I got this book before the second child was born, just to get her thinking about babies and what they do. We loved that book for a lot of years, even when the baby-to-be was a little kid.
I also got her a little cloth diaper kit for a doll, and I got her a little front-pack baby carrier, but child-sized, something like these. They were both so cute and she had a lot of fun playing with dollies and stuffies with those items, even long after it wasn’t baby-prep time.
One other thing I did is I called her little brother “our baby.” I had noticed that a lot of the Mexcian families I grew up around would call the baby “your baby” to the older kid. It seemed clever but I also wasn’t sure how much pressure I wanted to put on my sensitive toddler, so I decided on “our baby” as a way to make her feel more a part of it all.
She was a really great big sister. I don’t know if those things helped or if that’s just her personality, but it was all fun anyway.
I have noticed this amongst Duckling and his classmates, they all talked about “their” babies. I don’t remember talking about my siblings like that, but he really feels quite strongly but not too much about his role as big brother, eldest sibling. We had baby give him a gift from her before bringing her home, but not sure he needed it.
Hi friends who live in my phone, do you have any advice for managing cold symptoms/maybe COVID symptoms (I had an exposure I am too mad about to explain)? The good news is I’m already isolating, resting, and drinking liquids, pregnancy is beautiful. Today is 12 weeks, if that makes a difference.
Sorry you’re sick. Sounds like you have a good plan already. In addition to soup, vitamin C, zinc, kefir, kombucha, and elderberry all helped me. Saline spray or saline rinse for congestion, plus hot steamy showers, is handy, effective, and safe. If your symptoms get REALLY bad there is no shame in taking some meds so your body can recover sooner - check with your OB/midwives, mine gave me a printout of safe OTC meds.
Ugh, sorry to hear about your possible exposure and sickness. Bracken Joy is the best for this, but her most helpful info to me has been to search for meds that treat one symptom. It’s the combo meds that typically have to be avoided in pregnancy (insert disclaimer about checking with your own medical staff for specific info here).
One big thing to be aware of with Covid and pregnancy is just to know that, pregnant people decompensate way faster. (In medicine basically, compensation is all the tricky ways our body keeps our gasses, acid/base balance of our blood, etc balanced in our body. Vulnerable groups are vulnerable partially because they can go from fine seeming to very, very ill extremely rapidly as those compensation mechanisms fail. That’s called “decompensation”.) so that’s to say, have you and wife aware that you should be very conservative with your “seek extra help” line in the sand. Set it much sooner than you would be inclined to in a non pregnant state. If you have a pulse ox, pull it out and familiarize yourself with it. Learn the more subtle signs cyanosis can take, like a light blue tinge to the lips. If you just persistently feel like you get winded while talking or can’t catch your breath, don’t ignore that. And finally, I THINK it’s still advised (check with your care team) to be more aggressive managing fever in pregnancy than otherwise, but I haven’t actually checked that in a few years. It could help to ask them if they have a treatment target for fever, and what meds they prefer you use to achieve it.
So much depends on symptoms. My Covid last year was super phlegm heavy, and I leaned hard on mucinex- again, check with your team but it’s a “likely safe” type med so it could be one to have in your arsenal. I recommend typing out a “yes list” of meds so both very-tired you and very-stressed wife can consult one spot and not second guess. Similarly, it helps to keep a med log to make sure you’re not double dosing yourself on accident.
Oh! Final follow up. Ask if they want you on baby aspirin if you’re not already. Some OBs suggest this to try to mitigate the coagulation risks with Covid and the placenta.
I hope you feel better soon! +1 sinus rinsing. There are a lot of meds you can take and others you can take if you’re really sick.
I don’t know if you are coughing but if you do, I recommend an aggressive tea-and-honey approach. The honey really helps but you have to drink it like all day long.
One thing to watch for is that the books and tools help you prep the sibling for a newborn baby. My kid is frustrated and confused that the baby changes and grows. We are working through that now, and getting him excited about things… but he would rather have a newborn than a 10 month old
Lately I’m feeling like my overall okay pregnancy is really fuckin hard. The pelvic pain has eased. But I’m just persistently either in some kind of pain or exhausted. I’m trying to math out exactly how I’m going to get my hours in at work this week without using vacation time. We’re back in credit card debt again because of all the spending on pelvic floor therapy and takeout. I’m just tired.
Kid 2 pinched Kid 1 yesterday in what is definitely the first bit of aggression that has happened between them. Kid 1 was shocked and horrified, “She did it on PURPOSE!” A sad welcome to the world.
And depending on your kids personalities, the older may be more aggressive or the younger may be. Pumpkin has pinched and bit her older brother and us several times when frustrated or angry, yanked toys, thrown things at us in play or very occasionally anger (pinching and biting much more likely). Its harder when the older one is physically aggressive because the smaller one tends to be a bit more delicate.
All this, excellent advice. I rolled with honey on everything and in everything and had nurses insisting I manage my fever as soon as I showed symptoms (thank goodness they did because I was otherwise too unwell to have twigged it was also causing a massive headache). I hope you can get some really helpful pointers on which meds to take from your care team!
Just wanted to give you all a nice update. Feeling better, still testing COVID negative and masking around people, and have normal mild cold symptoms. Thanks for all the advice and nice thoughts. I feel more prepared for whatever viral stuff is ahead.
And, got to hear baby’s heartbeat for the first time today! I’ve seen it flicker on the ultrasound but haven’t heard it. I went in for a check because I accidentally slammed my abdomen into the kitchen counter, as one does, but all seems fine, a happy ending.
Hey did you know tight clothes can make nausea worse? Yeah so did I. Did it still take me MULTIPLE WEEKS to understand this applied to me and my workout clothes? yes.
I am dumb. That is all. Also I desperately need a new sports bra.
yes.