Blah, blah, blah
 

Taxwonk's have stayed big ever since his wife's first pregnancy. He had the sympathy cravings, and those have kept up too.

Blah, blah, blah
 

Feh, perkiness - no problem. But I've got about a 1/2 size less than I used to, and although clothes lay nicer and jogging is easier (at least for that reason), I miss it a bit. How much for minor implants?

Blah, blah, blah
 

Implants? I have no idea. When I wasn't shrinking to my satisfaction, I asked my OB for a referral to a plastic surgeon -- but for the opposite procedure. I never went, though, because shrinkage finally took over.

Blah, blah, blah
 

If part of an overall sex change, then implants can be done with flesh removed from elsewhere.

Blah, blah, blah
 

That's good to know, Hank. I'm sure there are posters here who will appreciate having that information. You are so helpful. And selfless. Helpful and selfless -- that's you!

Blah, blah, blah
 

I feel a bit cheated that you didn't send photos of this beautiful time.

Feh.

Blah, blah, blah
 

You should be thanking me. Really.

They're real, and they're spectacular.
 

Silly monkey. It's quality, not quantity.

They're real, and they're spectacular.
 

What country are you living in?

Blah, blah, blah
 

You are too modest. I am really into freaks.

So much for waiting
 

My water broke tonight. I'll let you know how things go (I'm sure you'll all be waiting with bated breath).

tm

So much for waiting
 

Well, I am as excited as hell for you, and I don't even know you. :-)

So much for waiting
 

Mazel tov! We'll all be here, rooting for you. And then judging you.

So much for waiting
 

Now you choose to leave off your "no epidural" exhortation? Wuss.

So much for waiting
 

More than one way to skin a cat. I went for "subtly."

Ketchup (sorry for long silence; having an infant cuts into my keyboard time more than expected):

tmdiva: congrats & good luck!

TexLex: ditto! Man, you grow them big. I'm impressed you find the time to post with two.

Epi vs natural: I went in with an open mind figuring I'd go natural. (I've been told by at least two actual doctors that I have a high pain threshold.) After a few hours of vomiting with every contraction, they needed to IV me (this was at 4 or 5 cm), at which point I told them that as long as they were breaking out the needles, break 'em all out. Great decision, and I'm very happy with it. I was able to relax and just have a baby, instead of battling my insides.

I now believe that different people must have different levels of pain in labor; there's no way what I was feeling could be described as "cramps", and yet you read about women giving birth when they thought they just had menstrual cramps. I've run a marathon (Big Sur, no less - very hilly) and done triathlons and all other kinds of painful endurance sporty things, and there's just no comparison; this was completely different.

BTW, I had the same concerns that someone (RP?) voiced re epi lowering blood pressure, causing cascading complications, etc. I warned them that I already have low BP all the time (90/60, including while in labor - what can I say? I'm a chill gal) and they pumped enough fluids into me that it wasn't a problem. Baby was born 8 hrs later (would've been 6, but they were very busy and asked me to hold off pushing while they delivered a couple others ahead of me).

Post-baby boobs: Mine have vaulted from their usual A-minus status (yep, I was always an A student) to the C-D range. I don't know how you really endowed ladies do it; they're really in the way! We are enjoying the honored guests while they are here, but I can't say I will miss the gapping shirts. Hopefully they will retain some perk; small is bad enough, but small and droopy would just be pathetic.

Back to lurk-when-possible baby care mode ...

Thanks. I had low BP problems during c-s last time (normally ~100/70). Not nice and not fun for Mr. Lex to watch either, though who really cares about him? This time I warned them ahead of time and they handled it well and the c-s was relatively pleasant. Unfortunately (and I had no idea this was possible, but...), about 7-8 days later it shot up to a crazy 170/100 which was the start of my fun hospital marathon. The Drs would have loved to Dx me with postpartum preeclampsia (again, no idea this existed), but the HBP was the only symptom so they couldn't.

Boobs (mostly)
 

Heh. I had some low blood pressure, too. Normally I'm 110 over 60 or so, but at one point it dropped to something like 50 over 35. I'm not sure George Washington's blood pressure is that low, and he's been dead for 200 years. Alarms went off and stuff, but I didn't pass out or even feel particularly lightheaded, and all was fine. Go figure.

I got an epi, but they took it out after 5 hours, saying I wasn't progressing fast enough, despite being fully dilated and having contractions every 2 minutes like clockwork. So away went the epi and in came the pitocin. 13 hours of unmedicated active labor later, there was trepidation kid. I half considered suing the shit out of all of them - on the recommendation of a couple of obgyns, actually, who were horrified. Epis rock.

Breastfeeding sucks, however. Once you toughen up it's fine, even nice, but the first 6 weeks or so - oh, damn that fucking sucks. The fucking lactation nazis with their "oooh, its natural" shite don't tell you that. I think the only reason I didn't quit was that I was too tired and hormonal to think of it at the time, but overall, even having worked it out eventually, I think quitting would have been the wiser move given how much everyone involved suffered for a couple of months. I now have 0 tolerance for anyone who speaks of formula feeding with even a hint of disparagement.

Fortunately, having started off in the A crowd chestwise, and never, at my biggest, getting past what might be generously called a C, the return-trip shrinkage didn't really cause much saggage. Though it did cause some. They actually lie rather more naturally now, come to think of it. Now, my sister started off as a C and sounds like she had the dtb experience without the fortunate end result. I've heard hilarious stories of how each of her boobs was larger than the baby and she looked like she had elephantitis, she couldn't get the baby to latch on because it was scared of the huge, veiny things, she was pumping an extra 10-12 ounces every time she fed the baby (before her milk actually came in), stories of nearly drowning the baby (who would get hosed down when he decided he was finished). And now, of course, they're hangin' 'round her knees. She and her husband are saving up to have them hauled back up to her ribcage.

Outcome (so to speak)
 

Water broke at 8, contractions started at 10, went to the hospital at 11:30. Walked some, sat on the birthing ball some (while listening to a hypnobirthing relaxation CD--I actually fell asleep once between contractions), soaked in the tub some. Had a record-fast transition--the nurse checked me in the tub at 4:30 and I was only 5-6 cm. I got out of the tub and the baby was born at 4:47. He was 8 lbs 4 oz, 22 in and is a towheaded Viking-looking fella. Now we're home and have lots of family to help. Phew!

I highly recommend the hypnobirthing route--if 5 days of practice helped me as much as I feel like it did, I can't imagine how awesome it would have been if I'd started sooner and done it more seriously (taken classes, hired a trained doula, etc. like my sil did--she got to the hospital 1/2 hour before she delivered and had a really great experience over all).

tm

tmdiva
 

Congratulations, and welcome to the world, little viking!

tmdiva
 

He's got a website already (and his own e-mail address!). PM me if you want the URL.

tm

tmdiva
 

Reading material
 

Are there any books you'd recommend for the home stretch? I've read most of the labor & childbirth sections of my pregnancy books - What to Expect, the Unofficial Guide, etc.; and I've also gotten through a lot of What to Expect the First Year.

I've had experience caring for infants and I'm pretty comfortable with them and I think I'm fairly well-informed about labor, but I don't have lots of babies and new moms in my circle to share their wisdom (yet), so I just thought I'd ask if anyone had a favorite reference guide.

Reading material
 

Frankly, I'd ignore all the childcare books and What To Expect crap. And don't read the internet either. It's your baby, you're the parent, you're responsible enough to figure out what works and doesn't work for you. The only book I'd really recommend to you is Baby Bargains, which gives some helpful tips on gear and crap and what you need, what you don't and where to get it cheap.

Then again, I ain't the primary care giver, so I'm probably full of bs. I just seem to remember that the books didn't help so much as make the missus start to freak out about a ton of things she never heard of or thought of before reading the books.

Reading material
 

Flinty makes a good point. So much is learning on the job, and each of the little rats, er, darlings, is unique (for example, some swear by putting the baby to sleep in the boppy, and, for that matter, using the boppy, period. For me, boppy was useless, and my first wanted zero to do with it for sleeping, either. I grew tired of people talking about how what a miracle it is.)

I would suggest maybe a book on nursing, if you plan to do it (I have a good one - I can check the title at home). Sometimes good to have reminders if things aren't going perfectly smoothly.
:-O

Another book I enjoyed having around was one that went through the first year week-by-week (is that the What to Expect One? Photos of babies on the cover?). It's sort of meaningless to read beforehand, but very fun periodically during that first year.

And a decent medical-type one. Dr. Spock is okay, though he's a bit controversial.

Reading material
 

Baby Bargains is the only book I've really used a lot. Early in my pregnancy I found the pg books totally nauseating. Now I realize it wasn't so much the hormones but the condescension. I just wondered whether anyone's found a very matter-of-fact book that's almost scientific in its approach, as if it's written for someone who's not a doctor, but also not a dimwit or in need of emotional affirmation of her choice to have a child and her ability to raise it.

I guess I should just look on the internet for studies about the issues I'm curious about, rather than books full of soft-focus pictures or cutesy illustrations and the overuse of the word "mommy."

Reading material
 

I'm pretty sure that Baby Bargains didn't think you were stupid. Although it did tell me that I'd make a lousy parent and my girls would grow up to be sluts. But I just think that's the whiskey talking and I don't take it personally.

Reading material
 

Actually, Baby Bargains did make me feel stupid, because I picked up some Dreft before reading their rant that the Dreft hype is a vast right-wing conspiracy and that my child is doomed to suffer from eczema if I use it rather than some beeswax soap, which I think my high-efficiency washer would dislike.

Ah, whiskey. I miss it.

Reading material
 

I thought the What to Expect books were pretty unhelpful. The book the AMA publishes (I forget the name, but your ped will probably give you a copy) is pretty handy, though. Not a whole lot of practical advice, but lets you know what to look for medically, and can help you chill out when the munchkin is already six months old and still hasn't learned to crawl, let alone walk.

Reading material
 

I only recommend one book to people who ask this question... it's called Healty Sleep Habits, Happy Baby by Dr. Marc Weisbluth. This book was the only baby book I read that gave me advice I couldn't think up on my own that actually improved my life.

And not that you asked, but the only other piece of advice I ever give is this. If you've decided to try nursing, commit to not making any decisions about it for the first 4-6 weeks. It'd be easy to quit in those first couple of weeks because it really fucking sucks (no pun intended), but then the two of you sort of figure it out and it actually gets easier, although for some people it never gets easy enough to make it worth it. And that's okay too.

Reading material
 

See, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Reading is bad. I'm sure Dreft is fine. As is beeswax soap. As is All Free Clear, Tide Free, Cheer Free, and even the costco Kirkland brand "Free or clear" product which we happen to use. How did we determine this? Was it in a book? No. We washed the clothes and looked to see if it killed the kid. It didn't, so we continued to use it.

This is why reading baby books can be less than helpful.

Reading material
 

Yeah, but she hasn't gotten into Harvard yet, has she?

Reading material
 

She got spring deferral. We haven't stopped beating her for this failure.

School is for Dummies
 

So, today was the Brazenette's first day of pre-school. (Yes, it is August 8. Yes, the public schools here began classes today. Why do you ask? Oh, because it's insane? Well, yes, I agree.)

Both mommy and daughter cried this morning. But daughter has agreed to return to pre-school on Wednesday. Mommy will endeavour not to cry on Wednesday. Daughter makes no such promise.

Reading material
 

Yes, post the title on that one.

Reading material
 

Other than the previously mentioned Baby Bargains, the only book that I found really informative was the Mayo Clinic Complete Book of Pregnancy and Baby's First Year. It is a couple of inch thick very large hard bound book, which I got for free from State Farm. I am not a policyholder or anything, I just used the following link.

http://www.sf.pii.orders.com/events/birth/

I just gave only the required information (and I probably gave a fake phone number), but I haven't been bothered by State Farm at all.

I would appreciate if anyone has any good books on breastfeeding to recommend.

School is for Dummies
 

Save some tears. Kindergarten is right down the road and from there it's a slippery slope to HS graduation. OTOH, at that point, you have your Stifler's Mom phase to look forward to!

Reading material
 

I have heard good things about Touchpoints (?) (that's Brazleton's book, right?) although I have not read any of these books since What to Expect in the First Year.

Reading material
 

My mother is a professor of early childhood development and Touchpoints is the book that she most highly recommends. Knowing how I turned out, however, I have not yet followed my mother's reading recommendation. I do own a copy of it though.

Reading material
 

I tend to think the What to Expect books are yukky. I have liked all the Sears books I've read. We have The Baby Book from that series, which was very informative and a great reference--I can't remember anything we needed to know that we didn't find in it. I borrowed The Pregnancy Book from my sil this time, and wished I'd had it the first time around. They also have The Labor Book, The Breastfeeding Book, etc. etc.

I think I've already recommended the labor and delivery section of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom as the one thing I most wished I'd read before actually going through labor.

And I'd second what bnb says about not giving up on bfing too quickly. I've never known anyone for whom it was a piece of cake from the get-go. With #1 it took nearly 3 months before it was totally easy and automatic. In the long run, though, it was Totally Worth It.

tm