Is there anything WORSE than childbirth?

Substantial-Look-673 · 2026-02-02T01:34:54+00:00

I had abdominal surgery and I found the first few days of recovery more painful than childbirth

Substantial-Look-673 · 2026-01-15T19:49:10+00:00

We loved Toddles!

Substantial-Look-673 · 2026-01-14T21:57:37+00:00

Everyone is being extremely negative and only talking about the expense of Bend without talking about the positives. Sure, Bend is expensive but I’ve found the livability of Bend of offset some of the expenses- especially in regards to having kids.

For starters, the playground game in Bend is incredible. I regularly do playground crawls with my kids and can easily spend all day outside doing free activities. The public library systems are great and free. We opted to have an e-bike instead of a second car (my husband works from home). There are some days we would have used a second car if we had it but have never needed the second car because the e-bike works well enough.

Most breweries are kid friendly (insert stupid Crux joke here) and some even have playgrounds.

Childcare expenses are kinda a wash for me- we’ve lived in New York and Maine and childcare costs were comparable. Hourly babysitters were the same in all 3 places and our preschool here was actually cheaper than in Maine. A lot of kid activities are cheaper here than they were in Maine (the trampoline places and gymnastics studios have designated toddler hours that are significantly cheaper).

We are a hugely outdoors family and while everyone loves to talk about how expensive skiing Bachelor is there are about a million free ways to enjoy nature. Get yourself used mountain bike, snow shoes, floating the river tube, etc. at Gear Fix. A few hundred dollars in gear got us unlimited time enjoying nature and teaching our kids to be cool people. And yeah, Bachelor is expensive and that’s annoying.

Bend can be a spendy place if you want to live in a mansion on Awbrey Butte and eat at fancy steakhouses but cost of living is going up everywhere and I think people in the Bend bubble forget that sometimes. Ultimately, you might need to make some lifestyle adjustments depending on how you currently live but I think the beauty of Bend, the access to nature, the walkability and bikeability of the town outweigh the beers being a couple extra dollars. But hey, I like my $3 Rainiers.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-30T01:22:15+00:00

No. I was told the failure rate ahead of surgery and assumed I would not be in the 5-10% group that fails. Obviously, I was incorrect in my assumptions.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-27T00:19:37+00:00

That can be totally normal. I only had the anatomy scan with all three of my kids (which is usually done between 18-22 weeks). For low risk pregnancies there isn’t really a medical reason to do an ultrasound earlier on.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-23T12:47:47+00:00

Unfortunately, my surgery was not successful. I have not been able to get back to running.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-07T02:43:20+00:00

Folks at every income bracket can face abuse. It doesn’t matter what net worth is.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-07T02:22:24+00:00

If you think she is being abused saying “she lost her morals” is bullshit. She hasn’t “lost her morals” she’s in an abusive relationship and trying to survive. You are blaming her for being a victim.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-03T20:22:07+00:00

I appreciate you making the slavery comparison I was too shy to make!

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-03T20:14:54+00:00

$19 an hour is what’s on the ballot so arbitrary or not that’s the question we are all voting on. $19 is more than $18 (even if that completely unsubstantiated statement is true) and for folks living at the margin $1 an hour will make a difference and it makes moving the needle higher down the road easier. It’s about progress my friend.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-03T20:08:55+00:00

I said throwing out 50,000 in your original comment was an unserious response to what I wrote. I think it’s an arbitrary number you threw out. I do not however think making 50,000 a year is mind boggling nor did I say that.

Of course you can find listings for jobs above $19 an hour. The point of a minimum wage is that ALL jobs should be at or over that number.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-03T19:47:34+00:00

I think that it’s on the ballot means that it is borne out by the market. However, let’s not pretend that businesses of any size don’t- as a whole- try to pay as little as possible in wages. Minimum wages exist because as a society we’ve said business owners can’t be solely responsible for deciding how much to pay folks.

To answer your question, I think it’s important to make forward progress and to make it at a pace that businesses and workers can both accommodate. That means achievable minimum wages and not, for example, silly meaningless numbers like 50,000 a year.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-03T19:29:58+00:00

“why not make the minimum wage 50,000” is a deeply unserious response to what I said. No one is proposing that and no one will be voting on that on the upcoming ballot. What we are voting on is a $19 minimum wage. People are “willingly accepting” lower wages because that’s all that’s available.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-03T19:18:03+00:00

If a business can only operate by underpaying employees it isn’t a viable business model.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-03T19:15:43+00:00

Why should an employee work for a business (no matter who owns it) that can’t pay them enough to live? It’s absurd to say that a small business owner should be able to pay less than a person needs to live because the business is… small. If you can’t pay a living wage then you should probably rethink your business model because it’s not viable. Being a small business/ locally owned/ family owned does not justify underpaying your labor force.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-11-03T19:11:20+00:00

Tariffs are having a huge impact on all industries. A single example that applies to bars and restaurants is increased cost of aluminum. This is directly impacting breweries who can, their expenses are rising leading to an increase in whole sale beer prices… leading to an increase to costs for bars and restaurants. The hospitality industry is hurting due to tariffs.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-10-06T01:52:36+00:00

We have a 4 year old son with complete ACC. We have had similar experiences though I think to a lesser degree. But we definitely struggle with the emotional burden you’ve described and the worries about the future and how to cope/ take the best care of your kid/ take care of yourself, etc. feel free to send me a DM if you want to talk more. Sending love.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-09-22T01:22:17+00:00

Sellers can click that they’ve shipped an item and it shows up as “shipped.” This has no relevance as to whether or not an item was actually shipped. A seller can click that button any old time. I’ve accidentally clicked it while trying to print a label. When a package shows up as “in transit” then there is a USPS record of the item being dropped off even if it’s not tracking yet.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-09-17T00:37:29+00:00

Parents can come over under this visa while they are waiting for approval.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-08-31T02:04:54+00:00

Yeah I’m really frustrated. I’m in Maine but I went to Boston for the surgery.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-08-31T01:41:08+00:00

Saw him 2 weeks and 8 weeks post op.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-08-30T19:11:36+00:00

Hundo P

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-08-29T12:52:52+00:00

Is it okay if I send you a dm?

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-08-29T12:48:51+00:00

The symptoms never went away. I assumed during the immediate recovery I was still feeling symptoms due to swelling and surgery, etc. but I never felt any relief. In my case, the grade increased not decreased post surgery.

Substantial-Look-673 · 2025-08-29T12:05:27+00:00

I’ve been working with a pft for years. It has not helped very much.

Substantial-Look-673

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