her sibling prep class on the 11th. Michael and I take the hospital tour on the 14th. We're meeting with my friend Emily, who will be our unofficial doula, tomorrow night to talk over labor plans. We worked out what we each want to ask for in terms of leave and schedule adjustments, and will be talking to our bosses soon. We've made arrangements for Michael to meet each of the new midwives.

We bought a double stroller; really, a stroller-and-a-half. Instead of a full second seat, there's a sort of a bench in back for the older child to sit on, and a standing board in case they'd rather ride standing up. Alex loves it. I have a vague uncomfortable feeling that we're not going to get much use out of it - we don't use Alex's stroller much anymore. But that's probably because we've been driving a lot more places than we did when I wasn't, you know, hugely pregnant. We also bought a new baby monitor, and a warm fleecy thing that covers the carseat in lieu of a snowsuit. (You're not supposed to use a snowsuit in the carseat, because it makes the straps fit incorrectly.) I have scoped out, but not purchased, BPA-free bottles, breast pump, breastmilk storage, etc.

I laundered three loads of baby stuff last night. And a good thing I did, because I discovered that our burp cloth supply is sadly diminished. I think we sent a bunch to my brother and turned some others into cleaning rags. So I need to buy another pack or two of prefolds. We have tons of 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes. It's so fun to look through them all.

Our friend and Alex's former nanny Dorian will be our primary childcare for L&D, in combination with nursery school. If there is a gap in Dorian's availability, or if we have to go to the hospital on an emergency basis and there's no time for Dorian to get there, we have two primary sources of on-call backup childcare: Claire, an across-the-street neighbor who goes to our church, for nighttime; and Suzanne, a close friend of mine with two kids who lives a few blocks away, for daytime. Dorian teaches a class on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, and in case I'm in labor on either of those days I want to arrange for Alex to walk home from school with one of her classmates until Dorian can come pick her up. (Suzanne could go get her, but there would be carseat issues.)

Wednesdays are my usual at-home day, and Alex's class is usually unable to accept an extra child on Wednesdays. But the director assures me that they will juggle someone to another classroom, if necessary, so that I don't have to worry about lining up all-day childcare. I am amazed, but pleased.

I hate asking people to do things, but here are the responses I've gotten so far:

[Claire, before I can even get my whole sentence out] "Yes. Yes. You know, I wanted to offer, but I thought it would be too forward." It was clear that she really had been thinking about offering, too, because she had thought through all the logistics. We may even be able to just bring her the baby monitor and a key, and not even have to ask her to leave her apartment.

[Suzanne] "Yes, absolutely. I was planning to offer, and I'm sorry that you had to ask me before I offered."

[Nursery school director] "Please don't give it another thought. We will absolutely be here for you and Alex."

...So I guess I should be feeling less shy about contacting Alex's classmate's mother, huh? People are nice.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I can also drive into town just about any evening, if you need some additional help.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Thank you, that's much appreciated.

At the moment I think we're looking for help that's very close geographically, because the scenario I'm concerned about is precipitous labor or communication failure leading to a need to get to the hospital QUICKLY. But I will certainly keep your kind offer in mind in case things go wrong more slowly.

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

I'll second wcg's offer of help.

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

People are nice! People are especially nice to nice people. And especially nicer, even, to nice pregnant people.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

This is SO exciting! :) And yes, people, overall, are lovely :)

N.

[geminigirl]

I may have some extra breastmilk storage bags-I have to look. I have, if you would like it, a brand new, unopened package of Medela pump and store bottles.

I need your mailing address since you've moved since Alex was born, as well.

[jenett]

People are very nice. Yay!

The stroller and a half seems like a really nice compromise (says me, with no real experience of this kind of thing other than the nieces). It seems like the bench space would be useful for packages/coats/etc. that you might need to haul around, even if Alex isn't riding in it, but give you a backup space if you do need to let her ride.

[laurarey.livejournal.com]

Which breast pump are you considering? I'm looking at the Avent ISIS IQ duo.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I used an Avent Isis manual pump with Alex, and got as much volume as I did with the hospital rental. (Which doesn't say much, unfortunately.) I'm trying to decide whether I am concerned enough about BPA to buy an entirely new pump, or whether I will figure that the milk barely has any contact with the pump and I should just get new bottles.

[ailbhe]

My understanding is that pumps are not a concern for BPA but bottles are and that's partially because milk is warmed in bottles. It's a much bigger concern for the 70C formula is at when being mixed than for room-temperature breastmilk, too.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I haven't researched any of this. It's just hard clear plastic used for food storage, right? And pacifiers? We don't need to replace all our plastic infant toys that inevitably get mouthed?

[ailbhe]

We did this a little in our BfN class a while ago but it's been a while. From memory - do not reheat any food in the clear plastic containers, try not to put anything into them while hot, and try not to store food in such containers long-term. What this means is that parents are investigating glass and steel baby bottles, really.

Other plastic things babies put in their mouths - such as toothbrush bristles, toys, spoons etc - are considered ok as far as I am aware. Certainly nothing in the lesson I had mentioned them.

[juthwara.livejournal.com]

From the research I've done on BPA, I'm not sure the brief amount of time the milk is in contact with the small amount of BPA-containing plastic is enough to worry about. At least not enough to make me abandon a $300 pump just because Avent is being a butthead about BPA (translation of their latest statement on BPA: It's too inconvenient for us to admit BPA is harmful, but you consumers are getting hysterical enough we'll humor you a bit).

Apparently their pumps are BPA-free as of October 2008, but as far as I can tell, it's not possible to buy replacement breast flanges and save some money.

I would be very interested in hearing what you think of your new stroller after you've used it a while. We're in much the same position of not wanting to spend the money on a double stroller for a four-year-old, but walking just a bit too much to want to rely on her being able to walk all the time.

[juthwara.livejournal.com]

I pumped pretty much exclusively for a year and used the ISIS duo and really liked it. I definitely got better yield from it than from the Medela I had used before, although that can be a very individual thing. I think the thing I liked best was how comfortable it was.

Before you spend $300 on a pump you can't return, you might consider getting a manual Avent and seeing how well you respond to it. If you don't like it, then you're not out as much money and if you do, then you'll have a backup pump.

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

Just speaking up because that's the pump I went with and loved it! Very portable, comfortable, and easy to use.

[laurarey.livejournal.com]

Good to know...thanks! The newest issue is that I can't seem to buy them in Canada. The "uno" or manual is no problem, but not the duo. And amazon.com won't ship it across the border. grumble.

[ailbhe]

We had Iz over when Jo was being born and it was really, really lovely for us to feel we were involved in a baby's birth in such an important capacity. We felt like very trusted, important people, and I've always felt specially connected to Jo ever since, even though she doesn't have much of a strong link to me.

The stroller-and-a-half thing sounds great - here one can buy bolt-on bits for regular strollers but I'm not tall enough to reach over a seated or standing child to push a stroller without leaning forward hard. Also, it sounds great for groceries and library books, since it's designed for more weight than stroller luggage-racks.

Snowsuits and puffy coats compress against the straps in a sudden stop or a crash, making the straps loose and unsupportive. In case anyone is wondering.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

This (http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Trend-Galaxy-Stand-Stroller/dp/B000LNN53A/ref=pd_cp_ba_0?pf_rd_p=413863701&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B000BMJ6VG&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=182X84XM8BGX3KXE79E9) is what it looks like. It is a convenient style, and has a huge basket for storage. But I am spoiled by the smallness and foldability of our current stroller - it closes very small and has a shoulder strap for carrying. This is a different universe, as any two-child stroller has to be. It makes me feel suburban.

[ailbhe]

It looks fab; the handle is far enough past the toddler seat that it's going to be pushable. That's the trouble I had with the bolt-on things. The trouble with a lot of the tandem-style double buggies is that they are designed to have the heavier child in front and that makes them an absolute pain to get up onto kerbs, and your one solves that beautifully.
[Edited to change "our" to "your"]

And I've seen faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar bigger pushchairs for one baby, even. I *have* a bigger pram/pushchair for one baby, in fact.

Don't forget the intensive study in Nottingham where they glanced at babies in pushchairs for a few minutes one day and decided forward-facing babies were more likely to grow up manic depressives than mother-facing babies.

[roozle.livejournal.com]

thinking of you, and wishing you have things easy, and get to take things easy when you need it...

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

I was happy to find out that the Playtex Ventaire bottles JUST came out with a BPA free version. And by just I think it must not be more than a week or two. I liked those with Grey and was sad they hadn't reformulated them yet for Thane in time for daycare. But lo!