Sterling has outgrown her magic sleep suit. She's 9.5 months old and it's supposed to fit 6-9 months, so I'd say we're right on the money. It's probably been approaching too small for a couple of weeks now - it's been pretty tight across the top of the shoulders. I realized that she had really, truly outgrown it when she kneed out through the zipper while I was nursing her to sleep.
Was it magic? No, really not. It did restrict her movement, which helped her calm down when I was trying to get her to sleep. She did come to recognize it as a sleep signal, to the point where she'd cry when we tried to put her in it. In fact, if she didn't cry going into the suit, it was usually a signal that she wasn't tired enough to actually go to sleep. It didn't seem to particularly increase the length of her naps. We didn't keep it on her overnight because she sleeps in the bed with us and tends to overheat anyhow.
Her bedtime routine now includes:
-a bath; we just transitioned her out of the infant tub into the "big person" tub
-two or three stories; these are board books, so they're all pretty short
-turn on her sleep music; Kenny Loggins "Return to Pooh Corner"
-nurse
I'm trying again to transition her off of nursing to sleep. It seems to be going better this time than it has in the past. I'm going to chalk it up to her being older and more developmentally mature now. We nurse until she seems to have lost interest in nursing as a food and is just nursing for comfort. I determine this by her sucking rate and strength and whether she's still swallowing. Then, I've started popping her off and laying her down on her front. I know, I know, they're supposed to sleep on their backs, but she doesn't like her back and she rolls over on her own if I put her on her back. If I pat her for a few minutes, she usually starts to breathe more slowly and easily and falls asleep. Tonight, I even got out of the bed before she was completely asleep and she fell asleep the last little bit on her own. I think we're really making progress this time.
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
It's good she's cute...
This morning, as we were doing our usual lay-in-bed-and-nurse-as-long-as-possible-before-getting-up routine, TS bit me on the nipple. I pulled her off, then let her go back on and she bit me *again*. Hard. I stuck my finger in her mouth and said "NO!" She started to cry. Scream, really. It woke Mike up and he said "poor Tiny Squee," thinking she was having teething pain. Poor Tiny Squee? Poor nipple!
She absolutely didn't want to be put down after this episode, so I ate my oatmeal while holding a baby. When it came time for me to leave, she screamed and cried and grabbed me round the neck. It's tough to pry off your screaming baby and leave for work. For a second, I was tempted to call in sick.
We didn't have a good bedtime experience this evening. She was exhausted by 5pm (Mike says she was on a totally wonked-out nap schedule), so I gave her a bath and we read a story and I nursed her to sleep. 23 minutes later, she was up again. I went in and patted and shushed her. Didn't work. I tried to nurse her. Not interested. I picked her up and patted her on the bed. She cried. Finally, I brought her out into the living room and held her in the rocking chair and patted her. She quietly nestled with me for about an hour, then we went back into the bed and I nursed her to sleep a second time. She's been asleep for about 40 minutes now. Putting the baby to bed tonight required two hours of work. It's good she's cute.
She absolutely didn't want to be put down after this episode, so I ate my oatmeal while holding a baby. When it came time for me to leave, she screamed and cried and grabbed me round the neck. It's tough to pry off your screaming baby and leave for work. For a second, I was tempted to call in sick.
We didn't have a good bedtime experience this evening. She was exhausted by 5pm (Mike says she was on a totally wonked-out nap schedule), so I gave her a bath and we read a story and I nursed her to sleep. 23 minutes later, she was up again. I went in and patted and shushed her. Didn't work. I tried to nurse her. Not interested. I picked her up and patted her on the bed. She cried. Finally, I brought her out into the living room and held her in the rocking chair and patted her. She quietly nestled with me for about an hour, then we went back into the bed and I nursed her to sleep a second time. She's been asleep for about 40 minutes now. Putting the baby to bed tonight required two hours of work. It's good she's cute.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Crawling herself to sleep
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| I am totally asleep. |
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Teething, big-time
We're in the middle of teething. Sterling has been drooling like a fountain and I can feel lumps in the middle of her bottom gum. She also hasn't been sleeping very well. Since we got home, she's been on a schedule where she goes to bed around 8:00, then wakes up at 1:30am wanting a bottle. After eating, she wakes up again at 4:30 and then really never goes back to sleep. She's been waking up and crying, too, which is unusual. I'm guessing that one of the reasons that she's waking up so frequently is that her teeth are bothering her.
This afternoon, I could actually see the whitish outline of tiny teeth on her bottom gum. These two teeth have to show up in the next day or so. I just can't imagine them taking much longer. Hopefully the disposition of the TS will improve as well. She was a total crankypants today and then only took two little naps.
I think several things are combining to create her nasty disposition of today. She's teething, she's ready for another developmental leap, and I think she's also having her 6-month growth spurt. Poor Tiny Squee.
This afternoon, I could actually see the whitish outline of tiny teeth on her bottom gum. These two teeth have to show up in the next day or so. I just can't imagine them taking much longer. Hopefully the disposition of the TS will improve as well. She was a total crankypants today and then only took two little naps.
I think several things are combining to create her nasty disposition of today. She's teething, she's ready for another developmental leap, and I think she's also having her 6-month growth spurt. Poor Tiny Squee.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Magic Sleep Suit
So one of the ladies in my mom's group posted that she'd bought one of these sleep suits. She'd read about it on a blog (which she also posted and which I also read). She said it was working great, so I searched Craigslist and found one for $20. I picked it up yesterday and washed it this morning.
First off, the sucker takes a long time to dry! It's a layer of fleece on the outside, then some sort of foam, then a cotton layer inside. The fleece dried really quickly (was totally dry when I took it out of the dryer), but the cotton was still very wet. I turned it inside-out and hung it to dry for most of today.
I have the 6-9 month suit. Seemed like a good idea since Sterling is almost 6 months (and that was the one that the person on Craigslist had)... but the lower weight limit for the suit is 18lbs. Sterling is swimming in it. Her little feet don't poke out the bottom of the leg holes. At least she'll be able to wear it for a while.
Sterling was cranky this evening due to lack of sleep. I nursed her to sleep, then tried to pop her off the boob, and she woke up. I nursed her to sleep again, tried to pop her off, and she woke up again. I decided that I might as well give the sleep suit a try. She was exhausted, could hardly hold her eyes open, but refused to go to sleep. I stuck her in the suit and gave her the new wubbanub giraffe pacifier that came in the mail yesterday. She suck-suck-sucked and fell right to sleep. After a few minutes, she woke up because she'd lost her binky. I stuck it back in, she suck-suck-sucked, and fell asleep again.
She was in bed by 9 and has been asleep since the second round of suck-suck-suck-sleeping. I'm calling it a success so far. Typically, she wakes up about ever 45 minutes.
She looks really cute in her new suit. It makes her look like Maggie Simpson in her snowsuit. I'll try to take a picture tomorrow when it's lighter in the bedroom.
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| We have the pink one. |
I have the 6-9 month suit. Seemed like a good idea since Sterling is almost 6 months (and that was the one that the person on Craigslist had)... but the lower weight limit for the suit is 18lbs. Sterling is swimming in it. Her little feet don't poke out the bottom of the leg holes. At least she'll be able to wear it for a while.
Sterling was cranky this evening due to lack of sleep. I nursed her to sleep, then tried to pop her off the boob, and she woke up. I nursed her to sleep again, tried to pop her off, and she woke up again. I decided that I might as well give the sleep suit a try. She was exhausted, could hardly hold her eyes open, but refused to go to sleep. I stuck her in the suit and gave her the new wubbanub giraffe pacifier that came in the mail yesterday. She suck-suck-sucked and fell right to sleep. After a few minutes, she woke up because she'd lost her binky. I stuck it back in, she suck-suck-sucked, and fell asleep again.
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| I am a wubbanub giraffe pacifier. Aren't I cute? |
She looks really cute in her new suit. It makes her look like Maggie Simpson in her snowsuit. I'll try to take a picture tomorrow when it's lighter in the bedroom.Monday, August 20, 2012
Bedtime Fail
Today's sleeping didn't go well. Two 30 minute naps in the car only. She was exhausted by dinner and I decided to move bedtime forwards to 7:30 and we were in bed before 8. Then, she wouldn't fall asleep. And wouldn't fall asleep. And wouldn't fall asleep. She started crying and fussing, didn't want to nurse, wouldn't go to sleep. She wanted her gums rubbed hard; I think she might be starting to teeth seriously.
Finally, I fed her a last little bit of milk, she agreed to nurse and conked out in the rocking chair while being held at about 9:30. I laid her in the bed and she's now fast asleep.
On another positive note, I sold another set of diapers. I had brought up more bins of diapers from the basement and found the rest of my Econobum covers. I also sold two extra wetbags I had from the coop. $50 bonus.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Bedtime, day 3
Sterling took two 30 minute naps today. By the end of the day, she was a cranky wreck. I decided to put her to bed at 8:00. We took a bath, which involved some good splashing, then read two books. We turned on the night-night music and did some nursing and she's finally asleep. Nursing to sleep is a habit that we'll eventually need to break, but I'm hoping that as she becomes more accustomed to her bedtime routine, we can get her away from it. If not, I'll just put her to bed by nursing her until she's 3. Hopefully not.
The books say that she needs to learn to put herself to sleep. I'm still working on that one. One thing at a time - we're getting a set bedtime (8:00 right now, moving towards 7:00 after we have the routine set) and a bedtime routine. Then I'll work on getting her to fall asleep without nursing her to sleep.
The books say that she needs to learn to put herself to sleep. I'm still working on that one. One thing at a time - we're getting a set bedtime (8:00 right now, moving towards 7:00 after we have the routine set) and a bedtime routine. Then I'll work on getting her to fall asleep without nursing her to sleep.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Sleeping like a baby
Sterling is in a no-napping phase, which made me decide that we need to start getting some sleep routines going to help her figure out when she's supposed to sleep. Tonight was my first real attempt. Mike gave her a bath, then I read her a story (which wasn't too popular, although she did try to eat the book briefly), then I turned the light off and turned on her new sleep music on my old iPhone. I nursed her until she was very sleepy, then tried to pop her off the boob. Nuh-uh. I let her latch back on, waited again, popped her off, nuh-uh. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat again, but this time when I popped her off I moved back away from her. She settled right down and is now napping in the bed. The goal was to get her to sleep in the cosleeper, but I think the bed is a good compromise.
It got me thinking about all the time I've spent sleeping with Sterling so far in her life.
When she was just born, I was petrified that she was going to stop breathing. I spent the first night thinking that one of us (me or Mike) should be awake with her the whole time. We ended up both falling asleep and then sleeping for like 6 hours because my nursing alarm didn't wake me up enough. She slept that night mostly on my chest, I think.
She seemed to sleep better when she was partly upright, back when she was a tiny newborn. I spent a number of nights on the couch propped up with pillows with her on my chest at her favorite angle. I did that in the bed as well. I would prop myself partly up with pillows so that her head was higher than her feet when she was asleep on my chest. I never rolled over and tipped her off.
I've always been a side-sleeper. I don't sleep well on my back normally, so I started rolling her off my chest to sleep on my arm when we would wake up to nurse the first time. She didn't seem to mind.
I slept several nights with her on my chest sleeping in the recliner. We would leave the overhead LED Christmas lights on, which makes it bright enough to see. It was really a convenient way to sleep before I learned to nurse laying on my side. All I had to do was sit the recliner up, I didn't have to mess with pillows behind me and a boppy under the baby and a pillow under my elbow to keep her in position.
Sometimes Mike wanted to sleep with her. He'd lay on the couch and lay her sideways across his chest. Early on, I was very afraid that he would roll onto her or that she would slide down and suffocate in the couch cushions. When he fell asleep with her like that, I would lay awake on the other couch and wait for her to make a noise so I could go retrieve her and give her a nurse. He never squished her and I eventually got over it.
It's amazing how fuzzy and faded these memories are already. I put it down to sleep deprivation, even though Sterling has always been a pretty good night sleeper. The newborn days just sort of blend together into a big fuzzy mishmash of baby stuff.
It got me thinking about all the time I've spent sleeping with Sterling so far in her life.
When she was just born, I was petrified that she was going to stop breathing. I spent the first night thinking that one of us (me or Mike) should be awake with her the whole time. We ended up both falling asleep and then sleeping for like 6 hours because my nursing alarm didn't wake me up enough. She slept that night mostly on my chest, I think.
She seemed to sleep better when she was partly upright, back when she was a tiny newborn. I spent a number of nights on the couch propped up with pillows with her on my chest at her favorite angle. I did that in the bed as well. I would prop myself partly up with pillows so that her head was higher than her feet when she was asleep on my chest. I never rolled over and tipped her off.
I've always been a side-sleeper. I don't sleep well on my back normally, so I started rolling her off my chest to sleep on my arm when we would wake up to nurse the first time. She didn't seem to mind.
I slept several nights with her on my chest sleeping in the recliner. We would leave the overhead LED Christmas lights on, which makes it bright enough to see. It was really a convenient way to sleep before I learned to nurse laying on my side. All I had to do was sit the recliner up, I didn't have to mess with pillows behind me and a boppy under the baby and a pillow under my elbow to keep her in position.
Sometimes Mike wanted to sleep with her. He'd lay on the couch and lay her sideways across his chest. Early on, I was very afraid that he would roll onto her or that she would slide down and suffocate in the couch cushions. When he fell asleep with her like that, I would lay awake on the other couch and wait for her to make a noise so I could go retrieve her and give her a nurse. He never squished her and I eventually got over it.
It's amazing how fuzzy and faded these memories are already. I put it down to sleep deprivation, even though Sterling has always been a pretty good night sleeper. The newborn days just sort of blend together into a big fuzzy mishmash of baby stuff.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Bed Time
All the books and websites I've read have said that you need to establish a consistent routine for bedtimes. That way, the tiny squee knows that it's time to go to sleep. I started my bedtime routine tonight.
I cooked dinner and actually got to eat some of it while it was warm. Then, Sterling wanted a bottle and ended up drinking 5 oz of milk. At about 8:30, we changed into the night-time diaper, a long-sleeved onesie, and a fleece sleep bag. We went into the bedroom and read two stories. She was mildly interested in the stories. She looked at some of the pictures. She did a little bit of crying and fussing because she was tired. After stories, I turned the lights out and we sang a couple of songs. Then I put her into her cosleeper. She lay there for a little while, then started crying, so I took her out. I nursed her a little bit, then tried again. She cried and I took her out. I nursed her a little bit more, laid her down, and left to go make a bowl of cereal. She cried before I got the cereal out. I picked her up and patted her for a minute, then laid her back down. She fell asleep, then woke back up and cried after a few minutes. I picked her up again and patted her and then put her down again. At this point, she's been asleep for 15 minutes. I'm watching her on our TinySqueecam.
Edited to add: She slept for about 30 minutes in her cosleeper. Then, she started waking up and moving about. I waited till she got her mad face, then took her in a binky. She happily sucked on it for a few minutes, but then that plan backfired when it fell out of her mouth and she started to cry. I picked her up and walked her around a little bit again, then put her in her swing. She's sleeping there now.
I cooked dinner and actually got to eat some of it while it was warm. Then, Sterling wanted a bottle and ended up drinking 5 oz of milk. At about 8:30, we changed into the night-time diaper, a long-sleeved onesie, and a fleece sleep bag. We went into the bedroom and read two stories. She was mildly interested in the stories. She looked at some of the pictures. She did a little bit of crying and fussing because she was tired. After stories, I turned the lights out and we sang a couple of songs. Then I put her into her cosleeper. She lay there for a little while, then started crying, so I took her out. I nursed her a little bit, then tried again. She cried and I took her out. I nursed her a little bit more, laid her down, and left to go make a bowl of cereal. She cried before I got the cereal out. I picked her up and patted her for a minute, then laid her back down. She fell asleep, then woke back up and cried after a few minutes. I picked her up again and patted her and then put her down again. At this point, she's been asleep for 15 minutes. I'm watching her on our TinySqueecam.
Edited to add: She slept for about 30 minutes in her cosleeper. Then, she started waking up and moving about. I waited till she got her mad face, then took her in a binky. She happily sucked on it for a few minutes, but then that plan backfired when it fell out of her mouth and she started to cry. I picked her up and walked her around a little bit again, then put her in her swing. She's sleeping there now.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
New Talents
Sterling has started blowing a lot of spit bubbles. The quantity of drool is increasing as well. I'm hoping that this doesn't mean that she's going to start teething early. I'm not sure I can handle nursing a 3-month-old with teeth.
She's at the very start of grabbing at things. She's put her hand up on her bottle a couple of times, but hasn't really grabbed it. She'll bat at toys when she's laying on her play gym. She's getting better at inserting various parts of her hand into her mouth.
She's much better at tracking things with her eyes. She will turn her head to follow something that she's interested in looking at (like a person's face).
Last night, we slept almost 6 hours in a row! The morning wasn't as much of a success though. Sterling woke up at about 5:30 to nurse. At that point, I noticed that the dog was making very suspicious gurgling noises. I pretended I didn't hear him, but he started whining to go out at 6. When I got back inside, the baby was awake, so I got her up, changed her diaper, and moved her into her swing so I could make her up a bottle. She promptly fell asleep, so there's a bottle warming and no baby to drink it right now.
I wish it was safe to put babies to sleep on their tummies. I put her down that way while I brushed my teeth the other night and she looked so much happier than splayed out on her back.
She's at the very start of grabbing at things. She's put her hand up on her bottle a couple of times, but hasn't really grabbed it. She'll bat at toys when she's laying on her play gym. She's getting better at inserting various parts of her hand into her mouth.
She's much better at tracking things with her eyes. She will turn her head to follow something that she's interested in looking at (like a person's face).
Last night, we slept almost 6 hours in a row! The morning wasn't as much of a success though. Sterling woke up at about 5:30 to nurse. At that point, I noticed that the dog was making very suspicious gurgling noises. I pretended I didn't hear him, but he started whining to go out at 6. When I got back inside, the baby was awake, so I got her up, changed her diaper, and moved her into her swing so I could make her up a bottle. She promptly fell asleep, so there's a bottle warming and no baby to drink it right now.
I wish it was safe to put babies to sleep on their tummies. I put her down that way while I brushed my teeth the other night and she looked so much happier than splayed out on her back.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sleep!
Well, I may not be able to breastfeed full time, but my baby is sleeping through the night (or at least she did last night). We both took a really long nap yesterday afternoon (like 3 hours). I was ready to head for bed around 2am, which is usually when she wakes up and wants her last feeding, so it seems like a waste of time to go to bed earlier than that and just have to get up again. I nursed her, then she wanted a bottle, then she wanted another bottle, so I got out of bed and headed to the recliner to feed her.
After she ate (and ate and ate and ate), she started to get tired so I thought I'd just rock her until she fell asleep, then move to the bed. However, I ended up falling asleep with her on my chest (I don't even remember falling asleep) and we didn't wake up until 9:30 this morning! According to the baby-tracker app, it was 6.5 hours since she'd had her last bottle... which means that we probably slept for a good 6 hours! In a row! I feel fabulous this morning.
After she ate (and ate and ate and ate), she started to get tired so I thought I'd just rock her until she fell asleep, then move to the bed. However, I ended up falling asleep with her on my chest (I don't even remember falling asleep) and we didn't wake up until 9:30 this morning! According to the baby-tracker app, it was 6.5 hours since she'd had her last bottle... which means that we probably slept for a good 6 hours! In a row! I feel fabulous this morning.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Kangaroos
We're doing kangaroo care tonight. That means that Tiny Squee is just wearing her diaper and is laying on my naked tummy/chest under a blanket. It's supposed to increase milk production. It certainly makes her sleep well. It also makes us both slightly sweaty and she sticks to me.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Heartburn...
Last night was not my best night. I had Triscuits and ice cream too close to bedtime, I think.
I ended up waking up at about 3:00 with killer heartburn. It was bad enough that I got out of bed and took some Tums, then ended up walking around for a half hour or so. Then I sat in my chair for a while (to keep upright) until I finally felt good enough to head back to bed.
On the plus side, this morning I had a dream that we got a bouncy castle for the Blessingway.
I ended up waking up at about 3:00 with killer heartburn. It was bad enough that I got out of bed and took some Tums, then ended up walking around for a half hour or so. Then I sat in my chair for a while (to keep upright) until I finally felt good enough to head back to bed.
On the plus side, this morning I had a dream that we got a bouncy castle for the Blessingway.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Update - not much to report
The title pretty much says it all.
I'm slowly getting bigger. I still don't feel like I'm as big as other women who are pregnant the same amount I am, but I guess that's ok. Next doctor's appointment is on the 31st and I'm sure she'll say something if I'm growing way too slowly. On the one hand, it's nice because I'm definitely not as inconvenienced as I would be if I were huge. I can still put on my socks and wash my feet in the shower. On the other hand, I was sort of looking forward to actually looking pregnant while I am pregnant. It's vaguely disappointing to not be larger. I'm sure I'll get there, though.. and then wish I was smaller again.
Sleeping is still challenging. Last night was a tough one. My hips got sore and I woke up and rolled over a lot of times. Strangely, I only got up to pee once. Maybe my hips were distracting me because I drank a ton of water yesterday evening.
I feel like I'm drinking a lot more water than I'm peeing out. I'm thirsty a good portion of the time, so I've decided to just carry a water bottle with me around the house. I don't feel like any body parts are getting particularly swollen (ankles seem to be normal), so maybe this is one of those parts of the pregnancy where my blood volume just increases quite a bit.
I haven't been remembering any of my dreams specifically. I feel like I remember them sometimes when I wake up during the night, but then by the next time I've woken up I forget them. It just seems way to hard to write them down in the middle of the night so I might remember them in the morning.
Last night, I sorted through all my yarn and divided it into categories by yarn weight (thickness). I know I had things in mind for most of this yarn when I bought it... but wow. This is a lot of yarn. No more yarn purchases, probably until the tiny squee is in its mid teens. Today I'm hoping to go get some bins for yarn storage.
My father is coming up to visit tomorrow and we're going to go hunt for more bins for storage. My goal is to get some of the craft/baby room organized. Right now, it's relatively functional for me as a craft room, but there's no way that we could fit much in the way of baby stuff in there. I did get in and craft some baby items last week. I've made several waterproof pads that could be used as changing pads or on the floor under a naked baby. I think they're pretty cool and I'm planning on making more for gifts. They also use up a lot of fabric, which is a plus. I feel like it makes a dent in my fabric stash when I pull out and use up a large piece.
I'm slowly getting bigger. I still don't feel like I'm as big as other women who are pregnant the same amount I am, but I guess that's ok. Next doctor's appointment is on the 31st and I'm sure she'll say something if I'm growing way too slowly. On the one hand, it's nice because I'm definitely not as inconvenienced as I would be if I were huge. I can still put on my socks and wash my feet in the shower. On the other hand, I was sort of looking forward to actually looking pregnant while I am pregnant. It's vaguely disappointing to not be larger. I'm sure I'll get there, though.. and then wish I was smaller again.
Sleeping is still challenging. Last night was a tough one. My hips got sore and I woke up and rolled over a lot of times. Strangely, I only got up to pee once. Maybe my hips were distracting me because I drank a ton of water yesterday evening.
I feel like I'm drinking a lot more water than I'm peeing out. I'm thirsty a good portion of the time, so I've decided to just carry a water bottle with me around the house. I don't feel like any body parts are getting particularly swollen (ankles seem to be normal), so maybe this is one of those parts of the pregnancy where my blood volume just increases quite a bit.
I haven't been remembering any of my dreams specifically. I feel like I remember them sometimes when I wake up during the night, but then by the next time I've woken up I forget them. It just seems way to hard to write them down in the middle of the night so I might remember them in the morning.
Last night, I sorted through all my yarn and divided it into categories by yarn weight (thickness). I know I had things in mind for most of this yarn when I bought it... but wow. This is a lot of yarn. No more yarn purchases, probably until the tiny squee is in its mid teens. Today I'm hoping to go get some bins for yarn storage.
My father is coming up to visit tomorrow and we're going to go hunt for more bins for storage. My goal is to get some of the craft/baby room organized. Right now, it's relatively functional for me as a craft room, but there's no way that we could fit much in the way of baby stuff in there. I did get in and craft some baby items last week. I've made several waterproof pads that could be used as changing pads or on the floor under a naked baby. I think they're pretty cool and I'm planning on making more for gifts. They also use up a lot of fabric, which is a plus. I feel like it makes a dent in my fabric stash when I pull out and use up a large piece.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Third Trimester, here we come!
We've officially entered the 28th week of pregnancy, which starts out the third trimester. I feel like I got about 5 times more pregnant in the last couple of weeks.. hopefully it's due to baby and not due to fudge and cookies.
Baby has active days and less active days. I went to prenatal yoga on Saturday and Shana (the yoga instructor) told someone else that the less active days are probably when baby is turned around and kicking towards the back. Apparently you can't feel kicks towards the back. All the kicks I've felt have been either down or to my left side, so maybe baby alternates between that direction and facing backwards. I enjoy the yoga class. It's really nice to check in with other pregnant ladies. I met someone who is almost exactly the same amount pregnant as I am. She's due March 28th. She looks a lot more pregnant, but she's also 5 inches shorter.
Sleeping has definitely become more of a challenge and I seem to have entered another tired phase. I slept (or at least tried to sleep) for 11 hours last night. I start out on my left side with a pillow between my knees. At some point during the night (usually about 3am), I wake up, go to the bathroom, and switch to the other side because my hip is starting to hurt. After that, I wake up every hour or hour and a half to change positions. I can see why pregnant ladies sometimes move to the couch or to a reclining chair for the last bit of pregnancy - laying on my back is more comfortable for my hips than laying on my side, but it's uncomfortable to be flat on my back. I have to be propped up on a couple of pillows so that I'm laying on a slope.
The disrupted sleep is making it easier to remember my dreams, so there have been a lot of those. Last night, I had a dream that I took the baby swimming. The baby had just recently been born, and this was going to be one of our first outings. Baby was the size of probably a 6 month old, which occurred to me in the dream. There was a whole saga involving lockers and where to put the baby while I changed and swim diapers. We were going swimming with Jess and several other friends who had babies. Jess's baby could swim like a fish because she had a pool in her backyard. In this dream, the baby was a girl.
I also had a dream that we took the chinchillas outside for a walk at my mother's house and we lost one of them. In the dream, we had three (we only have two in reality) and we lost the one that doesn't actually exist. We searched around the neighborhood looking for it. At one point, we asked a neighbor who was out raking his leaves if he'd seen the chinchilla. We told him it looked sort of like a squirrel.
Baby has active days and less active days. I went to prenatal yoga on Saturday and Shana (the yoga instructor) told someone else that the less active days are probably when baby is turned around and kicking towards the back. Apparently you can't feel kicks towards the back. All the kicks I've felt have been either down or to my left side, so maybe baby alternates between that direction and facing backwards. I enjoy the yoga class. It's really nice to check in with other pregnant ladies. I met someone who is almost exactly the same amount pregnant as I am. She's due March 28th. She looks a lot more pregnant, but she's also 5 inches shorter.
Sleeping has definitely become more of a challenge and I seem to have entered another tired phase. I slept (or at least tried to sleep) for 11 hours last night. I start out on my left side with a pillow between my knees. At some point during the night (usually about 3am), I wake up, go to the bathroom, and switch to the other side because my hip is starting to hurt. After that, I wake up every hour or hour and a half to change positions. I can see why pregnant ladies sometimes move to the couch or to a reclining chair for the last bit of pregnancy - laying on my back is more comfortable for my hips than laying on my side, but it's uncomfortable to be flat on my back. I have to be propped up on a couple of pillows so that I'm laying on a slope.
The disrupted sleep is making it easier to remember my dreams, so there have been a lot of those. Last night, I had a dream that I took the baby swimming. The baby had just recently been born, and this was going to be one of our first outings. Baby was the size of probably a 6 month old, which occurred to me in the dream. There was a whole saga involving lockers and where to put the baby while I changed and swim diapers. We were going swimming with Jess and several other friends who had babies. Jess's baby could swim like a fish because she had a pool in her backyard. In this dream, the baby was a girl.
I also had a dream that we took the chinchillas outside for a walk at my mother's house and we lost one of them. In the dream, we had three (we only have two in reality) and we lost the one that doesn't actually exist. We searched around the neighborhood looking for it. At one point, we asked a neighbor who was out raking his leaves if he'd seen the chinchilla. We told him it looked sort of like a squirrel.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
I'm actually pregnant.
Today, one of the people I work with asked me if I was pregnant. This is the first person to actually ask. I think other people must suspect (since one of my department chairs said I was showing 6 weeks ago), but this is the first person who actually asked.
The funny thing is that my doctor mentioned the "Dave Barry" rule for asking about pregnancy this morning at our appointment: if you don't see a baby actually emerging, don't ask a woman if she's pregnant. My coworker said I was getting bigger "just in the tummy" so she suspected. It was actually kind of nice to be asked.
Nothing too exciting to report regarding this morning's doctor's appointment. Baby is measuring small and has apparently been measuring small the whole time. That lines up with my view of the situation - I don't feel like I look that pregnant compared to other women who are equally pregnant. I'm sure the tiny squee will catch up on growth later on. Baby's heartbeat seemed sort of variable. Dr Liz said that baby didn't like me laying down. I wonder if it's because it cuts off circulation. Supposedly the weight of the baby can press on the vena cava and inhibit blood flow somewhat. I had found myself sleeping on my back sometimes (mostly to save my hips from hurting), but it's getting pretty uncomfortable to do that.
I've solved the hip pain when sleeping problem (at least for the time being). If I put a pillow between my legs, I can sleep pain-free through most of the night. I usually wake up once (to pee), then flip over to the other side for most of the rest of the night. It's been much better the past few nights that I've done that. I must be sleeping pretty well because when I wake up, I'm still in the same position that I started.
The funny thing is that my doctor mentioned the "Dave Barry" rule for asking about pregnancy this morning at our appointment: if you don't see a baby actually emerging, don't ask a woman if she's pregnant. My coworker said I was getting bigger "just in the tummy" so she suspected. It was actually kind of nice to be asked.
Nothing too exciting to report regarding this morning's doctor's appointment. Baby is measuring small and has apparently been measuring small the whole time. That lines up with my view of the situation - I don't feel like I look that pregnant compared to other women who are equally pregnant. I'm sure the tiny squee will catch up on growth later on. Baby's heartbeat seemed sort of variable. Dr Liz said that baby didn't like me laying down. I wonder if it's because it cuts off circulation. Supposedly the weight of the baby can press on the vena cava and inhibit blood flow somewhat. I had found myself sleeping on my back sometimes (mostly to save my hips from hurting), but it's getting pretty uncomfortable to do that.
I've solved the hip pain when sleeping problem (at least for the time being). If I put a pillow between my legs, I can sleep pain-free through most of the night. I usually wake up once (to pee), then flip over to the other side for most of the rest of the night. It's been much better the past few nights that I've done that. I must be sleeping pretty well because when I wake up, I'm still in the same position that I started.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Trouble sleeping again
It seems like the biggest part of being pregnant involves sleep: either too much or too little. Last night was a too little night.
The first part of the night wasn't too bad. I had a dream about being in Japan with Lacey in her weird open-courtyard apartment. It was completely pouring down rain.
Then, I woke up. My hips were really sore, to the point where I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. My left side, where I normally sleep, was really sore from having been slept on all night. When I turned onto my right side, that side started hurting along with my left hip. Laying on my back, which is how I used to escape from the hip pain, has become pretty uncomfortable. When I'd finally find a more-or-less comfortable position, the tiny squee would start flopping about. Apparently baby was disgruntled about me tossing and turning.
I went for a really good walk yesterday with my pregnant lady friend. We walked up and all around Mt Tabor. We walked and chatted for about 2 hours. I didn't feel too sore yesterday, but maybe it hit me in the hips last night.
I headed to prenatal yoga this morning. I was hoping it would help with the hip pain. What with the walk and the yoga, my legs are a little stiff and sore this evening. The yoga was really nice, though. Very relaxing. The tiny squee started bopping about as we were relaxing at the end.
One of my favorite parts of yoga is looking at what all the other pregnant ladies look like. There's a big range between least pregnant and most pregnant. Most people seem to be in week 30+, but one woman was only 14 weeks today. I don't look very pregnant at all compared to the majority. I didn't really look that pregnant compared to the other two ladies who were 24-ish weeks. It will be nice to check in with Dr Liz next week and make sure baby is measuring the appropriate size.
The first part of the night wasn't too bad. I had a dream about being in Japan with Lacey in her weird open-courtyard apartment. It was completely pouring down rain.
Then, I woke up. My hips were really sore, to the point where I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. My left side, where I normally sleep, was really sore from having been slept on all night. When I turned onto my right side, that side started hurting along with my left hip. Laying on my back, which is how I used to escape from the hip pain, has become pretty uncomfortable. When I'd finally find a more-or-less comfortable position, the tiny squee would start flopping about. Apparently baby was disgruntled about me tossing and turning.
I went for a really good walk yesterday with my pregnant lady friend. We walked up and all around Mt Tabor. We walked and chatted for about 2 hours. I didn't feel too sore yesterday, but maybe it hit me in the hips last night.
I headed to prenatal yoga this morning. I was hoping it would help with the hip pain. What with the walk and the yoga, my legs are a little stiff and sore this evening. The yoga was really nice, though. Very relaxing. The tiny squee started bopping about as we were relaxing at the end.
One of my favorite parts of yoga is looking at what all the other pregnant ladies look like. There's a big range between least pregnant and most pregnant. Most people seem to be in week 30+, but one woman was only 14 weeks today. I don't look very pregnant at all compared to the majority. I didn't really look that pregnant compared to the other two ladies who were 24-ish weeks. It will be nice to check in with Dr Liz next week and make sure baby is measuring the appropriate size.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Hi Ho, Hi Ho...
The term has started up again. I've worked a total of one day so far and I'm about done with the whole idea. Yesterday, I had an 8:30am class. This is too early for anyone to have a class. The students were all half asleep and I couldn't really blame them. It was also raining, which didn't help. At least there was ample parking when I arrived, but who knew traffic was going to suck so bad at 7:30 in the morning?
After class, I came home to take a short nap before my evening class. Three hours later, I woke up. I ate and got ready to go teach again at 7. Didn't accomplish anything else that day.
Today, I have a class that starts at 2:30. So far, it's slightly after noon and I haven't managed to get dressed yet. Somehow it's less appealing to get dressed and then have to change into work clothes after a few hours. So again, I haven't accomplished much today, although I did manage to cook a lunch that actually involved a vegetable (asparagus).
I need to get on some sort of schedule where I have to get up and do something in the morning on Tues/Thurs (my 2:30 class days) so that I don't just wallow around in my PJs until noon. I don't feel too badly about the nap yesterday; obviously I was tired.
In other news, the pair of work pants that I thought would still fit (because I bought them really big and they have an elasticized waistband) aren't even close to fitting anymore. I must be pregnant.
After class, I came home to take a short nap before my evening class. Three hours later, I woke up. I ate and got ready to go teach again at 7. Didn't accomplish anything else that day.
Today, I have a class that starts at 2:30. So far, it's slightly after noon and I haven't managed to get dressed yet. Somehow it's less appealing to get dressed and then have to change into work clothes after a few hours. So again, I haven't accomplished much today, although I did manage to cook a lunch that actually involved a vegetable (asparagus).
I need to get on some sort of schedule where I have to get up and do something in the morning on Tues/Thurs (my 2:30 class days) so that I don't just wallow around in my PJs until noon. I don't feel too badly about the nap yesterday; obviously I was tired.
In other news, the pair of work pants that I thought would still fit (because I bought them really big and they have an elasticized waistband) aren't even close to fitting anymore. I must be pregnant.
Monday, September 19, 2011
This better not become a habit
I also didn't sleep well last night. I had an awful headache for several hours before finally giving up and getting in bed. My stomach was also upset, but whatever, I'm used to that part. The first several times I woke up to pee, I still had a headache. Totally unfair. Finally, I woke up at what I believe to be about 3am. I didn't ever check the clock because I didn't really want to know. I was wide awake and couldn't fall back asleep for probably an hour. I considered getting up and doing something, but decided against it because then I would never have gotten back to sleep.
I spend an amazing amount of time thinking about being pregnant. It's almost a constant thing. I think about the things I need to do before the baby shows up, I contemplate working the rest of this term and how next term will go, I read all sorts of things online and out of books I've checked out of the library. I would conservatively say that 85% of my waking hours involve some sort of thought about being pregnant. I didn't realize that it would become an all-encompassing thing quite this early.
In other news, Mike and I went to a consignment sale at the Expo center on Saturday. It was apparently exhausting because I had to come home and nap for several hours. I didn't find a maternity coat, which was what I had specifically been looking for, but I did find a lovely soft sweater and another pair of maternity pants. They're brown, extremely comfortable, and fit rather like MC Hammer pants. Stop... Baby time.
I spend an amazing amount of time thinking about being pregnant. It's almost a constant thing. I think about the things I need to do before the baby shows up, I contemplate working the rest of this term and how next term will go, I read all sorts of things online and out of books I've checked out of the library. I would conservatively say that 85% of my waking hours involve some sort of thought about being pregnant. I didn't realize that it would become an all-encompassing thing quite this early.
In other news, Mike and I went to a consignment sale at the Expo center on Saturday. It was apparently exhausting because I had to come home and nap for several hours. I didn't find a maternity coat, which was what I had specifically been looking for, but I did find a lovely soft sweater and another pair of maternity pants. They're brown, extremely comfortable, and fit rather like MC Hammer pants. Stop... Baby time.
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