NH Homesteader's journal

[NH Homesteader]

I am very much looking forward to having a pig appear wrapped! We're even going to pay to have the bacon and one ham smoked. We still have to go get the smoker someone gave DH, so we'll have some in the meantime.

I feel like I got run over by a truck, lol. Just existing is getting tiring. I cruised pretty good until last week or so and now I'm all done. My sciatica is getting bad, I'm exhausted and winded by things that never used to phase me! I'll be 34 weeks on Tuesday, so only 2 weeks from when I'll be allowed to deliver at my local little hospital. (They don't have a NICU so their cutoff is 36 weeks.) so I think January 2nd is the date I'm watching, anytime after that is good. I kind of have alternating good and bad days... I get a fair amount done on good days. I keep my couch company on bad days!

DH will be home from the mountain in about an hour. They ran out of water to make snow. He won't have to work there until... My guess is Wednesday because the pond won't refill by tomorrow and Tuesday is going to be quite warm. So hopefully we can get the turkeys winterized, which will take maybe an hour, and then it's just getting a date for the pig and we're good for winter. I have 4 goats in need of hoof trimmings so we'll start getting to them this week too. It'll be much easier in the barn!!!

 

[sumi]

Almost there You've been doing great until now, but try and make as much time for resting in-between farm too. If you can, sit, if you can, lie down for a few minutes. Hopefully DH will be able to have some time off, so you can get the last of the urgent projects completed and out of the way.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Oh I get to sit down a lot during the day now (lying down doesn't happen though!), we have everyone set up pretty well so I just have to do chores twice a day. I clean in spurts and then go sit down, lol. Hoping we can get the turkeys set up tomorrow, and I'm going to ask DH to call his friend when he gets home about the pigs. If the friend doesn't call in the next few days I'll do it myself and we'll just bring ours in with or without him!

 

[treerooted]

Sounds like things are coming together, that's great Winter prep is always a bit of an ordeal

Because of the gestational diabetes they won't let me sister go past 38.5 weeks, so there going to start inducing by sweeps week 37, which I think is near the end of January. Do you have any similar restrictions?
Rest up mama, it's your body telling you to save your strength

 

[NH Homesteader]

No I don't. The nurse had told me that originally but the midwife corrected her. They only induce for people who need insulin. It's unlikely that I will need medication since I've had a pretty easy time regulating with diet thus far!

I have a list of things I want to eat when baby gets here, you know in moderation of course! Lol!!

How is your sister doing?

 

[treerooted]

Haha I bet!

And that's great, it's no fun having interventions into your pregnancy.

She's doing well (considering). Says she has to prick her finger like 40+ times a day

. Her daytime numbers are fine but her morning ones kept spiking so she had to keep upping the insulin (which you don't want!) But she said she's had good numbers for 4 days (then a spike), then good numbers again, so hopefully she's at the right level now.
She was very upset by the news, but goes into management mode immediately and tackles the issue right away. She's your very typical type A personality. But of course she's worried about the birth. They'll have to be in the hospital for a while to monitor the baby to ensure the pancreas kicks in and is in good working order.

All complications with pregnancy are just scary. She had issues with meconium for her first two, the second being more serious and requiring a hospital stay and monitoring as well.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Yikes and I thought checking my sugar after every meal was annoying! I'm at 2 a day now, which isn't even a bother. Hopefully all settles down and goes well for her. It's about the most stressful thing to deal with, having pregnancy complications. I've been really fortunate so far that mine have been minor complications.

I had placenta previa with my first but resolved itself, she was born at 36.5 weeks and had jaundice so she had to go under the lights. That sucked. Not a huge deal but stressful. And they're worried about me going early this time so I'm anxiously counting down to 36 weeks!

 

[treerooted]

Oh ya, I think she has placenta previa as well. She also had that with her first two but it resolved itself as well.
She had to have a C-section with her first but was able to have a vbac afterwards. She's really like to avoid another c-section if possible.

So glad your complications are minor. I don't hear of too many "perfect" pregnancies, but most issues are just things to be aware of that don't end up leading to anything.

Ah, so exciting and nerve racking! I also think that making a new life is the most amazing thing; the fact that it's the most common thing doesn't make it any less incredible.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Woo hoo! Turkeys are set! Other than tomorrow we'll have to throw a few bales of mulch hay in there to insulate a little. They're right next to the chickens now so easier feeding

Now just gotta get on that butcher date.... And a few minor things, but I don't count them because they're not winter prep things, they're just normal farm chore things

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Awesome - YaY! Nice to have them close together too.