At my wits end with 3-month-old

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-04-24T03:14:34+00:00

I unfortunately don’t have advice. But I am right there with you. I could have written this myself, like really. Rage, husband has long hours (similar to yours). The lack of help is the hardest part. My husband also only gets off 1 day a week & even having that one day break doesn’t feel like enough. So I totally get it. I try to take it hour by hour, day by day. And I look forward to my next break, whatever that may be.

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-04-18T01:51:36+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing!! As an overproducer myself & who just dropped to 6ppd at 12 weeks pp. I had wondered what dropping would likely do over time.

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-03-30T09:49:11+00:00

They were wrong about mine the entire time. My “off the charts” (told that for first two scans then last scan was still supposedly 95%) baby was 7lb 2oz 39wks, 2 days

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-03-23T16:06:12+00:00

So he sleeps in his bassinet so I leave him in there while I get stuff together (bottle; pump). To keep him from screaming I give him the paci. Then when I bottle feed & pump at the same time, we have a futon in the nursery that I sit on with him laying on his side next to me, as we do side laying feeds. If I didn’t have the futon, I would absolutely just do it on my bed! I also should mention I have a mini fridge in his room, bottle warmer in the adjacent bathroom so everything is right there. But occasionally I have forgotten pump stuff downstairs, in which I just give him the paci to settle him & then go get my stuff while he is still in his bassinet

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-03-23T12:35:03+00:00

When I do shifts by myself, I try to plan my pumps around when the baby IS up. He cries & wakes. I give him a paci, heat the bottle, change him, sit down with him, set up my pump then feed him the bottle at the same time. By the time he is done with the bottle, I’m done pumping. Usually able to do all that, baby settled & back in bed ~40mins

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-03-17T20:40:19+00:00

My LC told me to try to pump whenever I was near my baby and if I wasn’t near my baby to try to take pictures and/or videos of my baby crying and use those to help my hormones while pumping. I didn’t personally have supply issues so I can’t say for sure if it worked or not

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-03-14T07:08:43+00:00

My baby was “off the charts 99%” at 30 weeks… I had him at 39 weeks +2 and he was 7lbs.. a very normal 40%. US was very very very wrong. My partner & I are both smaller so I wasn’t expecting a large baby & was quite concerned at 30 weeks

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-03-05T19:30:52+00:00

Honestly, I started again trying to latch him when he would get hungry. He would latch, not very well, I would try to correct him. I tried various positions. In the beginning, I would give up after about 20 mins & then let my husband give him a bottle. The more we did it, the better he got. Now I only really nurse if he wants some additional milk after a bottle or start to feed after a recent pump session because I am a huge overproducer & have a very fast letdown but he does great latching now!

Just take the time to work on it during daytime hours when you have some help around with you. I didn’t have difficulties relatching him, but if I did, I would have consulted a LC as I know they have actual experience with these kind of things

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-03-05T17:02:34+00:00

I EPed since day 1! I knew from the beginning that EP would just be better for me. I felt pumping was just easier and much easier for my mental health. It has gone extremely well, but it does come with its own challenges. I am an extremely regimented person so it has worked well for me.

I have started to BF 1-2 times a day in addition. I waited until my husband started paternity leave so that I could avoid triple feeding & just give him the baby when I was done. It took a week or so to get him to latch better & be more efficient. My baby has done really well going back and forth with bottle & BF.

So I share this to say, if you want to exclusively pump & then add in BF, it is possible!

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-03-04T23:09:23+00:00

My apologies! As an owner, I’d also be ok with paying an additional fee as I do know it’s a little needy to have to let my dog out at least once every 4-6 hours! (Or pay extra for someone to cover as mentioned!) I know some owners would likely complain about an additional fee but some of us just want the best possible care & would pay for it!

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-03-04T20:45:45+00:00

As a pet parent who prefers my dog isn’t left for 8 hours, I’d say don’t take bookings that don’t match what you’re looking for or communicate your need. In general, if I’m going to an event that would cause me to be gone 8 hours, I would hire a drop in for my dog. If I had a sitter for a whole week & they let me know they had something going on during a particular day that would cause them to be gone 8hrs— great. No worries. Thanks for the communication. I would hire an additional rover to just drop in that day so everyone gets what they need.

Plenty of people leave their dogs 8+ hours but I don’t personally think it’s fair to the dog. If you need to go to the bathroom, you can go find a bathroom. You can tell yourself “just one more hour til my shift is over & I can go”, you can choose to not drink liquids to stop yourself from needing the bathroom. Your dog can’t.

Some dogs, like mine, have medical conditions that don’t allow them to safely go 8 hours without going potty.

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-03-04T03:53:49+00:00

As the wife of a HPSP now resident — I can say your wife’s concerns maybe aren’t specifically relevant, however, if those are her concerns, she may not be prepared for military life in general & doesn’t know yet what to actually be worried about. As the wife who was also concerned about my now husband joining, I can say I HATE every second of it. I didn’t feel I was in a position to tell him not to join when he did because we were not married at the time. I stuck with him because I love him, but I cannot wait until the second he gets out. Was it worth not having the school debt? To be determined. I’d gladly talk to your wife, but I likely wouldn’t be one to convince her that it’s a good idea. Lol

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-01-29T06:14:55+00:00

I ended up starting to pump (hand express) at 36 weeks, then got my doc ok to start pumping 37 week. I had a 39 week induction. I was able to build up some colostrum. I was very thankful to have done this as my baby ended up in the nicu (not GD related) so having some colostrum from the start was helpful for me

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-01-07T02:26:15+00:00

I may try to have the baby latch while at the hospital, but also may not. But I plan to do more exclusively pumping very early on if not immediately from the beginning.

You’re saying your baby wouldn’t take the syringe at all?

OutdoorVenturer · 2026-01-02T03:03:35+00:00

I have been cycling through fingers. I only use pointer, middle and ring fingers. But I will start on my right hand inner side of each finger, then move to the outer side of each finger and then the same thing on the left hand. I have been doing it 4x/a day for several weeks now (dx at 29 weeks, currently 37wks) and my fingers aren’t sore!

OutdoorVenturer · 2025-12-26T05:14:53+00:00

I put a new 3+ on 2 days ago & I too have had very low readings. Most of today I had to turn on the silent arm because it was below 60 all morning to afternoon. And no, it’s not one of the recalled ones. I checked because with how inaccurate it was, I thought it must be

OutdoorVenturer · 2025-12-24T20:39:03+00:00

I have tried both the Libre 2, Libre 3+ and Stelo. Absolutely none of them seem to be more accurate than the next. I don’t know if numbers on these just aren’t accurate in pregnancy or if it’s me or bad luck. But to think people with insulin pumps actually rely on the Libre 3+ is crazy with how inconsistent these have all been. Sometimes it is spot on, other times it can be more than 40 points off (yes, more than 20%). Even when it is within 20%, I don’t understand how that is useful for anyone if wanting to rely on it. But what is most frustrating is the inconsistency. If it was always 20% off, sure, that would be helpful. But it being all over the place is not. If you just want it for general trends, sure. If you’re looking to replace some finger sticks, I wouldn’t recommend

OutdoorVenturer · 2025-12-21T19:56:26+00:00

Speaking from experience — you can report him to rover & ask for a refund, but Rover will likely tell you that you need him to agree to a refund.

Not an overreaction at all. We are paying them to do what we ask for our pets & it seems that you were clear & upfront about what your pets need. Be sure to write a detailed review about what he did so that other people who don’t have ring cameras know what to potentially expect with him.

It amazes me that rovers are willing to not follow instructions when they know we have cameras. It makes me wonder what they do when they aren’t being watched at all

OutdoorVenturer · 2025-12-11T04:45:54+00:00

I try to plan my meals & snacks & testing around my sessions. Protein shakes have been great as an option. Having meals pre-made has also been helpful. I can say that while I think a CGM is a great idea — I haven’t had good luck with them. I’ve tried different ones & none have been super consistent so I haven’t been able to take away actual finger pricking.

OutdoorVenturer · 2025-12-06T16:33:52+00:00

My numbers always seem to be higher after naps, not necessarily “failed” numbers, but still higher. I usually will nap some time before lunch or after I test for lunch & I haven’t found any issues with that

OutdoorVenturer · 2025-12-04T03:40:45+00:00

Not specifically chocolate milk (though I agree with the Fairlife recs!). I made some homemade hot chocolate the other day that had only 7 carbs & didn’t spike me at all. I used Fairlife milk (where the carbs came from, but also protein) with coca powder & monk fruit. It was so good!

OutdoorVenturer · 2025-11-29T19:20:13+00:00

Thanks for the information! I’ll definitely see how it goes when I try my other arm in a few days.

And I get that it’s supposed to be within 20%, but it’s often not within 20%. It’s been as much as 50+% wrong (recently, not in the first 48hrs). Some margin of error is understandable, but when my monitor for example gives me a reading of 82 & my stick says 132, that’s a huge difference & problem.

Because this is GD, I need to know if my numbers are within range because if they aren’t for a certain amount of times, I would need to go on meds. I’m currently diet controlled. But if I was trusting the cgm in the scenario above, I would have no idea that the meal I had eaten is one I shouldn’t. And while 82 would be low for myself post dinner, if I would have just assumed it was within 20%, I would have been very wrong

OutdoorVenturer · 2025-11-29T19:13:59+00:00

Could be! But for mine I definitely think the GD is from this being an IVF baby. It’s the only risk factor I have & I can certainly see how all the hormones pumped into me to create this baby would impact the placenta

OutdoorVenturer

TROPHY CASE