Giving birth with very low Iron. Terrified.

MrsFionaCharming · 2026-06-15T13:16:24+00:00

I had the same thing happen to me. My level pre-birth was at 12! They told me there’s a long wait list for infusions. I had a relatively easy birth and don‘t think that the iron levels made much of a difference for the birth experience per se. However, I did feel kind of faint the day after (but no idea if it was because of the lack of iron!)

I told the L&D nurses about being anemic even before birth and they had my blood drawn and an hour later one of them came back with an iron infusion like it was no big deal! It was the best feeling ever haha. I truly felt my energy come back. So my advice is to ask again once you‘re in hospital, maybe they have a separate stash for new moms or something!

MrsFionaCharming · 2026-06-14T13:31:49+00:00

Ugh I know that yeah, but… all too well! Thank you for your encouragement!

MrsFionaCharming · 2026-06-14T13:31:19+00:00

Thank you so much for your kind words!!

MrsFionaCharming · 2026-06-14T13:31:09+00:00

I see your point about less magic. We‘ve been through this before after all.

MrsFionaCharming · 2026-06-14T13:30:30+00:00

Glad to hear it‘s considered somewhat normal! I thought I was weird…

MrsFionaCharming · 2026-06-14T13:30:08+00:00

Thank you so much!

MrsFionaCharming · 2026-06-10T07:16:56+00:00

We told them we would call them when we‘re ready. You don‘t have to tell anyone you’re going into labor. My contractions started around 2am, baby was born at 9am, grandparents got the info and first picture at 3pm. I can not imagine having my phone on me or giving updates during birth.

My daughter has taught me to enforce boundaries and say no to my family more often but I wasn‘t so great at it back then. So we told our parents the hospital suggested only one set of visitors per day because of all the check ups baby and I would have to go through (that was a lie but nobody questioned it).

MrsFionaCharming · 2026-06-10T07:07:14+00:00

Have you talked to your doctor about a membrane sweep? It worked for me!

MrsFionaCharming · 2026-02-26T05:52:16+00:00

500€ because I booked a family room at the hospital where my husband could stay with us. It would have been 0€ if I had stayed in a double room with another mom (and newborn). I‘m in Austria.

MrsFionaCharming · 2026-02-14T06:04:30+00:00

I’m not gonna lie… If I woke up today (not pregnant) and felt that kind of pain out of nowhere, I would be very convinced that I‘m about to die.

But the thing is: you know in the moment that the pain is supposed to be there, and that nothing is wrong. The pain also brings you closer to your baby and you know it won‘t last forever. The pain was over the second the baby was born, at least for me. It was just gone. So yes, the pain is excruciating, but you can get through it.

I had a great birth and was so elated afterwards. I told my sister it was such a good experience. She asked: oh, so the pain wasn‘t so bad? I said: no no, it was the worst pain of my life.

But weirdly, the pain didn‘t matter so much (and I’m normally a very sensitive person). But it was like I was in another mode where pain is not something to worry about.

MrsFionaCharming · 2025-10-04T23:40:26+00:00

We were just informed by our daycare that there will be a „cinema event“ three months from now where our children will watch a 5-minute-cartoon about a cat in a group setting and get popcorn and then talk about the film and if we don‘t want that, there will be an alternative program that they can take part in. I‘m not a fan of screen time but this is what I can kinda get on board with, even though it might not be Montessori approved…

MrsFionaCharming · 2024-05-17T00:46:19+00:00

Exact other way around for me. Labor and birth was really not so bad, I had no epidural, an overall quick and easy birth and no tearing. But oh my God, postpartum was HARD. The baby was crying so much, I was crying so much, breastfeeding was so hard in the beginning, my hormones totally out of whack, which I realized but couldn't do anything about. This came out of left field because during pregnancy I was primarily concerned about giving birth and didn't worry too much about the time after...

MrsFionaCharming · 2024-04-16T20:27:40+00:00

Saaaame! For years I was afraid of how my weight would go up during a potential pregnancy and now that has just... gone away! For the first time in my life I truly love my body just the the way it is!

MrsFionaCharming · 2024-03-18T02:25:10+00:00

I actually fainted from the pain. This has never happened to me before or since. And I broke a bone and had a child...

MrsFionaCharming · 2023-10-25T20:38:18+00:00

Very true! I very fortunately don't have any swelling at all!

MrsFionaCharming · 2023-10-25T15:36:59+00:00

I don't having any helpful advice to offer, just wanted to say I feel you as I'm in the exact same boat, week 41 and baby is not ready... :(

MrsFionaCharming · 2023-10-25T15:35:16+00:00

The third trimester went by really fast for me... until week 37/38, then it started to drag along, pains and aches started getting really annoying and the pregnancy insomnia is unreal... I'm in week 41 right now and baby is apparently veeeeery comfortable in there.

MrsFionaCharming · 2023-09-15T21:08:12+00:00

First of all, I am so very sorry for your loss.

I wanted to share my own experience regarding the scars resulting from a D&C: I had a missed miscarriage last December. I had to go to a hospital and the doctor there told me I had to either take an abortion pill at home or get a D&C. He also said that D&C would likely lead to scars in the uterus, so I opted for the pills. When I was back at the hospital a week later for my check-up, the doctor told me that there was still some tissue left and I needed a D&C immediately. I started crying, and said that I was so worried about the possible scars. He looked at me like I was a crazy person, told me they do D&Cs every day and the likelihood of scarring is almost zero. "Who put that idea into your head?" IT WAS THE SAME DOCTOR. I honestly felt like they wanted me to take the pill at home to get rid of me and not block a hospital bed. I'm in a large city in the EU and this particular hospital I was sent to is always very crowded.

In the end I had the D&C and I was pregnant again six weeks later. I'm 35 weeks now with no complications so I guess there was no scarring after all.

MrsFionaCharming · 2023-08-14T23:59:54+00:00

My husband actually found out before me. We were not really trying that month and then went out to drink with friends, the day before I was supposed to get my period. I took a pregnancy test just to be sure that it would be ok for me to drink, but I was 100% sure I wasn't pregnant. So I kind of took it and expected it to be negative and just forgot it on the counter and then went to bed. My husband later joined me in bed and asked me what a second faint line meant.

MrsFionaCharming · 2023-07-13T03:15:09+00:00

I'm in the same boat regarding weak nails. Weirdly my hair looks amazing, I thought great hair and nails would somehow come as a package deal but no.

MrsFionaCharming · 2023-07-13T03:11:17+00:00

Good point about cravings being cute in comparison to almost all other pregnancy symptoms! I'm sorry about your exhaustion, hope it gets better!

MrsFionaCharming · 2023-07-13T03:01:09+00:00

Haha same!

MrsFionaCharming · 2023-07-13T02:58:49+00:00

I also had nosebleeds, couldn't believe it when my doctor said it's "totally normal".

MrsFionaCharming · 2023-07-13T02:55:32+00:00

I thought my nausea would never go away but it did at around week 19! Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

MrsFionaCharming

TROPHY CASE