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botb
TTC: Do you chart your cervical data (height, openness, mucus)? Do you find it helpful for pinning down your ovulation date?
1st trimester: Are you having any aversion to foods you used to like? What are you craving right now?
2nd trimester: If you?re having a boy, has the decision to circumcise or not caused any friction in your house or are you and your partner on the same page?
3rd trimester: How many times a night do you get up to pee? Think of this as practice for getting up to feed the baby 
L&D: Did you videotape the birth? If so, have you watched it?
First days: If you BF, how long did it take for your milk to come in? If it took more than a few days, did you hire an LC? If so, and you liked her, please rec your LC.
Updates:
Up next:
September, 2011: MrsBeachCityCowgirl
Reminder: if you would like to be on the NorCalBOTB bio due date list, or have a question you would like added to the BOTB, please post your due date/question here or email me at teri(at)harmonydoula(dot)com
Re: botb
1st trimester: Are you having any aversion to foods you used to like? What are you craving right now? Broccoli and brussels sprouts totally made me gag while pregnant even though I normally like them. Luckily the aversions are gone now that LO is here. I craved Spaghetti-Os, chili, tater tots, and jack in the box tacos while pregnant, all foods I rarely ever eat.
2nd trimester: If you?re having a boy, has the decision to circumcise or not caused any friction in your house or are you and your partner on the same page? Since we were team green we had to discuss this and I was against circumcision. I was actually surprised that DH didn't put up much of an argument for circumcising, but I think it helped that SIL didn't have my nephew circumcised.
3rd trimester: How many times a night do you get up to pee? Think of this as practice for getting up to feed the baby
LOL, I think I had to get up to pee more than I did to feed the baby. By the last five weeks I was up at least four times a night. Thank goodness my bladder has returned to normal!
L&D: Did you videotape the birth? If so, have you watched it? No I didn't want to tape it but I don't think it would have been allowed since I had a c-section.
First days: If you BF, how long did it take for your milk to come in? If it took more than a few days, did you hire an LC? If so, and you liked her, please rec your LC. My milk came in three days after Rosie was born (whoa boobies!). Giving birth at John Muir was great because they have awesome LCs that check in on you during your stay and make sure baby is latching on correctly, etc. They also offer one free visit to their women's center if you are having trouble BFing which I used when I was having a tough time learning how to pump.
Updates: Rosie is doing great in daycare despite a rough first day and pumping at work is going good so far. I kind of wish I had purchased two pumps so I could leave one at work because lugging the Medela PISA on BART is kind of a pain. I might buy a manual pump to use at home during the week so I only need to bring my pump home on weekends.
TTC: Do you chart your cervical data (height, openness, mucus)? Do you find it helpful for pinning down your ovulation date?
We're getting ready to get back into TTC after a long hiatus to deal with a number of other things that came up that had to be dealt with first.
When we were trying, about two years ago, I was charting, and always included CM. Sometimes I'd include cervical height/opening/firmness as well. It took me a little while to learn how to tell the difference easily. I did find it helpful back then, because my cycles were not very consistent (it took me over a year for my cycles to really settle after coming off the pill), and sometimes the various signs weren't either. Checking the cervix gave me more peace of mind that I was on the right track, when other signs were iffy.
I'm just getting started on charting again, and will probably check as many different signs as possible, just to be on the safe side. We both want to do whatever we can to maximize our TTC efforts, since we've lost quite a bit of time during the hiatus. But even though I haven't been charting for over a year, I have still been watching CM and a few other things, and am hopeful that this time around, charting will be much easier/clearer/consistent.
TTC: Do you chart your cervical data (height, openness, mucus)? Do you find it helpful for pinning down your ovulation date?
No, but now I'm more apt to looking at it around days 12-15 after CD1 and have started taking OPK tests and taking BBT. When I went to my second RE appointment, I had ovulated the day before based on what my follicle looked like. Currently, my acupuncturist is having me chart my temps, although my RE said that I don't need to at the moment I'm sure once I get started on the injectibles, I might ovulate sooner than I typically do.
IUI #1 10/12/11 (Bravelle + HCG + Prometrium & acupuncture) = 10/26 BFP! Beta #1=250, Beta #2= 615. 1st u/s 11/8.
TTC: Do you chart your cervical data (height, openness, mucus)? Do you find it helpful for pinning down your ovulation date?
I only ever charted temps and CM, never cervical height or openness. My cycles were always so regular in terms of temps and CM that I never felt I needed more information to pinpoint my exact O date.
1st trimester: Are you having any aversion to foods you used to like? What are you craving right now?
I craved cereal and ice cold milk, and sweets. I was averse to broccoli and eggs in the first tri.
2nd trimester: If you?re having a boy, has the decision to circumcise or not caused any friction in your house or are you and your partner on the same page?
We were team green, but we had also discussed circumcision long before ever becoming pregnant. We were both easily on the same page and there was never any friction about our decision to not circ if we had boy(s).
3rd trimester: How many times a night do you get up to pee? Think of this as practice for getting up to feed the baby
I probably got up 4 times/night in the last month and only 2 or so before that. I'm up with Cli now every 3-4 hours, but it's a lot harder to be up, awake, changing a diaper, nursing for 25-30 minutes, often changing another diaper... than it was to just get up, pee, and go back to bed...so I don't know.
L&D: Did you videotape the birth? If so, have you watched it?
We did not, although Todd got some video of me talking to my doula and holding Cli right after he was born. My doula took several pictures. Between the little snippets of video T took, and those pics, I have looked at them and I just can't stop the waterworks when I do. Magical time. I half wish I had a video, and half am glad I don't - b/c what I remember of transition, I don't think I could watch it without cringing...
First days: If you BF, how long did it take for your milk to come in? If it took more than a few days, did you hire an LC? If so, and you liked her, please rec your LC.
My milk was starting to come in when we left the hospital 48 hours after Cli's birth. It was definitely in completely (and, like whoa!) within 3 days.
Updates: Not much from me other than I just
being a mommy!
1st trimester: Are you having any aversion to foods you used to like? What are you craving right now? I really didn't like a lot of grilled food in the first trimester. I was all about chicken tacos though!
2nd trimester: If you?re having a boy, has the decision to circumcise or not caused any friction in your house or are you and your partner on the same page? We didn't know what we were having and I told H it was up to him if he wanted to circumcise our son or not. When the time came and H said he wanted to I had a break down and we ended up not doing it. I know that the Dr's make it as painless as possible for the little guys but I just couldn't deal with it emotionally at that point.
3rd trimester: How many times a night do you get up to pee? Think of this as practice for getting up to feed the baby
I only got up once a night to pee. I got up every 1-2 hours for the first 8 weeks of R's life so peeing was not good practice for me!
L&D: Did you videotape the birth? If so, have you watched it? I didn't, and now sort of wish I had. I feel like I can't remember most of it anymore. I'd love to re-watch the first time I held R.
First days: If you BF, how long did it take for your milk to come in? It started coming in when R was 2 days old and was REALLY in by the 4th day. I did have a great LC, her name is Ashley and she's out of Petaluma. If anyone would like more specific details let me know and I can get you the rest of her info!
1st trimester: Are you having any aversion to foods you used to like? What are you craving right now? I didn't have any food aversions, but food smells really got to me. I had to stay far from the kitchen at Thanksgiving because the smell was making me nauseous. I craved salty foods like potato chips throughout my pregnancy.
2nd trimester: If you?re having a boy, has the decision to circumcise or not caused any friction in your house or are you and your partner on the same page? We had a girl, but if we have a boy, we will be circumcising.
3rd trimester: How many times a night do you get up to pee? Think of this as practice for getting up to feed the baby
Ha! I only went to the bathroom once (maybe twice a few times) during the third tri. The pregnancy insomnia was better practice, imo.
Updates: We took Adele to her first road trip this weekend. We went down to Simi Valley for a friend's wedding. She did great! She was very fussy on the way home and cried for 40 minutes straight. But I think she was really tired of being in her car seat for so long, so I don't blame her.
TTC: Do you chart your cervical data (height, openness, mucus)? Do you find it helpful for pinning down your ovulation date? I sometimes tried but could never figure it out
1st trimester: Are you having any aversion to foods you used to like? What are you craving right now? I had MAJOR food aversions... I was pg during the summer last year and now that all the awesome summer veggies are in, I'm realizing how little I ate last summer. I couldn't stomach tomatoes, corn, zucchini (I love them!) In the first tri I existed on fruit, smoothies and soup, and sour candies. Once the fall hit, all I wanted was potatoes, sweet potatoes and more soup
3rd trimester: How many times a night do you get up to pee? Think of this as practice for getting up to feed the baby
I am a total weirdo and never had to pee a ton at night while I was pregnant. Maybe because of her positioning? I don't know, but I could easily make it through the night even up to the last night I was pg.
L&D: Did you videotape the birth? If so, have you watched it? No... we have some pictures from labor and her first moments, and its hard enough for me to look at them. I have video in my own head and I hate 'watching'/'replaying' that.
First days: If you BF, how long did it take for your milk to come in? If it took more than a few days, did you hire an LC? If so, and you liked her, please rec your LC.It took 4 days for my milk to come in. Longer than I thought (and probably more than Ellie wanted... poor girl) We used the LCs available to us in the hospital for the 3 days I was there.
ERD 01.16.11
Surviving postpartum depression & OCD one day at a time.
Also experienced antenatal OCD.
Feel free to ask me questions about my experience.
TTC: Do you chart your cervical data (height, openness, mucus)? Do you find it helpful for pinning down your ovulation date?
I observed my CM, it helped pinpoint the right time
L&D: Did you videotape the birth? If so, have you watched it?We did video tape it, but it got jammed, need to take it to get repaired. First days: If you BF, how long did it take for your milk to come in? If it took more than a few days, did you hire an LC? If so, and you liked her, please rec your LC.My milk came in this time on day 3, I think about the same as DS # 1. Updates:DS # 2 is 2 months old and so much easier as a baby than DS # 1, which is a relief since DS # 1 is still adjusting to having a little brother.