Expectant & New Mothers

[Senia]

After a pretty uneventful first 2 trimesters , I am now in my 36/37 th week and it's all coming .

backaches, carpal tunnel syndrome, ribs hurt, baby's kicks hurt, v hurts, itching................... loss of appetite, lack of sleep ........

can anyone share with me their experiences ? were/ are they the same as mine ?

is this any indication that he's coming soon? like really soon ? ( due in 2 weeks )

[kannon99]

All totally normal!

How can you be in the 36th/37th week and due in 2 weeks? First time moms usually give birth between 40 and 41 weeks! It's miserable in the end but better to wait it out

[Carry]

Last part is the hardest, try to get as much rest as u can, might sound like the last thing u feel capable of now but u will, not get a lot of sleep once the little one is there...and try to enjoy the time without the babe u have left...Good luck with the birth!

Edited February 23, 2011 by Carry

[redfish44]

Hi Senia,

Have you had your baby yet?

You must be close if not already done or in the delivery room as I type - good luck!

I hope you are ok.

I am only 4.5 mnths, but had had the nasty stuff the whole time so far, so dreading the home stretch.

Keep hoping I will wake up one day (after getting some restful sleep somehow) and feel happy, excited and bouncing around with a clear focused head, as everyone thinks it should be in the second trimester.

I am lucky there are 2 Thai ladies here who also had "the horrors", so I feel a bit better just knowing that. I like it when they give me one of their "sorry but I know how you feel" smiles, they make my day.

Just wish my hubby would stop telling me so many graphic details... bless him, trying to be reassuring, but... no. He is like a kid with an exciting science project... bounding in after work everyday like a puppy, but with a tale of new dread : )

It is releiving to hear doctors say things are "normal", nice to know, but it is still horrid to feel so wretched when one should be "glowing".

I hope you have a lovely happy healthy baby that lets you sleep heaps : )

[Senia]

Hi Senia,

Have you had your baby yet?

You must be close if not already done or in the delivery room as I type - good luck!

I hope you are ok.

I am only 4.5 mnths, but had had the nasty stuff the whole time so far, so dreading the home stretch.

Keep hoping I will wake up one day (after getting some restful sleep somehow) and feel happy, excited and bouncing around with a clear focused head, as everyone thinks it should be in the second trimester.

I am lucky there are 2 Thai ladies here who also had "the horrors", so I feel a bit better just knowing that. I like it when they give me one of their "sorry but I know how you feel" smiles, they make my day.

Just wish my hubby would stop telling me so many graphic details... bless him, trying to be reassuring, but... no. He is like a kid with an exciting science project... bounding in after work everyday like a puppy, but with a tale of new dread : )

It is releiving to hear doctors say things are "normal", nice to know, but it is still horrid to feel so wretched when one should be "glowing".

I hope you have a lovely happy healthy baby that lets you sleep heaps : )

hi Red

he came 5 days ago .39 weeks and 5 days ( 4 days after opting to be induced, membrane sweeping ) 17 hours labor, 1 hour delivery , doctor lost count on number of sutures, 7.4 pounds ( average weight for a farang baby , except that both his parents are Asian ) been on pain killers and almost no sleep since ....... so I was in lala land for a while.

my butt hurt so bad that I was convinced that they sewed me up wrong.... only today i am able to get some real sleep ( 2, three hour intervals ) and sit on computer chair, toilet is a bit of a challenge

which hospital are you having your baby at ?

i had mine at Thammasat, everything before labour was great but during labour and the after care was pretty bad, not medically but the way they treated us patients ( in total i was warded for 3 days, baby is perfect ( he really is so so beautiful ) but me .......

I would recommend the induction, even though he is my first ( and only ) child, I saw a 41 week baby and spoke to her parents ( she was 12 days old at the time ) . her skin was really dry and she did not look like a happy baby at all, that scared me. Consult your doctor first, go for your last ultrasound if you really need to, but for me, conditions were ideal, healthy weight, all his good bits working fine so I went for it, no regrets.

hang in there, maybe you get lucky in your last trimester. but I doubt it .

[Senia]

Last part is the hardest, try to get as much rest as u can, might sound like the last thing u feel capable of now but u will, not get a lot of sleep once the little one is there...and try to enjoy the time without the babe u have left...Good luck with the birth!

thanks Carry,

I am savouring every minute with him now. before I start doing stupid stuff that he will remember for life

Cannot get over how beautiful he is , really a poster baby like in brochures and catalogues. Papa and I can't figure out which one of us he looks like though

Very healthy , big appetite ( on the breast ) , and the best part ....... hardly cries from day 1, YAY .....

how many do you have Carry ? I loved every bit of the experience but just once is enough for me lol

[mkawish]

I shed cold sweat.... even if I am unable to do.... and endure.... what you girls did....

Mothers of the earth.... truly you all are....

We pay our most profound homage and

we all salute you all....

our better halves....

[redfish44]

Congratulations Senia!

Thanks for the info (!!)

I hope you heal quickly.

To answer your question: I am scheduled to have mine at Samitivej in July.

I am getting bigger quickly now, but haven't actually put on weight (?).

Can I ask you how much weight you put on during pregnancy? How much came off afte rthe birth? Just curious...

have fun with your new bub : )

[Carry]

Hey Senia,

Congrats on your baby boy, funny huh how u can always tell from other babies who they look like most but when its your own its hard to tell, Thai think my girl looks like her dad while all the westerners think she looks like me...[she does thats what Im trying to tell my guy too....]

sounds familiar...although I didnt have my daughter [my first 6 months old now] in Thailand, the stitches [yep 22 of them...] and lack of sleep is all the same.

I remember I was almost hallucinating from lack of sleep at one point whenever I closed my eyes!

Sweet your boy is such a good guy, so was my daughter, no unnecessary crying and very thirsty

Enjoy and I wish u a lot of happiness

[Senia]

Hi Guys

He is now at 6 weeks and just over5 kgs (yes I know big baby).

Redfish - I was 43 kgs prenatal weight and weighed in at 66 kg when I was in labor right after 2nd day 58 kg

I am 5 foot nothing !!!! so according to babycenter.com I was slightly overweight during pregnancy

I do not know my present weight is, If I have to guess maybe 50 kg, that's because I am breast feeding and eating according to what my breast milk should be producing so that's a lot of proteins, but from last Thursday I have been trying to alternate my proteins and carbs, one meal protein and salad, one meal carbs only

Carry - everybody can't tell who my boy looks like LMAO

do you breastfeed Carry ? Is it legal to BF in public here ? My boy sees me as his human pacifier , he is always on the boob

I wear my baby in a ring sling especially for small errands like to the 7-11, I get both dirty looks and curious peeps coming up and asking me questions about it .......... what gives????

do you also get well meaning but totally uneducated peeps giving you "free advise" on child care ? Its bugging the living crap out of me, I am a first time mom, I check on various sites (esp.baby center )and call my grandma on a regular basis for advise and/or help. I do not need or want their advice,

examples;

ring sling is bad ( first time she's seen one ) baby can't move arms...............

huh ??????

you eat too much, bad for baby

good for me ...........

no eggs, no seafood, no chilli , no coca cola

NO COCA COLA !!!!!!!!!

Can you speak Thai ? will little lady be learning Thai any time soon ?

Redfish & Carry

the reason my butt hurt is because I had a big freaking gash there, had to go back to be re-stitched F*** changed hospital since. When I was still in hospital the doc told me, "we don't cut that far" didn't even bother to check until I checked it out myself at home (^%.......... arrgggggggggh

I curse that hospital , I was right they not only sewed me up wrong, they freaking cut me up like a steak !!!!

do you guys have a baby sitter ??? I kinda have one, she's my part-time house keeper, I am not so sure about having her as my sitter too ( she's sweet but dumb as a rock )

I am really having a hard time to get someone to do both, when I start work I will probably hire a separate person to babysit, what should I look out for, hubby is so against this............he even takes the little man with us to the supermarket, doesn't trust any strangers to be with baby

should I be worried about this too ?

day care ?

I can't get physical abuse stats for Thailand, is hubby right ? Can I trust a sitter ? everyone has been so nice to me since I was pregnant, I can't imagine anyone abusing my kid here , in Malaysia/Singapore yes, many cases, but here ???

[kannon99]

Is it legal to BF in public here ?

I check on various sites (esp.baby center )and call my grandma on a regular basis for advise and/or help. I do not need or want their advice,

do you guys have a baby sitter ???

It is legal to BF in public.

BabyCenter has some really crappy advice though. Mothering.com is way better for information.

Babysitter... you mean maid or nanny? It is VERY difficult to find someone that you can trust. And hard to find someone competent enough and willing for you do extra training if needed. Good luck on that!

[Senia]

Hi Kanon

Yes I am finding that out the hard way, nannies/maids/help very easy to get but it's hard to get them to do what is required or needed. I had my maid come in for 3 hours to mind my baby for 3 hours. when I got home that's what she was doing lol literally. Just sitting there watching him. lmao

they seem to do things their way no matter how many times you tell them otherwise, they just don't listen , like I tell peeps do not swaddle my baby cos it's too hot, he ends up sweating and kicking the blanket away but they still do it !!!! I tell her to use the diaper covers and she didn't for the longest time, until she had to repeatedly wash his beddings daily that she started to use them .............I tell her to let the baby sleep and not to wake him, if she wanted to "play" with him let him choose the time, she won't stop touching him and that keeps him awake and bawling

sadly she's the best of the lot I have so far, friend recommends another, but I know her and suspect that she will be watching TV the whole time I am out

lmao idiot hubby recommends his ex-wife .......... hah ex wife minds new wife's baby ??? I think not !!!

[Senia]

ok I just have to share this, my baby is big , lol there I said it. His birth weight was "normal", a little on the heavy side at 7 lbs 5 oz. now at 5 weeks he is

5.4 kgs about 13 lbs.

at the hospital breastfeeding section yesterday, I chatted with a lady who initially said that her son was 7 "ajit" (weeks). he was only a little bit bigger than my boy, but after a while I realised that her son had head/neck control so I asked her again ........ she smiled embarassingly and then corrected that he was 7 months !!!!

Again at the waiting area, mother was playing with my baby and papa was carrying theirs, my baby is 2 x the size of theirs. I thought that their baby was 10 days and they thought that my baby was 3 months lmao , when we finally got it out that both babies are 1 month, I apologetically say "oh he's a little more than a month , he's at 5 weeks" awkard smiles from both sides, only person to be unfazed by my baby's size that day was the doctor. She says not to worry, he is still in the normal healthy range, plenty of babies this size she says.

a quick check at baby center confirms that i have a little elephant on my hands

[Ashmanator]

Hi Senia,

Sounds like we all go through the same experience!

Advice is something that we too were inundated with, it does get quite annoying after a while and I soon learnt how to say thank you and move on quickly. I find the internet great to get a a good mix of views, then apply what you feel right for your baby and your circumstances.

an example... I was reading that a baby should not be given any water until 6 months, certainly not before 3 months. My baby has been on water since one month!! she drinks it happily between breast feeding and the odd formula. Does general advice have relevance in such hot temperatures? She soon tells me if she doesn't like something !!

Our daughter was 3.01 kg at birth, exactly 4 kg at 1 month, 4.9kg at 2 months and now 5.7 at 3 months and a week. I think they all do their own thing for the first year!!!!

Babysitters are difficult to find. We used some friends for the first few times, they were happy to do it, but not too often!! We have since found a girl that works at a local nursery during the day, so happy to come and do a few hours for some extra cash.

Happy Days.....

[Carry]

A sitter has been a problem for us too, I stay home most of the time with the baby while my partner runs the business but I am a bit sketchy about finding a good one, not that I have a hard time leaving her with someone but I dont really like the way Thais handle their kids in general, not saying its wrong but if I want someone to take care of my baby I want it to be done the way I please, so no feeding candy or other sugar sugar, to bed on time and the worst one when we once had a sitter do not call me 4 times just because the baby woke up and is making noise!! I pay someone to take care of my baby so I can have a night away and if there's no emergency please dont freak me out by calling for everything!!

Anyway finding a nanny would even be harder since your baby spents a great deal of time with this one person....is a family member of your husband an option?

Dont worry about him being so protective...I guess it will get better! once he got used to it all!

[Senia]

Ash I think the argument about water is that it may give little one a false sense of fullness and that she would not be getting enough nutrients. It includes babies in hot climates. Having said that however, I believe in doing what I feel is right for my baby, if she is growing nicely, has no tummy aches then go for it.

I am trying to keep my LO on boob juice for as long as I can , but like yours occasionally during growth spurts I "sneak in" a couple of oz of formula, I pump so I can sleep more at night and chill it if we are going out the day after so his supply will always be there

I just caught the "sitter" doing something I expressly told her NOT TO DO a million times. she insisted that the cradle would be better on the bed, I say no cos it if falls ( with baby inside ) Papa would kill Mama . I did a quick store run and came back to see cradle on bed........ argh

now I am forced to change sitter and got LO a big ass play pen with railings (he doesn't have a crib cos he sleeps on the bed with us at night)

i really hope this new one has a little more sense

I hear you Carry, sitter or no sitter I still spend most of the time with LO

what business are you doing ? I am contemplating one