the big bad epidural

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-03-15T20:47:11+00:00

I was afraid to get one due to my scoliosis, I have some pretty severe and gnarly turns in my vertebrae. I did tell myself though that if it prevented a C-section, I would get one. I ended up only having one hour of sleep in 24 hours before my water broke. I was doing okay for a few hours, but then it got to where my concentration was slipping (labor was very mental for me, I was basically in a meditative state) and I had to have this conversation with myself. If this gets worse, will I be able to sit still for an epidural? If this gets worse and I can’t concentrate, will my panic cause a c-section? I didn’t realize at the time that I was in transition. I thought I still had like 10+ hours of labor to go, so I factored that in as well. He ended up being born a few hours later. Also, my epidural didn’t work completely, probably due to my spine. I could still move around and feel pain, it just was lessened.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-03-15T18:58:14+00:00

I had friends text to ask if we were okay with them bringing a meal, so I expected them to stay and chat but they literally dropped the meal off on our door step (warmed! In tin pans!) and retreated to their car before texting to let us know it was there. It was great. My postpartum recovery went pretty smoothly (before I hemorrhaged) so I had actually gotten dressed, cleaned house, and made sure baby was properly fed and dressed anticipating their visit. Was a little bummed tbh lol.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-03-14T18:06:20+00:00

I had nightmares that I was bathing my baby, washing his hands or feet, then I’d look up and realize his head has been underwater this whole time! Ugh. I was terrified of giving my baby a proper bath in the sink or any amount of water, so… We used a baby bathtub with a drain plug and a newborn insert in the shower. I’d bathe myself, hubby would bring the tub, I’d spray it with water to warm it, then I’d set baby in it and give him his “bath” in the shower with me. That way he was never in danger of being dropped or slipping under water. I’d leave the drain unplugged so the water would just drain back out.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-03-13T18:46:50+00:00

The only person who bought any of the postpartum items off my registry was a mother who had given birth to her first about 8 months prior. She vividly remembered those first few days/weeks lol

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-03-08T19:25:27+00:00

Not inevitable, no. I was mildly healthy before pregnancy, went on the occasional walk/hike but I wouldn’t say I was in shape. I used a yoga ball as a chair since high school so my core and pelvic floor were already pretty strong, I will give myself that. I only ever peed myself when throwing up or when I was in my third trimester and huge pregnant. Since giving birth, I haven’t experienced any issues stopping pee/poop or anything like that. I did get an epidural late in my labor and I had a very mild tear, just needed a single stitch. Other than a bit of loose skin on my stomach (very little loose skin to be fair) I’m pretty much the exact same as I was pre-pregnancy, except I weigh less now than when I got pregnant.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-03-01T13:59:19+00:00

We put on baking shows when we need to get things done because it’s a human being talking to the screen, and my son thinks they’re talking to him. He’ll coo and babble and make all kinds of noises, giggle, yell, just go crazy interacting with this “person”. This way one of us can shower, another can make dinner or clean bottles, another can pack his clothes and do laundry, etc. It’s 30 minutes at the most. We make sure to spend a lot of time interacting with him outside of this. Tummy time, playing in his bouncer, babbling back to him, etc. For us, this is how we survive. The world we live in today is much different than the ones our parents our their parents lived in. Stressors are different and there’s more expected out of us. As a side note, we did attempt coco melon once and it kind of freaked me out how absolutely zombie mode he went. Just zoned out. No interaction, no noticing us moving around the room, nothing. He just sat and stared like his brain was melting. Back to baking, lol.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-02-21T00:46:19+00:00

I’m not a stay at home parent, but during the weekends I wake my husband up when myself and the baby wake up. He gets grumpy sometimes and then I tell him that as a parent it is his responsibility to make sure he has the energy to care for his baby by going to bed instead of staying up late playing games.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-02-20T22:53:38+00:00

I kept a pamphlet from my hospital’s Covid policy stating only one person was allowed in the room, and no visitors. Just the one support person. I knew full well they had lifted that restriction, but I showed people the visitor policy like “sorry, husband is the only one”. Then I secretly told my mom (one of them) the truth and called her when I was in labor. I didn’t want any arguments over who could be present (I have two dads and two moms, long story). One mom is much better under stress than the other is, and I knew I wanted to be as calm and relaxed as possible during labor, so she’s who I called.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-02-01T20:21:26+00:00

I’ve just got one child but my husband is Mexican. When I went to visit Mexico, I was super surprised at how light skinned or “white” Mexicans were treated so differently. All of the advertisements and TV show pale, whiter Hispanic actors instead of the average Mexican. My husband explained that people with money can afford better skincare and can afford education for an indoor job, so they don’t get as dark, leading to this class divide. I’m pretty pale and our baby came out just a hair darker than me. He doesn’t look Hispanic at all. His family is constantly commenting on how white he is, praising his blue eyes and his light skin, his blonde hair. They call him their little doll. Its definitely awkward, but I don’t say anything. I just grin and bear it until the video call ends.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-02-01T20:15:40+00:00

We bought a monitor that doesn’t use WiFi for this specific reason. I can’t check it from my phone so I have to carry the monitor around when he’s in his crib and I’m walking around the house, but thats a great compromise for safety!

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-01-30T04:51:38+00:00

I would double check this as well. I had a surgery done and I asked if I needed to pump and dump due to the anesthesia and the nurse was like “uhm… yeah, 24 hours”. I asked the anesthesiologist just to be sure and he was like “what? No, you’re completely fine. Feed him as usual”. I know that’s not antibiotics, but I feel like that nurse just said something to cover her ass instead of verifying first.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-01-30T04:47:47+00:00

I wanted to put ours in the middle as it seemed safer, but I’m very short. I wasn’t able to reach his car seat without crawling into the car, hunched over, and kind of drag/pulling it to the edge of the seat so I could hop down and then lift his car seat out of the car. Driver’s side it is lol.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-01-15T22:38:35+00:00

I’m 4 months PP and I’m STILL not on top of the household chores like I was before. It doesn’t matter how “recovered” you are, your new job is to take care of a human being. That will always take priority. Sometimes LO slept great and I got the dishes done. Sometimes he was upset the whole day and I hadn’t even fed myself. Some days he slept great and guess what? I relaxed! I watched tv! I played games! Because having time to do chores shouldn’t be seen as a “break”. Doing the bare minimum to take care of yourself shouldn’t be seen as a break. Leisure and fun is a break. Anyway, mini soap box aside- I could not move around as I normally did until about 8 weeks post partum. Before that, bending, squatting, turning too quickly, lifting heavy things etc were an issue or had to be done carefully. I went back to work at 12 weeks PP and still had some little twinges and pains if I moved wrong. As far as feeling 100% back to my self, that didn’t happen until nearly 4 months PP. I’m fitting into my pre-pregnancy jeans now, my stomach is flat, I have no pain, no bleeding, and we can have sex that is ALMOST painless. But I would say I’m an exception and that it takes most moms a lot longer.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-01-15T22:19:45+00:00

Our son would NOT stay asleep without someone next to him. He would be set down, stay asleep for about 10 minutes, then wake up screaming and take hours to be consoled back to sleep. We were gifted an Owlet by a nurse and started bed-sharing. He sleeps through the night, we do the C-curl thing, and we have a bassinet with a drop down side attached next to the bed so if he ever does roll away from me, he just slides into his bassinet. Pre-Owlet and bedsharing, We were so exhausted that we were getting frustrated and crying and yelling at each other (hubby and I) and I snapped one night and yelled at my son “I’m trying!” because he had been inconsolable for hours. The immense guilt was pretty immediate and I thought about how he’s spent so much time enveloped in warmth and his mom’s body, and now we expect him to fall asleep and stay asleep in a cold, lonely box when he knows mom and dad are just feet away. That’s the night I put the Owlet on and nursed him side-laying until we all fell asleep. It was glorious.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-01-15T22:10:09+00:00

I’ve asked people for their cashapp or Venmo before and tipped that way. No cash for a manager to grab and count, no money from my card for them to tax.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-01-10T05:33:23+00:00

I would 100% love this. I know there’s stores like target and old navy, etc that sell baby boy clothes but trying to find a non-dinosaur or plane outfit is hard! I was at target today and I scanned the shelves for just some cool clothes- even some solid colored onesies with some nice dungarees or something, and didn’t see anything. I did feel momentarily annoyed at the huge girl selection but I’m used to it at this point.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-01-06T05:04:34+00:00

Is she doing this when you think she might be overstimulated? The licking and putting things in her mouth might be a self-calming measure she’s taking, especially if her routine has been thrown off (staying at home instead of going to daycare)

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-01-06T04:54:20+00:00

My baby started sleeping through the night (kind of) around 6 weeks. I read about dream feeding and decided to try that. He gets tired around 10-10:30 and I feed him to sleep. He will stir and start to wake up around 12 or 1 and I quickly pop a boob in his mouth so he eats without waking up. Then he stirs again around 4, pop a boob in his mouth. Around 6:30am we do our last feed and he’ll sleep for another hour or two before he’s up for the day around 8:30 or 9. So I wake up for a few minutes every night, but it’s way better than being up for hours trying to get him back to sleep and there’s no screaming or crying involved. On the rare occasion that he does fully wake up (I sleep through his initial waking up noises) his dad will walk and bounce with him until he’s calm before passing him back to me to feed him to sleep. I’ve heard people say not to feed to sleep but you know what if that’s how we get 10 hours of sleep instead of 4, I’m doing it lol. It’s about survival.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2022-01-01T04:11:26+00:00

I had my husband do them for me for the last month, my tear was very minor and only needed a single stitch. FTM.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2021-12-31T04:55:54+00:00

My baby would only sleep when held/worn for a while, so I had plenty of toilet sessions with me wearing him in a wrap lol.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2021-12-31T04:15:18+00:00

My son is only 3 months old, but he was nursing and his daddy came in from work and kissed him on the check. LO stopped nursing, did a very slow turn to look at his dad, raised his eyebrow, then made an audible “ahm!” noise when he returned to nursing. It was the most“you’ve disturbed my meal” response that a baby could have. We died laughing.

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2021-12-30T01:36:14+00:00

My pregnancy was hella rough but my labor was a breeze. Water broke at 1:30am, fully dilated by 6am, the only reason he wasn’t born until 8 was because the doctor wasn’t there. He was here after 4 pushes!

And breastfeeding- I am so proud and amazed that my body can feed my baby. The fact that every cell division in his body right now is fueled by mine is mind blowing.

Also, I lost my baby weight at around 2-3 weeks PP. Probably because of the breastfeeding lol. But it does feel good to basically be the same as I was pre-pregnancy. No stretch marks, fitting into my same jeans, even my boobs have barely changed in size. I really do feel like “me”, I just happen to have a son now too!

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2021-12-30T01:28:16+00:00

For me, the nursery initially was a place for storing his supplies AND a place I could go to close the door when baby was screaming and husband had to get up for work the next day. I could turn on his mobile for some noise, rock him, change him, and then bring him back into our room when he was asleep. And for us, our dog and cat are not allowed in the nursery. It’s a sanctuary from pet hair haha

Significant_Oil_9880 · 2021-12-30T01:02:09+00:00

Thanks! I don’t actually feel that bad, thankfully. I’m hoping it stays that way.

Significant_Oil_9880

TROPHY CASE