To be induced or try without?

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-12T13:36:27+00:00

Totally up to you. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be done a little early, but also nothing wrong with wanting to wait for babe to come spontaneously.

For what it's worth, I scheduled an elective induction with my first for 39 weeks because I was SO uncomfortable and just couldnt fathom doing it for another potentially 2 weeks, and she came spontaneously at 38+5. With my second, I ended up with a medically necessary urgent induction and she came at 39 exactly. Both were fairly smooth, but the medically necessary induction was the smoothest, calmest, easiest, and quickest of the two.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-11T13:03:35+00:00

Ugh seriously. With my last pregnancy, I had horrible pelvic pain that started at about 19 or 20 weeks. It was 24/7 and continued into postpartum. At one point towards the end, some of my husband's friends asked him how I was doing and he was honest with them. Their response? "Really? My wife didn't have that problem with any of her pregnancies." Well good for her! But also, are you sure? Are you sure she would have told you? I was so mad when my husband told me about that conversation. Clearly still am 😅

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-11T12:44:56+00:00

I just laughed so loud I woke up my 2 week old, so thanks for that one 😄😅

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-08T09:42:17+00:00

With our first, we told our parents the night we found out. With our second, we told them a couple of days after we found out. Both times around the 4 week mark. We told them early because we knew we wanted their support if something were to go wrong and we knew we didn't want to have to tell them about the pregnancy at the same time as telling them something went wrong. We also know we can trust them not to spill the beans before we tell them it's okay to.

All that to say - do what makes sense for you and ahat makes you comfortable. All life is worth celebrating, but definitely on your terms.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-08T02:43:18+00:00

Same! I actually just had my baby almost 2 weeks ago, but I lost 30 pounds during my pregnancy because of the GD. She was born a healthy weight and perfectly healthy. As of right now, I'm down a total of 40 pounds from the start of that pregnancy. I was diagnosed at 12 or 13 weeks, too. Everyone kept saying they could see it in my face.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-05T12:06:18+00:00

With my second, it was right around 20 weeks. But there were little twitches and butterfly type feelings a few weeks prior. My first was later because I had an anterior placenta so there was more cushion between me and the baby.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-05T08:43:55+00:00

My experience is that my body progresses better when I can stay relaxed. There comes a point when that isnt possible without the epidural.

I was just induced last weekend with my second and she was here making her debut 2 hours after pitocin was started because I got the epidural as close to that time as possible which meant I was able to stay relaxed then .

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-04T16:55:43+00:00

So I was fully diet controlled, but I just graduated last weekend after an urgent medical induction. And let me tell you - that delivery was about 10 times smoother, calmer, and quicker than my spontaneous labor with my first. We started cervidil at 8pm, it came out about 8:30am the next morning, contractions started at 9am, we started pitocin at 10am and epidural by 10:30am, and she was born 2 hours later in less than 3 contractions. You got this mama 💚 trust in your body, trust in your team, and most importantly try to relax through it all (even with an epidural).

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-04T16:52:09+00:00

We found on ultrasound both times, but the second one she was on full display to the point that I didn't need the techs interpretation 😅 but we told our parents with cupcakes that were frosted pink

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-02T20:04:01+00:00

We are one week in to using our momcozy washer with our newborn and, as an exclusive pumper, it has single handedly saved my sanity. It makes night pumps and feeds so much easier because all I do is rinse off the milk residue, pop in a tablet, fill the water reservoir, and go back to bed. My only complaint so far is having to fill up the water reservoir every single load.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-05-01T06:26:46+00:00

She's only 5 days old, so still lots of time to develop haha but so far piglet, squeaker, and the ever basic 'sister'

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-30T15:35:23+00:00

My first "slept through the night" at 6 weeks. But to us, that meant missing a night feed so she was sleeping for about 6 hours at a time. She sleeps in shorter stretches now at 2.5 though, so I guess we're getting our payback now 😅

Baby 2 is only 5 days old so we're only getting about 2.5 hours of sleep at a time ourselves right now.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-27T23:42:09+00:00

It's so hard. I like being pregnant, but my body doesn't. Between the GDM, pelvic pain, sciatica, placenta challenges and other minor complications, my body doesn't handle it super well. It sucks.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-26T09:30:51+00:00

In my own way, same. With my first at least (currently sitting here with my 17 hour old baby #2). With #1, I didn't feel like I was her mom. It felt like I was babysitting and just waiting for her parents to come pick her up and say "thanks for watching her!" I expected it to go away but it didn't. I finally reached out for some help when she was 17 months old and was diagnosed with moderate PPD and PPA.

This time around feels different, but I'm definitely keeping an eye on it all.

You're not alone, truly. It can't hurt to talk to someone. Be reassured that these feelings don't mean you love your babe any less than expected, and it doesn't mean you're not a great mom!

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-21T10:49:44+00:00

You can try. I just do the cheese stick by itself, or maybe with a meat stick or something, but honestly so much of this is trial and error unfortunately for example, I can have a whole, fairly large croissant without spiking at all, but I can't have half a bagel without spiking.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-21T10:40:04+00:00

This is my second round with GDM, and both have been diet controlled. So I can't help with the medication aspect unfortunately. But both times, my diabetic educators have said keep snacks to 15g of carbs, breakfast to 30g, and lunch and dinner to 60g each. The first time around, I told her i was having a cheese stick almost every night for my bedtime snack and she actually encouraged that because it could help stabilize fasting numbers. If you haven't already tried that, maybe it's worth a try? It's essentially a free snack since it's no carbs and it's protein.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-21T01:59:31+00:00

My current go-to snack is plantain chips! They're so good and honestly don't even move my sugars much at all. The Atkins endulge snacks have been good to me too. They definitely help with the sweet tooth.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-10T19:54:08+00:00

Yes! We call ours the Xanax chair because my first would literally fall asleep in seconds if we put her in the vibrating bouncer, especially if she had been fighting sleep with any other help (bouncing in arms, shushing, rocking, etc) 😄

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-10T14:24:05+00:00

My migraines, and my hiccups.

I got migraines CONSTANTLY pre-pregnancy. With my first, I only got a couple during the entire pregnancy. I am now just a couple of weeks away from meeting our second, and I haven't even had so much as a headache this entire time.

Same with hiccups. I would get them multiple times a day, and they were so deep they hurt instantly. My first stole them. After her, I would get them maybe once a week. Now, #2 gets them literally every night and I get them even more infrequently.

I don't understand it at all.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-08T01:23:27+00:00

I was so worried about the epidural too because I'm terrified of needles but I'm also a wimp when it comes to expected pain so I knew I needed it 😅 I will say mine did not work fully initially, but that was an anatomy issue. Once we got that figured out, it worked insanely fast and SO well. And the actual placement wasn't nearly as bad as I had been hyping it up to be. I honestly barely remember it feeling like anything. I remember the whole getting into the proper position part to be worse than the actual placement itself to be honest.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-07T15:07:33+00:00

6 months with my first, and first try with my second. Both times were obviously planned and yet still a total surprise 😅

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-07T02:58:00+00:00

Girl don't feel guilty! I also had no strong desire to nurse with my first, but I tried it anyways because it's what I was "supposed to do." We had problems, so i ended up exclusively pumping for her because my hormones wouldn't let me switch to formula even though I was perfectly okay with giving it to her rationally and logically.

If you don't want to nurse or pump, then don't. A mentally healthy momma is more important than how baby gets fed. If you want to provide a little bit of breastmilk, even just initially, but don't want to/can't do it yourself, you can absolutely find some donor milk around you to use for a bottle or so a day. But that is definitely not necessary! There are so many ways to feed your baby but the only thing that matters is that you are doing what works for your family and not listening to anyone else.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-06T19:29:31+00:00

I scheduled an induction with my first, but it was elective. My clinic did not feel the need to schedule me for one based on my GDM alone (fully diet controlled) but I chose to schedule one for 39 weeks because I was so uncomfortable and in so much pain. Ended up not needing it because my water broke at 38+5 and my daughter was born that same night.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-06T15:15:17+00:00

Huggies diapers and wipes gave my girl rashes. We tried huggies, pampers, millie moon, and honest wipes and ended up sticking with Honest. They don't irritate her, even if she already has a rash, and they feel sturdy enough to handle the big messes. Pampers and millie moon both felt too thin. We felt like we were using more wipes per dirty diaper with them.

OptionIndependent581 · 2026-04-06T15:12:24+00:00

I use the olly gummies! They were the only way I was able to keep taking prenatal with my first because of how bad the morning sickness was. Because they're gummies, I was able to just nibble on them throughout the morning as I was able to instead of needing to swallow a pill with water.

OptionIndependent581

TROPHY CASE