JThimm88

I had to go in for some spotting at the end of 19 weeks, so I technically found out then. However, the ultrasound tech. double checked (though she said she had only been wrong 3 times in the 5 years she'd been doing her job) 4 days later at my official 20 week appointment... baby's gender hadn't changed, we still wound up with a girl. :)

My husband and I welcomed our little girl, Ava, into the family on Monday, and we already love being parents. :) And if anyone remembers my thread about whether or not to get an epidural, I decided to get one and it made the experience a little bit easier, so I'm definitely glad I went that route though I know it's not everyone's preferred choice. Hope everything's well with everyone on the forums this evening!

Hey Dravin, what's open admissions? Never heard of that before. Anyone can get in, basically?

I've never seen anyone grab the pulpit during a prayer considering my own hands are folded, eyes closed... but... it wouldn't really bug me if they were. It's not about the manner of their stance so much as it is the prayer coming from their heart and out of their mouth, in my opinion.

I'm a housewife just baking a baby away for another 2 and a half weeks. :)

Geez, not only are you guys going to scare Bini, but you're going to scare me. I'm due in 3 weeks and I hope, hope, hope my little girl doesn't have huge shoulders! Doc. said she isn't going to be a 10 pounder or anything (figures, I'm pretty petite at 5'2", 98 pounds pre-pregnancy), but as mentioned above, it totally doesn't matter even how much the baby weighs or the size of their head. Anyway, congrats Bini! It's going to be such an exciting time for you and your husband. :) I hope it goes smoothly for you!

Fun! Doing baptisms is awesome! I miss doing them -- we just don't do them now that my hubby and I are married, lol, and we leave it to the youth of the Church. We enjoy doing sealings, but doing baptisms in the temple is just the first step! Congrats!

I'm curious, what is the Church's current stance on this subject, if they even have one? Or is this idea still up for speculation either way in general? I've seen members write about it numerous times, heard members talk about it as well, but it I'm curious if the First Presidency were asked about this subject, what they might say.

There's a chocolate made specifically for dipping fruits in that they usually have at grocery stores (my mom can pick it up in Wisconsin, while I can pick it up here in Idaho, so it seems it's pretty popular). It's called Dolci Frutta. My mom's used it numerous times to dip apples, pineapples, strawberries, even grapes... potato chips, too (sooo good), and it's worked amazingly. :)

Here is a fabric description page from the Church's online store. This might help you get a more detailed idea of the fabric types. I'd recommend reading through them -- they mention what's available in what fabric as some are mens/womens only. Note: when you go to the distribution center to buy yours, they always have fabric samples on hand for you to take a look at. I have tried the following fabrics: cotton-poly, drisilque, carinessa, and nylon mesh. Of those 4, my favorite fabrics are the cotton-poly and carinessa. However, as I needed the very smallest sizes they had on hand (which still ended up being huge in comparison to what's available online or here out west, and how they really should fit), I was only able to get cotton-poly and drisilque, and the latter I wasn't very happy with personally. Speaking of sizing, there are also sizing charts online, and the sisters at the distribution centers always have recommendations. Unfortunately while you can't try on garments before buying them and somewhat have to guess at your sizing initially, you can go to a back room with one of the sisters and have her show you a top or bottom and hold it up against you if that'll help with scaling it. And if you end up with something you don't like, you can always return garments that you haven't opened at all.

Well, after going back to the distribution center yesterday afternoon and getting the correct size, I can say this: It clings nicely. Normally I wear my bra over to keep my garment top in place, but with this one you can (and I am) wear your bra under the top and nothing budges. It definitely stays put and my outer shirt hasn't moved either. Another plus is the symbols don't seem to show through my shirt like I thought they would as they are embroidered (I know we're all wishing they'd silk screen them on, lol). Oh, and I'd imagine that if you wore your bra over, it MIGHT slip around similarly the way that it does if you wear a bra over drisilque tops. Just for anyone else who comes across this. What's nice in my opinion is because the garment top stays in place, it takes away the need to wear a tank top which I've always done because it seemed to smooth out my garments a bit better and things just didn't look as lumpy under my clothes. Now things definitely *don't* look lumpy under my clothes.

Definitely new. I checked the store's site yesterday afternoon and it was nowhere to be found, but later yesterday night, it was there. Not going to lie, I was so excited that I had to call my husband over to show him. We ended up going to our distribution center in Rexburg this morning and they are heavily stocked of the carinessa tops now. I bought 2 tops; unfortunately they're the wrong size so I have to exchange the one I didn't open -- the sister recommended that I get a tall medium because I'm pregnant and have a month to go (but I am very, very tiny pregnant lady), when pre-pregnancy I'm a regular x-small or small, so I'm thinking a tall small would have been better ... but anyway, I digress. I do have the tall medium on right now that I already opened and it's interesting. The bottom hem on the top is identical to the hem found on the bottoms, so it doesn't roll like it typically would had this been a cotton or drisilque top, which I love because I am not a fan of tucking in my tops into my bottoms, I personally like to overlap them. It barely feels like I'm wearing the top, it's pretty lightweight and smooth. Very comfortable. And like the bottoms, it is a little bit more form fitting all around. The shoulders on the one I'm currently wearing are a little big, but I imagine when I get around to getting the proper size that the shoulders and the sleeves will actually stay in place. For whatever reason, my cotton tops tend to roll and bunch up under my shirts, but I'm crossing my fingers that isn't the case with the carinessa top. My husband's kind of jealous because there isn't a top for the men that matches whatever fabric is most similar to our carinessa in their mens bottoms, lol. (I think it's corban for the men...???) Anyway, have to say I am generally pleased with them and am definitely planning on buying more of the tops and bottoms to go together.

The top is available online under chemise tops. :)

The gospel is #1 in my life. I love my husband especially because he reinforces the gospel in our home and in our lives. I already love my unborn daughter ... I'll FINALLY be meeting her in a month!

I came across this on an LDS member's blog -- the author was taking a poll on everyones favorite fabrics for garments when someone left this comment (this was posted on Dec. 16, 2010): "A Carinessa II garment top will be out in the next couple months. I’ve had a sample for about 6 months. It still has a decorative neck trim. I campaigned hard for a plain neckline binding like the 100 % cotton chemise but there were manufacturing and quality requirements that went into that decision. The new top fits tightly and has two front and back side seams with a gusset under the arm so the sleeves don’t have all the extra fabric the cotton chemise have. The sleeve fits tightly too but is longer than i would like. It still has sewn marks; the Brethren have nixed the silk-screening for non-military garments. Keep writing and asking for it. Write the RS. The Brethren–Presiding Bishopric–said there should be no writing on the garment." Not sure how it'll fit, but if this really is true and it's being manufactured, I'll be interested in trying it out.

It's almost like a biker-short material, at least that's what comes to my mind. Really smooth and stretchy; SUPER comfy too.

Rumor has it there is a garment top coming out sometime this year made out of carinessa fabric, the same as the bottoms. Anyone else heard anything about this? It'd be kind of nice if it were true -- I love the bottoms and also prefer that my tops match my bottoms, lol. Obviously they don't given the selections we currently have, which is fine really; I'm probably just nit picky.

Realistically, I WANT to have a natural birth, but I feel kind of in a rut because when I first found out I was pregnant, my automatic response to the grand finale was, "I am DEFINITELY getting an epidural." It wasn't until last week (where I was already 34 weeks!) that I even considered having a natural birth, and now I'm starting to favor it, but I don't know any pain management techniques for doing so. Does pain management come naturally when you are doing a natural birth? I'm assuming that some women just do what they need to do in order to find SOME (I'm guessing not very much though, lol) relief when in labor, but are there any secrets to keeping pain somewhat under control during a natural birth that anyone would care to share? I mean, hey, if I have to get an epidural based on doctor recommendation for whatever reason, then I'll do it, but I'm starting to feel as though us women really are equipped to have children without pain medications/numbing body parts/etc. (which is something that I honestly hadn't thought of after having "epidural, epidural, epidural" etched into my brain by the majority of people I've talked to, whether it be family, doctors, recent mothers and so forth) ...After all, Heavenly Father created us knowing what He was doing, and He also knows what us women are capable of, in general and individually. Soooo, with that in mind, I suppose I'm going to go into the day (which is only 5 weeks away now, yikes!) with natural birthing on the mind, but I most certainly am going to keep my mind and my options open to whatever brings itself around!

Loved reading your history. :) Also, my husband and I play D&D on Friday nights with a few other couples. I always thought it seemed nerdy until we got married, now I'm realizing it's actually kind of fun -- just takes a good imagination!

I just know that had that been the way the Church was introduced to me and I converted under those pretenses, if I found out that was what happened, I'd leave as I would have felt it was deceptive. I wouldn't want to have any part in a church that pretended to be something it wasn't, I guess.

I understand the reason for the use of brother and sister, but my question was more directed at what follows ... last name or first name. :)

For some time now my husband and I have been discussing whether or not to get an epidural. Well, mostly he's just been listening to be debate back and forth with myself, lol, as it doesn't really affect him. I'm wondering if any women out there 1) decided to go with an epidural and why, or 2) decided not to get one, why you chose not to, and what method of pain management you chose instead. A friend of mine mentioned the Bradley method, but that's generally learned within a 12 week course (at least here it is), and I'm due in 5 and a half weeks, so that's out of the question it seems. I just don't really know what other options are out there yet (we're discussing some of them in my birthing class next week, but I get the feeling it isn't going to be as informative as I'm looking for unfortunately). Thanks!

Are you thinking of getting in contact with your local ward? I know this always seems like the typical response, but if you are starting to attend church again, you could always speak with your bishop. They seem to know how to handle these situations and are there to give you help and guidance. :) As for the marijuana, the Church does have an addiction recovery program. I've heard wonderful things about it, so that might be something to look into. They have local support groups, so that would help in regards to getting in contact with people who are struggling as you are. When it comes to forgiveness, pray, pray, and then pray some more. Heavenly Father will give you the peace that you seek, one way or another. It might not be instantaneous and happen in the blink of an eye (well, heck, it never really is, it seems), but if you are truly seeking out forgiveness, truly seeking out help, it will be given. Just know that nobody is perfect. We all face trials in our lives, so try not to be too hard on yourself. Just keep pushing along and working at making your life better for yourself and for your daughter and remember there is a light at the end of the tunnel if you're willing to try and reach for it.

I'm not a huge fan of pills, but I know I don't eat enough calcium-rich foods, so I do take a supplement in pill form. If you don't mind pills, you could always ask your doctor if he/she recommends one and try it.

As did my husband. Any chance your brother served in Sao Paolo, Brasil?