Weird Pregnancy Symptons: Volume Two
(continued from Weird Pregnancy Symptoms: Volume One.)
4. Hyper-Nesting 5000
I do realize that nesting is quite normal for any and all pregnant women and men, too, for that matter. Mine, for the record, hasn’t started nesting yet. I’m hoping to wake up one morning to a backyard paradise but as it stands, not so much. Our boat sandbox is currently lost in a sea of dirt but I digress… Nesting is one thing. Hyper-nesting is an entirely different situation. And mama is seriously hyper-nesting. Never mind the fact that I cleaned out the medicine cabinet this morning and I woke up the other night, sweating, because I had to SWEEP THE HALL RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND OR ELSE AHHHHHH! I’m pretty sure I was the same way with Archer. What has changed is my need to be so uber prepared, like, NOW.
For instance, yesterday, Hal, Archer and I trekked to Atwater Village to pick up a water table for Archer at Toys R Us which just happened to be attached to a Babies R Us, which let’s be clear, I’m not typically fond of. The place gives me the heeves for some reason. Nothing depresses me more than a thousand variations of Carters pajama sets, mass-produced in nauseating pastels. But yesterday? I couldn’t get enough of the place.
“I’m just going to peek over on the baby side, you know, check it out,” I said, leaving my son and husband cross-legged in the puzzle aisle.
“Cool. We’ll be here. See you in a few…”
Fast forward an hour later, when Hal, dragging the giant water table box and Archer clutching a rubber ball, happened upon me, in a heap of BPA free and glass bottles. I had decided on three varieties: these, these and these not including the half-dozen of these I picked up at The Little Seed a month ago. Bottles weren’t all that was on my mind. I also had a nipple-sheild, breastpads, a bunch of first-aid items, a carseat head protector thing, newborn pacis, and like, every little newborn feeding, bathing accessory necessary. Yikes.
I even bought Dreft to wash the layette, because you know, THREE MONTHS EARLY doesn’t mean a thing to me right now.
So, like, yeah. I’m done. If this baby came tomorrow we’d be set which is WHOA, on the verge of embarrassing. I don’t think I had a single thing for Archer until he was crowning. No joke. Honestly, though? I’ve gone completely nuts over here. Please send help.
Well, hello, there. I’m crazy with a side of Dreft-washed laundry, how you doing?
5. Honey Dew Me
I don’t want to eat anything but honeydew and other such summer melons. I’ve eaten entire watermelons in one sitting and just ten minutes ago polished off ANOTHER entire honeydew melon. (I actually craved honeydew with Archer as well and would buy them five at a time at the store and that was it. I’d literally have a cart full of honeydew and la la la… nothing to see, here!)
Today I managed to walk home from the farmer’s market with the usual stash of fruits and veggies AND two huge honeydew melons because DAMNIT! Those suckaz were two for a fiver and I’d be damned if I was going to leave behind some good ass locally-grown honeydew because it was hot as shit outside and I was pregnant.
Ten minutes and three blocks later, I almost passed out. Again, send help.
6. Nip Not Hooray
I have no feeling in my nipples after having them surgically removed from my body twice (two breast reduction surgeries) so it’s shocking to have the slightest sensation at all in/anywhere near my chest. Unfortunately the “sensation” I’m talking about is not pleasurable. At all. It fucking hurts. Anything rubs against my nips and OUCH! Which like, what the…? Even taking a shower hurts like a biotch. I’ve gone eight years without nipple sensation and seemingly, I wasn’t missing anything at all.
On the flipside, I’m wondering if this means my nipples are plotting to actually work this time — unlike last time when three ducts in each nipple BARELY worked and I was pumping bloody milk, at an average of an ounce per hour, which, yeah, not fun at all. Time will tell, I suppose. In the meantime, I’m all day feeling myself up to relieve the sting.
Nothing to see, here!
No, I’m serious, please look the other way.
***
I had the strongest urge to instal shelves. I nested like a crazy mofo.
ha! great visual of a wall COVERED in shelves after a long day’s work. awesome.
I’ve already painted our living room, hallway, & baby’s room in eco-friendly paint. i’ve gone through the box of baby bedding almost every night just to check & make sure everything is still there & contemplate what else i need until we set up the little one’s nursery next week. i’m constantly googling/dreaming about how to set up his room. haha. also, my nips hurt too. but luckily pregnancy is over for me in 7 weeks or less.
I decided that none of the crib sets lived up to the one I had in mind and set about making one that included a ton of embroedry and applique, I’ve never sewn so much in my life before- I hate sewing. And now, my son still sleeps in our bed
The georgous crib and crib set has only been used a few dozen times.
I’m in hyper nesting mode too and this my first. I’m 27 weeks and I have almost everything I need for her arrival. I clean and cook like I’m freaking Cinderella and the other thing is that I can’t stand my husband to be around when I’m doing this because he might make a mess or get in my way. He keeps saying “we have three months” and I’m like I know get your ass moving! I’m not an overly clean or organized person and this is nuts!
I’m not sure what people are going to get me for my baby shower I’m so damned prepared. I guess since I’m having it at a bar they will just play games and get loaded!
As for the melons, I can, will and have eaten an entire watermelon alone. I love them and can’t get enough of them. I take watermelon to all kind of functions because I know that is what I want to eat, so far nobody has complained! My midwife says it is good to eat a lot of melon because it will help with feet and ankle swelling. Also, they aren’t fattening so I can eat as much watermelon as I want!
Candace
You look so pretty in that picture!
We moved to a new apartment when I was 7 months pregnant so I got to really go nuts with my nesting. My hubby didn’t want to set up the nursery straight away cause he said that we had more important rooms to fix first… like the kitchen. but I didn’t let that stop me I built all the furniture myself without help. I do believe I even barred the door so he couldn’t get in to stop me from completing the nursery first.
A month later I decided to paint stripes on my bathroom wall and all I could find to climb on was this very rickety ladder. I spent a day balancing the belly and the paint and brushes and stuff on top of this high unstable ladder almost falling like a million times.
I also scrubbed the floors in my entire place on my hands and knees with a sponge a week before giving birth.
Wow I was crazier then I thought.
Lia
I insisted my husband strip all of the paint of ALL of the woodwork in the house in case lead paint lurked below. This was 3 weeks before the first boy came.
Also, Amazon has glass bottles 3 for 5.99
http://www.amazon.com/Evenflo-8-Ounce-Classic-Glass-Nurser/dp/B000056W4W/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1215450309&sr=8-1
Babies R. Us also gives me a creeps. I hate how they stock all the priciest stuff at eye level and cheaper stuff either on the floor or above your head. I hate how many freaking options they give you without any sort of guidance on why there are 15 different kinds of binkies (or whatever).
But, I do love that dress-turned-maternity shirt you’re wearing.
i agree you look great…i wish the same were true of me. alas i am suffering the backnee, sex allergy and every other issue you are as well. i ate an entire watermelon this weekend and finished washing all the baby stuff despite the fact that i have a month left of pregnancy.
good news is we finally have a name…..
i started calling it “Babies R Torture-US”… because that’s exactly how i felt when i walked in there, as if i were being tortured. and i too craved sweet delicious water-melon all through my pregnancy with Zoe. although it was winter and i was spending a fortune on the pre-cut stuff at whole foods. yikes! btw, you are looking great for only 3 mons to go! yea, gurl. work! how’s the sewing coming?
I didn’t know you could nurse after having a breast reduction. Good to know! I may have to do that one myself after this baby stretches them out to a H.
You can’t really nurse at all. I barely was able to pump a few ounces when I was pregnant with Archer… I mainly used formula but I did manage to pump a few ounces here and there until Archer was 6 weeks — it was just hard and painful and very, very bloody.
Girl – we gotta talk about the breast reduction surgery! It’s something I’ve been considering for years. Please post about it sometime. It would be great to hear your perspective on your experiences with it now that your gestating.
I’ve posted about it, actually, Melanie:
http://girlsgonechild.blogspot.com/2006/08/breast-years-of-my-life.html
I also wrote about it in my book but I will absolutely post about it, if you’d like, here on SFTB. Next week?
A little background: I’ve had TWO breast reductions (my first at 18, my second at 20 because they grew back) and tried to breastfeed — was able to kind of for a second — and am now planning on doing the same thing with babe #2…
You can also feel free to email me with any breast-reduction questions.
rebeccawoolf (at) gmail (dot) com
I will say this… Childbirth was nothing compared to (both) Breast Reduction(s). Seriously, that shit HURTS. And the recovery is insane. I highly recommend waiting until children are self-sufficient. My mom had to wipe my own ass for, like, three weeks. No joke.
If mine came early right now, he’d be born into a world of plaster dust and no space for even a co-sleeper. He’d better wait for at least a month! So all nesting is being put into planning for later nursery-making and agonizing over the reno and whether we will have time to get it all done. yes, it’s making me fully insane, too. Gah!
In response to the BPA scare, I immediately went out and purchased the Adiri Nursers because they looked so COOL. And they totally suck. They leak, you can only fill them with the lid on and then if you don’t have it on perfectly, the liquid spills into the lid, which then runs down the side of the bottle and out when you turn it the right way. This pisses me off. whatever you do, don’t! waste! my! breastmilk! So we got the Born Free, and they’re great. (and babies r us, being money grubbing bastards, wouldn’t give me my money back for the stupid leaky bottles)
I nested like a crazy person during my second pregnancy. I swear I lived in Costco and I loathe that place. I stockpiled tin cans, toilet paper, frozen peas. As an xMormon, I get the food storage concept big time… not good for a nesting pregger! Creamed corn, anyone?
If you’re thinking of trying both to BF along side formula, I suggest trying the Playtex drop-ins. They are also designed to prevent nipple confusion and work great. Fugly, but effective.
Hee! I am 35 weeks and I was eating watermelon while reading this. Melon is food of the gods while preggo.
I too craved all form of fruit but particularly melons during my pregnancy. And anything black raspberry flavored. Then I wanted giant heapings of fresh veggies. The good news was it kept my weight down!
I also ate a lot of melon. And pancakes. I nested about a month before. I had so much stuff from my shower and I had to get it all perfectly organized before he came.
I got so many bottles at my shower and I really never needed all of them. I swear I could have gotten by with about 6-10 Avent bottles total and I would have been fine. By the time I stopped breastfeeding at 9 mos, he was already on sippy cups. (BPAs be damned. But I do handwash his stuff till this day.) And sue me, I LOVE coordinated layettes, blankies and yes, Babies r Us.
I’m with Avital – Adiri nursers are not great and honestly, the Green to Grow nipple flow is too fast, s =o if you use those switch to a Nuk. If you think the Dr. Brown’s glass are safe with a 3 year old around, I would definitely use those.
I bought the glass for home-use and the Green to Grow and Born Free for to-go use. Archer’s pretty careful (he’s never broken a drinking glass YET) so I figured glass would be a good choice. Good to know that the Green to Grow is too fast. Nuk fits in the GTG thingy? Bummed to hear the Adiris suck. They look so damn cool.
talk about nesting…over a month ago i started going nuts if i wasn’t doing some sort of cleaning (and I’m normally the slob of the house…hubby does most of the house cleaning). But the medicine cabinet HAD to be reorganized immediately, as did the master bedroom, and the full scrubbing with hot water and sanitizer every inch of ever side/shelf of the refrigerator and freezer. The kitchen still needs to be reorganized, but I’ve been distracted by making sure all the baby clothes/blankets/sheets get laundered first. Oh, and we just had all our hardwood floors replaced (we’ll call that hubby’s nesting…).
And man, all these posts make me want some watermelon!!!
Fenugreek and Dom Peridone (Motilium) help quite a bit with breastfeeding after breast reduction. My baby’s pediatrician recommended them to me.