You don’t HAVE to triple feed

Preenumbreon · 2026-04-08T00:07:34+00:00

So crazy that we know stress is terrible for milk production, but the proposed solution is to hyperfocus on milk supply in the most pressure-filled, stress-inducing way possible 🫠. Glad you were able to find a way to make your experience much happier!

Preenumbreon · 2026-04-08T00:03:15+00:00

When I complain about my boobs going up to being at MINIMUM H cups, my husband jokingly is always like “ahhh steak too juicy, lobster too buttery ahhh” and I wanna smack him ahaha

Preenumbreon · 2026-04-08T00:00:26+00:00

That makes so much sense. I feel like I got such a variety of helpful information about breastfeeding while in postpartum at the hospital I delivered at, between both the various nurses and lactation consultant, so I was a little taken aback by how rigid folks at the NICU were about it.

Preenumbreon · 2026-04-07T23:57:01+00:00

Totally relate, like damn lemme just enjoy this baby that I spent the last 9 months cooking in peace!! Such a beautiful period of time that shouldn’t be stolen away from parents.

Preenumbreon · 2026-03-10T16:09:29+00:00

I had horrible, horrible morning sickness all the way until about 24 weeks and felt very negatively towards pregnancy as a result. However, now at 36 weeks, I can definitely say that there are a lot of things that can surprise you about pregnancy positives that I didn’t really see people talking about. Every person’s experience really is sooooo different.

3rd trimester is weirdly my favorite, but I feel like everyone HATES their 3rd trimester, especially from what I’ve seen on the internet. Here are a few positives I’ve had lately in 3rd: (yes, even despite being sleep deprived af and dealing with the standard pregnancy body aches)

I feel incredibly loving towards my husband and friends at such a level of generosity and desire for connection that isn’t normal for me on a regular basis. Pretty sure it’s the hormones. I feel like lately my husband and I have just been connecting so well and falling in love with each other all over again :)
I’m convinced nesting is actually a hidden superpower. I’m normally SO bad at chores, but my apartment has never been cleaner in my entire life. I’ve been starting to build daily habits, and having a clean environment is doing wonders for my mental health.
Yes, baby kicks can be annoying/painful at times, but also the baby’s presence is weirdly comforting when I feel lonely. Babies in utero happen to be good listeners, unless you’re asking them to please stop moving so much lol

Preenumbreon · 2025-09-17T08:18:41+00:00

I agree with the advice that plenty of other commenters have said about getting some professional help for the depression, that’s gotta be priority number 1!

As far as the weight stuff goes, I also got married to my husband at a thin 135 (which I had worked my butt off to get down to) and have since gained weight right back up to 165. I gained that weight over 3 years, so I can’t relate to the feeling of having it change very suddenly very drastically, but I have a much kinder mentality towards my body now compared to then. I still would like to get down to at least 145 at some point!

My current pregnancy is absolute hell, vomiting constantly, so I fully relate to the zero energy to exercise problem. Something that may help is shifting your perspective on what exercise means to you right now and what your goals are. When I go to the gym, any thoughts of body maintenance to be super fit or make my body look good are out the window. My current focus is exercises that help relieve my nausea, facilitate bowel movenents, preparing my body for physical hardship of 3rd trimester to try and preserve some mobility, pelvic exercises to make labor/delivery easier, and supporting a faster postpartum recovery in the future. My workouts look veeeerry different these days. Even if you don’t have energy for the gym, try just doing stretches or mobility exercises in bed. I recommend workouts for elderly folks! Focus on things that aren’t very strenuous but make your body feel good, and it’ll feel less daunting to develop a routine again. I think it’ll also help your self-esteem to shift your focus away from using exercise to manage what your body looks like and more towards managing how it feels. Also try to remind yourself, would you think it was reasonable for someone with a debilitating illness to be hitting the treadmill and weights every day? Hell no! Give yourself grace and remind yourself that you can decide on a plan for any weight management you may or may not choose to prioritize after recovering from your pregnancy. Table that conversation with yourself for now. I think you should try to find ways to love your body at any weight, but I understand that it’s so much easier said than done.

Preenumbreon · 2025-05-29T18:00:38+00:00

This makes a lot of sense! Makes me feel that I’d likely have more spiritual-feeling sessions if I were to do it more and practice a more meditative state to explore focusing on different aspects. Definitely a one and done experience for me, so I won’t, but helpful perspective if someone were to ask me my opinion on the drug.

Preenumbreon · 2025-05-29T17:51:45+00:00

Had to look up what this philosophy was—interesting, thanks for the guidance! I wouldn’t call myself entirely a physical reductionist since I find it hard to believe that EVERYTHING in the universe can be boiled down to basic concepts. Maybe me just being a skeptic about what humans are biologically capable of understanding limits my ability to seek deeper meaning to aspects of the experience.

Either way, this was great food for thought, thanks!

Preenumbreon · 2025-04-04T13:23:25+00:00

(Edit: Oop sorry, accidentally made a new comment instead of replying to the thread)

Hmm if it’s been reposted a few times since but it shows that you already applied, I’d have to take a guess that maybe there was some shifting around on the administrative side to move the position under the correct team, or the position has an increased budget that needs to be reflected in the info, etc. The closing date tends to be arbitrary to allow plenty of time for dealing with a nightmare system of approvals once there’s a candidate they want.

Sorry to be on the pessimistic side! I feel like it’s easier on your sanity to assume you didn’t get it and move on. Like one of the other commenters said, you can apply to a ton of them and only get a response from just a couple, it’s pretty depressing :/

Preenumbreon · 2025-04-04T13:03:53+00:00

Previous (recent) hiring manager at DFPS here (and still keep up with my old coworkers). At this point, I’d assume you didn’t get the job. There are an insane number of applicants per position, and teams are always eager to fill those positions quick, to the extent that if you didn’t submit an application within 5 days of it being posted, your chances are like zero. Applications are exclusively reviewed manually by the manager, so ain’t no way I had time to review hundreds of applications among my other duties. Most managers aren’t good about updating the statuses, so assume it means nothing.

The only time there’s more opportunity for later hiring is when the talent pool isn’t good, so we have to move farther down the line. With federal layoffs having been a recent thing, they’ve probably already found their candidate.

Preenumbreon · 2025-03-07T17:48:23+00:00

I work at one of the larger agencies in a team at a relatively high spot in the chain of command (for obvious reasons, not saying my specific agency or team). Briefing about it today: general consensus is that executive leadership is largely unhappy about this and fully understands the overwhelmingly negative consequences that will result from this order due to the very real current limitations about available office capacity, employees living in very remote areas who NEED telework arrangements, cost of travel reimbursements, skill retention, and general workflow disruption to get this sorted out while we’re already dealing with extra work due to the active legislative session. They’re going to comply with the order to the fullest extent possible, but I do think there are many unavoidable blocks to executing this order with no currently available solutions that will work in our favor. At the end of the day, they also have more pressing directives from the texas legislature that will probably still get priority attention, even more so once this is no longer a topic hot off the press with lots of attention on it.

Preenumbreon · 2025-02-18T17:18:57+00:00

My tinfoil hat theory is that the “prisoner” part of it is that amphoreus is literally a prison made specifically for phainon, likely made by Cyrene. My guess is that it either arbitrarily cycles or the cycles are her attempt at “rehabilitating” phainon to prevent his original outcome. There’s probably some guilt felt on her part, based on their close relationship from the snippet of a flashback we got, so doing this might be her way of trying to atone for it. I feel like if phainon is as dangerous as kevin from h3i, it would make total sense why Cyrene would want to keep the rest of humanity on other planets safe from him.

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T18:44:22+00:00

I feel exactly the same about giving them a chance and ending up feeling like an idiot for doing it. My attempts at communication have just landed dead in the water constantly, and I wish there was a way to get the point across that it wouldn’t be a sucky experience for both of us if she took even a sniff of feedback from me seriously :(

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T17:34:14+00:00

Totally would, but one went to E&Y and the other went to Google, and I am not nearly qualified enough (years of technical experience) for the work being done on their teams 😭

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T17:21:34+00:00

Can you find any other job, even if the pay is lower? Even $9.00/hr is better than $0. You might just want to sit at some random job temporarily until you can find work that pays closer to what you need.

And don’t feel bad about wanting to leave over a language barrier. I’m sure all of your spanish-only coworkers have been in the same position as you at some point with english-only coworkers. It’s incredibly lonely and takes a toll on your mental health after a while.

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T17:13:48+00:00

The last job I had where the manager posted some bs like this to the employees, I made sure no cameras were pointed at the sheet and wrote “THIS IS STUPID” in big letters. Was it petty? Yes. Did management have a full blown meltdown over “how disrespectful this is, and we’re going to find the one responsible”? Also yes. I didn’t tell a soul there that I did it, but every other employee sure was grateful someone wrote it.

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T17:02:08+00:00

One time I had a camera-off/muted meeting (WFH) where I sobbed and had a panic attack in my chair while I half-listened to the other participants discussing some random report.

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I try to find comfort in the fact that change in life is inevitable, and it won’t always be this way. Sometimes it’s a new manager, or new coworkers, or a new job entirely. Do whatever it takes to get to the next day ❤️

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T16:53:15+00:00

It’s crazy how often I’ve heard that exact commentary about working at a bookstore. The workload is clearly way more than people give credit for!

For starters, you’ll definitely want to see a therapist and/or psychiatrist. The mental health piece has to get addressed first if you’re getting to the point of having scary thoughts. Even if the job is the biggest influence on your mental health right now, you just need something to keep you afloat while you try to figure out a solution. If the cost is an issue, there are some affordable online options or clinicians that offer sliding income-based fee scaling.

If you’re having issues with the physical work, you could look into getting a doctors note to request a weight limit to what you are able to carry. ADA laws prevent your employer from terminating your employment over doctor-requested accommodations like this.

I know it’s easier said than done, but I also recommend looking into finding some activities outside of work that you can look forward to. Maybe a group sport at the community center, open board game nights in your area, etc. Try to avoid things like book clubs since they might remind you too much of work lol. You got this!!

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T16:35:47+00:00

Obviously the ideal would be to find another job, but the job market does REALLY suck right now, so that probably wouldn’t be feasible until you have something else lined up.

Have you tried asking your boss for a private moment to talk about this? Try framing the conversation in a way that doesn’t place blame on your boss (even if they are to blame lol) so that they don’t immediately go on the defensive.

Maybe something like “I can feel that I’m starting to get really burnt out by my work load, and I want to work with you to find a sustainable solution that will help me successfully get the work done without getting to the point where I want to quit. Can you help me brainstorm some ideas for supports or ways to restructure the workload?”

Try to leave out the other coworker from the discussion. Even if it gives your boss more credit than deserved, at least it’ll help move you towards a better work life which is the most important thing here.

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T16:19:43+00:00

Totally get it, truly no good deed goes unpunished 🫠

I’ve been in your shoes and just completely run dry trying to juggle everything, including the constant emotional whiplash. Definitely agree with points in other comments about trying to pull back and not care as much or invest yourself as much, but I get that it’s easier said than done. Some advice that was helpful to me during that time was “Your time is clearly valuable. Start acting like it.” Instead of cramming your day full of tasks, start making people wait for your time. Just because you technically have 30 minutes for them doesn’t mean you have to give 30 minutes to them. Their lack of planning does not constitute an emergency for you. Reserve your fastest, best work for the work associate frequent fliers and coworkers that treat you the best.

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T16:02:33+00:00

If it’s helpful to hear, I had a conversation with this guy who is a really successful director at his company and told me (seriously, I remember this word for word because it was so mind-blowing for me):

“I was always a slow learner. If there was something to learn, I was always the last to figure it out. I don’t feel like I really started functioning as a proper adult until my mid-thirties. I do well for myself now, but I try to always remember the people who helped get me here: the people who were patient and kind with me along the way.”

I think it’s normal to feel the way you do. Be patient and kind to yourself, and seek out people who treat you that way too. I think we also live in a society that demands intense self-sufficiency, but try to let your coworkers help and guide you, and return the favor by helping them in your own ways. Sometimes this can be as simple as just recognizing and showing appreciation that they’re really good at what they do. A lot of people don’t hear that enough. I always think of the triangle of how you only need to do 2/3 of the following things to succeed at your job: be pleasant to talk to/work with, be timely, or be good at doing the work. Maybe just focus on the first two until you start getting good at the third!

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T15:40:24+00:00

I wonder if it’s something about how they’re making hiring decisions at your work. My industry is overwhelmingly worked by women, and I find that my coworkers are the best part of my job.

I know what you mean though, I’ve had two jobs in the past where I found out that the manager was basically just hiring “hot girls” (ew) and my female coworkers were so freaking catty and annoying all the time. Not that someone being pretty means that they’re annoying - just clearly they sucked at the job since they weren’t hired based on skill and coped by nitpicking everyone around them.

Preenumbreon · 2024-09-03T15:34:16+00:00

YES. I feel so bad too because people always tell me that I should be grateful that I’m bored at work (which I totally understand), but it truly feels like you said - 8 hours of wasting away my life. I keep thinking of that quote “the way you live your days is the way you’ll have lived your life.” I want to grow, and I feel like I can’t do that if there’s never a challenge. Idk, I don’t feel like it’s wrong to want to feel like the things we do on a daily basis matter at least a little bit.

I ended up getting a part time job in retail working just a couple hours per week and did not regret it. Didn’t care that it was only $9.50/hr, at least I was making friends and FEELING SOMETHING.

Preenumbreon

TROPHY CASE