Katelyn, Conner and Caleb! » September 2004 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Wed, Sep 29, 2004 8:00 PM
Katelyn finally had her 18 months appointment today. I guess two months late isn't too bad. :D
Eric started off the appointment by telling the doc that things were only 6 minutes apart so we had plenty of time and she should just take her time. Her eyes got big and she asked, "really?" Apparently, she's had women show up during labor to have well child exams for older children. But when she saw Eric was joking, she had a good laugh. That's Eric for you...

Katelyn weighed in at 23.5 pounds or so (she wouldn't sit still on the scale and kept trying to schooch off). She's 34 inches tall and has a 19.5 inch head. The weight was up in percentile from her 12 month appointment but I remembered that she'd had a fever and not eaten well right before her last appointment so that wasn't much of a suprise.

She's doing great on her milestones. Everything they asked about her being able to do was things that she was doing months ago. That made Eric feel good. He's always wondering if she's doing OK or not. And worrying if she's heavy enough and stuff like that. It doesn't help that Katelyn's cousin could go trick or treating as the pillsbury doughboy! (He's 9 months younger and is the same size as Katelyn weight wise... and almost totally breastfed...)

Then we got to the question I'd been worrying about... homebirth. Some peds get really nervous about this. We explained that our midwife was lisenced and did a head to toe exam and blood work. And that our midwife reccomended a ped visit within two weeks of the birth and then asked what the ped would prefer. I was nervous that she'd say asap/same day because her partner told me that during a meet the dr night that I went to. But I also knew that this ped seemed more open at the meet the dr night that my sister went to. This ped seemed fine with it and said 2-3 days is her preference. This is the same request she makes for babies who leave within 24 hours of birth so I felt that it was very reasonable. Whew! That is such a relief! This ped will probably be getting referrals from my midwife now. :D

One the down note though... I've been having sciatica issues all day now on my right leg. I am so looking forward to my next chiro appointment on Friday!

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Tue, Sep 28, 2004 2:00 PM
Katelyn is no longer allowed in the front seat of the car by herself. When we got back from shopping today, I handed her my keys because her new thing is to put them away for me (in the right spot even!). But instead of climbing out of the car like I expected, she crawled up to the driver's seat. Then she leaned over, put the correct key into the ignition and started trying to "drive" with the steering wheel. After a little of that, she sat down and tried to buckle herself in. She couldn't get the buckle together so she stood up a little while later to "drive" some more.

Let's just say that she was less then happy when I insisted that she needed to come into the house. I was too afraid that she'd figure out that she needed to turn the key too!

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Mon, Sep 27, 2004 7:30 PM
I had two appointments today.
The chiropractor appointment was first. I was really happy with this chiropractor. It's the first that I've been to him and so I was a little concerned because I've been to some that were not good at all. Only out for your money, that sort of thing. But this guy seemed very good. He checked out every single vertebrae and did it in a very calm, quiet manner that was quite impressive. He even had a table that could accomodate my belly. :D But best of all, he's a Christian!

He found two places in my spine that were twisted and both coorelated to pain I'd been having. One was with the sciatica that I've just started feeling and one was with this weird pain right below my left breast that feels like a muscle cramp. That muscle cramp went away as soon as he adjusted that spot and the other definitely helped me to stand straighter without so much of a sway back. The left side of my pelvis is also twisted so that will be adjusted next visit. I'm not supposed to lift Katelyn any more then I have to (let her do as much as I can) and take it easy on my back to let things settle into their new places.

He also said that he didn't think I was quite ready to go into labor. He has 7 kids of his own and sees a lot of pregnant women in his practice so he said he's used to this sort of thing.

His office was fun. Katelyn got to play with a Thomas the Tank Engine table and they have a special kids examination room that has toys in it. I didn't get that one because I got the preggo lady room instead.

He's going to get things as straight as he can before I give birth.

The midwife appointment was also today. BP 130/82 until I laid down on my left side and then it went to 105/52. So a big jump there. I'd been making lunch right before she came so I wasn't surprised that the bp was a little higher but at the same time, it was the highest this pregnancy. Urine dip was perfect. Baby's heart rate was 140 and very reactive. Katelyn showed that she knew how to use a fetoscope. We got a video for Katelyn to watch with me about births so she'll be a little more prepared.

The midwife gave a different reccomendation for a pool then the one we have. I'm going to check into that tomorrow. It's about twice as much as the one we have now but that's not very much still. We didn't even open the box with the pool we ordered so we can very easily send that back.

She thinks I won't go as late with this one as I did with Katelyn. I have really dropped. She also still doesn't think this will be a giant baby.

Our next appointment is Oct 13 which is the day of the new moon. Katelyn was born on a new moon so we'll see if that does anything for this baby.

We are also seeing Katelyn's ped on Wednesday and will talk about homebirth plans and bringing in baby. Our midwife reccomends a 2 week check up unless she sees some reason with that baby. So we'll see what our ped says about our plans.

Tonight Eric and I got one step closer to being ready for baby's birth. We moved a toy shelf into Katelyn's room (it's crowded in there now...) and moved my sewing table up to where the toy shelf used to be. The rooms are a bit out of sorts while we get things totally moved around but the heavy lifting is done. This frees up the living room for where we were going to put the pool. And makes our living room look a lot larger again. Tomorrow I'm vaccuuming and doing stuff in the living room to clean up all the little things from that were hidden under and behind the sewing table.

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Sun, Sep 26, 2004 7:29 PM
I have a secret! I can't tell it to you though. :D It wouldn't be a secret if I did.

There are definite advantages to nesting. Katelyn and I went through parts of the house this evening before she went to bed and picked up all her toys and the house is now almost ready for the midwives to come. Imagine that! Not needing to spend the morning straigtening up for them. It's a good feeling. There is still more to be done of course, but most of it's dishes and I need to run the dishwasher first. So do that tonight, put them away tomorrow morning and reload and I'm ready. That and vacuum... But this is great to have so little because I have a chiropractor appointment in the morning before the midwife appointment.

Katelyn's cousin was dedicated this morning. So we went over and celebrated this afternoon with lunch. It was very yummy! Katelyn got to sit at the kids table and did a fairly good job. She definitely enjoyed the banana bread that I brought. That's good... I have one loaf left that I didn't take over. Katelyn got fussy after the meal though. She was tired and it was her nap time. But she didn't really want to nap there. (Lots of protesting this idea!)

She fell asleep on the way home and stayed asleep for a couple of hours.

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Wed, Sep 22, 2004 6:33 PM
I am so restless today. I want to just sit and rest but I'm not finding that very easy to do. I admit it though... I'm in nesting mode. It's weird because I didn't go through this with Katelyn. But I just feel this urge to go clean. Very odd for me! And I've been cleaning all day with Katelyn's help. I'm going to see if drinking some water helps. I'm thirsty so that might be part of the probelm. But I'm also a little stuffed up.

Katelyn was cute today. She came up to me with a book and point to a horse and then once I identified it, she neighed at me. She can now do dog, cat, owl, truck, duck, and sheep. But don't count on her doing it when you ask her! It's still only if she is in the mood.

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Tue, Sep 21, 2004 9:12 PM
Dentist appointment today and no cavities! I've started going every 4 months and that is making a huge difference in how my gums are. So I'll go back in 4 months for my next appointment. I figure that I can use this one sooner rather then later since I know it's hard to remember routine things like teeth brushing while trying to adjust to a new baby.

Katelyn enjoyed the dentist visit. They put a little chair in the room for her so she can watch what is going on. This is the 3rd appointment where they've done that for her (one other with me and one with her dad). She just sits there and watches everything that goes on. I'd look over and she'd be leaning to see around the hygenist. By the time she has an appointment of her own, she'll know just what to do!

Pregnancy wise... I'm starting to get what I think are braxton hicks contractions. But they just feel generally crampy. Not even bad crampy.. just crampy. PMS type crampy. It means things are starting to move along but gives no clue as to when they'll happen. Many women get BHs during the first trimester even! Then there's me... late as usual.

Pam, from Ladybug, who is due the same time I am, woke up this morning to broken water. She posted on Ladybug that she was headed to the hospital to have a cesearean. No word though yet. I'm waiting very impatiently!

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Sat, Sep 18, 2004 11:36 AM
I'm finally getting into nesting mode. I just keep looking around my house and realizing that this is not how I want the house during labor and birth. Katelyn's room is great and I am not having trouble keeping up with that. And the living room is doing well. It only takes 5-10 minutes to pick up Katelyn's toys and books there. Even with it being harder to get things from the floor... But then there is the kitchen. I get it clean and then it's right back down hill. I'm making progress at permanent clean there too though. I need to get some food off my counter and into the pantry. That'll make a big difference. Eric cleaning the fridge for me a week ago helped a lot too!

My bedroom is what I'm really attacking right now. There is a bunch of clutter in there. Including a pile of things to take to Goodwill. At least that pile can be taken care of easily. I made a huge dent in the clutter that has accumulated on top of my dresser today. But now I'm down to the harder to take care of stuff. But it's progress!

I'd like to move the couch that is in my dining room up to my bedroom. Or maybe a recliner. I can see that being really helpful once baby is here. I'd be able to hide there and nurse if I wanted to. I have memories of hiding in my room with Katelyn when she was 1.5-2 weeks old. It seemed like that was the only place I could go to get away and nurse her in private. But it was so uncomfortable to nurse her while sitting on my bed without back support and such. A couch or recliner in there would really help things out.

And we have the room for it in there. More room then we have in our dining room! But... the couch in our dining room is a sleeper couch. Which translates into super heavy. So I'll have to be thinking this out pretty well before it happens.

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Wed, Sep 15, 2004 1:00 PM
The midwives just left and as usual, I'm updating about it.

Everything is looking very good. They concur that this pregnancy is going wonderfully and everything looks great. My urine test was perfect (even drank enough water this time). My milk cravings went away with more protein so we solved that quickly. My birth kit is complete but needs to be packed up in an easy to carry around box (I have that too... just need to put things into it).

As for supplements... this is the time those really get started. Yi Yi! There's a lot! But it all falls into what other homebirth mamas have reported and each item is just nutritionally really beneficial at the end of pregnancy and supports the mom's body as it prepares for birth.

This week: 2-3 cups daily of red raspberry and nettle leaf tea (so 4-6 cups since I combine them); 4-6 tablets 3xdaily of alfalfa; 2 cups daily of Dr. Christopher's pregnancy tea (available at the healthfood store in a bottle of concentrate); 2 tablets 3xdaily of blessed thistle and 2 gelcaps daily of evening primrose oil. I'm also to be eating salmon and taking 1 tbs of flax seed oil to help my skin's elasticity to avoid tearing where the episiotomy was from Katelyn's birth.

And for the curious, here's what the supplements are good for (quoting from the sheet the midwives gave me).
Red Raspberry Leaf: tones uterus and enriches milk
Nettle Leaf: rich in calcium and iron
Alfalfa: builds up blood
Dr. Christopher's pregnancy tea: prepares for labor
Blessed thistle: builds up blood and enriches milk
Evening primrose 500 mg: ripens cervix

The midwives are also going to loan me some birthing videos so that I can watch them with Katelyn so that she can start preparing for this baby's birth.

She definitely remembered about midwife apointments! She knows how to use a fetoscope... she brought it to the Linda and then Kim and put it up to their foreheads so they could use it. And when she saw Linda get out the measuring tape and fetoscope, she went and grabbed a big pillow for me, put it on the floor and then patted it while looking at me just like she does before bed. It's her way of saying, "You go here, Mommy." She had fun with the stethoscope again and solicited Kim's help wtih using it. She didn't want it used on top of her shirt either... Kim had to use it on Katelyn's belly, under the shirt. She's one smart little girl there! Linda and Kim joked that she's going to be a midwife when she grows up and will put them out of a job. :)

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Tue, Sep 14, 2004 7:21 PM
Little Miss Independent.

That's my Katelyn. This evening we were at a bonfire while Eric has his church board meeting. All the families ate together and then the guys went into the house for their meeting and the ladies and kids stayed outside.

At one point during the meal, Katelyn discovered that she could reach some small tomatoes on the food table. She took one, walked it over to her Aunt Sandi and then went back for another. I asked if she'd eaten her first one, found out she hadn't so I instructed Katelyn that she couldn't have more until she finished what she had. She quickly ate the one in her hand, reclaimed the one from her aunt (stuffed it into her mouth and then held her lips shut around it) and then looked up at me and pointed to the food table. I had to laugh as I gave her permission to get another. Off she went knowing exactly what it was she wanted. She ended up eating one and a half more. And this was on top of the rest of the meal she'd already eaten.

Katelyn had a cup with water in it but she saw another little girl with kool-aid in her cup. Katelyn was a bit put out that her drink didn't have that great red color. Within minutes she'd figured out how to work the water jug to pour herself her own kool-aid. She just stayed by the drink table for most of the evening as she got herself more and more kool-aid to drink.

Yep... that's my independent little girl. The kool-aid dripped red stain down her chin and made her look like a little vampire. LOL!

As for me today... it was one of those joyous pregnancy hormone days. Things were just setting me off all over the place. The green monster of jealousy attacked for a short while, my clothes aren't fitting as well any more, I had problems with my online shopping cart, the phone just kept ringing and I didn't get much done and the dish washer appears to be not working. I almost cried on the way to the bonfire. But that was so nice being with those ladies. It was exactly what I needed on a day like this.

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Mon, Sep 13, 2004 1:37 AM
I tried out the special hours at Sam's Club for business members today. What a deal that is... if you have a business, you pay less for your memebership and you get extra hours to shop during.

Our store has this little door next to the regular door and you push a doorbell to be rung in. Katelyn had our card all ready to show that we were allowed to be there. Right there at the entrance was coffee (didn't interest me), donuts, pop tarts and candy bars. What a deal! I grabbed a package of pop tarts and Katelyn and I shared them. She got so excited when she saw what I had picked up. So much so that she was protesting having to wait to get into the cart before getting some.

Needless to say, she was just a bit sticky when we got to the checkout lane.

Checkout lanes... what another great part of the membership. Even though there were people there shopping at the same time, the lines were sooo short! I had to wait for a grand total of one person to check out with one item. Now this is the way to buy milk when I need it!

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Sun, Sep 12, 2004 6:00 PM
This morning at chuch a friend whose a grandmotherly age took one look at me and told me I'd dropped. I guess baby is getting lower. But I keep reminding myself that I dropped at the end of December with Katelyn. Now that I think of it, I can breathe easier and I've been making bathroom trips more often so maybe I have dropped. It just means I'm right on schedule.

One more maternity shirt out of service as of today. The blouse I wore almost wasn't even buttonable today. But I wore it anyways to get one more use out of it. It's a really great blouse that I liked enough to buy one size larger then I thought I'd need. I guess I needed that extra room! Honestly, next pregnancy I should look for shirts/tops in size XXL just so that they can fit my belly at the end of pregnancy. The only problem then is that the rest of the pregnancy, I end up looking like I shopped at Omar the Tentmaker's shop. People at church will just have to allow me to get away with dressing very, very casual for the next few weeks. I think I have one dress that might fit next week and then I'll be done with dressy clothes.

On the health side, I've been gaining weight like crazy these last couple of weeks. I'm talking 4-6 pounds a week. I know way to much about Pre-E and this scared me. "Excessive" weight gain per week is one sign of pre-e. And even though I'm not showing any other signs, I still worry about it. I'm not sure where this weight is going though... I'm not very swollen in my hands, ankles or face. I'm not looking like I'm putting on weight (except for my ever expanding belly). So I'm praying that this isn't going all to Baby.

So to counteract this weight gain, I decided to make healthier eating choices. Yesterday I had scrambled eggs for breakfast (with flax seed oil), and chicken salad on whole wheat toast for supper. I don't remember what was lunch but it was healthy too. Snacks were baby carrots. Today was protein shake for breakfast (good for before church) with flax seed oil, a muffin at church, very healthy stir fry with brown rice for lunch and chicken salad on a whole wheat tortilla for supper. And a church I picked up some tomatoes for my baby spinach salads. I'll be able to start eating those again tomorrow. I'm still eating as much as I want but I'm making the food choices healthy ones.

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Thu, Sep 9, 2004 9:17 PM
Katelyn was snuggly today. Gannon (probably her best friend right now) came over to visit until his mom came home and they were watching Paddington Bear with Eric. Then Gannon's mom came over and Katelyn decided to come downstairs and climb up on the couch where I was sitting to just snuggle in with me. It was adorable.

We went to the library today and as Katelyn was playing in the kids area, baby went a bit crazy. Waves of motion could be viewed in my belly. And I'm not talking little waves here... I'm talking my belly would move out an inch or more in a sine wave type motion. Both sides! One side would go in, one would go out and then they'd alternate. And there'd be at least an inch difference between the in and out. It was amazing. No need to take a kick count there! I think I'd have hit ten movements in just over a minute.

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Thu, Sep 9, 2004 3:19 AM
Katelyn has become such a great helper lately. For example yesterday as we were getting diapers ready, she'd grab and insert from me, walk over to where the clean diapers had been hung and were now dry, grab one of those and then give both to me as a package. I'd stuff the diaper and then she'd carry it to her room and put it away. She had everything in the right spot too! The extra inserts had to be put in with the diapers for next time.

Then as we were doing laundry, she emptied the drier for me and brought them to her bed so that I could fold everything.

After all this help, I read to her for a bit and then we watched a quilting video together. It's so nice to sit and snuggle her. I know we won't have many of those times with just the two of us any more. And even though I know she'll really enjoy having a new sibling, I also grieve the time I won't have with just her. And I wonder if she'll feel like something special has been taken away from her. I know those feelings are normal for a mom expecting her second (and probably even her third) child. But they're still hard.

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Thu, Sep 2, 2004 6:00 PM
Just finished the prenatal appointment. Everything looked good but boy did I grow! Time to take a new belly pic. My BP was high but well within my normal especially since Eric was bringing up everything he thought I was doing that I shouldn't be doing while pregnant. :) I need to drink more water and stop drinking quite so much milk (I've been drinking nearly a gallon a day for the last couple days). More protein will probably help out there.

I also need to schedule a chiropractor appointment and was given a reccomendation for one that the midwives have sent clients to before and been happy with.

Katelyn was adorable and when I was getting my belly checked out, she grabbed a stethescope and wanted to listen in also. Then after I got up, she got down and wanted her belly checked out and listened to also. The midwives were very sweet and listened to her belly for her and helped her with the stethescope so that she could also hear.

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