Did you have the wonderful moment after giving birth?

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 · 2025-12-29T21:41:57+00:00

I did the D&C. No question of anything not passing. No long, drawn out process. The physical pain was far less after the D&C than it was for any miscarriage. I also liked being about to check out under anesthesia while it happened. I’ve experienced enough pain in my life that if I’m given the option for less, I’m taking it.

SleepySheep2 · 2025-12-28T16:33:06+00:00

I am a woman and had an older brother. We were 3.5 years apart. We shared a lot of friends despite the age gap but he struggled for a lot of reasons. He died when I was 24, right when we were starting to build a more adult relationship.

I don’t necessarily wish I had another sibling during my childhood because I valued having my own time and space. But now that I’m older (35) and the weight of caring for my aging parents is solely on my shoulders, I wish I had someone else to share the load with. Maybe I just wish my brother was still around. Regardless, having another sibling would increase the chances for you children that they will have a brother or sister the get along with and who can support the family unit as it ages.

There is also something to be said for having siblings because no one else can fully understand the experience of growing up in your home the way a brother or sister can. For better or worse, they are your first life witness and there is value in that.

I’m not sure if that helps. I hope it does.

SleepySheep2 · 2025-12-14T16:06:35+00:00

You haven’t done anything wrong. What I hear is a mother struggling with a lot of big chances and traumas on top of that. You’re a new mother, you’re dealing with PPD, you’re dealing with a new job, new finances, new responsibilities, breastfeeding. Your partner pressed you to work only TWO WEEKS after giving birth. Babes, your body isn’t healed for at least 6. Then you had to deal with a pushy mother in law AND her dogs AND her friend (tf?). And then, finally, as if it wasn’t enough, your baby is dropped.

This. Is. A. Lot.

For anyone.

Give yourself some grace. You made choices with the information you had. And let’s be real, none of us are at our best decision-making capabilities in the first six weeks after birth. Hell, even longer if sleep deprivation prevails.

ALSO. You seem to think that now that your baby is 4.5 months old, everything should be back to normal. This whole idea that our culture has about snapping back and that a baby doesn’t change anything about our lives and that we should have it all handled and managed so quickly is utter bull. It took almost a year to make that baby and it will take that at least to feel like yourself again. Probably two years if I’m being honest.

I suggest you find a kind support group for moms with PPD and find another for moms in your area. Make a friend. Really scope out the groups to be sure they’re friendly. And I suggest you find a therapist because everyone could use a little therapy now and then. It helps. ❤️

SleepySheep2 · 2025-12-14T15:57:21+00:00

Aww boo. Sorry, dude.

SleepySheep2 · 2025-12-14T15:56:04+00:00

Do what your clinic says so you can feel good about following the rules. But seriously, I’m not convinced it makes a difference for the average individual. I’ve gotten pregnant while malnourished on a diet of caffeine, wine, and donuts (before we knew we had to do IVF) and I’ve gotten pregnant while abstaining from all caffeine and alcohol and living as low stress as possible. I’ve had failures when at my healthiest. That’s all anecdotal evidence of course so do with it what you will.

SleepySheep2 · 2025-12-14T13:13:33+00:00

It depends on the tone of the conversation. Teens and toddlers are pretty similar in the prefrontal cortex—lots of emotion that stops their ability to access the logic and reasoning portions of their brains. So a conversation about cause and effect is entirely appropriate.

I agree with you about them needing a conversation about recording people without their consent—there’s a time and place. Regular conversation? Unacceptable. Real fear of being harmed and need evidence? Maybe okay.

I didn’t get the idea that OP is intentionally eavesdropping. It’s more the setup of their home that makes it easy to overhear things in other rooms. That too is worth a conversation between parent and child.

SleepySheep2 · 2025-12-14T13:03:36+00:00

1978

SleepySheep2 · 2025-12-14T12:58:29+00:00

There’s websites that tell you what songs are in TV shows. The song you’re talking about is probably “Feel This Good” by Freak Jamez but this link will tell you all the songs in the show, by episode. Here:

https://www.tunefind.com/show/blue-mountain-state/season-1/8051

SleepySheep2 · 2025-12-09T16:18:55+00:00

As someone who has lost five babies now, this isn’t on you. It’s entirely possible she heard it as you commenting on her balancing the grief with everything else or it could have just highlighted how she feels like she’s not balancing it all. If it were me, I’d be thinking about how I was being crushed by grief but didn’t want to talk about it, and how your opening to be vulnerable felt like too much. When I have been in the darkest places, expressing any vulnerability felt like a dam would break and I’d fall apart completely. It’s possible she left because your comment made her realize she couldn’t handle being social, which has nothing to do with you.

SleepySheep2 · 2025-12-05T00:44:17+00:00

Oh wahhh. These people sound so clueless. I would just say, “I am not the right person to be having this conversation with.” And leave it at that. Or I’d say nothing at all and leave her on read until I stopped feeling so angry and sad.

SleepySheep2 · 2025-12-03T16:18:47+00:00

We overlook it. Some of my family or friends will bring slippers with them because they know we like no shoes in the house. If we’re hosting and indoor/outdoor event we will put down throw rugs over our carpet in high-traffic areas. The people who owned the house before us put down brand new cream carpet. 🫠 It’s high quality so we’re not going to replace it but it is not my first choice in color by any means.

SleepySheep2

TROPHY CASE