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btw...Perl...LOVE the idea of an "Introduce baby party" Seems like a great alternative to a baby shower

What a nice start to the November Mommies thread for September Christa! I think the last couple of months is when we are going to show the most. It is inevitable! I have been told I look tiny my whole pregnancy. It has made me paranoid at times. But I am measuring right on track. My doctor told me because I am tall I do not project as much as someone who is shorter. I definitely look preggers but I have managed to keep the swelling and puffiness at bay for the time being. I have heard that major swelling can come right at the end. I am still keeping up my workout regime which has been amazing for my self esteem as far as gaining pregnancy weight. I find my diet has increased..and I am eating small little meals and snacks every couple of hours or so. I woke up this morning with a sore throat..I had a feeling it was coming as I was drinking so much water last night and could not hydrate myself enough. The good thing is my headache seemed alot better today..without meds. It was over a month of headaches..Hopefully it has subsided..but who knows for sure. I am looking forward to my little trip to FLA. Can't wait to see my SIL's twins they are now 8 months. Hopefully I can get some more practice again being around the little ones. My shower is on October 15th. I went to the dollar store to get little gifts for prizes for games we will play...it is amazing some of the items they have..for one gift bag I bought little kitchen gadgets...oven mits, an olive oil gla__s bottle, and a little ceramic drip spoon..all a $1 each. Other prize bags I put a wooden towel holder (that says towel)with a couple of small towels and a small candle...The other bags had bath stuff..bath sponge, moisturizer and a little caddy that hangs in the shower. Anyway, I want to go back..I only spent $36 an bought the little gift bags too for 10 prize bags. Lots a fun! Anyway, hoping you all have a great weekend!! Talk to you all soon! XO Kristin

Hi Christa - thanks for the congrats and invitation to join. I'm sooooooooo excited for you all - in between my bouts of feeling sick in the stomach, exhausted etc. etc. etc. (Remember that? !!! LOL!!!!!) Anyway, I'm always reading this thread so can't wait to hear more news! Speak to you soon.

Ten more weeks!!! Lucky you, Christa, I have been looking very pregnant for several weeks already, now as of the last week or so, I almost look like I'm ready to give birth tomorrow. Baby hiccups that won't quit have woken me up at 4:00 am two days in a row! I went shopping for bigger shoes yesterday. I was a size 7 1/2 shoe size and size 8 1/2 feels much better on my puffy feet but flip flops still feel best. I really hope my feet go back to their regular size.

LOL @ You get to go but am entire new shoe wardrobe because guess what...Your feet will not go back to a 7 1/2. Mine are also an 8.5 moving to a 9 now. I remember when I was a pet_te 7.5 too. I am still feeling the puffiness in my hands and feet and face. I will need to keep on an eye on my blood pressure now as with the extra weight I am feeling that my pre eclampsia could come on now. Somehow will need to keep that in check. I guess I am also starting to nest and it is costing me a fortune! I am getting new carpet in my house (badly needed) and am thinking about having a professional steam cleaner come in and do my tile and grout.....did I mention the painters?? Holy smokes Ive lost my mind.

I swear when I type my replys they are much better then after I hot send...It is LOL @ Perl...and but is BUY

OK girls...I was thinking...we need to make a commitment to eachother that we will stay here on the November Mommies thread until we have all had our babies and posted our birth stories. (ofcourse, we can also post elsewhere, but keep this our home until we all are done)...Also...geez I am in pain sometimes. I think Ryan lodges himself the wornd way and I can not stand up straight. I have to get doggy style in order ti hopefully shift him. Doesn't always work and I have to walk bent in half and do a cow like pose in order to move. This goes on for about 30 minutes at a time...Holy smokes I am glad it goes awy or else I would go on maternity leave early. Talk to you soon...Christa

I had a couple of scares yesterday. First, I was at Babies R Us when I slipped and fell on an invisible but huge puddle of water near the drinking fountain. I was about to fall sideways but managed to flip my body around in mid air so I could land on my knees and hands instead--ouch my poor knees! But I saved my belly from direct impact with the floor. I talked with the store manager and informed her what a huge liability it was for them to not have any protective mats or non slip strips underneath a drinking fountain and right outside the mother's room and restooms where people especially pregnant women walk every day. They had a new mat down on the floor by the time we left the store. Second and worse scare, last night at the usual time to count baby movements, I only counted 7 in one hour and 15 min. (I've been feeling 10 movements in 10-20 minutes or about 30 in the after dinner hour). My OB warned me before to call her "immediately" if I ever felt less than 10 movements at the usual time. I waited an extra hour and got only 3 more movements so I called the on-call doctor who told me to go to the hospital. I did and they strapped me down to fetal monitor and monitor for contractions---I had to lie in bed in a labor/delivery room for a while (less than 1 hour) but dh and I were able to see and hear baby's very normal heartbeat the whole time which was very rea__suring. The nurses were so nice and told us we did the right thing in getting to the hospital and that if we ever notice decreased baby movements again I should just go back regardless of how many times it may happen between now and delivery date. I guess my little guy was just too tired to move much last night---must have been those 4 am hiccups that woke me and and baby up too early. Christa: I like your idea and will be looking forward to reading and sharing birth stories with you all.

Perl, I think it is always best to be safe rather than sorry. I think you did the right think by going to the hospital too! I have not been monitoring my fetal movements by counting..all I can say is that there are alot..especially during the active times. As we progress in our pregnancies there is less room for the baby to move...I find my baby naps in the afternoon..but perks us after eating and drinking..and is the most active when I lay down at night. Your fetal monitoring, was that a specific recommendation to you by your doctor for you to immediately go to the hospital if you have less than 10 movements in an hour? Is that all day long, or just during normal active times? Just curious..as maybe I should be paying closer attention... Sorry to hear of your slip at Toys R US. You know the store knew they were neglegent...as they corrected the problem immediately...a similar thing happen to my mother outside a grocery store..but she slipped and fell on a large sticker on the pavment which they usually place on large items to show it has been paid for. My Mom shattered her leg when she fell and was out of work for 3 months...she is still suffering the effects of the fall with arthiritis and stiffness..at the time the store manager sent and employee out immediately to sc___pe of the stickers from the pavement. She never did sue..but I wished she did as she suffered immensely. Perl you could have easily hurt yourself and baby..I think you should take it further..if you have the energy to do so. Hope you feel better. Kristin :)

Kristin: the RN who treated me at the hospital yesterday said the same thing about babies running out of space to move around as they get bigger but she said that I should still be feeling the same minimum number of movements (10 per hour) just maybe not as strong as some of the kicks and punches I'm feeling know. Yes, my doctor was very specific in her instructions on counting movements. She even gave me a printed booklet that was published by a group of birthing centers in my area including mine. I'll quote a couple of instructions from the booklet: "Once a day, every day, count the baby's movements." "Pick a time of day when the baby is usually active and try to do it about this time every day." "You should feel at least 10 movements in one hour." "Call your doctor immediately if: a) You feel fewer than 10 movements in an hour. b) The baby doesn't move at all." "Don't wait until tomorrow!" The Dr on call and the nurses I spoke with yesterday at the birthing center all confirmed this was the correct way to count fetal movement. I've heard from several other women that they only need to count at least 5 movements an hour so I think that my medical group and all its staff have a more cautious policy than most. The printouts from yesterday's fetal monitors charted my baby's heartrate as well as his movements (pressure on my uterus) so they were tracking his movements too while I was there. ***Sorry to hear about your mom's accident, sounds like it was a serious fall. Can't she still sue or was the accident too long ago? You might be surprised at how long the statute of limitations is on some legal claims depending on which state/province the accident happened. Maybe it's not too late? *** Also, thank you for your concern, Kristin. Yes, baby or I might have been hurt but thankfully we were not. If the Babies R Us manager had taken an att_tude with me or ignored my request that they put down a floor mat, then I would have taken further action. I like to avoid litigation if possible and prefer to resolve other ways, (funny coming from an attorney huh? ) If I had been injured I certainly would have sued. But I wasn't hurt, just that it really scared the c___p out of me! I simply asked them to do the right thing and protect me and others from this ever happening again by putting down a rubber floor mat. What I should do is bill them a few hundred dollars for giving them my legal advice. : )

Nothing new to report ladies. I just wanted to say hello and that I'm doing well. Sorry to hear about your slip & fall Perl. Something similar happened to my cousin the other year at a K-Mart, but she sued. I was disguested by it because she was not even really hurt. I guess there are just people in the world that are that greedy and don't forgive human error. Nobody is perfect. Anyway, I'm so happy that you are both safe and fine. LOL@at billing them for your legal advice Perl!! You are so funny. I can relate because I've been a legal secretary for years and I really enjoy my job(when I have one LOL). I've worked for some great attorneys and some sucky ones. Our last office closed because the senior partner got an "indefinite suspension" from the BBO and had to close the office, which sucked because I really LOVED the girls there and a few of the other attorneys who were legite. It wound up that he was taking from Peter to pay Paul out of the Iolta accounts and I'm sure you know how dangerous that is. The ledger sheets were a mess!! I don't know how the bookkeeper ever kept track. ! Kristin, have you done a run of the cookies yet? I think they sound like a great idea. My sister is in charge of everything, so I have no idea what I am having. It's this coming Sunday and I can't wait. Christa, keep a good watch on that puffiness the next few weeks. How has your blood pressure been and did you have preeclampsia before? I forget. You know I had it, but I was almost 36 weeks, thank GOD. I am hoping not to get it this time either!! So far so good. Good b/p and no swelling at all yet. I'm off for now. Everyone have a great day and be back soon! XO

Perl...sorry to hear about the fall. Glad all is OK...MEL...I was PIH (threatened pre-e) I think the swelling is from working 15 hour days on my feet and then not getting enough sleep. My BP is still very good and I do check it once or twice a week ( the advantage of working in a hospital) The ankles are puffy again today but I would expect that since I worked from 6:30 a-9:45 p. I am thinking I will take off on maternity leave at the end of October. It is getting to be too much...I might even call it quits on taking my share of call as I can't handle it as much anymore. OK off to bed with me...Good night

Holy smokes...what an appointment! I had mentioned the pain I was in and the next thing you know I am getting an internal, a fFN test, Ultrasound for fluid...a blood draw and a 24 hour urine collection kit. My BP was up a bit from last appointment but still within normal limits. 130/76 (yesterday was a mere 110/64...so I am not worried) I think they are over reacting a bit (and thats funny since I am the queen of over reacting and I am calm...LOL) The discomfort is back again now too...I really think my little stinky is positioned in a sore spot ...maybe my previous section scar???? Oh well, there is my update. In 2 weeks I have to start going 2X a week!!! Can you imagine what a pain in the a$$ that is going to be? AFI's and NST until the cows come home or until this cow goes into labor anyway...lol

Christa: 15 hour days?! Wow!! I'm sure that's a huge factor to why you are swelling. Yesterday was the first day so far that my feet looked normal. I could actually see my ankle bones and the bones connected to my toes like usual. The thing I did differently yesterday that helped reduce the swelling was take a nap in the late morning and sit on a recliner while on the phone in the afternoon. Wish we could all do that every day but I'm sure that in my case standing or sitting at the computer all day contributes to my swelling. The swelling is back again today. Anyway, it's good to hear that you're taking maternity leave at end of October because I can't imagine working on my feet for 15 hours at all during pregnancy much less at the end of 3rd trimester. What is Ffn AFI and NST?? Sounds like you have some cautious health care workers too to put your through all those tests---good! So when do you get all the results back? Mel: sorry you had to leave your last job and good co-workers because of a sleazy firm partner. Messing around with clients' funds is about the sleaziest thing that an attorney can do (according to most ethics rules)--seriously, committing a__sault or doing drugs are even considered less sleazy. I like that term "indefinite suspension". Let us know how the shower goes this weekend. I hope you have fun and get lots of goodies too. *** We covered C-sections in my birthing cla__s this week. Before this cla__s, I was more afraid of v____al delivery but now I have more anxiety over the possibility of having a c-section after watching a video of how it's done. It sounds like a much more painful and much longer recovery. Christa, I forget if you mentioned this already, are you doing a VBAC or do you have to do c-section again?

Perl, I had a c-section with my first and plan on having another with this one. The only thing that really bothered me was when they stuck me with the epidural. After that, I didn't feel any pain at all. It just felt like someone tugging on my belly. I actually fell asleep after I saw my daughter for the first time. =) The only other pain I felt was afterwards when I had to stand up (which was the next day). The doctors gave me pain killers which helped a lot. But after a few hours of walking around, I was up and going again. They told me to say put, but when they wouldn't send me a picture of my daughter, whom was in the NICU because of premature birth, I grabbed my robe and left on my own. So yeah, a c-section is not really so bad. It can be a little scary, but it's over in about 25 minutes. It does take a little time to recover fully. It took me about four weeks to completely recover. I hope that helps.

Perl...AFI is the amniotic fluid index. You get an ultrasound to measure the 4 pockets of fluid to see if there is too much or too little. The NST is a non stress test where you sit in a comfy spot with the fetal moitor on and it records babies hr and contractions and sees the variability in their HR. It can tell them if the baby is doing well or in distress. a fFN is a fetal fibronectin test and is a Q-tip in the v____a and the discharge is sampled and sent off to lab. I guess a negative says you will still be preggers in 2 weeks and a + could indicate preterm labor but is less accurate then a negative. All are very simple tests. I think because I see a perinatal group that they are overly cautious. And yes, I will try for a VBAC but am not holding to hard and fast to that...if a csection is even hinted at baby then I will opt for it right away. I need to be healthy and I need a healthy baby more so then I need to give birth v____ally and I didn't feel a dang thing with my prior section. I was so medicated! As for the work hours...I work in a cardiac cath lab...we work 12 hr shifts and have to take call once a week. This can make for some very long days if we get backed up or have emergencies. The longest day I put in was 20.5 hrs and another crew a month or 2 before did a full 24 hrs...The patients just never stopped coming! I wont be doing that much longer...trust me!