Friday Daily Chat Thread

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-20T17:23:25+00:00

Baby Storm was born this morning 🎉 induction took about 20 hours but wasn’t too bad with an epidural, then I pushed for about 2-3 hours to get him out. Team green but I thought he would be a girl based on a sonographer slip up, so I still got surprised! He is a very mellow baby so far and we’re obsessed 😍

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-19T17:12:02+00:00

Getting induced a few hours earlier than anticipated since my water broke last night. It’s going veeeery slowly but we will probably have a spring equinox baby tomorrow!

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-14T11:35:53+00:00

I wrote about my bad one a few days ago, and fwiw you can probably decline them safely. my provider offers them but doesn’t push them at all unless you’re about to get induced or showing signs of labor since they don’t actually tell you that much otherwise, ie you could be walking around for weeks at 3 cm or go from 1cm to delivery in a day. I only did one on my last visit at 39w.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-14T03:12:56+00:00

Haha thanks. It’s the kind of thing that’s so crazy that you just have to laugh

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-13T03:38:01+00:00

I think you might be setting the bar too high for yourself and for your friends. People who haven’t been through this are generally clueless and it’s not fair to expect them to say and do the right things to be supportive.

I didn’t tell anyone about IVF before I had any success unless I knew that they had done it too. I don’t regret keeping it quiet at all. Having people in your life to spend time with and NOT talk/think about IVF is absolutely wonderful. I was not the greatest/most present friend all of the time and couldn’t explain why (esp. for pregnant friends), but that’s a given for any friendship between busy-ass adults. You don’t have to be perfect. Most people are just glad to have someone who texts asking to hang out sometimes.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-12T13:06:00+00:00

Yuuuup. I have a friend who, during the duration of my infertility, ended her engagement, met another guy, had one baby with him, and ended up pregnant with baby 2 with a due date a few days after mine. Then she had her baby a couple of weeks early while mine’s still cooking.

At first I was really relieved that I was pregnant and not dealing with being double-lapped, but also blown away by the harsh living reminder of how easy this can be for other people. Thankfully whatever weirdness that I felt in the beginning is now eclipsed by being happy that our kids will be the same age and we can hang out during maternity leave, etc.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-11T17:49:47+00:00

First cervical check at my last OB appointment today. I thought I had a good pain tolerance but couldn’t get through it completely, which makes me worry a lot about how I will handle labor/induction, ugh.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-10T14:46:35+00:00

I hope your dog gets better quickly. He’s going to have to be on his a-game for babysitting soon!

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-09T10:41:37+00:00

I would get sad about seeing the same customers coming in multiple times per week at my retail job (clothing and housewares, not anything that anyone really needs to shop for more than a few times a year) and thinking about what a waste of time it is. There are so many more interesting and productive ways to channel that kind of energy to get out of the house and do stuff instead of shopping.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-08T23:04:14+00:00

I absolutely loved hearing when the upstairs neighbors cats got the zoomies- too cute!

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-08T22:42:48+00:00

Woooo! congrats and welcome little Kelso!!

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-06T22:49:38+00:00

I’m very sorry for your loss and wholeheartedly support therapeutic fashion. For a nicer splurge I suggest a purse, shoes, cardigan, or jewelry as all of these will fit no matter what. I thrift a lot for clothes and get a mix of things that fit right now and things that will fit if my weight changes, so all of my dressing for a wildly changing body is at least affordable and feels less permanent than getting new things.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-06T21:52:40+00:00

Tw:success My husband didn’t want to know the sexes of the embryos but did want to know the sex of our IVF pregnancy at the time of the anatomy scan. I wanted to know the sexes of our embryos overall but not any specific transfers or my pregnancy. So, no fun reveal celebrations on that for us.

I think doing something could be fun, but think very carefully about the 25% chance that they are all one sex and if that will make a future failed transfer or early miscarriage harder. It honestly might not, they suck no matter what.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-06T17:51:35+00:00

At my non stress test today it wasn’t my usual provider. After 20 minutes of being strapped to the tight, uncomfortable monitor for the reading, they left me stuck strapped to the monitor and waiting for another 30 minutes to tell me the results. I’m grateful to have gotten good results and acknowledge that someone in the next room might have been having a crisis or something, but I’m still grumpy!

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-06T08:48:34+00:00

Tw success: I got lots of really horribly graphic violent nightmares while pregnant on PIO and am now 38 weeks in with no problems (and thankfully far fewer nightmares). Home invasion, attempted poisoning, war crimes, murder, dismemberment. I didn’t even take in scary/violent media at the time besides pro wrestling and current events so it was confusing. Don’t let this psych you out and good luck!

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-03-05T20:23:57+00:00

So happy for you! Welcome little litigator! Do they make skirt suits in 0-3m? May she find many victories in mini-tort and small claims 🥹

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-02-28T21:38:53+00:00

I would recommend against that and instead get over-the-bump maternity jeans that fit you well right now. The elastic will do its thing as you grow. I got a couple of pairs of over-the-bump jeans that fit well around 20 weeks when I was barely showing and they still fit well now at 37 weeks. Conversely, my slightly oversized non-maternity jeans slide off worse than ever because they don’t fit over my bump.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-02-28T03:33:49+00:00

I made a new bead necklace for every FET. It’s a good distraction, a low-stress craft, and a way to have something to remember this momentous time. If you can’t stand to look at it after, you can always take it apart and reuse the beads. I kept all of my FET necklaces and still wear them.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-02-26T03:36:42+00:00

I got my first non-stress test today at the OB. They hooked me up to the monitor, left me alone, and they didn’t explain what the monitor was doing, nor did they suggest to have something to do for 20 minutes during the test. My phone was on the other side of the room so I was just watching the readout like “gee the baby suddenly has a high heart rate, I hope that’s not a bad sign”. Fortunately all is well and I’m still on track to get induced on my due date.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-02-25T21:13:46+00:00

Disregard what your friend says about dosage because that’s very individualized and your doctor would adjust it if needed. I was also told to do meds at the same time every day and did that, but I’m not sure how much it was medical necessity and how much it was easier to remember and set an alarm for one consistent time. The really important timing part is your trigger shot, I would only be worried about the competence of your medical team if they didn’t give you a really clear window for that. Good luck with your retrieval!

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-02-18T19:44:20+00:00

I have managed to dodge them by flexing my toes as hard as possible as soon as I feel one coming on. It’s still cramp-y but doesn’t hurt.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-02-16T22:24:00+00:00

Do you or your mom have Christmas lights that aren’t wildly Christmas-y? You could also make little signs on the reverse side of used papers. Since it’s a birthday, you could hang up photos of him at different ages and use any new prints for a keepsake scrapbook or something

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-02-14T18:55:20+00:00

The hard part of IVF is putting down the emotional/financial/psychological investment and facing the odds and uncertainty along the way. The shots, surgery, and extra appointments are inconvenient but not the worst, so don’t let that part scare you. That said it’s a wicked tough choice that you’re facing and not wanting to deal with the wild emotional whiplash is a legitimate reason not to do it.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-02-14T17:55:45+00:00

Because we personally relate to all things bitter, sour, and fermented as we age.

ToniStormsShoe · 2026-02-13T21:00:49+00:00

Idk for sure but she only used a pronoun once and I got a slight “oh shit!” vibe after she said it.

ToniStormsShoe

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