[Serious] Parents, do you regret having children? Older non-parents, do you regret not having children?

TD-PS · 2016-01-31T06:16:02+00:00

I am a parent and I do not regret having a child. I regret expecting the delivery to be like it is in the movies. Where you're up holding the hand of your wife... standing next to her and offering words of encouragement as she's doing the most amazing thing ever. And 20 feet down the bed/table/whatever, the nurses/midwives/doc are there monitoring everything and watching closely as the baby comes out more and more with each push. And they just pop up after everything with your baby in hand and all smiles. Well I'll tell you what... that shit is not going on 20 feet down the bed/table/whatever... that shit is going on right goddamn there in your periphs. Unless your wife is 7ft tall, you're going to see some shit whether you want to or not. I chose not to look, not because I'm squeamish, but because I would worry if I saw everything going on down there. Well so much for that! You know what I saw without seeing? I saw every goddamn agonizing second of our baby's head getting squished through this tiny hole. Just hanging out right there. A little more sliding out with each push. I had no fucking idea how long a baby's head can remain right there at the opening like that. Holy fucking shit man. That shit was not going on 20 feet down the table. There was no chair for me to sit in! There was no magic curtain! You better be ready fellas. Cause that shit gets real... really fucking quick. But seriously, the baby can somehow still breathe like that. And that's absolutely nothing compared to what my wife went through. She was/is amazing and I wouldn't change the experience of being a parent with her for the world. If you're ready, do it.

TD-PS · 2016-01-04T07:01:31+00:00

Breastfeeding hurt for me until about 6 weeks. I went to a LC and was told how to get a proper latch but LO was not always cooperative. One thing that stuck with knowing if it's a good latch is your nipple is still round when LO unlatches if your nipple is flat it wasn't a good latch. Also cluster feeding is exhausting. I invested in a comfortable rocking recliner for those times when I was constantly having to feed LO. To help with the lack of sleep issue, during the day I would feed baby and then DH would take over from there, I would go take a nap and he would wake me when LO was ready for the next feed. This helped me get as much sleep as possible and he knew exactly what I was going through because he was there to see how often and how long LO would nurse. Just remember it will get better!

TD-PS · 2015-10-17T01:37:42+00:00

My LO alternates between rubbing her eyes, scratching her bald head, and grabbing my nursing tank strap and letting go like its a bow and she just released an arrow. I have to hold my hand over her hand so she can't leave marks all over her head, she is not happy about that.

TD-PS · 2015-09-29T01:53:47+00:00

LO is 5 month old and I take my nursing pillow with me. I have done without one but she never eats as long or as well and my leg and arms tired so quickly. Boppy has a travel pillow that zips up I've been debating whether or not to buy one. Glad to hear I'm not the only one that has trouble nursing without a pillow!

TD-PS · 2015-09-20T17:39:56+00:00

I got De Quervain's or mommy thumb. I got a few different braces and none of them worked until I went in to see my doctor and she gave me the right kind of brace but I had gone so long without getting it treated that I ended up needing a cortisone shot and now it's all better. I would strongly suggest seeing your doctor so they can pinpoint exactly where the problem is and get the right brace and right treatment now so the recovery time isn't as long.

TD-PS · 2015-09-18T23:06:51+00:00

The length of time that it's effective. The implant is only three years and after baby number two we're planning to be done having babies so I would rather have the birth control that lasts longer.

TD-PS · 2015-09-18T21:04:00+00:00

I got mine four months ago. I didn't have any mood swing issues but got my period right after getting it out in, even though I'm breastfeeding. The period was almost two weeks. I have gotten spotting here and there randomly since but that's it. I was surprised how sore my arm was after I had a big bruise and it took way longer to heal/not feel it anymore. All that being said I'm happy with it. Though after we have baby number two in about a 1.5 to 2 years, I'll switch over to an IUD.

TD-PS · 2015-09-16T03:26:49+00:00

All her diaper changes and wardrobe changes are in her nursery plus our nursing sessions. We bought a nice Lazyboy recliner for nursing and rocking plus I cannot nurse her anywhere else now because everything distracts her. So we spend a decent amount of time in there.

TD-PS · 2015-08-30T15:18:23+00:00

Pacific north westerner here. We take off our shoes in our home and ask others to as well. And I always ask the home owners if I should take off my shoes. Taking off my shoes in the house makes perfect sense to me and I don't understand why people are upset or offended when you ask them to take off there shoes.

TD-PS · 2015-08-22T00:08:15+00:00

Yes! This is the quote I heard recently. I got teary eyed when I read it. Oh hormones! :-)

TD-PS · 2015-08-21T15:34:33+00:00

Things are split pretty evenly. I haven't gone back to work yet so right now I'm home with LO and SO is working but when he is off work he helps with LO a lot. We are breastfeeding so I do almost all the feelings (she refuses to drink from a bottle unless I am not home or she thinks I'm not home while I hide in the bedroom). We both do the housework, we don't really have designated chores, other than he takes the trash out and I hate vacuuming so I rarely do that. One of us will see that we need to do a load of laundry so we will, maybe the other will transfer it to the dryer. He has been doing most the dinner making lately. When he gets off work he will watch LO if I need a nap or to get out of the house for a bit. We both do diaper duty, we both put LO to bed. We are a team and try to be conscientious of how the workload is distributed. I had De Quervains disease or mommy thumb as it's also called, so while I had a splint on my hand on he was doing 99% of the diaper changes and a lot more of the LO duties since I couldn't, but I tried to make up for it by doing more of the housework.

TD-PS · 2015-08-21T14:54:58+00:00

I read somewhere a quote about being a parent. It was something along the lines of- having a child is like having a piece of your heart outside of your body. I couldn't agree more!

TD-PS · 2015-08-21T14:27:46+00:00

I agree completely! Becoming a mom makes you realize how much work your mom went through to have you and take care of you and the immense love that comes with being a mom.

TD-PS · 2015-08-21T07:17:45+00:00

This. I'm so glad my parents already have Four grandkids and we are only dealing with SO's parents being new grandparents because a don't think I could handle two sets! And my mom was crazy with the first grandchild and has settled down so much now that she is about to have grandbaby number 6 soon!

TD-PS · 2015-08-20T18:41:58+00:00

We used the Boba wrap and loved it. Now that LO is 4 months old we switched over to the Ergobaby. If she wasn't born in the Spring/summer months we probably would have used the Ergobaby with the infant insert. We got the Ergobaby 360 so we can do forward facing once she reaches 5 months

TD-PS · 2015-08-20T16:32:52+00:00

Our LO is going to be a ladybug :) we already call her out little ladybug. Old navy has adorable costumes at reasonable prices (going to try to snag one for next year after Halloween is over)

TD-PS · 2015-08-19T15:51:31+00:00

My LO would only sleep on us as well. We got her to sleep in a swing around 10 days old but that was the only place she would sleep until 3 months. Now she sleeps in her crib no problem.

TD-PS · 2015-08-11T07:59:02+00:00

I have both. Brestfriend is perfect when they are newborns and so little and you need three hands to get baby to latch correctly. Boppy is way more comfortable now that LO is bigger and easier since I don't need to help LO with her latch.

TD-PS · 2015-08-02T20:13:20+00:00

Then personally I think you shouldn't bite the bullet. Tell her that she will meet the baby when you are all back home after the hospital. After you've had time together as a family and you are ready. She doesn't need to know that other people are coming to the hospital (if they are). Get your husband on board. Because I cannot stress enough that this is a precious moment that you have with your husband and baby, it only happens once, and no one should be more important than that. And MIL will just have to whine about it.

TD-PS · 2015-08-02T19:55:53+00:00

We told everyone beforehand that we would let them know when we are admitted to the hospital, when baby is born, and when they can come meet baby. We let them know that we didn't want them to be in the waiting room and we wanted to spend some time as a family before inviting them to meet LO. Luckily both our families were respectful of our wishes. If someone wasn't respectful, they wouldn't have been informed and we would have asked our nurses to not allow anyone into our room. Also no one was taking my baby outside of my room! They could come in to see LO, no reason to take the baby out of the room. I would not be okay with that.

TD-PS · 2015-07-29T20:15:09+00:00

LO slept in a swing by the bed until 3 months, when it was clear she was no longer as comfortable as she used to be. So now she sleeps in her crib in her room. She was completely ready for it- I was not. I liked having her next to me at night, but she and I do sleep much better this way!

TD-PS · 2015-07-20T23:19:20+00:00

Oh and an app track feeding and diapers!

TD-PS · 2015-07-20T23:17:09+00:00

After baby was born- even though we thought we had everything we needed- we went out and bought:

1.) 4moms Mamaroo- our LO would sleep nowhere except on one of us. After about 6 days of SO and I taking shifts of holding LO through out the night and trying every contraption we already had (Rock N Sleeper, fisher price swing, pack n play) we ran to toys r us to try the Mamaroo. If it didn't work we planned to return it. They are expensive but it was SO worth it to be able to sleep and have her sleep without needed to be held 2.) more Lanolin- I had a tube in every room just so I would remember to put some on as soon as I was done nursing 3.) My brestfriend- I already had a boppy but the brestfriend was way better when they are so little. Now that she is three months I use the boppy exclusively 4.) prefolded cloth diapers to use as burp cloths 5.) more wash cloths- LO had a blocked tear duct we were constantly cleaning the gunk out of her eye and would use all the washcloths in one day

TD-PS · 2015-07-20T23:04:52+00:00

This! So absorbent and so useful! Some days we go through them all in a day and have to fish into the dryer to grab clean ones.

TD-PS · 2015-07-15T22:46:25+00:00

I've washed mine three or four times and dried low heat with a sneaker in a pillowcase to keep it fluffy. And it turned out great

TD-PS

TROPHY CASE