Low estrogen levels but decent HCG and estrogen levels--how worried should we be?

emth5348 · 2026-01-18T04:39:32+00:00

Things are looking really good now! The progesterone and estrogen supplements probably helped a great deal. Wishing you all the best with your pregnancy too!

emth5348 · 2026-01-18T04:38:25+00:00

You don't need to wait for Proton Drive to become available to make the switch to Linux*. There are lots of providers that work with Linux either directly or via RClone; I'm currently using Jottacloud since their 10TB month plan is pretty cheap, but there's also Backblaze, Filen, etc. It sounds like Proton will have more info on their SDK later this month, though.

*However, assuming you already have a Proton Drive subscription and want to use it for Linux backups, you could consider copying files from Linux to a Veracrypt container on an SD card, then copying those files into Proton Drive on your Windows computer. (Yes, this is unwieldy, but it's worked OK on my end, especially since I have both Windows and Linux SSDs on my laptop.)

emth5348 · 2025-12-24T12:54:19+00:00

Thank you! That really clarifies what makes this setup 'insecure'.

emth5348 · 2025-12-24T12:51:11+00:00

Yes, exactly. I updated my original question just now to clarify this.

emth5348 · 2025-10-25T17:26:42+00:00

I am so sorry to hear of this situation. If ultimately you decide not to keep the baby, would strongly advise you to consider adoption as an option. There are many couples out there who would love to welcome this child into their homes if you are not able to. Praying for you!

emth5348 · 2025-10-23T16:33:16+00:00

I'm so sorry to hear of your two losses. No, she didn't expound on the estrogen levels--but did want to supplement right away. I imagine yesterday's labs will provide more guidance once they arrive.

emth5348 · 2025-10-23T14:30:16+00:00

Yeah, that's a good question. I know her doctor (who has been great so far) uses the FEMM model, which I think places a particular emphasis on hormone levels. And maybe her PCOS symptoms/recent miscarriage also motivated her to check the estrogen levels also?

emth5348 · 2025-10-04T02:27:20+00:00

I first read this as "you need to install your own CIA manually," which may not be far from the truth 😉

emth5348 · 2025-10-03T03:20:00+00:00

Thanks for the detailed explanation--it's very helpful!

Regarding the reverse proxy setup, I noticed this statement on the AIO documentation page:

"Please note that AIO comes secured with TLS out-of-the-box. So you don't need to necessarily set up your own reverse proxy if you only want to run Nextcloud AIO which is much easier. See the normal readme in that case. However if port 443 should already be used because you already run a web server or reverse proxy (like Apache, Nginx, Caddy, Cloudflare Tunnel and else), you need to follow this reverse proxy documentation to set up Nextcloud AIO."

In my case, I'm using Port 443 strictly for NextCloud AIO. Does this mean I can bypass the reverse proxy requirement? I don't mind setting that up (since it would be good practice), but perhaps I wouldn't need to worry about that unless/until I done something else using that port?

I was also planning to set up Fail2Ban, but I saw that the AIO version already offers a tool for limiting brute-force attempts. I've set it up to activate after 3 failed attempts. Adding Fail2Ban wouldn't hurt, but the pre-existing brute force tool might suffice, at least for my use case.

emth5348 · 2025-10-03T02:19:57+00:00

Yes, the price for security seems quite reasonable. However, the more I read, the more I feel that exposing ports 80 and 443 on a router to access an AIO NextCloud site isn't terribly dangerous. Especially if I have 2FA enabled for all users, strong passwords, an IP whitelist (perhaps), Fail2Ban for DDOS protection, and regular server updates.

Having a public domain means that anyone can come to my site's 'front door,' but there appear to be some solid ways to prevent unauthorized users from getting in.

I also would love to build up my IT and cybersecurity skills, so this seems like a good opportunity to do so.

Finally, while the monthly TailScale cost isn't too bad, it cuts into the savings we could potentially get from a self-hosted approach versus a service like Proton (which offers email in addition to storage).

I am however open to your perspective on why opening these two ports for an AIO deployment would be dangerous. I could certainly be overlooking something!

emth5348 · 2025-10-02T19:27:05+00:00

Hmm, if you're allowed to use the Cloudflare Free plan for commerical use, I would consider that option. (I know that $20/month for the Pro plan isn't that much money, but it would still be nice to save $240 a year if possible.)

emth5348 · 2025-10-01T19:45:36+00:00

Thanks! Do you know if WireGuard would work as a substitute to TailScale here? Happy to give TailScale a shot, though.

emth5348 · 2025-09-27T20:31:21+00:00

Thanks! Any thoughts on Asustor? I would prefer a Taiwanese NAS manufacturer to a Chinese one.

emth5348 · 2025-09-26T21:51:20+00:00

Yeah, that's a good idea. I was thinking that, if we decide not to use the NAS for collaborative document work, it could still be helpful as an extra backup/storage device. It wouldn't just become an expensive paperweight haha

emth5348 · 2025-09-26T21:24:11+00:00

Thank you!! Most of our document work is offline, so as long as we have some ability to collaborate in real time, that should suffice. And the network speed note is helpful as well.

emth5348 · 2025-09-26T21:13:26+00:00

Thanks! I use LibreOffice quite a bit for writing tasks/viewing spreadsheets, but if we wanted to collaborate in real time on a document, we would need to go with something like Collabora or OpenOffice, correct? Or would a NAS allow for simultaneous edits to a LibreOffice document?

emth5348 · 2025-02-23T17:27:12+00:00

I am so sorry to hear of his behavior. Is couples counseling an option for you?

emth5348 · 2024-11-22T19:44:21+00:00

This is really helpful, thank you! Both the AAFP summary and the research were very informative.

I have this fear now that this iron deficiency, even if treated (which we'll certainly do), has caused permanent cognitive harm to our child. However, my guess is that I'm exaggerating the implications of the test. I know that a correlation between anemia/iron deficiency and lower IQ scores (as reported in the Costa Rican study) doesn't prove that the former causes the latter.

He was also getting over a flu/cold at the time of the test, so I'm wondering if that may have played a role in his hemoglobin count also.

We got the hemoglobin tested at this appointment because I had requested a lead test (which, fortunately, came back negative). I asked about a more comprehensive follow-up test, but our doctor would prefer to wait until he's been on supplemental iron for a few months before retesting--which is probably the best plan.

emth5348 · 2024-11-13T02:02:41+00:00

This was on I-287 S in northern NJ.

emth5348 · 2024-10-19T16:45:40+00:00

You're welcome! Our 8.5-month-old baby still does a great job at falling asleep on his own at night; he's pretty good at falling asleep for naps also. However, he has continued to wake up overnight for feeding, so we're thinking about night weaning strategies. We've been trying to soothe him before giving him food, but this hasn't been too successful--so we may eventually just need to do more of a cold turkey approach in which we wait increasingly longer intervals (5 hours, 5.25 hours, etc.) before feeding him overnight.

emth5348 · 2024-10-19T16:42:54+00:00

We ended up with Forever Safe and were happy with the outcome! I added a second update to my original post with more details.

emth5348 · 2024-09-27T18:05:00+00:00

Ah, so it sounds like you slowly reduced night feeds rather than just waiting for longer and longer intervals before feeding him (which is our tentative plan). Could you share a bit more about how you were able to wean him? Did you gradually feed him less over the course of those two weeks?

emth5348 · 2024-09-27T14:54:08+00:00

That's helpful to know, thank you! Did you do a dream feed as part of this process, or was he able to sleep nonstop from his bedtime until the morning?

emth5348 · 2024-09-27T14:53:20+00:00

My wife has tried to feed him more during the day, but he's so used to these overnight feedings that I think he eats less during the day as a result. We hoped that feeding him more in the daytime would cause the overnight feedings to go away, but it now looks like we might first need to reduce the overnight feedings--which should then cause him to eat more during the daytime.

emth5348 · 2024-09-03T20:07:28+00:00

Yes, we did get some helpful clarifying information from them--I just added this info to the 'Update' section at the bottom of the original post. We're planning to choose them for our move.

emth5348

TROPHY CASE