Chaz Moms and Moms-to-Be Chat (everyone welcome)

Taqroy, that's a great birth story. I loveeeee her name!

Thanks for sharing, Taq!

So, I had a midwife's appointment Tuesday. The midwife said a few things that made me not entirely thrilled.

1. The baby (or my uterus, from the outside) measured a little small. It measured 29 cm and I'm 31 weeks. I'm not very concerned about that, because I'm pretty sure that's not totally accurate, every other measurement has been on-track, the midwife didn't seem to think it mattered at all because I had gained 3 lbs since last week. BUT:

2. She said I'm dehydrated because my urine showed ketones in it. She asked if I had any cramping/pain, and I said very mild on and off, and she said it was dehydration and my urine actually showed high ketones which meant I was dehydrated. I told her I was drinking close to 2 liters a day, and she said that should be enough but double it. I CAN'T drink 4 liters of water a day. 3, maybe, if I push myself.

Anyway, I came home and googled it and it says ketones are usually a result of diabetes or starvation or malnutrition? And nothing about dehydration? But my glucose test came back fine and the dr didn't seem concerned? She did ask me if I was eating (which I am), but I don't know. Except the really mild cramps occasionally, I feel perfectly fine.

I'm just hoping the next appointment goes better.

Consider yourself lucky. My doc wants me to drink 8 liters a day.

If you can stomach mixing a little apple cider vinegar (like a tablespoon per 8-16 oz., and the real stuff with the "mother" in it not that apple flavored crap heinz makes) that goes a long way toward helping the water actually rehydrate you. It's full of potassium, electrolytes, probiotics, etc. You can turn it into a good energy drink by adding a little honey.

Sounds like it might be gross, but for me at that dilution it just makes the water pleasantly tangy. For some reason it really helped my nausea the last time I was pregnant too.

Romy, I actually do that pretty frequently and actually like the taste...I only put like a tablespoon or two in, though.

Barbara, is there a reason for that?!? I feel like that's nearly enough to cause problems on its own!

MM the fundal height measurements are super inaccurate. They also don't really have a purpose as far as I can tell.

I thought ketones were also an indicator of protein and such too? As a possible indicator of pre eclampsia?

It seems testing for ketones has a lot of purposes. My Bp is normal (finally) and no swelling or anything, so preeclampsia didn't seem to be a concern? I guess unless it's paired with other symptoms, high ketones is looked at as dehydration or poor diet. I decided unless I start to feel poorly I'm not going to worry about it. The midwife certainly wasn't worrying...

Oh yeah this too! They used my fundal height to guess that my kids would be in the 6.5-7.5 lb range. Riiiight. They were 9 and 9.5. :rofl1:

This. All it takes is you sucking your stomach in or pushing it out or being at a strange angle to throw it off a couple inches. Don't let an off fundal height frighten you.

As far as the water, crystal light is amazing. My doctor is probably overboard, but I know the extra hydration is supposed to keep you from cramping too much. Dehydration can actually trigger early labor contractions, or so my doctor says. He may have just been trying to scare me into drinking more water, lol.

Crystal Light has a lot of icky stuff in it...I would avoid or use in a very moderated way, especially during pregnancy.

Yes, fundal height, like due dates, are estimates They are a ballpark not meant to be exact. Using just fundal height and feel, we though Cian was HUGE, like 10lbs plus and going to come a bit early....nope, 10 days "late" (and I know the day I got pregnant) and 7lbs 3 oz.

My mom just bought me crystal light because I was complaining about how boring water is, and I don't want to tell her I won't drink it because of aspartame (which I don't drink/eat even not-pregnant). I've been making a lot of iced herbal teas

I didn't know they use fundal height to guess weight. That seems...stupid. Lol. Although I had a lot of ultrasounds so no one needed to guess. And yeah MM you need the whole shebang for pre e as far as I know. I'm glad your BP is better!!

ETA : ultrasound measurements are a guess too. But I assume they're more accurate than fundal.

B-b-but...

Crystal Light is delicious.

I should clarify...fundal height was measuring ahead but since we knew my date the assumption was bigger baby.

Ultrasounds are pretty random too for size lol. Sadly though they often are considered as truth:/ Several people I know of were talked into section or early inductions because of ultrasound measurements of huge babies.....and baby came out small and early

Two weeks until the eviction notice is posted.

On ultrasound and my fundal height said my babies would both only be 5lbs. They were 8


you look amazing! So close to the end.

Ah, that makes more sense! My fundal height measured two weeks ahead at every appointment but no one really seemed to care. Probably because the ultrasounds were measuring right on. I wonder how much of the ultrasound/induction link is caused by older ultrasound machines? All my measurements were taken with a fancy shmancy high tech one and they were right on - she was exactly the weight she should have been according to the last scan.

I'd shoot for three - 37 is just barely out of preemie status and you run into a lot of sleepy baby issues (not life threatening, just annoying). We had to wake Falon up every two - three hours to eat for the first two weeks and I'm having to pump so we can bottlefeed cause she was too sleepy to latch properly.

Hey Jen, how is baby wearing going? Have you tried wraps yet? I've got a Pikkolo (that I adore) and a ring sling that I like (but not as much as the Pikkolo).

So guess who's blood pressure dropped to stupid low AGAIN today?

It's been normal since I was like...24 weeks? In the 90s/100s over 60s/70s. At my last appointment it was 120/70. Today, I started feeling super, super dizzy and sleepy. Took my BP...80/62. WTF? I'm so annoyed, I'm supposed to be getting the house baby-ready today

I'm not sure if she will stay put for three since she's already lodged her head in my pelvis but it would appear that I'm not the one in control anyways... I have a week and a half left of work to get through and I'm hoping that she stays baking for at least that long!

You never really know. I was 3-4cms dilated with Briggs for WEEKS before I had him. His head was engaged and it was torture. He was born at 39+5. Then Blake was no dilation or dropping. Then BAM. Flew out at 39 weeks with no warning.