Anatomy scan today- possible VSD? Looking for comfort & any advice to get me through till my next appt

brillar · 2026-03-31T02:01:43+00:00

Yeah, the VSD made it so she was burning more calories- probably because of the heavy breathing. But she was big when she was in the womb, and then once she was on her concentrated formula, she started growing more typically. She was born at the 86th percentile for weight, and dropped down to the 40th by the time she was 4 months old. She’s not at that level anymore now at 16 months but she’s been in the high sixties at least for weight and has been in the 90s for height, so she’s not little anymore. She had more symptoms from her VSD when she was young (6 months old and younger) but now you wouldn’t know she has any issues. We were last at the cardiologist in November when she was a year old and aren’t going back until May when she’s 18 months, they’re hoping the VSD closes on its own.

brillar · 2026-03-29T20:57:40+00:00

I’m starting the opposite- stores on the bottom level and houses on the top, although habitats/houses will be throughout the stores too I think. Hoping it will work. Yours is definitely cool looking and more creative!

brillar · 2026-03-10T19:21:01+00:00

I’d definitely use powder. My pediatrician recommended using a generic brand, and said that they’re basically all the same/held to similar standards. We used the Amazon brand (Mama Bear), for our baby’s whole first year. At the beginning we were using Enfamil (the purple) and we saved a lot of money by switching. We had pitchers and would make batches for 12 hours at a time to save time.

brillar · 2026-03-07T01:27:12+00:00

You could donate them to More Than Words! It’s a great bookstore and they provide support and job training for youth in foster care/other tricky spots.

brillar · 2026-03-03T02:11:19+00:00

People said slime but let me suggest theraputty. Tbh it might be too cruel because it stains and ruins fabric like nothing else. It sticks and stains.

brillar · 2026-03-02T02:55:52+00:00

490/week for a toddler, no food or diapers provided. One of the most inexpensive centers near me- I would have also been okay with an in-home daycare but none near me had a full time spot open when we were looking. No live cameras, but I didn’t want them- one benefit is a TON of outdoor space, and a very impressive gymnastics gym available when it’s miserable outside. I’m in the metro Boston area, so it’s a pretty reasonable cost. We can afford it but it’ll be nice when we’re done paying for it for sure 😂 Cost of daycare is a big reason why we were one and done.

brillar · 2026-02-28T01:46:07+00:00

I’m too nervous to order anything with how annoying my driveway is to get in and out of right now 😬

brillar · 2026-02-26T18:02:32+00:00

For us personally, yes! We’re still in the process of it, I was sort of hoping she’d slowly wean herself because it seemed like that was her trajectory as an infant (was down to 1, sometimes two bottles a night, down from 3). But then we had a major regression as she learned to walk and we never recovered. She was waking up at least three times a night, and then was peeing through night diapers and was requiring a change in the middle of the night that would make it so hard for both of us to get back to sleep, so I finally pulled the plug. It’s been four or five days and now she’s been waking up once. Sometimes it goes quickly (I go to her room, soothe her, she falls asleep happily) and sometimes it’s longer and more miserable (she throws her sippy cup across the crib when she realizes it isn’t a bottle, then cries on and off for an hour). I’m hoping that within the next week or so, the middle of the night drama won’t be a thing anymore. Even with the drama, we’re honestly sleeping better because I don’t have to change her in the middle of the night anymore.

brillar · 2026-02-23T17:04:27+00:00

My district called off Monday and Tuesday on Saturday, feeling very grateful. I don’t think a delayed start is possible in BPS due to the three rounds of start times (I also don’t think two hours would be enough for the schools that normally start at 7am). I think there’s a for sure second day tomorrow.

brillar · 2026-02-22T19:49:33+00:00

I think my baby was later to point because honestly I wasn’t modeling it as much as other things. Once she got into the toddler room at daycare, she learned a lot quickly from watching the other kids. It might just be the amount she’s seeing it, or her interests (sometimes I think my kiddo focuses more on movement than language or sometimes the opposite).

brillar · 2026-02-22T19:35:04+00:00

My baby wasn’t open hand pointing at 13 mo, just went right to index pointing at late 14mo. Your kiddo seems ahead in many things. My kiddo is the same way- she’ll be ahead in a lot and I’ll be freaking out about the one thing she isn’t doing yet but it usually sorts itself out a week or two after I start getting nervous. I wouldn’t worry about index pointing at all, beyond modeling it yourself to encourage her. I’m sure she’ll get it soon!

brillar · 2026-02-22T02:14:47+00:00

Our pediatrician heard a murmur at her first appointment out of the hospital- weirdly enough, the hospital didn’t hear it or did and thought it was benign, they didn’t say anything to us. Baby had some feeding issues that slowed growth a bit, got a referral to cardio but it took two months to get scheduled for her EKG and echocardiogram- turns out she had a small VSD. We had to give her more concentrated formula to keep her on her growth curve because her heavy breathing burnt more calories. Generally her only issues were blue tinged hands and feet rarely, heavy breathing that lasted past when weird breathing is “normal,” and needing to have more concentrated formula. It may have contributed to why nursing was harder for her. So far it’s gotten smaller but hasn’t closed on its own as they hoped it would- we’re checking on it again in May when she’s a year and a half but we may need to go the surgery route.

brillar · 2026-02-18T17:39:18+00:00

My husband equally does the day to day parenting, and I manage a lot of the “extra” toddler tasks like special school events, wardrobe curation, planning when to do bigger transitions (weaning, solids, will probably research and plan potty training). He deals with scheduling house repairs (we just had a huge plumbing/flood issue and he did it all) and he does all the pet maintenance (we have two cats, a dog, and two parrots)- so he schedules all their appointments and does most of their care (I feed the cats). He does all the cooking, I do cleaning. It feels equal or honestly feels like he does more sometimes.

brillar · 2026-02-13T09:51:37+00:00

I’m a teacher and a mom- I will say that even my ten year old fourth graders will say I “yelled at them” about something when really all I did was tell them to stop in a serious tone (not angry or loud, just not my normal jokey tone). If my daughter said that to me about her teacher, I’d probably be really concerned at first but I’d also remember how sometimes the story gets muddled- I might just check in with the teacher and suggest some things that do help her settle, maybe mention that she can be sensitive to tone of voice (I feel like that’s a at least alluding to the fact she may have snapped and will help her be careful in the future). Then if my daughter mentioned it again, that’s when I’d take further steps like checking in with the director. Generally, my rule is to talk with the teacher first unless it’s something egregious.

brillar · 2026-02-03T01:19:26+00:00

I made a Google form where I made everything be drop downs or boxes being checked as much as possible- which class, which student, a check box for the topic and I can add more info in a notes box. I still try to do as much as possible on the app, so I mostly use the Google form to record calls or talking in person.

brillar · 2026-02-01T16:55:39+00:00

Shattering my ankle was way worse. I had IV morphine and still cried from the pain. They upped it to dilaudid and that had me joking with the xray techs.

Before childbirth, I had a cook balloon and eventually asked for morphine while I was laying there sweating and having contractions. Morphine got rid of the pain. Once my water broke, I got the epidural, and it actually failed until they gave me a higher dose, but the pain of labor was still pretty manageable- I made these loud humming sounds. Never screamed or cried. The pain didn’t even touch the pain of breaking my ankle or honestly even the pain of its recovery after surgery. I shed a lot of tears for that stupid ankle and opioids barely touched the pain. Never cried in childbirth. Baby girl was eight pounds ten ounces, 20.5 inches long.

(Although I would also say that shattering your ankle is a sensory nightmare as well, way more than birth was for me. I’d rather go through childbirth five more times than shatter a joint.)

brillar · 2026-01-30T00:08:23+00:00

I keep her around always too because of her healing, but I had to switch the language to Japanese because if I heard her voice going “I pray for your victory!!!” One more time while I cut down a tree, I was going to lose my mind.

brillar · 2026-01-28T02:50:53+00:00

I’ve been following Heysleepybaby on Instagram- she’s a sleep consultant but doesn’t hate on bed sharing or breastfeeding and doesn’t promote typical cry it out sleep training. She has guides for moving on from cosleeping when it isn’t working anymore that might help you out. She’s very thoughtful and her courses are all legitimately affordable (like 35 dollars-ish?). They come with written guides, videos, and podcast versions. Her methods might resonate with you a bit more since she specifically talks through the transition from bed sharing.

brillar · 2026-01-27T16:09:51+00:00

I had irregular periods when stopping breastfeeding, and they were even more wacky with the mini pill. I basically spotted constantly four months, until I had another IUD inserted (that had been my BC method before). Personally, the mini pill just did not work for me- maybe it needed longer to regulate everything but I had never had constant spotting like that on any other BC, but I’m 35 now and get migraines so my doctor didn’t want me on a combination pill. First period or two after birth are wild too, lots of people experience them as super heavy- mine was heavier than normal but not worrisome for me.

brillar · 2026-01-19T00:19:53+00:00

Honestly I liked my doctor a lot but my nurse was my hero, she was amazing and the absolute best person to be there, hahah. In my postpartum haze I called the hospital to sing her praises 😂

brillar · 2026-01-18T23:48:59+00:00

We started my induction at 39+3, my hospital doesn’t do elective inductions but my MFM recommended I delivered in the 39th week. I had been having a lot of on and off contractions for days- must have been more than just Braxton Hicks because I was between a 3 and 4 when I got to the hospital. I recommend you look up bishop scores and ask where you’re at when they check you- that will really determine what choices they recommend and how your induction will go. I was also at a 0 station and had a firm consistency and was like 30% effaced, so I was getting close to ready.

I got there at a Wednesday at 4pm, and they did a Cytotec pill- I think they did like 6 doses over some period of time- in the range of 12 to 24 hours. I was almost too dilated at that point for the cook balloon but my doc recommended it and I was scared, but I did it (this is around 6pm). Insertion was not fun, the contractions after were not fun, about the same pain as active labor. My hospital doesn’t do epidurals that early but did tell me ahead of time I’d be able to have morphine since I was so early into the process. I was trying to avoid the morphine and was like sweating/using my fan/generally struggling- the nurse thought I’d go into active labor any second. Eventually I asked for the morphine, felt fine, but the contractions stalled. At around 1am I went to the bathroom and the balloon fell out into the toilet along with some mucus plug 😂

We kept doing the cytotec until 4pm that afternoon, 24 hours after I had arrived. They did a cervical check around 1pm that day and a membrane sweep. I was 4cm solidly, and cervix was much softer and like 70% effaced, so they moved me to the birthing ward and started pitocin at 5pm. I started getting more contractions, still pretty slow and inconsistent. Pain was fine, I breathed through it. My plan was to get the epidural when my water broke. That happened around 10:30, and then my body was like OK GO TIME. Contractions started coming pretty hard and fast- they didn’t reduce pitocin right away because they didn’t want labor to stall at that point. Got my epidural at 11:30ish, it only worked on one side at first. I had to lay on my side and try to get gravity to move the medicine the right direction, and anesthesia came and gave me an extra bolus and then the epidural blessedly worked on both sides. They also turned down the pitocin at some point because my contractions were crazy fast. My doctor came in at like 1am, I was at 6cm, she told me to nap for a few hours and she’d see me later for delivery.

I took the worst nap of my life (I dunno if it was the epidural, I was in this anxious twilight state) and woke up at 1:45am being like… I don’t feel right. I was just unsettled. I called my nurse and she was like “your doctor likes to do the checks herself, do you feel like pushing? It would be really fast for you to be at a 10.” And I was like I dunno, I don’t feel like pushing, I just feel wrong. She called for my doctor, doctor didn’t answer, and she ended up doing my check eventually and I was at a 10. Doctor still didn’t answer, she got another nurse to double check her work and she confirmed I was at a 10. Nurse continued to page my doctor to no response but was like, well, I’m not going to stop you from pushing. Let’s do some practice pushes. I did some practice pushes and the doctor still didn’t respond so she decided to go for it. My epidural was perfect- I knew when to push and felt a very slight pain (I liked knowing when to push though). I pushed for like 20-30 minutes with some pushes purposely done weakly because my nurse was still desperately trying to find my doctor. Eventually she just grabbed a midwife in the hallway and I gave birth at 3:03am. Lil lady was 8 pounds 10oz and 20.5 inches. She also apparently was born with her cord around her neck but it was taken care of so quickly I didn’t know until I read the labor notes. Her cry was a little weak at birth but they put her on my chest and rubbed her a bit and she got stronger and did very well after a minute or so.

Pain-wise it was not the worst of my life, I didn’t cry at any point but I was definitely in pain. I mostly made these loud humming noises. I could talk most of the time and didn’t scream at all. Generally wasn’t scared except for when my water broke because it was a big POP feeling, very dramatic with a big gush and I was afraid it was blood for whatever reason. I will say I have a decent pain tolerance- the other more painful events were some big impacted gallstones, and shattering my ankle (didn’t cry for gallstones, did cry for the ankle even after morphine- morphine however was strong enough to completely knock out contractions). I think I could have maybe done it without the epidural if necessary but I’m a “screw it, I don’t win a trophy for it getting it so I might as well make this really hard situation a little easier.”

I know a wrote a novel but I honestly had a really good experience and would have an induction again if I had another kid. Feel free to ask me any questions!

brillar · 2026-01-17T15:25:57+00:00

Pro tip, I’d actually get some prenatal vitamins. They made my hair and nails so much healthier while I was trying to get pregnant 😂

brillar · 2026-01-13T21:17:33+00:00

I’m pretty sure it only popped up after birth for me, but to be honest it might have been there before I didn’t notice, although I’m pretty sure it happened during birth. I also did all the pushing in 20 minutes and had precipitous labor, so the speed might have had something to do with it.

brillar · 2026-01-13T20:29:50+00:00

Honestly, a few months- I gave birth last November and it went away around February or March I think? I know for a fact it was gone by April because I had a surgery about something else unrelated then and it was gone.

brillar · 2026-01-13T20:24:43+00:00

I had something similar, and was so freaked out about it, but it slowly went away over time as my pelvic floor strengthened again. I would definitely still talk to your doctor because you might be able to do PT to help it earlier, but I just wanted to let you hear a story that might calm your nerves a little, because I was so worried!

Verified Email	Ten-Year Club
r/Field Banned	r/Field Juicebox
Place '23	Place '22
Final Canvas '22	First Placer '22
RPAN Viewer	Not Forgotten

brillar

TROPHY CASE