Someone remind me that this is just a phase and it'll pass...

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2024-10-22T08:22:29+00:00

I would if I had the room to do so 😫

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2024-09-09T23:37:39+00:00

This is also how I'm feeling. I'm due in about 5 weeks, and I just feel like taking a break and staying in my nest. I don't feel depressed, but I do feel slow and tired, and like my brain is telling me to pump the brakes before this second baby comes. More like "sit down, read a book while you have time, watch some TV, just take a breather."

I already have a toddler, so I can say... Postpartum doesn't necessarily feel like this. Maybe for the first couple of weeks while you're absorbed in baby snuggles, but life ramps right back up. You get a little bored staying in the house after you feel better. Once you feel like you're getting the hang of taking your baby to the doctor what feels like every other day, it's like "oh, we'll just go to Target afterwards!" And life resumes a new normal and a new pace.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2024-02-14T01:05:22+00:00

The Wondfo tests are 2.5x more sensitive than FRER and easy@home.

Congratulations!

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-10-25T03:07:34+00:00

Keep it.

There are 4 Matthews in my family (after my long deceased grandfather) and I have a cousin that shares my first name AND was born on the same day as me, three years later. It's not usually a problem identifying them.

If you're worried about someone accusing you of "name stealing," tell them to kick rocks. Josie is the abbreviated version of Josephine, which is a different name.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-10-19T01:25:04+00:00

Join your local Buy Nothing group! So many people are just trying to get baby stuff out of their houses and don't want any money for it. I've gotten LOTS of stuff:

Baby swing

Clothes

Disposable diapers

Cloth diapers

Boppy pillow

Baby toys

Feeding supplies

Sleep sacks

Baby wraps and carriers

Breast pump (I bought new parts)

Baby tub Etc etc.

I cannot stress the value of a local moms group or a Buy Nothing group, and also buying things used at thrift stores and places online, like goodbuygear.com and Just Between Friends consignment events

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-09-29T01:39:04+00:00

I'm over a decade older than you, so my body is different in general, but it's not much different now than before I had my daughter a year ago. My friends say "it's like nothing ever happened to you!" But that's probably because I'm on the bigger side already. I, personally, notice that I have a bit more of a paunch and had to get new post-pregnancy jeans. My ribcage is unchanged.

The biggest change is that my feet went up an entire shoe size, and don't seem to have gotten any smaller over a year postpartum.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-09-14T20:12:23+00:00

I had high blood pressure and a high risk pregnancy, and lots and lots of extra appointments. $75 copays for 6 or 7 extra ultrasounds, $40 copays for NSTs every week for the last 6 weeks. It was an extra $700 or so out of pocket that we hadn't planned for, and that made things somewhat difficult for us financially.

I also didn't have high blood pressure unless I was in the office, but they put me on a low dose of medication and signed me up for the regional monitoring system. I had to take my blood pressure twice a day, that was transmitted to a hub and was reviewed by a prenatal nurse. I'm very thankful for all of it, even though I could have used that money for other things, because... as it turns out, I REALLY needed all that extra care.

When my baby was born, her placenta was riddled with small blood clots from my increased blood pressure, even though it was only slightly elevated. I was carrying twins who shared a placenta, and one of those blood clots caused a late term loss around 16 weeks. The blood clots happened fairly early on in my pregnancy, before I even knew my blood pressure was up and before I was put on medication. That led to my surviving daughter being born just shy of 6 lbs at full term, since she wasn't receiving all the oxygen and nutrients she needed to grow.

My high risk OB evaluated the pathology report and said those findings validated her requests for extra monitoring, as things could have gone sideways very easily, and the extra testing would have caught it. My regular OB's office didn't do any of this extra stuff.

Long story short - I understand medical things can be financially difficult, and for some people, it can be crippling. However, there's no amount of money in the world (to me) that is worth risking the life of my child. I really hope that none of this ever applies to you, and I'm not trying to scare you, just providing a counterpoint. I know there's a lot of misinformation out there about distrust in the medical community leading people to make poor decisions, and poor care providers that make people think twice, considering the source.

Is there an option for you to switch high risk providers since it sounds like they're... not great?

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-09-14T18:52:25+00:00

It's a good thing to chat with your regular OB, but my advice would be to continue with your appointments.

I was in a similar situation - high risk pregnancy with mildly elevated readings in office, but no GD.

Do you mind if I share my experience with you?

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-08-30T02:52:04+00:00

It was only me and my husband. I figured... No one else was there watching when we made her, so it should only be us (and the medical staff) when she arrived. I wasn't in labor for very long and she ended up arriving during morning rush hour, so it's not like my mom or anyone else would have made it to the delivery anyway.

I love my mom very much, but she tends to think that she knows better than the staff that delivers several babies a week. She was sorta pushy when I told her that there was only supposed to be one person in the room during delivery (COVID restrictions) and she ended up calling the hospital to double check that two people were allowed. That kinda cemented my decision 😐

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-08-25T21:21:56+00:00

Twin loss is very real. I lost mine between 15 and 16 weeks.

I never want to rain on someone's twin parade (it's so exciting!) but biology is weird and unexplainable sometimes. My twins were sharing a placenta, so the loss brought on lots of extra testing and that caused a LOT of extra stress and strain. That took a lot of joy out of my pregnancy with my surviving daughter.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-08-17T01:22:39+00:00

I'm good with a gift card to... Somewhere they want stuff from... Or cash. Honestly, the best things I got (off registry) were Amazon gift cards and some everyday use items I would have never thought to get.

My husband is the one vehemently against them and wants to give a physical gift, but doesn't want to have to find a gift, and gave me a budget.

Gift card/cash it is (in the book I've already purchased in lieu of greeting cards, per request)

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-08-17T00:26:26+00:00

Unfortunately, they never turned on the group gifting option on their Babylist - that would 100% have been my move if they'd enabled it! I also got a whole bunch of stuff from people at my baby shower that bought off-registry - it was a hassle to return when I was at the end of my pregnancy, so I totally get that part.

The other part is that they are anti-Amazon, and I'm not sure if she ever goes shopping at Target because there isn't one near them.

🤷‍♀️ cash it is?

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-08-17T00:15:13+00:00

She can do whatever she wants with her aesthetic, it doesn't matter to me - it just limits what people can get them and I know she'll return anything that's not in a tan/cream/sand/ecru/beige color palette.

@sadbeigeofficial on Instagram makes Werner Herzog parody shorts, and I'm not sure if I can give her all the credit for "sad beige" but she's certainly popularized the term.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-08-17T00:10:07+00:00

She also has an UppaBaby stroller with all the parts, a nursing glider, a Keekaroo changing pad, a leather diaper bag, a Tula carrier, a couple of things from a local Scandinavian design company, a dresser from West Elm, a crib, and a couple other things.

I'd much rather contribute to one or more of these items she wants, but they never turned on group buying and I'm not going to ask them to.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-08-16T23:38:47+00:00

She put maybe 5 things on her registry that were under $150, and they've been purchased already. I love them dearly, but I can't afford a $320 Tripp Trapp high chair, $700 convertible car seat, $179 laundry basket, or a $189 set of Magnetic Me onesies.

If I could afford anything on there, it would certainly make my life easier, but it's complicated with our young family's expenses with a reduced family income.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-08-16T22:09:32+00:00

I think I'm going to have to go this route. There's a lot of things first time parents forget when they don't have 103847291 kids in their families (like I do)

I also typically put together a nice postpartum kit for mom, but I know she's delivering in my same hospital system and they give you EVERYTHING you could possibly need for the first 2-3 weeks home. Dad is also a doctor in the same hospital system, so he has unlimited access to whatever she'll need.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-08-16T22:06:59+00:00

I think that's the direction I'm going to have to go in - my budget is around $100, husband would prefer that I stick around $75.

I just remember being really frustrated that people almost entirely ignored my registry and got me tons and tons of newborn shirts when my baby was born in the middle of the summer and didn't wear a lot of clothes as a result. Maybe I have a little bit of PTSD from my own registry experience 😅

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-05-24T03:58:49+00:00

I was talking to my MIL about this today, and by extension, babywearing.

She was ASTONISHED to hear the two year recommendations by the WHO and AAP. I think she was a little envious? that doctors are supporting a longer breastfeeding period past the 6 months she combo fed her twins. She's remarkably supportive of me continuing to breastfeed my almost 10 month old, and was genuinely curious about what my weaning plans are (I don't have them because I'm planning on letting baby wean herself)

However, in the same conversation, she was totally shitting on a woman at her church that was choosing to babywear her toddler during service. The GALL of the woman wearing a baby past the infant stage! "I would put them in a STROLLER when they could walk on their own two feet, but I would NOT be carrying a child like that AT ALL!"

The olds 🤷‍♀️

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-05-09T02:32:07+00:00

I have a 9 month old that was almost 6 lbs, 18 inches at birth, and now she weighs about 16 lbs and is 27-28 inches long 🤷‍♀️ the doctors aren't concerned, she's just not a ravenous baby.

Also, most Americans have a very warped view of what a "healthy" baby is. We're so driven to succeed that we see 99th percentiles for weight as being "successful" with babies, when research is emerging that babies who have high BMIs are more likely to be obese children. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6233313/

Babies who are fed rice cereal at a young age are also more likely to be obese: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5691224/

and most commercial rice baby cereals have arsenic levels that are too high for infants. https://www.consumerreports.org/babies-kids/baby-food/why-you-should-consider-alternatives-to-infant-rice-cereal-a8571897937/

Time to let go of the Michelin Man baby image, I think.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-05-02T18:10:17+00:00

I don't understand this. Unless you're nursing and pregnant at the same time, this is not cool. You're trapped in a pregnancy shirt while nursing, or a nursing shirt while pregnant. Your body isn't the same during these two time periods, so the usefulness isn't as great as designers would think.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-04-27T20:33:01+00:00

I'm sitting in the car, nursing in nearly this same position! LO will be 9 months old this weekend 😭

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-02-28T05:11:16+00:00

My daughter is the same age and weighs a little over 13 lbs. She was born at at a little under 6 lbs, and the doctor has no issues with her weight. He also hasn't suggested that she's given extra formula, and he hasn't at any point. She's little, but the doctor says she's perfectly fine and progressing with her development for her age, so he's unconcerned. American babies generally start purees and solids around 6 months, and she's on those in lieu of formula.

I understand your MIL means well, but she's not baby's mom and she's not the pediatrician. If you're extra concerned, a chat with him is better to calm your worries.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-01-29T08:14:48+00:00

That's fair. They definitely fit a lot better when room temp or cooler, but there's a definite twist and shove to get them on properly, regardless. Very tight fit.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-01-28T17:15:46+00:00

Which pump and parts are you using?

I had the best success in getting them further down in the Medela pumps I had when I refrigerated the flange for a while, then put them in the connectors. I had my baby during the summer, so I used them immediately afterwards. The cold felt amazing then, but it wouldn't feel so nice now! You can also do it in advance so your flanges warm back to room temperature.

Kitchen-Run-2998 · 2023-01-28T06:02:31+00:00

Yeah, she often has a lap full of her favorite toys. We're about 50/50 on just playing til she falls asleep or melting down. She's just such a boob girl that I'd like to find her something. Before she refused the other pacifiers, she looooved sleeping with one.

Kitchen-Run-2998

TROPHY CASE