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Red posted:That seems to be the general feeling, but lots of "books" full of "science" say alcohol should be avoided from conception onward. Because most women light up like pinball machines when impregnated, I assume. The embryo's circulation and yours don't join up until after you miss your period, so alcohol before then isn't really a concern. Books, whether full of science or lightly sprinkled with science-ish sounding factoids, always give the most conservative recommendation possible. I would say that easily a third of my patients with surprise pregnancies disclose they had some alcohol exposure prior to finding out. Alcohol is a really common drug and 50% of pregnancies are unplanned, so there are a lot of perfectly normal babies out there walking around whose mothers had alcohol exposure early on in pregnancy without knowing it.
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Sep 25, 2016 01:01
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Sep 25, 2016 11:14
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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mp8a0ka7L8
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Sep 25, 2016 17:17
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I'm pretty sure I'm 2-3 weeks along, but a lab test result I got online says my hcg level is 15677. I can't talk to my doctor until tomorrow - is that wildly high, or indicative of something else?
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Sep 28, 2016 00:22
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Do you mean 2-3 weeks since your last period (gestational age) or 2-3 weeks since you think you conceived (embryonic age), which would be 4-5 weeks gestational age? A bhCG of 15000 and change would be a little on the high side for 5 weeks gestational age but nothing too crazy. I had a beta of ~14800 at 5+4. It would be quite high for 2-3 weeks gestational age. A high bhCG can mean incorrect dates (maybe you conceived a cycle earlier than you thought?), multiple pregnancy, or a couple of different pregnancy abnormalities that are relatively rare. Your doctor will probably want to repeat the beta in a few days and do an ultrasound, so you should call them tomorrow when the office is open. The most likely explanation is that you're more pregnant than you think you are. If you feel unwell or have signs/symptoms of concern like bleeding or pain, you should go to urgent care. Otherwise, see what your doctor says in the morning.
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Sep 28, 2016 02:37
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Dogfish posted:Do you mean 2-3 weeks since your last period (gestational age) or 2-3 weeks since you think you conceived (embryonic age), which would be 4-5 weeks gestational age? A bhCG of 15000 and change would be a little on the high side for 5 weeks gestational age but nothing too crazy. I had a beta of ~14800 at 5+4. It would be quite high for 2-3 weeks gestational age. Thanks for the information on the gestational vs. embryonic age - it's been 2-3 weeks since I think I conceived. I guess it's just complicated by the fact I had a bad cold over the weekend, and am currently experiencing nausea. I didn't have a positive home test result until a week ago; other tests 2 weeks prior were negative.
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Sep 28, 2016 03:34
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If you had your first positive pregnancy test a week ago then yes, you are probably more like 5 weeks gestational age, which means your beta is on the high side of normal. Usually we date pregnancies based on the last menstrual period because it's very tricky, even if we know when someone ovulated, to pinpoint when they conceived and when the embryo implanted. (I used to have a professor who told us, "Your patient thinks she conceived Tuesday night in bed. She may have had sex Tuesday, but she actually conceived Thursday morning on the bus.") The first day of the last period just kind of provides a stable reference point since we can't see into people's uteruses and figure out what's going on. (Assigning a due date is basically two separate but related forms of guesswork; nothing in obstetrics is certain.) All this to say, a beta of 15000 isn't crazy for a normal 5 week pregnancy. Your doctor will probably advise a repeat bhCG to make sure it's not rising super fast, and might also offer you an ultrasound in a week or two to make sure there's just the one embryo in there. As always, if you have any immediate, serious concerns, present to urgent care. Congratulations!
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Sep 28, 2016 03:57
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Hi thread! We're new to the trying for a baby thing, have been off contraception since the end of June. No joy as yet, but I've only just started seriously tracking basal temps and cervical fluid this week once my period started. Last week my husband said "If we don't get pregnant in another month, maybe we should go get ourselves tested", but I think that just reflects the fact that everyone thinks baby making is unavoidable once you're having unprotected sex. I'm 31 this week, he's 34. My first month off implanon I didn't ovulate, so I didn't get a period, so we thought I had become instantly pregnant. After the first month, things settled down and my periods are amazing, I only bleed for three days. Anyway, early days yet, and after reading through this whole thread and getting the fertile friend app, I'm finding the whole process really interesting and now I'm sharing all the cycle info with him so he feels more informed too. Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. I am still excited about the journey and I'm sending everyone good vibes.
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Sep 29, 2016 08:19
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I'm a big fan of peeing on ovulation strips now when trying to conceive. Since they slowly get darker as you get closer to ovulation (at least mine did) you get a little warning about fertile days and can time appropriately. Temps are a binary thing, and only tell you that ovulation happened - not useful for timing sex. I think so long as you mentioned to your doctor that you are trying, that starts the medical clock. You have to try for six months or a year depending on age before they will start infertility testing I think. Good luck!
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Sep 29, 2016 15:55
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Seconding the recommendation for LH test strips. They're cheap on Amazon and they'll give you a better idea of what's happening in your ovaries than cervical mucus alone. I tracked cervical mucus and found it was unreliable for predicting ovulation. Got LH strips, timed intercourse appropriately, got pregnant the first cycle. Obviously your mileage may vary, but don't conclude there's something wrong until you've done everything you can to time intercourse correctly.
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Oct 1, 2016 23:21
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Also it's good to get a lot of practice peeing in Dixie cups.
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Oct 2, 2016 00:05
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Never stop peeing on things!
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Oct 2, 2016 01:43
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I'll see how we go doing the CM and temperature tracking for this cycle, but I'm definitely not against buying strips to help with timing. I saw they're pretty cheap. Right now, fertility friend is saying I'm in a fertile phase, so we're doing it every couple of days. Only a little while longer before I can see whether the fun is paying off.
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Oct 2, 2016 08:28
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I know we would have had absolutely no luck if we hadn't had the LH strips to give us some idea of when I was ovulating, because daily sex during my fertile period sure as hell wasn't cutting it. In the end it took twice daily in the ovulation window (2-3 days before ovulation and day of ovulation) before anything happened.
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Oct 2, 2016 09:27
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femcastra posted:I'll see how we go doing the CM and temperature tracking for this cycle, but I'm definitely not against buying strips to help with timing. I saw they're pretty cheap. It's kind of dumb, but I think seeing two lines on a stick sometimes was nice.
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Oct 2, 2016 17:52
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defectivemonkey posted:It's kind of dumb, but I think seeing two lines on a stick sometimes was nice. I don't think it's dumb, I'd love to see this. My last period was 122 days ago. I'm not pregnant, or ovulating according to the bloodwork my doctor did a few weeks back. I've been peeing on sticks to try and get a heads up on if/when I do ovulate but so far, nothing. It's disheartening. My doctor has said that I need to wait for six months post stopping the pill before they'll offer me medication to try and kick-start ovulation and that's still a month away. It doesn't sound like a long time to wait but I'm 35 now. I don't want to be trying until I'm much older to have another baby. I wish my body would just get it together  Sorry for the rant, I'm just pretty bummed and needed to vent, I suppose.
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Oct 6, 2016 21:42
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bee posted:Sorry for the rant, I'm just pretty bummed and needed to vent, I suppose. That sucks, I hope it starts up for you soon. The waiting is hard.
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Oct 9, 2016 02:15
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bee posted:I don't think it's dumb, I'd love to see this. My last period was 122 days ago. I'm not pregnant, or ovulating according to the bloodwork my doctor did a few weeks back. I've been peeing on sticks to try and get a heads up on if/when I do ovulate but so far, nothing. It's disheartening. has this happened to you in the past or did this cme out of the blue? either way hang in there 
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Oct 9, 2016 02:22
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No, it's happened before. But the last time around, after almost a year of trying with really irregular cycles and no pregnancy my doctor put the cause down to low body fat % and told me to gain 5kg. So I did, and almost immediately I fell pregnant. This time around I'm certainly not in the realms of low BMI or body fat  Thanks for the kind words though!
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Oct 9, 2016 08:03
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Just wondering how much correlation people have seen between lh strips predicting ovulation and charting temps, cervix position and cervical mucus? I bought the lh strips for this cycle, and I'm seeing a faint second line today, so still probably another day before the surge. Meanwhile fertility friend is telling me that I'm probably ovulating today. Doubling down on the sex anyway just to be safe, but I'm curious to see what other people experienced.
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Nov 2, 2016 08:39
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femcastra posted:Just wondering how much correlation people have seen between lh strips predicting ovulation and charting temps, cervix position and cervical mucus? You might have a while until you ovulate; the second line needs to be as dark as the first to indicate the surge. For me, that could take a week or more! I got tired of trying to interpret them and got digital tests even though they're more expensive. They're way more user friendly and take the guess work out.
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Nov 2, 2016 17:41
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My second lines never got dark but I could feel the follicle pop most of my cycles, so soon as I could -see- a second line it was double duty on the sex for the next three days. There's got to be some variation on how much lh ends up in a person's urine, either that or different peaks being enough/not enough for someone to ovulate with? The test manufacturers probably picked a point on the bell curve that was high enough lh for 98% of the population to have ovulated by, but maybe not necessary for like 80%?
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Nov 4, 2016 23:25
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Welp mistook a drop in temperature, boob pain and occasional cramps for pregnancy associated symptoms, but turns out it was all premenstrual. Hit me pretty hard because today has been a hard day generally without that disappointment lingering as well. Keep trying I guess.
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Nov 17, 2016 08:16
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4 IUIs later and the dr thinks maybe I have endometriosis, so I'm having surgery to check a Fallopian tube that may be blocked now and investigate the reasons for strange pains. That's on top of PCOS.  We started trying in January 2014 and it's getting me down to notice it's nearly 3 years later and no living children. At this point I don't even know what I'd do if I did get pregnant and actually got far enough to give birth to a live baby. It just feels so out of reach. I can't even believe people actually have children at this point. How does that even happen? So strange!
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Nov 21, 2016 06:36
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That's really rough. I'm so sorry you're going through this.
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Nov 22, 2016 18:38
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I recently stopped birth control after having been on it since I was ~16-17 - am now 28. Husband and I are going to start trying to have a kid early next year. I never had any sort of regular cycle as a teen and was diagnosed with PCOS at 17 (was not overweight at the time but I am now - cystic ovaries confirmed with recent u/s). Am spotting on day 33 after stopping BC, so I am relieved that I am at least able to menstruate without the help of the hormone drop of BC pills. Successful ovulation is a whole other ball of wax... When I went off meds, my PCP recommended starting to track my cycle ASAP even if we aren't really actively trying (still using condoms at this point) so that if we have future problems (inconsistent/nonexistent ovulation mostly) we have a few month's head start on tracking for the ob/gyn so we can hopefully get started on clomid or something similar if the charts consistently show abnormalities. I guess I don't have questions, but I have a feeling it's going to take some time for us to be successful, and I credit reading this thread with allowing me to get proactive about my fertility and all that so we aren't going in blind to the trials and tribulations of the whole process. And the fun parts, obvs. ;-)
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Nov 27, 2016 01:17
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Good luck! This thread sometimes makes it look like it's all struggle and pain but don't forget there are tons of people who end up pregnant sooner than they expected. They just don't bother continuing to post 
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Nov 27, 2016 03:25
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I wish you luck! My wife and I had our first pregnancy by accident. Now that we're actively trying it's not seeming to take. We've had 3 confirmed miscarriages, the latest at 10 weeks which was rough. Pretty sure my wife just had a failed implantation or something to that effect since she got really nauseous and a couple days later hit her period about 10 days early. We've been trying for a good 2 years on number 2 so we're going to see a reproductive endocrinologist at the soonest available opportunity. Which is February. Previous to this there had been some metformin and clomid to try to get regular ovulation. We seem to have ovulation down since we can apparently fertilize an egg frequently, the problem now is just getting one to stick.
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Nov 29, 2016 16:58
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defectivemonkey posted:don't forget there are tons of people who end up pregnant sooner than they expected. They just don't bother continuing to post That's us. We decided to just go off the pill and got pregnant almost immediately. I think we're about ~13 weeks in, and everything's pretty ship-shape.
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Nov 29, 2016 17:47
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MonkeyBot posted:I wish you luck! My wife and I had our first pregnancy by accident. Now that we're actively trying it's not seeming to take. We've had 3 confirmed miscarriages, the latest at 10 weeks which was rough. Pretty sure my wife just had a failed implantation or something to that effect since she got really nauseous and a couple days later hit her period about 10 days early. We've been trying for a good 2 years on number 2 so we're going to see a reproductive endocrinologist at the soonest available opportunity. Which is February. Previous to this there had been some metformin and clomid to try to get regular ovulation. We seem to have ovulation down since we can apparently fertilize an egg frequently, the problem now is just getting one to stick. You may want to see if you can get in to see a general ob gyn sooner than that since they can at least start the blood tests for workup (based on what you're saying so far at the very least tests for things like acquired thrombophilia/APLAS).
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Nov 29, 2016 18:57
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superbelch posted:You may want to see if you can get in to see a general ob gyn sooner than that since they can at least start the blood tests for workup (based on what you're saying so far at the very least tests for things like acquired thrombophilia/APLAS). I'll suggest that to my wife. She was working with an OB/GYN for the first year or so we were trying, the same one that she was seeing for our first child. That doctor moved away about a year ago though though and we haven't found a new one she likes yet.
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Dec 6, 2016 17:37
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So my wife and I have been trying for 6 months. We were getting a bit down and last month didn't bother tracking anything and just got it on when we could due to some crazy shifts and Christmas. She was late, and a couple of pee sticks later it says we are 5? Weeks along. Early days- we haven't had anything take before so don't know what to expect. You hear so many stories before 12 weeks so I guess we are trying not to get too excited.
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Jan 16, 2017 13:41
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Congratulations! Crossing my fingers for the two of you.
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Jan 16, 2017 21:41
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So my wife and I got married in July and we started trying right away.....no luck. My wife has been acting a bit strange the past ~2 weeks and I kept joking that she's pregnant. Then she missed her period last Friday and I've been bugging her since like Tuesday to take a test. So she finally took it this morning and she's pregnant! Needless to say I am over the moon excited, as is she. Except I am the carefree one and she's a bit of a worrier so of course I am concerned about her and she keeps saying she's kinda scared. Anyways, I had to tell SOMEONE, and a bunch of strangers on the internet seemed like the most appropriate thing to do.
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Jan 20, 2017 15:58
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 Hello TTC/Peeing thread. My wife and I are about to start trying and I have a slight problem that isn't really serious, but I thought maybe someone over here might have an answer. We obviously want to do everything we can to increase our chances, but my primary means of de-stressing was taking nice long baths/hot tubbing/steam room/sauna-ing. A lot of things I've found online indicate that all of these are very bad for male fertility, and as such I haven't done any of them in the last 3 months. I'm definitely willing to keep it up as long as it takes, but this could take a long time so I thought I'd just ask... Does it really have that big of an effect? Or, alternatively, does anyone have an ingenious solution that we maybe haven't thought of? I figure it doesn't hurt to ask, and good luck to everyone else trying. Thanks
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Jan 28, 2017 06:49
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Mahoning posted:So my wife and I got married in July and we started trying right away.....no luck. My wife has been acting a bit strange the past ~2 weeks and I kept joking that she's pregnant. Then she missed her period last Friday and I've been bugging her since like Tuesday to take a test. So she finally took it this morning and she's pregnant! Needless to say I am over the moon excited, as is she. Except I am the carefree one and she's a bit of a worrier so of course I am concerned about her and she keeps saying she's kinda scared. Anyways, I had to tell SOMEONE, and a bunch of strangers on the internet seemed like the most appropriate thing to do. Congratulations! We've been trying for about the same amount of time and no luck yet, but glad to hear even if it takes a while, it can happen.
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Jan 28, 2017 12:00
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I've recently started considering getting my eggs frozen. I'm 32 and about to start a career that's very intense, so I want to be well settled before any baby stuff happens. Plus I live somewhere where the median income is about $30k but the median house price is $600,000. I own a flat already, but realistically it's going to be another decade before I can get somewhere that could comfortably house 3 for the long term. I understand that for women the process is quite intrusive and is probably going to be a big drain on my bank account. Has anyone been through this and has some light to shed? I've also tentatively started reading up on egg sharing. My partner was less than thrilled about the thought, but I don't really care if there's a 50% me kid wandering around out there as long as I'm not the one bringing them up. The biggest challenge is going to be losing enough weight to qualify (goon).
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Feb 17, 2017 12:27
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It's about $10k to freeze eggs and another $10k to use the frozen eggs - I looked it up not that long ago. Definitely something to do ASAP if you are considering it. I think there's a steep dropoff around 35?
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Feb 17, 2017 15:40
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Rolled Cabbage posted:I understand that for women the process is quite intrusive and is probably going to be a big drain on my bank account. Has anyone been through this and has some light to shed? I can speak to the physical side of it, since the egg retrieval is pretty much the same as for IVF. I did a freeze all cycle in December with a Lupron trigger. The injectibles take a bit of getting used to, but weren't as bad as I thought they'd be. Only the last couple of days prior to collection were uncomfortable, but post collection it took about two weeks before I was able to do much physical activity without residual abdominal soreness. It actually may be cheaper to do IVF and freeze the embryos - they're a little hardier with freeze/thaw vs eggs, and there's a steep drop off with eggs that don't fertilize or embryos not developing, so you winnow out the ones that have no chance of working before you freeze them. There are definitely more legal concerns around frozen embryos, though.
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Feb 17, 2017 18:17
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Thanks for the responses guys. Unfortunately partner's new job fell through yesterday, so this got pushed into the long grass a little bit, but lots to think about going on.
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Feb 18, 2017 12:35
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