This Is the Pregnancy Commiseration and Support Thread

Or don't go to college. Cheaper!

"Marry a Canadian" I'm whispering into Ivy's ear.

You have gay marriage in Canada, right? I don't want to force a heterosexual agenda on my baby.

I would only visit in the summer.

better yet, arm and train canadian army to invade and conquer parts of US a la russia/crimea

btw usa is a corporatist dystopia, fuck errthing

Only Quebec has the subsidized daycare iirc :( My friends pay out the nose.. Probably not quite to the US extent though I'm sure!

I would only visit in the summer.

ps what is this shit, Chi-town ;) You're as cold and snowy as we are. Ivy' smart enough not to move to Winnipeg.

I was just going to say Chicago is the same latitude as Toronto!

Maybe Jeff's got his eye on a Florida timeshare retirement? ;)

What do you pay for childcare in the US? I'm guessing it varies a lot from place to place... Here in London it's around £250 per week for a child under two years of age. The government's just announced a subsidy of £2,000 per year, but that won't kick in until autumn 2015.

We pay $195/week for three days of care, and that's on the cheaper end of what we found in our area. We have a pre tax dependent care spending account that maxes out at about six month's worth of care, so that's like a small subsidy that I can't even figure out in abstract terms. X% of Y, where X is our tax rate and Y is the maximum set aside.

And by our area, she means a 15 min bus ride to the next neighborhood over. Child care in our immediate neighborhood is outrageous.

Yeah. But I will say that I really like the place we found! Ivy was crying when I brought her in Thursday and as soon as the teacher took her in her arms, Ivy started smiling like crazy.

i think we get $7/day daycare because we have to deal with stuff like 15cm of snow on March 22... it's almost making me cry.

Blood test results were great except I have anemia - ob-gyn gave me slow-release iron capsules and I took one last night and felt more energetic this morning. Also I got into a midwifery birthing centre (was on wait list since I discovered I was pregnant) and am super happy about that - it's a publicly funded thing so I can't keep my ob-gyn care but can go to hospital (4 blocks from birthing centre) for birth if complications arise. Basically it's just more like the holistic care I need and the pregnancy/birthing experience that seems more me. So that's buoyed my spirits more :)

omg the waves of relief i'm feeling today after 21-week ultrasound this morning... all is well. i didn't realize how stressed i was about it. and we did find out the sex (i wasn't sure i wanted to, and my bf said he didn't, and there was arguing, but in the end i was like "yes tell me" and it was kind of no big deal in comparison to finding out the foetus/baby is healthy and thriving.

the pregnancy sickness seems to have run its course too - i've weaned myself off the anti-nausea medication in the past week or so, and aside from random bouts of burping and heartburn, i'm okay, though still not feeling all flooded with radiant energy as some people are in their 2nd trimester. but hey, i'm okay and not barfing! it's the little things... haha...

it's too bad that bike riding is uncomfortable. i need to buy some summer walkin shoes...

ah and i haven't gone and posted a "baby bump" (shudder at that term) pic anywhere because i'm totally carrying deep and kinda just look like me but with a beer belly. good times. i should head over to the body positivity thread...

but . . . but . . . now we need to know the sex too!

i mean obv not but now I'm dying to know!

Congratulations on the good ultrasound! It is such a relief, isn't it????? And congrats on feeling better. It took me until a bit past five months to stop wanting to barf all the time, too.

It's more just my build than how I carried, but I didn't really start showing until six or seven months, either. I felt pregnant, and I felt like I looked pregnant, but I just looked like a regular old fat lady to most people, I think.

Ah yeah, getting through that scan is a huge relief - it takes so long to check all the organs and limbs and other bits, I was just holding my breath throughout.

I found I looked much more pregnant when I wore maternity clothing; big and baggy non-mat clothes also did that beer gut thing to me. Proper maternity dress at almost five months.

oh yeah, the ultrasound took a while for all that checking of organs and limbs, plus he (i get to say "he" now - there you go, enbb! ;) ) was facing down so we had to wait for him to turn around to check out the face and heart, all beautiful of course :) usually, they only give you 3 photos, but we got 12 because the technician took so many in the process of waiting, haha, so i have this long strip of photos, from the "classic" ultrasound pic all the way to alien-spine pic, haha.

yeah, i'm still just wearing slightly loose regular clothes (and realizing i don't have many of those...) - i think people can tell when i'm wearing tight clothes/stretchy jeggings and a long top - the maternity profile is there, if subtle (i'm fairly thin but i guess i have a lot of torso space in there for the baby!). i have two pairs of maternity pants a friend gave me and one pair is the over-the-belly type, and they fall down still, and the other pair is the lower-waist type, which are fine but just kinda like elasticized-waist pants really, so less of the pregnant profile, more of the beer gut. and they also creep down, like i need suspenders for them or something. but it's almost summer, so i'll soon be wearing dresses and skirts anyway! which is cool because i do have some dresses and skirts that i don't usually wear because they cause pregnancy profile, so hey, now i can wear them!

I have this brilliant pair of sock garters that are adjustable elastic straps with clips on both ends and I would clip one end to my pants waistband and the other to my bra. Worked fantastically.

I got the garters at Sock Dreams but I saw a similar product marketed to pregnant women for that exact purpose.

Oh that is smart!!

so i have this long strip of photos, from the "classic" ultrasound pic all the way to alien-spine pic, haha.

babby photoe booth!

Haha yes totally!

Man, we got dozens of pictures at that ultrasound, like several sheets with 18 to a sheet, printed on X-ray film. Spent ages when we got home holding them up to the light and trying to work out what we were looking at. Amazing stuff.

A boy! Oh that's exciting, R. :D

I always thought I would really not enjoy being preg but tbh it's really exciting! (Now that the nausea is over and I can tell ppl). It's like a little thing all to myself. Trying to make the most of 2nd semester before it all becomes too much.

that is a joyful thing to read. my very best wishes to you, and to rrrobyn also.

Aww yay!

yeah it's much better when the major nausea goes away! mine comes and goes but it's manageable. i'm still fairly burpy though, which is often an indicator that i need to eat. i'm starting to feel my muscles atrophy though because i haven't been as active as usual - I really need to start pre-natal yoga or something. (I hurt my foot 2 weeks ago and that has really hampered my usual form of exercise, walking.)
i'm 26 weeks now and pretty obviously pregs, and sometimes when i catch myself in a full-length mirror or building window i'm like "what?? oh, it's me..."
actually starting to think about the birth and related things... and newborn things... but not enough to freak me out, yet.

Three more weeks to go. Pretty sure they're going to feel like forever, haha... I've had some pretty severe pelvic posterior pain in my right hip that has made walking almost impossible for the past couple of weeks - and walking + public transit is my main way of getting anywhere. I had to get a cane! And see an osteopath! So I haven't been out much lately, plus I've been too tired for much of that anyway. Sigh. But it'll go away with birth I am told. I'm just going with the flow here and in that kinda looking forward to labour o_O

hang in there gurrrl <3

Thanks <3
We moved into a place a month ago with an awesome roof deck in the back so at least I'm not confined to indoors! And I've had plenty of (slow-going - so many rest breaks) unpacking and apartment-beautifying to do at least. Now if this place had a pool, I'd be set ;)

I am building you a pool with my mind-powers

yes! :D

voting virgo!

Poor you, Robyn, the pelvic pain is a killer. Don't know if this will be useful for public transport, but I was advised to put a carrier bag down on car seats before getting in, as you can then swivel on your bum much more easily. Totally genius idea, works brilliantly.

3 weeks, eek!
I've had a similar thing since about 25 weeks or so. It's in my lower back/leg - sometimes it's fairly manageable and sometimes it kills. Swimming has helped but the effects don't last long and I don't have time to go swimming more than once/2x per week max.
Somehow all this is coinciding with building work (bathroom about to be taken out, oh joy) and a friend staying for best part of 3 weeks while we can barely fit ourselves into the couple of usable rooms. Plus a stressful time at work. Once the next few weeks are over I'll be set, I swear....

ah carrier bag idea is a good one! easy swivel action. right now it's more dealing the walk to the metro/bus than anything - and it's hardly a long walk at all, ha. i think we're going to sign up for shared-car program in the next few days anyway.

omg if i'd had this pain since 25 weeks i would be pretty stir-crazy by now - let alone the renovation work and a friend staying, eek, a bit much for you, kinder! and yet we deal with it and make it through... i'm still amazed i somehow packed all my stuff and moved last month. if i'd been in this pain and had this fatigue then i would've Not Managed Well. I'm thankful that the stressful work period is over as of this past week - still some work to do but not a lot (i'm freelance and work from home, so lucky there.) i mostly just want to read baby/birth books and eat ice cream and be that stereotype now ;)

haha, mooks the virgo vote is strong among family and friends here too :)

That pain sounds absolutely dreadful. And kinder I can't even begin to imagine how you are dealing with all of that stuff at once.

Sending calm, relaxed, stress-free, pain-free vibes both your ways. xoxo

kinder i will totally understand if you murder everyone xo

A friend is now at 13 weeks and has mad uterine polyps, 10cm/4 inches long, so many of them that they're forming "a pillow" for the baby and making her look about 6 months pregnant. She is not best pleased.

holy shit

woah
About 2 days ago I was going to post that I am being uncharactistically zen about the whole thing but... I can no longer tell a lie

Anyway I learned all about breastfeeding today and the midwife, while very lovely, reminded me exactly of Dawn French on Psychoville (in appearance only I should add)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET3_FvuMq-k

uugh rrobyn the pain was manageable until about last week and now this is the second occasion where I literally can't walk anywhere, can barely move. I drove to work today then felt dodgy so drove back and that was bad enough. Can't get physio until next week and they are the ones who'd give me crutches, support belt etc.

Oh aagh, it's really awful, I know! The pain has subsided a lot for me in the past few days, amazingly, not sure why but prob because baby is moving down - I'm almost 39 weeks, after all... I had thought about ordering a support belt on amazon earlier, since they seemed to have a wider and less expensive selection than the drugstore, and delivery is fast - maybe a good idea, to see if it works?