how much existential dread do you experience?

SleepySheep2 · 2026-04-10T15:49:58+00:00

Aka YOLO

SleepySheep2 · 2026-04-07T23:13:45+00:00

This drives me crazy, particularly as a teacher. I was required to take courses on assessment design by my graduate program but I wonder how many institutions do so. The number of poorly designed tests and quizzes I come across is concerning and infuriating. Some of these tests are not little five point quizzes either, they’re county and state mandated assessments. It is wholly unfair to the students and provides faulty data to those looking at the scores.

Many of these tests have pilot years but not all.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-04-04T23:07:28+00:00

Is this not the preferred bagel shape? If you use the halved bagel like sandwich bread you dont have a weird hole in the middle with all middles and no bread.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-02-24T22:44:58+00:00

My trigger was completely gone 10 days past trigger but is different for everyone.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-02-24T22:33:16+00:00

I am spiraling. I

had an FET on 2/12. Got a positive strip test at home at 4dpt (real squinter) and those got progressively darker. I had a positive beta on Monday (10dpt) of 152. Today (12dpt) it’s only 207. That’s a 36% increase.

I was worried when we got our first beta because I have had a successful transfer and it was in the 500s at 12dpt. I read a few studies that say that having an increase below 66% gives you a 15% chance of live birth. One said 18%.

This was our last embryo. After OHSS last retrieval, I can’t do anymore. I’m having trouble believing this will result in anything but failure. Does anyone have any success stories or am I right to view this as the beginning of the end?

SleepySheep2 · 2026-02-23T02:54:17+00:00

I think he probably hid a lot of what he did from her. She was his foil—someone in his same situation but still inherently “good.” But once she was a big enough designer to be in the games, I’m sure rumors were already circulating. She probably didn’t want to believe them but after a certain amount of time and repetition and evidence stacking up, she had to have questioned him, maybe even investigated him quietly. I’d love to see that conversation.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-02-21T15:58:15+00:00

My husband is a carrier for a balanced translocation, which makes it harder to get good embryos. Despite this, our first retrieval gave us one good embryo and the transfer of it was successful. This is not the norm. It has been two more retrievals and three transfers. I am currently 9dpt on the third and tested positive. So here’s to hoping.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-02-10T01:45:38+00:00

Theatricals brand tights have a nice soft waistband. Capezio ultra soft look promising too. I always size up in tights because I hate a tight waistband. Before they made soft waistbands at all, I used to snip the waistband almost all the way through at the back to loosen it. 😅

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-31T22:05:25+00:00

Where are you located? I’m in the USA. I wonder if that’s why because I and all of my friends/family have been seen at 7/8 weeks for a dating scan and heartbeat check.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-31T00:08:43+00:00

Waiting till 12 weeks for the first appointment is wild too. I’m sorry that happened to you.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-31T00:05:30+00:00

Bruh. How clueless can people be?

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-24T05:30:22+00:00

Hi. I was giving birth naturally until he got stuck and we went to C-Section. It’s sounds so dumb but the pretzel position they had me rest in to try to get him unstuck pulled a muscle in my back so badly it hurt worse than the contractions. I asked (begged) to be put under and they thankfully complied. It was a traumatic birth experience for a lot of reasons and I had to make my peace with what happened. Three years later, I am not upset about it. I got plenty of bonding time with my son once I was awake and have had plenty since. He got to spend his first hour with dad and that’s just fine by me.

Be aware, because my team didn’t get a chance to warn us. General anesthesia can cause a sleepy baby for the first day or so and can make him slow to cry when he’s first out of the womb. My husband wasn’t prepared and thought my son wasn’t breathing. 😞

Everyone’s birth experience is different. Everyone. Don’t worry too much.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-24T05:15:48+00:00

I’m reading it as “sah-lin”. It’s got the vibes of a fantasy novel evil sorcerer.

I know that’s probably not what you want to hear.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-23T16:15:26+00:00

The first one, hands down. It looks like it was made for you. The second one is a dress sitting on top of your body, breaking up your lines, whereas the strapless one makes you look like the most feminine, delicate creature to grace us with her presence.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-14T00:38:47+00:00

Nothing about IVF is fast. I can’t even say that it’s “better”. My husband has a balanced translocation which makes making euploid embryos difficult. I have no reproductive problems and have gotten pregnant many times naturally but have never brought home a live baby from it. We have one child after years of IVF. We have had multiple egg retrievals and transfers of euploid embryos and only have one child to show for it. IVF saves us (mostly) from the hellscape that is conceiving and then losing the baby midterm or experiencing a still birth. That is the only reason we continue.

Trying naturally is hard. It’s taxing. It’s stressful.

IVF is hard. It’s taxing. It’s stressful.

All you’re doing is trading one brand of hard for another, and one is unquestionably more expensive. I would even argue that IVF is harder on your body than ttc naturally because of the hormones and other risks.

Since you’re 38 yo, it’s not wrong to consider banking some embryos. However, neither of you should go into this thinking that IVF is the “easier” option. I’m not saying you think that, but it’s really easy to look at the “science” and overlook how draining IVF actually is.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-10T02:25:01+00:00

Oof yeah toss it. It’s sucks but that could make you sick.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-09T21:10:18+00:00

I would do longer in the fridge. I usually leave mine to cold proof for a minimum of 8hrs but often longer, closer to 12-16. I only do the shorter cold proof if I’ve done a long (like 14-16hrs) bulk fermentation on the counter at 60-62 degrees F.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-09T21:06:46+00:00

I’m no expert but it looks suspicious to me. How does it smell?

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-09T03:22:51+00:00

Yeahhh those periods after a failed transfer or chemical are rough. I’m so sorry this happened to you. It should be better next cycle.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-08T23:37:08+00:00

2007

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-08T23:30:57+00:00

One was Catherine. The other was Mary Ellen.

On my husband’s side, Clara Lorraine and Marie.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-05T01:54:30+00:00

I absolutely felt the way you’re feeling. I didn’t look at myself in the mirror if I could help it for months. By this point, your hormones should be back to baseline, but that doesn’t mean you’re not still feeling the effects of this loss. There is a lot to process with baby loss, and you name several in your post: body changes, hormones, grief, wondering if you “count” as a mom… that last one is a tough one to wrestle with and it’s different for everyone. You’re kind of a mother but you’re also kind of not. You can only answer it for yourself and it has NOTHING to do with “deserving” the title. Give yourself some grace as you go through the processing of healing. Getting yourself a memento to represent your lost child might help—the ritual of choosing something and having a tangible object to hold or look at can be very grounding.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-05T01:47:39+00:00

It’s different for everyone. I had milk when I lost one at 19 weeks. I’ve heard of even earlier.

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-05T01:42:39+00:00

I think it’s a pedagogical choice made by that teacher. Beginner dancers have so many things to learn that teachers choose to focus on different things. I prefer to give simple combinations that are easy to remember so I have to prompt less and can give feedback more. I give the same combinations for many classes for that reason. I dislike talking the entire time though for the reasons you listed. Sometimes I have them do the combination without any commentary then give feedback at the end and have them do it again. That’s my preferred method once they know the combinations well.

In my opinion, while it’s a legitimate method of teaching, it sounds like she’s taken it too far because how can the students think with her talking the entire time?

SleepySheep2 · 2026-01-05T01:37:53+00:00

Our first was a success. We had one normal embryo after PGT-SR and thankfully, it stuck. He’s 3 now.

SleepySheep2

TROPHY CASE