What is in your cup?

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by astra

Or not read at all and let the baby be born in a completely natural way and don't worry until the process starts
....I know, I am shooting myself in the leg

You so are....

It reminds me of superman, while I was delivering our son: "come on, it cannot hurt that much, you are too controlling, just let things flow..."
Big silence in the delivery room. The look in my eyes are killing him on the spot, the midwife eyes are killing him, the doctor's eyes are killing him. The midwife looks at me with a question mark on her face, I nod my head in assent, she turns to him and says: if you want to stay, from now on, your are not saying a word anymore. NOT A WORD.
I hugged her for that

He to this day regrets his words...Because each and every time he has a cold and "is dying", I just tell him : "come on, it cannot hurt that much, you are too controlling, just let things flow..."

[aceflor]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Many calories are good for you. I eat Multi Grain Cheerios, 110 calories a serving and I have two servings (yes I measured what was in my bowl). But it actually has three grains listed as the first three ingredients and then two other grains in the top 10. It also has all the vitamins found in my Prenatal Vitamin and it gets me a serving of skim milk. So those are good calories.

I would say fruits and veggies are good calories.

My chicken nuggets and fries for lunch today are bad calories but I am allowed the occassional bad calorie. Plus I have decided to get the kiddie meal so I will have a small fry and fewer nuggets to go with the spicy chicken salad (good calories).

They key is balance and that can be hard to find. I am not going to kick myself for the occassional serving (ok daily) of potato chips or french fries and a chocolate chip cookie or two. If that is all I eat, then bad on me. But I have at least two pieces of fruit a day plus my OJ. I have a salad at least five times a week. I grilled up a bunch of chicken to put on my salads so that I can add lean proteins to the salad and help fill me up better. I am getting in 4-5 servings of calcium a day (milk and yogurt, also good for protein).

So I might go ahead and get the small single serving bags of nukeable popcorn because I like my popcorn hot and I don't think making air popcorn at work is going to go over well. If I have one bag of popcorn every few days that won't kill me.

The hard part is saying no to the tea (I miss my milk oolong) and not going to Five Guys for burgers every week (once a month is fine, for now). But I struggled with the food cravings before I am pregnant. Now I have an even better reason to try and be good. Growing a human being from scratch takes a lot of good fuel for me to stay healthy and for the baby to be healthier when it is born.

But I still love my french fries.

You are doing great, and you sure have the right attitude.

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Having lived and worked in a very touristy area in northern Thailand, I often ran into people having just that same discussion. Oddly enough, I found that it was the 'discount travelers,' or backpack travelers, those who opted to stay in the $3 a night guest houses, who actually participated in FAR MORE expensive activities than the people who were staying at the Hilton, Sheraton, etc., 3-4 star hotels. The better the hotel, it seemed, the more the people were reluctant to spend money on the rest of their experience in Thailand! And yet, inside these fancy hotels the experience was just about the same as found in New York, Paris, London, or Hong Kong! Step inside and you need to look at a postcard to tell you what country you are in!

I don't go traveling to save money. I can do that at home. I want to experience every facet of the new culture I'm visiting, no matter the cost, no matter the danger, no matter the comforts.

"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue
mission within a yard of hell."



Stitchawl

See, me, I am a V6... so I spend on the hotel AND on the rest. Or better said : superman spends on the hotel AND on the rest to please me

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

That is very much our travel experience. When we went to Australia and New Zealand we did what we wanted to do with minimal concern about money. We knew we were not likely to go back and so enjoyed where we were when we were there.

Skim Milk to go with a veggie quessadilla and chocolate chip cookies.

And for the record, I am dreading months 8-10 already. The more I read about labor the more I think a C Section is the way to go. (shudders) Overall I am enjoying being pregnant. I am excited to have a baby growing in me and excited/scared for the challenges that are going to come these next 21 years.

And yet those chapters on labor scare the crap out of me. (winks)

thank you for letting me vent. It is helping my husband a great deal.

Shit. I should have read the whole thread before my previous post....

You do what you think is best for you and the baby. It can be better to have a C-sec if you are too scared or tired or fed-up. Whatever you do, I think epidural is a blessing , and what they say about women "growing" with the task...? Kind of true. And since I am everything but an esoteric/spiritual woman, you can believe me.
Last but not least, maybe I repeat myself, but if your husband is kind of a wimp (he is a male, so that question is kind of selfanswering really), let him hold your hand, and tell him to shut up and stay NEAR YOUR HEAD

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Growing a human being from scratch ...

... is great, and much more fun planting than broccoli.

Time for an afternoon mug of East India Company's Keemun Downy Bud!



Stitchawl

[astra]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

thank you for letting me vent. It is helping my husband a great deal.

That's sweet

Originally Posted by aceflor

You so are....

I hope I am somewhere in the middle
I think women who consciously decide to have a baby, like our dear ProfCrash, deserve a medal for bravery. If I were a woman, I would be so scared that I would not even think about having one. It is beyond me how women deliberately set on this (the path of suffering IMO) path of 9 months of pregnancy and then giving a birth. I will never understand the reason behind it. So, respect and again huge respect for that
What I was trying to say was that maybe it would be easier to act like an ostrich, until the time arrives. Maybe it would be a bit easier. At the end of the day one cannot change or do anything about it. Women were giving birth for millions of years. Maybe you should not worry yourself sick now but think about the future. You wanted to have a baby. You decided to do it. The process has started because you wanted it. What is a point to worry now? Maybe you had to worry about it before but now it is pointless. It will go the way your body and mind want it to go, whether you worry or not.
I don't know. Maybe it is just a gibberish. And no. I would not give ProfCrash the same advice that my brother has given his wife when she had her first baby:

Think about lovely birds flying above....

Then again, they are both doctors and alike in the way they approach body functions and any pain related issues. He has the same approach to any of his own medical issues, regardless how painful they might be.

Pain. So what? It is natural. Just clamp your teeth together and go through this. If it has to be done, so be it. Period.

Spoiler:

I would never be able to witness a baby birth, witnessing the suffering that my wife would have to go through. I don't have balls for that. I would hate this baby who made my wife suffer so much. I hate it (myself) for coming back from Israel with a cold and now she is having this cold for almost 2 weeks, and she has a sore throat for so long!

Well nevermind.
Rumbling of a weirdo.

A just finished a mug of eucalyptus.

[pdurrant]

Classic Diet Lemonade again (by chance).

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I am excited to have a baby growing in me and excited/scared for the challenges that are going to come these next 21 years.

A baby is not just for 21 years....

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

And for the record, I am dreading months 8-10 already. The more I read about labor the more I think a C Section is the way to go. (shudders) Overall I am enjoying being pregnant. I am excited to have a baby growing in me and excited/scared for the challenges that are going to come these next 21 years.

And yet those chapters on labor scare the crap out of me. (winks)

thank you for letting me vent. It is helping my husband a great deal.

As a father who supported his wife through this I have the following to say... DO NOT get a C-Section unless you need to for some reason (i.e. the baby is too big, twisted in the cord, etc). The recovery time from that is MUCH longer and it does leave damage to your body.

If you can, and some woman can, skip the epidural. I know woman who have done it and they speak highly of it. Personally, if it was me, I would get it... but I am not a woman so I do not understand. My wife got the Epidural and almost needed an emergency c-section to get our son out. Took her weeks to recover, and she still wanted to do it again! LOL

I would also suggest you find out the gender of your baby and start preparing yourself for the day you leave the hospital because on that day you will not have your brain with you. Neither will your husband. Get the baby's room ready ahead of time, have luggage packed for the hospital trip, get your car seat installed, and so on. Get books like:

http://www.amazon.com/What-Expect-Wh...3173220&sr=1-1

And if you are going to have a boy I HIGHLY suggest

http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Up-Bo...3173261&sr=1-1

Because baby/little boys are DRAMATICALLY different then girls. Shocking, I know, but it still amazes me how many people I met that say the differences are cultural or societal or some other foolishness. They think, understand, and perceive things differently. How you interact with them has to be different.

I have no girls, so no advice there!


All that said, bringing a new child in to the world is the most life changing events. One year from now your life will be so radically different that you will never understand how you used to life. Your perception of what is important will change in ways you can not understand now. You will start thinking differently. At least it is that way for fathers... maybe mothers have more gradual slide, all I know is the instant they put my 2 minute old son in my arms I finally grew up.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

As a father who supported his wife through this I have the following to say... DO NOT get a C-Section unless you need to for some reason

As a father who was there for every step... very beginning (thank God) to the very end, I agree. I went to Natural Child Birth classes with my wife, acting as her 'coach.' I was in the labor room with her for 6 hours, then in delivery room at her side, holding her hand through the delivery of our son. It wasn't a particularly easy delivery, and with a modicum of name calling aimed at me, she managed to deliver with no epidural. I was with her when she went to the La Leche League meetings the first few weeks too. I figured I needed to get comfortable with public breast feeding (seeing it, that is) as much as she did. That baby is 36 now, and just married. He's still his mother's baby. Always will be. I made it through the journey, she made it through, and so did the kid. It was worth it.

Time for a glass of rum.


Stitchawl

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

If you can, and some woman can, skip the epidural. I know woman who have done it and they speak highly of it. Personally, if it was me, I would get it...

I do NOT understand this need for pain...

Pain does serve an important purpose. It alerts us to the fact that something is not right. Once we know this, there is NO REASON to keep experiencing pain. We can fix the problem without needing to continue the reminder.

I admit it; I'm a wuss. I don't do pain. I begin to cry at 'discomfort.' I stock up on strong pain killers when I'm in Third World Countries and don't need a prescription. (I have a strong medical background so I do know when and when NOT to used each type.) When a doctor gives me Ibuprofen and tells me that it's 'strong' so only use it if you are seriously in pain, I know that I'm covered with my own stock if I'm seriously in pain. Ibuprofen, even at double or triple normal doses, is simply NOT ENOUGH for me to keep me comfortable. I don't want to just 'dull' the pain. I want to eliminate it! I know of no reason to continue experiencing pain while I heal.


Stitchawl

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Love is a rose but you better not pick it
Only grows when it's on the vine
Handful of thorns and you'll know you've missed it
Lose your love when you say the word mine

I wanna see what's never been seen
I wanna live that age-old dream
Come on boy let's go together
Let's take the best right now

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE5r1izY37c )

Ah, this brought back memories! I saw Linda Ronstadt in a small venue back when her star was rising, and wow, the strength of her voice just blew me away! You know how some singers sound great on the recording but when you hear them live you realize the recording has made them sound better than they really are? Well, not LR. She was a powerhouse. Wonder what she's up to these days?

Black coffee in my cup. No walk for me this morning because the sneezing attacks are just crippling. I sneezed 18 times in a row yesterday morning while walking, so I finally went to the doctor. I haven't picked up my prescriptions yet so I'm skipping it this morning.

[astra]

A mug of Passion flower.

[pdurrant]

I did consider another comment on pain control, but perhaps we'd better move on to a different topic.

In my cup: Sparkling Lemon and Lime with zero added sugar.

[Quake1028]

Coke Zero currently.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I do NOT understand this need for pain...

Pain does serve an important purpose. It alerts us to the fact that something is not right. Once we know this, there is NO REASON to keep experiencing pain. We can fix the problem without needing to continue the reminder.
Stitchawl

It also helps keep boundries on our activities. I suffer from chronic pain, and I COULD take pills to make it go away, but then I COULD push myself to far with out the warnings from my body and make things worse. Probably does not relate to delivery, but to say pain services no purpose beyond the initial hit, I disagree.

[Stitchawl]

Pain does serve an important purpose. It alerts us to the fact that something is not right. Once we know this, there is NO REASON to keep experiencing pain. We can fix the problem without needing to continue the reminder.

Originally Posted by VydorScope

It also helps keep boundries on our activities. I suffer from chronic pain, and I COULD take pills to make it go away, but then I COULD push myself to far with out the warnings from my body and make things worse. Probably does not relate to delivery, but to say pain services no purpose beyond the initial hit, I disagree.

No disagreement. If you notice, I said 'fix the problem.' If you can't fix it, then there remains a need for the pain. If you can fix it, there doesn't.


Stitchawl