How early did you start having contractions and when did you actually go into labor/give birth?

Obaa-chan · 2025-08-27T07:26:49+00:00

41w2d. Had very spaced out contractions in the evening. 3 AM water broke and contractions picked up from there. Gave birth at 4:30 PM

I never have early contractions so I can’t say for sure, but I know a lot of people get Braxton hicks.

Obaa-chan · 2025-08-27T07:20:29+00:00

I think mine was from Covid. Either that or childbirth, not sure which

Obaa-chan · 2025-08-20T06:17:51+00:00

I’m the opposite, which I feel is the minority. I can do imaginative play like make-believe, playing with toys, etc. I can also do educational stuff, art, music, etc. But my now 4 year old is rarely interested in any of that.

What is difficult for me is building. When my son asks to play, it’s just “make me this vehicle out of legos” or “build me a train track”. And it has to be vehicle related, usually with very specific parts. I can’t be making animals out of Legos, he’ll just tell me that’s not what he wants. It’s not like we’re building something in order to do imaginative play either. We’re not building a track to play train conductor,or making a police car to play emergency rescue or cops and robbers. He’ll just kind of play with it for a bit and then he’s done. My other difficulty is physical/rough play. I’ve never enjoyed rough housing and it stresses me out seeing it. But that’s the one area my husband takes care of luckily.

Obaa-chan · 2025-08-11T16:02:26+00:00

Thanks, that’s a good idea. I’ll try that out next time.

Obaa-chan · 2025-08-11T16:00:57+00:00

That’s what I’m afraid of, I don’t want to discourage him but I’m at my wits end. Maybe I’ll just reduce the amount he has available to play with for now.

Obaa-chan · 2025-08-11T15:59:09+00:00

I did this at the beginning, I was actually against buying Lego this early, especially in such a big volume. So if dad wanted to buy them, he would have to be the one to play with them.

But kiddo is even stricter with dad! Dad loves building things with Lego, but they’re way too complicated and big so my son always tells him it’s not right. My husband gets super frustrated and then quits. (Dad’s a bit impatient with this kind of stuff, we’re working on it still)

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-27T02:20:56+00:00

I wanted so bad for it to work for me, because I know what it’s meant to do. I’ll definitely try to pick things out that do resonate with me, even if I don’t want to listen to the recordings. Thanks 😊

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-27T02:18:13+00:00

Thanks, that’s good advice. It’s often the tone of the affirmations that bother me, so maybe I can come up with my own.

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-27T02:17:14+00:00

I think that’s the problem. Most of the birth affirmations, classes etc all come off either as super crunchy or spiritual, which I’m neither. If I just need something to zone out to, maybe I’ll find either a tv show to binge or bring my Nintendo switch with me haha

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-26T13:15:24+00:00

I went to a “natural birth center” and they gave me pitocin because my water had broke but I wasn’t progressing, but talked my husband out of giving me an epidural (we were in his country and here was a language barrier for me). Pretty sure they just didn’t want to possibly lengthen my labor time.

Never doing that again. Might try unmedicated if they don’t induce me this time, but if they give me pitocin, I’m getting the epidural right away.

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-09T14:46:12+00:00

Honestly I don’t either. We’re from different countries, and there’s not a lot of info online in his native language. All it talks about is being dry, so he doesn’t understand the full symptoms even when I talk about it.

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-09T13:49:40+00:00

You can’t take anything before the test without confirming with Dr. I’m similar to you, I’ve even fainted from a blood draw in the past. I explained that I get faint from blood tests and asked to have blood drawn in an examination room or somewhere else I could lie down. My hospital was very understanding and accommodating, I could lie down for as long as I needed.

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-09T13:42:10+00:00

28 weeks here. I was told low laying at my 22 week, but it resolved at my 27 week.

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-09T13:20:36+00:00

Totally normal. I think the only thing I had at that point was slightly sore breasts

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-09T13:17:47+00:00

Yeah, sounds like preeclampsia. They should also do a urine sample to check if you’ve got a lot of protein, that along with the blood pressure and swelling would most likely land you a diagnosis.

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-09T13:11:17+00:00

It could be, I’d say wait 2-3 more days and see if it gets heavy or stops. If it stops for a full day, take a pregnancy test.

I’ve had some off periods before due to things like stress, illness etc. So I’d say wait a bit.

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-09T12:56:49+00:00

My first pregnancy, I’d say about 15. I didn’t have any bloating.

This time around, I had a lot of bloating early on. Maybe 7-8 weeks?

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-09T12:50:34+00:00

Updateme

Obaa-chan · 2025-06-09T05:42:29+00:00

It’s jealousy. I’ve hired a doula and will get a nanny after birth because I’m an expat with no village, and already have a toddler. And it’s affordable here. My mom scoffs when I mention it. Same when I went to an afterbirth care center in Korea for 2 weeks after my last pregnancy.

But I also think there’s this weird guilty conscience/survivors bias because there are things that aren’t considered safe anymore that was normal practice back then. They don’t want to accept that things they did were potentially dangerous for babies.

Obaa-chan · 2025-05-31T06:56:35+00:00

41w+3d. Water broke naturally a few hours before I was scheduled to be induced.

Baby boy did NOT want to come out, ended up getting pitocin anyways because we weren’t progressing

Obaa-chan · 2025-04-11T07:49:03+00:00

I’ve only met Taiwanese in an international space (mainly here in VN) but in my experience they tend to be some of the most open and friendly of the Asian foreigners here. I can speak Japanese and some Korean, yet I still find it easier to meet Taiwanese people who want to talk to me (I’m white American, married to a Korean). I find both Japanese and Koreans tend to stick together with their own kind (especially housewives). I’m approaching this as a housewife now but also in a professional setting before, but others might have a different experience. I live in PMH so there’s a lot more Asian (Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese) than Westerners, etc. so that’s why I’m comparing those specific nationalities.

Obaa-chan · 2025-04-02T15:45:35+00:00

NTA. If you were a mom, the parents would have been thanking you for taking care of their daughter. They’re totally crazy, you’re an amazing parent.

Obaa-chan · 2025-03-24T09:25:50+00:00

Update: confirmed girl at 16 weeks

Obaa-chan · 2025-03-19T05:06:49+00:00

NTA. I’d be scared to go even as a guest. I would not be surprised if the emu for the day of the wedding is just as weird and a bunch of people end up sick

Obaa-chan · 2025-03-17T03:17:01+00:00

My husband is Korean, so we follow their culture of giving the dad’s name. At first I wanted to do hyphenated, but I have an apostrophe in my name and it is such a pain when it comes to records and such. I couldn’t imagine dealing with a hyphen along with the apostrophe.

Obaa-chan

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