35 week update from Tiina

... which is kind of late, since I'm 36+1 by now. I also seem to have
changed my identity since DH had to redo all our mail and news stuff
last week. Yes, the blasted Blaster worm took over our computer, and it
took some time to get it sorted out, but it's still me,
the-person-formerly-known-as-Tiina-News..

After the virus problem, I tried to post again but had a different
problem with Netscape, one I couldn't fix by myself. AAAARGH! DD was in
daycare, so I gave my pregnancy psychosis free rein. First I cried. Then
I cursed, then I threw around some smallish furniture. (I'm not kidding,
I'm sorry to say.) Afterwards, my reaction reminded me of a certain
recent movie hero. Swells up, goes berserk.. HELP! Pregnancy is turning
me into some kind of a pink She-Hulk! :-)

Anyway, it's OK now, and a week ago I had my 35 week appointment.
Everything is still boringly, reassuringly well.

My bp is going down (to 128/66) and my hemoglobin is going up (to 137,
or 13.7). I understand that's not unusual at this point, because my body
is storing iron for the birth. I had gained a little over two pounds in
three weeks, which puts my total gain around 34 pounds or so. Everybody
still keeps saying how I don't seem to have gained much, so those 34
pounds are fine with me!

My fundal height was 32, not up by much from last time, but it was a
different person doing the measuring and the baby had shifted a little,
so no one was concerned. I also had an internal exam this time, my last
scheduled one. My cervix is still closed, regular length and mostly
firm, just a little softened at the inner end. The baby is a bit lower
but not that much, and the heartrate was around 130. So, all was well.

I'm also feeling perfectly fine pregnancy-wise, still regularly walking
the four-mile round trip to town center and not feeling any aches and
pains. Except in my throat, that is. I got this pesky bug that won't go
away, and I got a throat culture today to rule out a bacterial
infection. I'm getting the Strep result in two days and the rest next
week, so at least that's taken care of. Until then, I'm taking the
Finnish equivalent of Tylenol and getting by.

I am now officially on maternity leave, and I'll be full term on Monday!
I can't believe it. And in spite of the bug, I'm so happy to be mobile
and in good strength. Picking berries for the freezer and doing all
kinds of stuff.

Happy, serene days to all of you moms and moms-to-be, especially the
September ones!

Tiina
SAHM to Emilia,4
EDD Sept.15

Anyway, it's OK now, and a week ago I had my 35 week appointment.
Everything is still boringly, reassuringly well.


Boring is good! Enjoy the rest of the time remaining

Linda
Mommy to Sophie, 2 years
and girl #2, due Sept 7th

On Tue, 19 Aug 2003 15:03:45 GMT, Tiina Kartovaara
wrote:

Anyway, it's OK now, and a week ago I had my 35 week appointment.
Everything is still boringly, reassuringly well.

Congrats! I am glad that it is going so well.

I hope your throat feels better soon!


--
Daye
Momma to Jayan
EDD 11 Jan 2004

Tiina Kartovaara wrote in message
...
First I cried. Then
I cursed, then I threw around some smallish furniture.

I have had a few tantrums myself, so don't feel bad. :-)

Anyway, it's OK now, and a week ago I had my 35
week appointment. Everything is still boringly, reassuringly well.

Yay!

I am now officially on maternity leave, and I'll be full term on
Monday! I can't believe it. And in spite of the bug, I'm so
happy to be mobile and in good strength. Picking berries for
the freezer and doing all kinds of stuff.

That is great you are enjoying your time. Yesterday and today I have
made myself get out in the morning, as we did before I reached 36-ish
weeks, and I am feeling so much happier and calmer than I had been prior
to Sunday's "practice run". I haven't even had a contraction since
then - I think my tension and impatience might have actually been
causing (or greatly contributing to) the sporadic contractions I'd been
having. It also finally occurred to me to take Tylenol before going to
bed last night, and I slept so much more comfortably than I had been for
the past month. Not that I would take it every night, but a really good
night's rest, here and there at least, helps immensely.

Happy, serene days to all of you moms and moms-to-be,
especially the September ones!

Thank you, and same to you!
--
Cheryl S.
Mom to Julie, 2 yr., 4 mo.
And a boy, EDD 4.Sept

Cleaning the house while your children are small is like
shoveling the sidewalk while it's still snowing.

"Tiina Kartovaara" wrote in message
.. which is kind of late, since I'm 36+1 by now. I also seem to have
changed my identity since DH had to redo all our mail and news stuff
last week. Yes, the blasted Blaster worm took over our computer, and it
took some time to get it sorted out, but it's still me,
the-person-formerly-known-as-Tiina-News..

I had to do a little bit of a double take when I saw your message
subject--thinking, "I *know* she has an earlier due date than me, how can we
both suddenly be 35 weeks?" I am so insecure that I had to check the
calendar because I was suddenly thinking maybe I wasn't really 35 weeks
after all! Then, I opened your message and understood :-) I knew the
identity was you though because of the double i. Btw, on a side note, how do
you pronounce your first name?

After the virus problem, I tried to post again but had a different
problem with Netscape, one I couldn't fix by myself. AAAARGH! DD was in
daycare, so I gave my pregnancy psychosis free rein. First I cried. Then
I cursed, then I threw around some smallish furniture. (I'm not kidding,
I'm sorry to say.) Afterwards, my reaction reminded me of a certain
recent movie hero. Swells up, goes berserk.. HELP! Pregnancy is turning
me into some kind of a pink She-Hulk! :-)

Lol! I love computers when they *OBEY* me, but when they don't I can
sometimes turn into a raving lunatic. I was trying to do a print layout a
few days ago involving basically trying to force Word to be a publishing
program as opposed to a word processing program and it results in my crying
and yelling and feeling like I was going to burst a blood vessel in my
temple. I bought a real publishing program that very night, because I
decided that saving the $$$ was not worth sacrificing my mental health! I
didn't throw anything though....

Anyway, it's OK now, and a week ago I had my 35 week appointment.
Everything is still boringly, reassuringly well.

My bp is going down (to 128/66) and my hemoglobin is going up (to 137,
or 13.7). I understand that's not unusual at this point, because my body
is storing iron for the birth. I had gained a little over two pounds in
three weeks, which puts my total gain around 34 pounds or so. Everybody
still keeps saying how I don't seem to have gained much, so those 34
pounds are fine with me!

Do they check your hemoglobin often? I only had mine checked at 7 weeks and
then again at 27 weeks.

My fundal height was 32, not up by much from last time, but it was a
different person doing the measuring and the baby had shifted a little,
so no one was concerned. I also had an internal exam this time, my last
scheduled one. My cervix is still closed, regular length and mostly
firm, just a little softened at the inner end. The baby is a bit lower
but not that much, and the heartrate was around 130. So, all was well.

Doesn't fundal height measuring get less accurate after 30 weeks? I forget.
I know it still has relevance, but I seem to remember reading that it
becomes +/- a few centimeters after the 30 week mark or so. Mine was just
about 34 at my last appointment. Up until recently it was also right on
target for weeks, but the last three appointments or so, it has been about a
centimeter below.

I'm also feeling perfectly fine pregnancy-wise, still regularly walking
the four-mile round trip to town center and not feeling any aches and
pains. Except in my throat, that is. I got this pesky bug that won't go
away, and I got a throat culture today to rule out a bacterial
infection. I'm getting the Strep result in two days and the rest next
week, so at least that's taken care of. Until then, I'm taking the
Finnish equivalent of Tylenol and getting by.

Sorry about the sore throat. Nice not to have anything pregnancy related to
complain about though. It has becomes deadly hot where I live lately
(seriously, heat advisories not to go outside, etc.). The heat index is up
to over a 100 and the real temp is 98. No rain either! The ground is
incredibly parched. I've had to forgo my usual walking schedule and now only
go twice per week at the mall with a friend. Not because of pregnancy, but
because this would make *anyone* keel over!

I am now officially on maternity leave, and I'll be full term on Monday!
I can't believe it. And in spite of the bug, I'm so happy to be mobile
and in good strength. Picking berries for the freezer and doing all
kinds of stuff.

Happy, serene days to all of you moms and moms-to-be, especially the
September ones!

Same to you, Tiina! Thanks for sharing your update. We are getting the point
where we will soon be seeing September mom birth stories. That is thrilling
to me!

--
Em
edd 9/23/03
(35 weeks today!)

Cheryl S. wrote:


That is great you are enjoying your time. Yesterday and today I have
made myself get out in the morning, as we did before I reached 36-ish
weeks, and I am feeling so much happier and calmer than I had been prior
to Sunday's "practice run". I haven't even had a contraction since
then - I think my tension and impatience might have actually been
causing (or greatly contributing to) the sporadic contractions I'd been
having. It also finally occurred to me to take Tylenol before going to
bed last night, and I slept so much more comfortably than I had been for
the past month. Not that I would take it every night, but a really good
night's rest, here and there at least, helps immensely.


I hear that! I have slept fine until now, in spite of occasionally
having to wake up and pee, but this sore throat is a nuisance. I didn't
want to take even Tylenol at first (Panadol here in Finland) but the
pain was interfering with my eating, drinking and sleeping, so I guess
Tylenol is the lesser evil.

Here's to no more "practice runs" - may next time be the real thing! :-)

Tiina
SAHM to Emilia,4
EDD Sept.15






Happy, serene days to all of you moms and moms-to-be,
especially the September ones!


Thank you, and same to you!
--
Cheryl S.
Mom to Julie, 2 yr., 4 mo.
And a boy, EDD 4.Sept

Cleaning the house while your children are small is like
shoveling the sidewalk while it's still snowing.

Em wrote:


I had to do a little bit of a double take when I saw your message
subject--thinking, "I *know* she has an earlier due date than me, how can we
both suddenly be 35 weeks?" I am so insecure that I had to check the
calendar because I was suddenly thinking maybe I wasn't really 35 weeks
after all! Then, I opened your message and understood :-) I knew the
identity was you though because of the double i. Btw, on a side note, how do
you pronounce your first name?


Actually, it is pronounced much as you would pronounce "Tina" with one
'i'. When a Finnish person says it, the 't' sound is a bit different,
but the vowel is still a long 'ee'.

That's funny about the due date. I hope the calendar convinced you that
you *are* 35+1 today? See, even I knew that. ;-) Although I am
increasingly addled about several other things..



After the virus problem, I tried to post again but had a different
problem with Netscape, one I couldn't fix by myself. AAAARGH! DD was in
daycare, so I gave my pregnancy psychosis free rein. First I cried. Then


Lol! I love computers when they *OBEY* me, but when they don't I can
sometimes turn into a raving lunatic. I was trying to do a print layout a
few days ago involving basically trying to force Word to be a publishing
program as opposed to a word processing program and it results in my crying
and yelling and feeling like I was going to burst a blood vessel in my
temple. I bought a real publishing program that very night, because I
decided that saving the $$$ was not worth sacrificing my mental health! I
didn't throw anything though....


Good for you! After the second problem, I seriously considered giving up
computers altogether. But of course, mkp lured me back!


Anyway, it's OK now, and a week ago I had my 35 week appointment.
Everything is still boringly, reassuringly well.


Do they check your hemoglobin often? I only had mine checked at 7 weeks and
then again at 27 weeks.


I think the standard at the clinic is three times altogether, and they
may have done those already, but I asked for this one because I had been
feeling more tired than usual. In view of the result, I think that was
due to the throat bug.



Doesn't fundal height measuring get less accurate after 30 weeks? I forget.
I know it still has relevance, but I seem to remember reading that it
becomes +/- a few centimeters after the 30 week mark or so. Mine was just
about 34 at my last appointment. Up until recently it was also right on
target for weeks, but the last three appointments or so, it has been about a
centimeter below.


Yes, that's what I've heard - the baby shifts and the shape of your
belly changes. Yet I've heard of some doctors making a big deal out of
it and sending people to have ultrasounds because they measure a bit on
the small side. Go figure.



I'm also feeling perfectly fine pregnancy-wise, still regularly walking
the four-mile round trip to town center and not feeling any aches and
pains. Except in my throat, that is. I got this pesky bug that won't go
away, and I got a throat culture today to rule out a bacterial
infection. I'm getting the Strep result in two days and the rest next
week, so at least that's taken care of. Until then, I'm taking the
Finnish equivalent of Tylenol and getting by.


Sorry about the sore throat. Nice not to have anything pregnancy related to
complain about though. It has becomes deadly hot where I live lately
(seriously, heat advisories not to go outside, etc.). The heat index is up
to over a 100 and the real temp is 98. No rain either! The ground is
incredibly parched. I've had to forgo my usual walking schedule and now only
go twice per week at the mall with a friend. Not because of pregnancy, but
because this would make *anyone* keel over!


Oooh, I'm sorry about the heat! Here, the weather is starting to turn a
bit fall-like, and I'm OK with that - after the cold June, we had a
wonderful, long hot spell. I enjoyed it, except for some very humid 90+
days, which would have been nasty even when *not* pregnant. I was a bit
wilted after my four-mile walks then.. and 98 would have made me stay in
for sure. Glad you can get to the mall at least.

The throat is a bit of a nuisance. I had been avoiding even Tylenol
until now, but difficulties in eating, drinking and sleeping made me
reconsider. It feels like having an open sore in my throat. Ugh!



Happy, serene days to all of you moms and moms-to-be, especially the
September ones!


Same to you, Tiina! Thanks for sharing your update. We are getting the point
where we will soon be seeing September mom birth stories. That is thrilling
to me!


Oh, yes! And I see I'm almost the only September mom who does not know
the gender of her child, which I kind of like. I like the element of
surprise!


Tiina
SAHM to Emilia,4
EDD Sept.15





--
Em
edd 9/23/03
(35 weeks today!)

Linz wrote:
"Tiina Kartovaara" wrote in message
...


I hear that! I have slept fine until now, in spite of occasionally
having to wake up and pee, but this sore throat is a nuisance. I didn't
want to take even Tylenol at first (Panadol here in Finland) but the
pain was interfering with my eating, drinking and sleeping, so I guess
Tylenol is the lesser evil.


Can you get TCP in Finland? It's an acquired taste but it really is good for
gargling if you have a sore throat, and it helps gingivitis too. Don't
swallow it, though, it's not a drink!



Hm, I'll have to ask. I don't know about TCP specifically, but I'm sure
there's something like that available. Thanks!

Tiina

"Tiina Kartovaara" wrote in message
Em wrote:
I had to do a little bit of a double take when I saw your message
subject--thinking, "I *know* she has an earlier due date than me, how
can we
both suddenly be 35 weeks?" I am so insecure that I had to check the
calendar because I was suddenly thinking maybe I wasn't really 35 weeks
after all! Then, I opened your message and understood :-) I knew the
identity was you though because of the double i. Btw, on a side note,
how do
you pronounce your first name?

Actually, it is pronounced much as you would pronounce "Tina" with one
'i'. When a Finnish person says it, the 't' sound is a bit different,
but the vowel is still a long 'ee'.

I always have mentally pronounced it like one-i Tina, but I have wondered if
there was an extra sound to it that I was missing in my head.

That's funny about the due date. I hope the calendar convinced you that
you *are* 35+1 today? See, even I knew that. ;-) Although I am
increasingly addled about several other things..

Yep. The calendar was my friend :-)

Do they check your hemoglobin often? I only had mine checked at 7 weeks
and
then again at 27 weeks.


I think the standard at the clinic is three times altogether, and they
may have done those already, but I asked for this one because I had been
feeling more tired than usual. In view of the result, I think that was
due to the throat bug.

Ah ha. That makes sense.

Doesn't fundal height measuring get less accurate after 30 weeks? I
forget.
I know it still has relevance, but I seem to remember reading that it
becomes +/- a few centimeters after the 30 week mark or so. Mine was
just
about 34 at my last appointment. Up until recently it was also right on
target for weeks, but the last three appointments or so, it has been
about a
centimeter below.

Yes, that's what I've heard - the baby shifts and the shape of your
belly changes. Yet I've heard of some doctors making a big deal out of
it and sending people to have ultrasounds because they measure a bit on
the small side. Go figure.

I have heard many similar stories. I have also heard that it matters more
that there is change, not that it is spot on with the number of weeks (and
later in pregnancy it doesn't matter so much that it even changes, because
the baby dropping, etc. has an impact on the measurement).

The throat is a bit of a nuisance. I had been avoiding even Tylenol
until now, but difficulties in eating, drinking and sleeping made me
reconsider. It feels like having an open sore in my throat. Ugh!

Ew! That description makes me cringe just thinking about how it must feel.
Must be awful to actually have it!

Same to you, Tiina! Thanks for sharing your update. We are getting the
point
where we will soon be seeing September mom birth stories. That is
thrilling
to me!

Oh, yes! And I see I'm almost the only September mom who does not know
the gender of her child, which I kind of like. I like the element of
surprise!

That will be fun to "reveal." I'm looking forward to hearing about what all
of the different births are like--hopefully all good and empowering and
fulfilling with happy endings!

--
Em
edd 9/23/03
(35 weeks)

"Linz" wrote in message

Can you get TCP in Finland? It's an acquired taste but it really is good
for
gargling if you have a sore throat, and it helps gingivitis too. Don't
swallow it, though, it's not a drink!

I had some friends from Brighton, England visit once and as a treat we made
them root beer floats. They were practically gagging when they tasted them
and were utterly revolted saying "this tastes like TCP!" We had never heard
of TCP and thought our floats were yummy as can be! Later, we gave them
wintergreen lifesavers without thinking and they gave us the most betrayed
looks, spit them out, and said "TCP!" I think they thought we were torturing
them on purpose.

Anyway, I've never had TCP, so I don't know anything about it. Does anyone
here have experience with both and know if it really does taste like root
beer or wintergreen? I don't feel like root beer is an acquired taste,
though maybe it is! (I only like it when it is in a root beer float, but
that is because I don't like any carbonated drinks really).

--
Em
edd 9/23/03