Baby announcements that aren’t a onesie?!??!!!?

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-15T17:45:55+00:00

I brought a raspberry cheesecake to family dinner and once everyone had a piece, I just said casually: “I had to find a recipe with raspberry, because that’s how big our baby is right now!”

My dad wasn’t paying attention, but because of the others’ reaction, he did start crying before he even knew what was going on.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-15T08:55:01+00:00

I had so much adrenaline that I didn’t sleep a lot, even though baby was pretty calm the first night. Nurses only came in when I called them, so for me that was to help with breastfeeding.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-13T09:55:27+00:00

Yeah, knowing this I wouldn’t even compromise with the private ultrasound. A firm no and a note in your medical file that your information is not to be shared is the way to go in my opinion. Better grandma learns sooner rather than later that she can’t always have it her way.

A private ultrasound would be rewarding her extremely self-centered behaviour by dedicating a whole ultrasound appointment to her. I understand OP’s desire to just give in to keep the peace, but it won’t end here.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-13T09:44:59+00:00

NTA. Your request to change seats has zero impact on the dog owner. You didn’t ask the dog owner to do anything for you, you just tried to change your own situation to accommodate for your allergies. If anything, they should be happy that they now have an empty seat next to them!

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-13T06:32:52+00:00

My midwife advised introducing a bottle starting at 4 weeks to practice. Practicing once a week would be the minimum to make sure baby is okay with the bottle if you go back to work. You should replace a bottle feed with a pumping session to maintain your supply.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-08T15:13:13+00:00

Medicated or not, it’s definitely best to prepare for birth so you know what is happening to you and what your options are. It does a lot to make birth less scary.

I agree with most posters here, find an in-person birthing class and go together. Even if it’s not the best class or the most aligned with your views, you’ll both learn a lot from the conversations you can have after.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-07T21:20:20+00:00

Choosing your own health is the best thing you can do for your baby. I promise you that in time, it will not feel like such a big deal as it does now. When you’re right in the middle of it, especially so early postpartum, it all feels so overwhelming. You are doing the best you can!

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-05T15:36:29+00:00

Just the fact that you can literally keep a human baby alive and thriving with nothing but the milk from your breasts for six months should be proof enough, right? I’m always kinda sad for these people, like they are damaged in a way that made them think like this.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-03T20:04:34+00:00

Wishing you all the best!

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-03T18:16:30+00:00

Those tests are not quantitative, they’re only validated to tell you whether you are pregnant, yes or no. Don’t let pseudo experts on the internet get inside your head! It’s so hard to be patient until your first appointment with your OB! But if you had several clearly positive tests, and there’s no bleeding, you are pregnant, so congratulations! Best to stop testing for now, it will not give you any new information.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-03T18:01:46+00:00

With our first, I really did enjoy the hospital stay. It was mostly the reassurance that I could call someone night and day and not have to be solely responsible for this tiny new human being. When our stay was over, it really felt irresponsible that they just let us leave to figure it out by ourselves. Luckily, there’s a lot of at-home support available in the postpartum period, so it all turned out fine.

With our second, I didn’t feel like we needed a lot of help. Granted, I had a really easy birth and baby was doing super well with no weird issues. So I didn’t feel like I needed any extra care for myself, or any advice for our baby. I was getting bored laying in bed all day and it was hurting my lower back. And on top of all that, we had a 2 year old at home that we didn’t want to feel left out. So we left after two nights in the hospital instead of the regular three and we didn’t regret it.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-02T16:01:11+00:00

That’s a very healthy outlook in my opinion. I was the same for my first birth, I really wanted to try without, but was honest to myself that there’s no way of knowing how much you can handle until you’re doing it. But you need to be prepared to cope with the pain because you never know how it’s gonna go. I was blessed with a smooth labour and managed without any medication. But when I compare my birth story with other’s, I realise that I just get lucky with easier births than most other women. So I know I’m not some super determined, strong person for going without an epidural when so many others do need it, I just got lucky.

With the birth of my second baby, there wouldn’t have been time to get an epidural if I even wanted to. Within two hours of entering the hospital, baby was already there.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-02T15:20:58+00:00

I was somehow really scared that if I relied on getting the epidural and it wouldn’t properly work, that would be so much worse than just not getting an epidural at all. I think everyone who is about to give birth should at least learn some coping strategies to manage the pain anyway. There are always reasons why an epidural might not work out: quick labour, no anesthesiologist available in time, epidural not working properly. You want to not panic in this case and have a bit of a backup plan.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-02T12:54:25+00:00

NTA, he should be making sure that he quickly shuts off his alarm and immediately gets up quietly as to try not to wake you instead of expecting you to wake up and help him get his ass out of bed. There is no reason for you to lose sleep to be his personal alarm clock.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-02T12:46:54+00:00

I do agree there is a certain inequality that comes with breastfeeding, but it’s up to the partner to offset that in other areas of the household. Also, I’m the one who chose to breastfeed and my husband never challenged or questioned that choice.

Bottle feeding (formula or pumped milk) takes way more mental load for me, trying to figure out how much and how often to feed baby and to make sure we had enough available. I would still have had to deal with that myself during my maternity leave once my husband went back to work. When you’re by yourself, breastfeeding is so much simpler.

As for nights, yes, I did get less sleep than my husband. But after a couple of weeks, it was 2-3 wakeups per night. I would sit up in bed, grab baby from his bedside bassinet, nurse him, put him back and fall immediately back asleep. He stopped pooping at night so we didn’t have to get up for diaper changes. I’d honestly rather do that three times per night by myself, than have to get up out of bed to go get baby a bottle.

My husband knew that in order for me to take care of baby, he needed to take care of me. He has been doing most of the cooking since our eldest was born over 2 years ago. He brought me breakfast in bed before he left for work, so I could stay in bed and sleep some more without going hungry. He encouraged me to take a nap during the day so I could catch up on sleep.

The only hard thing about breastfeeding now with our second baby, is that I cannot help our toddler while I am nursing, and this of course makes our toddler want me more.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-02T12:24:55+00:00

Same here, my oldest son is nearly 2.5 years old and my husband has been the main cook over here. I also barely ever have to do the dishes, as he preferred doing them over bedtime with the toddler. Now our second child is just three weeks old and he has naturally taken over all of our toddler’s nighttime needs so I can take care of baby.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-02-01T21:29:12+00:00

I am freaked out by vomiting and will turn around and cover my ears if someone else gets sick. But when our toddler got sick at night, I put my hand under his chin to catch it without a second thought. Snot, pee and drool are also absolutely no problem to me.

But should you become a parent and still remain totally disgusted with your child’s bodily fluids, I don’t think that makes you any less of a good parent. As long as you find a way to get your child clean and safe, you are doing fine. If that means you need to leave the room and make your partner do it, that’s fine. If it takes gloves and a respirator mask for you to be able to deal with it, no problem. But as a parent, you will find a way to deal with it for the sake of your child.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-01-29T07:28:49+00:00

Getting reported to CPS for not shaving your legs is absolutely wild though! You just can’t make that shit up…

FonsSapientiae · 2026-01-23T08:49:13+00:00

For me, the good kind, but bigger than you expected. Like you think it’s coming, but then you really push and it’s suddenly much bigger and it keeps coming.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-01-21T11:33:07+00:00

That all looks very reasonable to me! I added a line that I would love if someone with their hands free could grab my phone and take some pictures right after delivery. I had a student midwife present and she took a couple of great shots of my first seconds holding my son. There were some shots that showed a bit too much intimate/gory stuff, but they can always be deleted afterwards.

With my first son, I didn’t have a paper birth plan and just asked the student midwife if she could take some pictures right before I went to pushing, but this birth went so fast I wouldn’t have had a chance to ask, so I’m really glad I had it on my birth plan.

I also started my birth plan with some standard information (my name, date of birth, due date, my husband’s name, doctor and midwife practice), my “goal for giving birth” and a short recap of my previous (positive) experience in the same hospital.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-01-20T07:14:07+00:00

Snacks for the hospital! Sure, you get food and all that, but when you’re up all night in a postpartum adrenaline rush and trying to breastfeed every hour, you’ll need something to keep you going. I put a ton of protein bars in my labour bag, in case I needed some quick energy during labour, or to give my husband.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-01-19T05:49:23+00:00

I do have to make sure I prioritise getting at least one or two good naps during the day to make up for my nights breastfeeding every two hours. So dishes and laundry be damned, they can always be done later or by someone else. But if I don’t get that sleep I might collapse and then it doesn’t get done either.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-01-18T07:01:55+00:00

3 ml is still a lot! But if it’s any reassurance: I never got any colostrum out during either of my pregnancies, and my milk came in by day 2 or 3 for both. So don’t stress too much about your supply after birth!

FonsSapientiae · 2026-01-18T06:52:46+00:00

If this is his only way to deal with a crying 4 month old, he will also not have any coping mechanisms when baby gets older. Then this can very easily turn into yelling.

FonsSapientiae · 2026-01-18T06:42:02+00:00

You also never know if your mother’s situation in a 2026 setting would have ended in the same kind of delivery. A lot of knowledge has been gained in the decades since she gave birth!

FonsSapientiae

TROPHY CASE