|
Yeah we have this ice machine at work that makes a very loud noise when it turns on and my entire belly jumps like it's trying to make a run for it every time. I feel a little bad for traumatizing my unborn child, but it's also adorable  We have avoided breech no2 due to proper baby orientation (tm) so now we're on spontaneous labor watch. I'm trying for a VBAC (technically a TOLAC - trial of labor after cesarean) so that I don't have a 4-year-old jumping on my fresh surgical incision, so I'm trying to do everything I can to go into labor spontaneously before I get induced at 40+5. My odds of bad poo poo happening triple with an induction, but don't necessarily preclude the birth experience I want (low intervention if at all possible, everyone leaves the hospital alive and relatively intact). I'm trying to stay relaxed and not obsess, but that's not really the kind of person I am. It's still weird considering a vaginal delivery like it's something that could happen to me (I had a scheduled C-section following a failed ECV from breech, and I've never been in labor at all). The first time around I felt so cheated of a "normal" experience, especially because I was in a prenatal group where everyone else had a traditional birth experience. It's like being told you're doing a triathlon, but then last minute you're told that you and only you are doing a marathon instead. It's still a big deal, but somehow you feel disenfranchised when it's time to check out bicycles and pick out your swimwear, especially when you all go as a group. Now I'm being told to just pick up my swimsuit and dive right in like everything is normal, and I don't know if I can do it. Pregnancy in general has been very similar for me because I am NB and so much of this entire experience is aggressively gendered. It's incredibly isolating. I'm looking forward to just having a newborn, because the baby won't care about any of this poo poo, she just wants me to feed her and keep her clean and warm. I'm hoping focusing on the finish line will get us there as intact as possible.
|
#
?
Jul 4, 2023 17:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 02:48 |
|
|
So my little tadpole is onto night 3 of a stay at the children's hospital. Little munchkin hasn't been feeding well despite plenty of supply, and also had a high respiratory rate. I'm reasonably convinced he's got a dreadful case of "Brand New Baby" (TM) and this is all precautionary, but obviously we're sticking around to make sure he's okay. I swapped out with my husband tonight so I can actually get some sleep. Still had to wake at 4am to pump, but oh well. Despite being an anxious wreck most of the time, I'm a lot more relaxed about this than I thought I'd be. Going to hospital emergency, being ushered through immediately to a resuscitation bay was a bit scary, but even that wasn't too bad (especially because he perked up as soon as he was under a heat lamp - it's winter here and I think he got a bit cold while transferring him from the car to inside the hospital). Fingers crossed we all get to go home tomorrow!
|
|
#
?
Jul 6, 2023 21:49
|
|
|
froglet posted:Fingers crossed we all get to go home tomorrow! 
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2023 09:37
|
|
|
The one exact night where we don't have anyone available to take the toddler is the night #2 decides to start the whole birthing process. So I'm in the waiting room with a confused 3 year old who is trying to both fall asleep and stay awake at the same time  Edit: as I was posting this a nurse finishing her shift saw us and brought us a blanket 
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2023 09:42
|
|
|
I had a fantastic night's sleep, and our little guy was allowed home, hurray! I'm now playing Zelda and waiting for him to wake up so I can feed him. Tom Smykowski posted:The one exact night where we don't have anyone available to take the toddler is the night #2 decides to start the whole birthing process. Oof, hope it all goes (or went?) well!
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2023 13:04
|
|
|
Everything went smoothly minus the lil meconium dance where they needed to clear the kids airways out a bit. But everyone is healthy and happy and very tired
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2023 02:24
|
|
|
Tom Smykowski posted:Everything went smoothly minus the lil meconium dance where they needed to clear the kids airways out a bit. But everyone is healthy and happy and very tired Good to hear it (mostly) went well! Meanwhile, I'm two weeks in with our little tadpole. Sometimes I feel like I've bathed in milk, and not in the cool "medieval witch queen" kind of way. Things I've learnt thus far: pumping = aggravating, pumping bras = rad, newborn photography = surprisingly time consuming.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2023 17:08
|
|
|
froglet posted:Meanwhile, I'm two weeks in with our little tadpole. Sometimes I feel like I've bathed in milk, and not in the cool "medieval witch queen" kind of way. I referred to this as my ‘milk goblin’ phase.
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2023 19:11
|
|
|
This just popped into my head, but after birth, and before you leave the hospital, make sure you get a piece of paper with these two numbers on it: 24 hour nurse hotline pediatrician's office And then call both of them to make sure they work as expected. I think in general every hospital has a nurse hotline you can call, if you can get a human on the phone at the hospital, then they can transfer you to the correct line/person, but the first time your kid gets sick at 3am and you/your wife is panicky it's nice to have the number taped to the fridge ready to go Chances are, they will tell you to dose tylenol and wait an hour, but it's really nice in those first three sleep deprived weeks to hear from an authority that you probably don't need to go to the ER
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2023 19:18
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:This just popped into my head, but after birth, and before you leave the hospital, make sure you get a piece of paper with these two numbers on it: Great advice! fyallm fucked around with this message at 08:20 on Jul 15, 2023 |
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2023 07:49
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:This just popped into my head, but after birth, and before you leave the hospital, make sure you get a piece of paper with these two numbers on it: Great advice! I've been feeling unusually exhausted today despite Mr Froglet taking on our little tadpole overnight then running point with him for a lot of today and... I am pretty sure I am coming down with a cold.  This is going to suuuuck!  Gosh I hope Tadpole hasn't caught it 
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2023 16:33
|
|
|
Anyone else agonizing over whether to have another kid? It would be our third. I am so, so torn. I feel like I would absolutely want a third if we had endless money. Alas, we do not, and I don’t know how to make this wrenching decision. (Also we have two boys and desperately want a girl, so that’s for sure part of it, but if we decide to try for a third obviously I will have to be okay with the possibility of ending up with three boys.) Apologies if this isn’t appropriate for this thread, for some reason it feels like it belongs here more than the parenting thread.
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2023 22:03
|
|
|
Ultimately it's a very personal kinda decision, but I will say that a coworker had two boys, tried for a third to have a girl, and had twin boys instead
|
|
#
?
Jul 15, 2023 23:44
|
|
|
I feel you. I go back and forth as to whether or not we could/should have another child. It’s a tough decision!
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2023 00:05
|
|
|
We have two and I kinda want a third before I or they get much older. My husband isn’t as excited about the idea so we’re at an impasse. I don’t want the eldest and youngest more than 10 years apart either so uh clock’s ticking.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2023 00:50
|
|
|
I am so done at 2. I watched a funny video a couple of months ago that echoes my thoughts exactly. ‘When I had one, I wanted two, when I had two, I wanted one’. I’m 38 in October and I just don’t feel like going through all the sleepless nights again when I’m pushing 40, plus the whole higher risk thing for the pregnancy and birth. Neither of my deliveries were straightforward and I don’t fancy more risk with my little lovelies at home. Barely holding it together with 2, though I love them to bits.
|
|
#
?
Jul 16, 2023 14:21
|
|
|
I haven’t even had my first (20 weeks at 40 years old) and have started thinking about a second. I think it’s pregnancy brain.
|
|
#
?
Jul 20, 2023 13:17
|
|
|
Geez, what is up with this kid... I knew he'd eat more as time went on, but we've very suddenly gone from me being able to produce enough for him with a bit extra to freeze to me not being able to keep up with demand. D: Guess I'll need to prepare some bottles of formula tonight...
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2023 14:15
|
|
|
From everything I’ve read, if you push through the fussy/hungry/growth spurt days your supply will catch up, and adding in formula removes that hunger signal which can make it take longer for your supply to normalize. There have been many days where I don’t feel like I have enough but within 2 days it always gets better and she’s gained appropriately, so I’m sure it will for you too! Those days can be really rough though. On the other hand, my 6 month old has been refusing a bottle since 3 months (after we took a bottle break of a couple of weeks because we got lazy) and I think maybe if we had kept doing a bottle a day we wouldn’t be in this mess! So no wrong answers, just go with what feels best!
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2023 14:47
|
|
|
zebra_shades posted:From everything I’ve read, if you push through the fussy/hungry/growth spurt days your supply will catch up, and adding in formula removes that hunger signal which can make it take longer for your supply to normalize. There have been many days where I don’t feel like I have enough but within 2 days it always gets better and she’s gained appropriately, so I’m sure it will for you too! Those days can be really rough though. Oh yeah, the thing that's added difficulty is that I'm primarily pumping, coz kiddo sucks at breastfeeding (and sadly he does not suck in a way that means he gets a good feed). So I'm driving myself mad having to pump, store the milk, wash the equipment, pour out bottles, etc, etc, and this is on top of sometimes offering him the boob to try and get him to breastfeed more so I don't have to pump as much. Looking at the supply in the fridge, it's not as bad as I thought, but oof, I am making up some formula as a backup for tonight. Meanwhile, kiddo has taken to sleeping with his eyes alarmingly open, and has also started wailing in his sleep, only to be "dead to the world" asleep by the time we've stopped what we were doing and checked on him. Good grief
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2023 16:37
|
|
|
I was able to exclusively breast feed with a bit of an over supply problem with my first, but I couldn’t make enough, even with pumping in between breast feeding sessions with my second, and formula saved my sanity and kept him from dropping off his single digit percentile growth curve. Breastfeeding and pumping is super hard and time consuming, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with doing formula, especially if it gives you a break and keeps your kid fed and happy.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2023 17:45
|
|
|
boquiabierta posted:Anyone else agonizing over whether to have another kid? It would be our third. I am so, so torn. I feel like I would absolutely want a third if we had endless money. Alas, we do not, and I don’t know how to make this wrenching decision. (Also we have two boys and desperately want a girl, so that’s for sure part of it, but if we decide to try for a third obviously I will have to be okay with the possibility of ending up with three boys.) You can pick boy or girl if you do IVF, at least in the US--provided of course that you got both male and female embryos. If you're not willing to do that, well, I'll just gesture to all the families of 100 years ago that had 7 girls followed by a final boy and point out that, statistically, you have a 50/50 chance of having a boy this time too.
|
|
#
?
Jul 23, 2023 22:08
|
|
|
Koivunen posted:I was able to exclusively breast feed with a bit of an over supply problem with my first, but I couldn’t make enough, even with pumping in between breast feeding sessions with my second, and formula saved my sanity and kept him from dropping off his single digit percentile growth curve. Thanks! Good to know I'm not the only one who finds it a bit much at times. Fortunately for us, I made up a bottle of formula and we didn't need it - either his hunger has slowed, or my supply has caught up. I gave it to him anyway coz it was ready to go and the fresh stuff keeps longer. Today, I cut the little guys nails... And accidentally his finger. It bled a lot, then he flailed his little hand and it went everywhere. I had to make him a tiny bandaid out of some surgical tape and a tiny bit of cotton bud so he wouldn't keep agitating it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2023 05:20
|
|
|
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S47SXP3?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share My wife and I use this little gadget to cut the baby’s nails while she’s eating or otherwise distracted. It works great and is super safe.
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2023 05:34
|
|
|
We used emery boards on our little guy's nails for the first month or two, because we were way too nervous about clipping them lol
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2023 12:14
|
|
|
Aggro posted:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S47SXP3?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share We have the same thing, it works well enough for the price. The first thing I did was just jam it against my skin in various ways to make sure it couldn't cause any pain, and it passed the test. Only trick is to apply it such that the wheel is rotating down onto the nail, not up, or else the nail will "skitter".
|
|
#
?
Jul 25, 2023 18:35
|
|
|
Super Librarian posted:We used emery boards on our little guy's nails for the first month or two, because we were way too nervous about clipping them lol Hell I still do that with my 6-month-old. His nails just kinda disintegrate anyway, a couple swipes of the board and they kinda just break off somehow.
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2023 16:11
|
|
|
I chewed off my baby's nails until like 6 months at least lol
|
|
#
?
Jul 26, 2023 17:00
|
|
|
My wife just shared this tweet with me: https://twitter.com/dodo/status/723518981089419266?s=20 and I said "It YOU!" because she's at eight and a half months and pointed at her and she got the same expression on her face that the guinea piggy has in the photo and it was adorable
|
|
#
?
Jul 28, 2023 01:48
|
|
|
The bean arrived. I love the bean. Will show her all the birbs
|
|
#
?
Aug 2, 2023 05:21
|
|
|
Hey guys, I wasn’t sure where to ask this, so I hope it’s ok…I’m pretty sure I have a hernia related to my c-section. It’s been happening for a while and I tried to ignore it because the pain was so infrequent and hard to define, but now I think I figured out what it is. Does anyone else have experience with this?
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2023 17:51
|
|
|
Somaen posted:The bean arrived. I love the bean. Will show her all the birbs Congrats! I wish you all the birbs to show them
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2023 18:53
|
|
|
ah what the hell, im pregnant again. my 10 month old is an IVF baby, didnt know i could get pregnant spontaneously like this. how bad is 2 under 2 going to be? i am pretty stressed out because our remaining embryos were all PGT screened and this one could have so many issues and i wont know until they do NIPT next week. hope the little bean is okay since they made it 9 weeks in the oven so far.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2023 21:36
|
|
|
Mr. Freebus posted:ah what the hell, im pregnant again. my 10 month old is an IVF baby, didnt know i could get pregnant spontaneously like this. how bad is 2 under 2 going to be? i am pretty stressed out because our remaining embryos were all PGT screened and this one could have so many issues and i wont know until they do NIPT next week. hope the little bean is okay since they made it 9 weeks in the oven so far. Is there a reason to think you have a higher than typical chance for genetic issues? sheri fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Aug 10, 2023 |
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2023 21:39
|
|
|
I literally had this conversation with an MD yesterday, they said there's a 90% chance that anything that would get caught on a PGT would also cause a miscarry, the PGT is largely a time/emotion saver. If you're over ~35 in vivo testing is probably not a bad idea to bring up with your provider, and yeahsheri posted:Is there a reason to think you have a higher than typical change for genetic issues? if you're not flagged for anything, and you're under 40 probably not an issue
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2023 22:28
|
|
|
Mr. Freebus posted:ah what the hell, im pregnant again. my 10 month old is an IVF baby, didnt know i could get pregnant spontaneously like this. how bad is 2 under 2 going to be? i am pretty stressed out because our remaining embryos were all PGT screened and this one could have so many issues and i wont know until they do NIPT next week. hope the little bean is okay since they made it 9 weeks in the oven so far. My bestie had her first two kids via IVF after a decade of unsuccessfully trying the usual ways. When IVF baby 2 was just under 2 years old she had a surprise spontaneous pregnancy with baby 3, who turned out completely fine and healthy. 2 under 2 is hard, but honestly going from 1 kid to 2 kids is hard no matter what ages they are.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2023 02:05
|
|
|
Peaches in paradise my wife pissed positive three times and she’s barely a year out from an emergency C-section from carrying twins while 5 nothin and 90lbs sopping wet We already had the conversation and agreed about wanting to keep them, hopefully just the one this time But any of you womb having goons have advice for what the ballsack parent should do? Last time I was pretty much useless, pregnancy seems like a terrible time and as the person who isn’t carrying a whole rear end human or two inside me I would like to be helpful this time round
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2023 21:50
|
|
|
I’d imagine your best move here would be to watch the two one year olds while she’s feeling awful. While pregnant with my second I desperately wanted to take a nap like all the time, but had a merciless two year old. My partner being willing and able to take the kiddo out and about so I could collapse for a while was honestly the biggest lifesaver.
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2023 02:06
|
|
|
Echoing helping with your older kids as much as possible. They can't understand why parents are tired or sore or grumpy and their demands don't dwindle at this age. It's not always feasible to take over all the chores from your partner so think about logistics of being huuuge vs housework and do/be ready to jump in with that specifically. E.g. kids generate so much laundry and getting it into/out of our stacked dryer became unwieldy, similarly anything that involved getting low to ground like tidying up toys or getting stuff out of the bottom of the pantry or reaching deep when the countertops/shelves push into your belly
|
|
#
?
Aug 13, 2023 03:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 02:48 |
|
|
froglet posted:Thanks! Good to know I'm not the only one who finds it a bit much at times. Fortunately for us, I made up a bottle of formula and we didn't need it - either his hunger has slowed, or my supply has caught up. I gave it to him anyway coz it was ready to go and the fresh stuff keeps longer. An update to this - I have such an oversupply I am now donating to the local milk bank for premature babies. It's kinda funny given that I thought I wouldn't have enough, but I'm happy I'm able to donate 
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2023 16:29
|
|