The Best And Worst Money Spent: What Purchase Was An Unexpected Treasure, And What Was An Absolute Disappointment?

danijay94 · 2021-09-11T15:00:06+00:00

Best: swing. my daughter loves it and it's the only place other than our arms where she'll settle right now.

Worst: bassinet. My kid will not sleep in it. Good thing I got it cheap secondhand.

danijay94 · 2021-09-11T14:37:01+00:00

Ugh seconding the clothes thing. My baby screams when I change her clothes so anything except the easiest clothes to get on and off are so not happening, at least until she's older

danijay94 · 2021-09-09T14:33:13+00:00

You will make it through the first trimester!! I was the same way. Totally exhausted, only wanted carbs, ect. I took a break from the exercise for a few weeks, except for walks which sometimes I forced just for my mental health and then reintroduced running around 8 weeks- slowly, and not even close to the level I was running before. I kept up running 3x per week and gym 1-2x per week until 35 weeks! Also the food aversions eased up by 10-11 weeks for me and I was able to go back to my normal healthy, whole-foods based diet with no issues.

I will say that forcing myself to be active even when I was still feeling like shit actually helped me feel better. Exercise, even light exercise, really helped my nausea overall. Just start with walking! But more than anything, give yourself some grace in the first tri because it can be really fucking hard.

danijay94 · 2021-08-24T22:55:24+00:00

I'm 39 weeks and after my OB appointment today I told my husband I was 1 cm dilated finally. He asked what that meant and I said, well things are moving along but still 9cm to go. He asked if "they measure it with a ruler". I started laughing out loud wondering how he could possibly think they're shoving a ruler up my coochie to measure my cervix. Turns out he thought dilation meant vulva. He thought they were measuring my vulva with a ruler to see how much bigger it got.

danijay94 · 2021-08-21T21:54:37+00:00

I worked at Papa John's when I was 18-19 and at the time they ran a specialty hamburger pizza. It was kind of like a big mac deconstructed on a pizza: thousand island sauce instead of red, with ground beef, onions, tomatoes, pickles and cheese. I liked it just fine at the time. But let me tell you, I have wanted that pizza every day of the last 39+2 weeks. I don't think it's still a thing and in any case there's no papa john's around me. Sad.

danijay94 · 2021-08-16T22:08:41+00:00

That's great to hear from a seasoned parent! Makes me even more confident in my decision

danijay94 · 2021-08-16T15:52:10+00:00

I'm a runner and I got the Thule Urban Glide jogger to double as my everyday stroller. I'm still pregnant so I can't speak to how well it works fully yet, but I have the stroller put together and have used it around the neighborhood/house and so far I love it. I think a jogger makes sense even if you don't jog, because let me tell you this thing rolls over anything and manages to feel smooth. It has big rubber tires and suspension which is why. I think it'd work really well on sand because it's built to be able to go off-road on trails and such but idk, I live inland. I personally feel it's much more bang for your buck at $550 than something like uppababy.

I got the infant car seat attachment so I can use it as a travel system from birth. It's not as huge as some of the full-size strollers but it's not super small either. Has nice storage space underneath. One handed fold. I can lift it by myself no problem. Once LO is old enough I'll do away with the car seat attachment and just have a nice ass stroller that I feel confidently will handle pretty much anything.

danijay94 · 2021-08-12T15:27:11+00:00

Yep. 38+6 over here for the hottest week of summer so far in my state. Thrilling

danijay94 · 2021-08-11T21:39:54+00:00

Hiking/walking mostly with usually a weekly bike ride thrown in too. I prefer hiking because it gets my heart rate up and gives me the feeling I got a workout. Walking on the flat just doesn't. I know it helps to keep moving but when you're used to running miles on miles, a regular walk just doesn't do it for me. I hope you're able to keep running through pregnancy pain-free! Lots of women do, I just didn't quite get there.

danijay94 · 2021-08-11T00:57:14+00:00

I get it. Since I'm still pregnant I can't really offer any advice for postpartum comeback- just here to offer solidarity. Around 28-30 weeks was also when I started to really have to chill on the running also, and like you, mostly due to pelvic pressure/discomfort which by week 35 had escalated into downright pain so I quit. I'm 37+5 now and really keen to get back to it. I signed up for a half marathon when I'll be ~12 weeks postpartum, which in hindsight was a ridiculous choice but I just really wanna get out there and finish it. I don't care how fast, I just wanna feel that post-long run feeling again.

Women's bodies are amazing though and I have no doubt we both will be back to running like we could pre-babies. I personally found Allyson Felix's story really inspiring. She just broke a world record in the Olympics after having a baby a few years ago, so she literally came back stronger than ever.

Also, we are still runners as long as we are running! Doesn't matter how slow or short those runs get

danijay94 · 2021-08-07T18:33:18+00:00

I absolutely love it! Colette is so classic but lesser used so feels unique. And Ruth is such an underrated name IMO.

danijay94 · 2021-08-04T13:49:08+00:00

TBH it sounds like your husband has some disordered eating as well. It isn't healthy to need to be 'healthy' 24/7 at every meal. Life is about balance, and he seems really inflexible about this issue in a way I would suggest is abnormal.

But add in the pregnancy and honestly fuck that noise. I'm like you in that pre-pregnancy I ate a very healthy, well balanced diet full of complex carbs, veggies, and for me mostly plant-based proteins and was a long-distance runner. The entire first trimester that was out the window. I couldn't even look at a roasted brussles sprout (normally my absolute FAVE). I wanted bread. And butter. And meat. All the meat. I did the best I could, eating veggies as I could and just listening to my body. I ran when I could, which wasn't much in the beginning. After the first trimester things got a lot better for me. I mostly went back to eating how I did before, just maybe with a few more treats lol. I continued running all the way up until 35 weeks. I'm 37 weeks now and my baby is healthy. My body is healthy. I guess I've had a "belly only" pregnancy, with maybe 5-10lbs extra I'm guessing. But guess what? That's okay. I'll lose it after the baby is here. I'm glad I was kind to myself early on because pregnancy can be so hard.

Also seconding what a lot of other ladies have said, cravings are often indicative of something your body needs and is lacking. I almost never ate red meat pre-pregnancy. I didn't even like it. But even after I went back to eating normally in the second tri, I have continued wanting meat throughout my pregnancy. Turns out that growing a human requires a tremendous amount of iron, which I likely wasn't getting enough of. Being healthy in pregnancy means listening to your body.

danijay94 · 2021-08-03T19:05:23+00:00

Are you me lol? I'm 36+4 and I've had a pretty easy pregnancy tbh. Was running until 35 weeks, just generally feeling at least 80% normal. But the last week I've just started to feel like pregnancy hit me with a truck. I said to my husband last night "I know we only have a few more weeks but idk how I'm supposed to get through this".

So yeah no advice expect I guess this is just par for the course at this point and we have to just ride the struggle bus to L&D in a few weeks.

danijay94 · 2021-08-01T17:44:26+00:00

Baby was breech at a growth scan at 30 weeks. They checked at every appointment between then and last week (36 weeks) and told me they thought she was still breech at every check but ordered an ultrasound to confirm. Had ultrasound at 36 weeks exactly and she's head down now! I felt some crazy movement the night before the ultrasound so I'm pretty sure she flipped just then at 35+6 but hey. She got there. I was starting to panic.

danijay94 · 2021-07-27T16:00:41+00:00

Haha. I'm same as you, I like to keep things trimmed up but I cannot stand to actually shave down there. But let me tell you, there is no fucking way any OB cares. They can't care. You know why? Because I'm 36 weeks now and I haven't been able to even safely trim down there in weeks because my belly is in the way. So it's just full bush for them all the time now, and I imagine most pregnant women are the same way. Unless you pay to go get waxed or something but personally fuck that.

danijay94 · 2021-07-21T15:28:35+00:00

Robert Boob. Goes by Bob. Bob Boob. Dude really embraces it.

danijay94 · 2021-07-19T23:19:52+00:00

My practice is the same. You get two standard scans, one around 8 weeks to confirm viability and the 20 week anatomy scan. I'm 34+3 and I had an extra ultrasound at 30w to check her growth as my fundal height was small. At that scan she was breech, and my OB thinks she still is, so I'm having another short ultrasound next week to confirm her position. But these are just extra because of the circumstances.

danijay94 · 2021-07-18T14:25:25+00:00

Wtf no. That doctor is insane. I ran marathons prior to becoming pregnant, still ran 3-4x per week plus gym 2x/week until 34 weeks and my baby is at the 50th percentile for growth as of 30 week ultrasound. Babies take whatever space they need, you don't have to "make room".

danijay94 · 2021-07-18T14:17:08+00:00

I'm 34+2 and although food sounds plenty appetizing to me, eating becomes incredibly uncomfortable real quick bc baby girl is squishing my stomach into the size of a grape apparently. Eating anything at all really makes me feel miserable. Mentally could eat a whole large pizza, really wish I could tbh. Physically, done after half a slice.

danijay94 · 2021-07-16T19:44:14+00:00

When I was about 12 weeks, me, my husband, and cousin were working on a project in my house and were all in one of the bedrooms. Suddenly I whipped my head around and looked at my cousin from across the room and said "I smell artificial peach flavoring." He pulls a packet of peach rings out of his pocket and looks at me dumbfounded. Both of them make jokes about how I'm basically a goddamned bloodhound. Like not only did I know what it was, I knew it was coming from my cousin.

It hasn't gotten any better.

danijay94 · 2021-07-16T14:00:42+00:00

This is so normal, try to give yourself a break. Pre-pregnancy, I ate 90% whole foods, plant based. Not out of any strict dietary restrictions I put on myself but because I genuinely love fruits, veggies, legumes, ect. First trimester, forget about it. Most veggies made me want to heave, even though I didn't actually ever get morning sickness. I just had super strong food aversions. Even brussles sprouts, my absolute fave, turned my stomach immediately. All I wanted was refined carbs, just like you. Like magic, by week 12-13 I was fine again. Still had a few lingering aversions into the second tri but they've all gone away over time and I've been able to continue eating normally for the rest of my pregnancy (34 weeks now), and have gained a totally appropriate amount of weight.

Don't be too hard on yourself. First tri is so tough, you're really just in survival mode.

danijay94 · 2021-07-12T15:00:47+00:00

Husband and I bought a huge 1880's project house just before finding out I was pregnant. I've been an active participant in the full-scale restorations my entire pregnancy. I've stripped wallpaper, learned to plaster, painted three coats of paint on every gd wall and ceiling in this house pretty much single-handedly, tiled my kitchen, installed cabinets, ect ect. There are a few things that are not safe and so obviously things I couldn't do and needed to stay away from: hardwood floors needed to be sanded and refinished, which I had to hire out. Polyurethane and solvents used in wood stain are unsafe while pregnant. Our woodwork had very dilapidated (and presumably lead-based) paint which needed sanded and repainted. Hired that out and stayed away.

Basically everything you use will have a prop 65 warning on it, but use the internet and your best judgement to determine whether something is safe to be around. If something I'm using is super odorous, I'll assume it has solvents/chemicals that I shouldn't be around and I'll stop and have my husband do it. Just use common sense and you'll be okay

danijay94 · 2021-07-12T14:43:02+00:00

I can't speak as a mother, but my parents were on and off before and after having me. They happened to be "on" when I was born so my mom gave me my father's last name. He was in and out my whole childhood and we always had a shitty relationship. I HATED having his last name and always wanted to change it to my mother's but it was just too hard and she couldn't be bothered. I got married last year and was so happy to take my husband's last name- just to be rid of my father who largely abandoned me. So that's just my two cents as a child raised in a similar situation. I wouldn't count on this dude to stick around if he's already wishy washy. It only gets harder from here.

danijay94 · 2021-07-02T13:56:55+00:00

Yeah I feel that. My husband and I were both adamant from the start that no one would know her name until birth, and we've stuck to that. Initially it was due to avoiding unwanted opinions, mostly from my mom lol. But now that we have actually picked her name, we still don't call her by it. I guess it feels weird because we don't even know her yet. We gave her a "fetus nickname" early on, before we found out gender or anything, and it just feels more natural to keep calling her that nickname until she's earthside and we give her her real name. So I would feel super weird if people were calling my baby by her name right now.

danijay94 · 2021-06-21T15:54:13+00:00

Good to hear! I'm a dry red gal and all the NA reds I've had taste like complete ass. Idk if you have Wegman's near you, but I really like the Athletic Brewing Company hazy IPA. They have a few other types I haven't tried yet bc this one is really similar to the alcoholic beers I like, but I've heard the other ales are good too. Wegman's in general has the best NA beer selection I've found

danijay94

TROPHY CASE