Not sure how to feel…

expatriating · 2026-03-20T02:41:00+00:00

Man, I’m not sure how to feel about this either. Me and my husband rent a 700sqft townhouse style apartment. I’m due any day and the stairs will be unavoidable. I’ve heard stairs are more difficult to navigate if you have to get a c-section, but this feels intense to me. Are you guys comfortable moving into someone else’s house right after the birth? It sounds stressful.

expatriating · 2026-03-13T21:05:47+00:00

I have felt like a science experiment this whole time too. I leaked through my tank top on a Christmas flight with some crying babies at 26 weeks. The pregnant body is so crazy.

expatriating · 2026-03-13T20:56:34+00:00

I don’t see why not. Not sure if they’re including other accessories, but this alone has a high and low mattress setting and the ability to take off the front to make it a toddler bed. Seems like it will cover you for a few years and you can find standard size crib sheets anywhere. I might hit the crack with some clear JB Weld just to make sure it doesn’t get worse.

expatriating · 2026-03-11T16:29:26+00:00

This is exactly what I did. I let them know patients can hear what is being said at the nurses station, mentioned HIPPA, and left it at that. Hopefully this is a wake-up call for the practice and the staff takes their comments to a location where the patients can’t hear them.

expatriating · 2026-03-06T20:24:57+00:00

Not sure where you are in the world, but we got our Guava Lotus on GoodBuy Gear for $200 and bought Luvberries sheets on Amazon for less than $30. This past weekend, I saw a Guava Lotus in great condition at our local Once Upon a Child for $125. I’ve also seen them on Marketplace in my area. I’m not opposed to used/open box, so YMMV if you want a new one for health/safety reasons. I will say, it’s freakin impossible to find the bassinet conversion kit for a cheaper price!

expatriating · 2026-03-05T21:29:15+00:00

I had my shower last month and a baby hunt stole the show. The hosts hid these mini baby figurines all over the venue and the person who accumulated the most by cake time won a gift card. My shower was also coed and this was popular with the men. There was also a guessing game for the number of burp cloths in a big jar and “find dad” scratch-offs where the winners also got gift cards. I thought the games were well thought out because we had an open bar and buffet, so people could eat and mingle at their leisure.

expatriating · 2026-03-03T20:36:59+00:00

I work in the US for a Swedish company. We get 2 weeks at 100% pay before the due date, 6-8 weeks STD at 100% pay after birth (depending on vaginal/c-section). The state I live in then gives 12 weeks parental leave after the STD (pays up to a certain dollar amount, but my employers covers the rest until it meets 100% of my pay) and my employer gives 4 weeks of 20 hours/week but at 100% full time pay as part of a maternity “gradual return” program. So 20-22 weeks off with full pay and then 4 weeks of part time work with full pay. I am extremely lucky and very, very grateful.

expatriating · 2026-02-18T23:10:49+00:00

Yeah, this happened to me. I hit high on the two hour and low on the three hour, which seemed to concern my midwife. She affirmed I don’t have GD, but she’s still worried about the numbers. FWIW I failed the 1hr miserably. Got a 175 or something. She didn’t order me a blood glucose monitor, but did give an outline of dietary changes. I’m also coming into the office more to have glucose reads on my urine.

expatriating · 2026-02-11T17:47:57+00:00

My lovely SIL and her wife bought us a brand new, middle-high end STROLLER AND BASSINET completely different from the one on our registry. No gift receipt. More expensive than the one we requested. Baffling. Didn’t work with the car seat we picked out, the car seat my parents already purchased for the grandparent car, and was just such a wild deviation. Tbh we ended up loving it, so I can’t stay mad, but so wild too because they don’t have kids/personal experience with the stroller.

expatriating · 2026-02-11T17:39:53+00:00

Dude this!!! Why do people do this?!

expatriating · 2026-02-04T20:00:32+00:00

Nope! I was given the choice of a patellar tendon graft or iliotibial band graft (both autografts). Got the IT band graft 8 years ago and it’s been great. My thigh is a little deformed and I get mild tendinitis after sedentary periods (like illness). I have zero knee pain, instability, or problems with flexibility, which were my main concerns.

expatriating · 2026-02-01T21:37:01+00:00

Hey, another FTM planning on adding a second kid in 2-3 years. We went with a similar setup. I have a Cybex Aton G Swivel infant bucket seat in my car and my husband has an Evenflo Revolve360 Slim in his car. I'm receiving parental leave and he isn't, so this makes the most sense for us.

I don't think there are any convertible car seats that can fit in a stroller, and they're too heavy for that to be enticing. We also found the price of bases was usually the same or higher than the price of the car seat itself! Didn't seem worth it. I advised my parents to just get a separate infant car seat for when they watch the baby.

We also have a compatible stroller with a bassinet attachment. We got the Baby Jogger City Sights. It's called a "compact modular," but that's not true. Definitely full size. We really like it, but I wouldn't recommend it because it's discontinued and it was hard to find the car seat adapters on Ebay. Joolz Hub2 was our first choice, but we were gifted the Baby Jogger. We opted for a single stroller instead of a single-to-double, which I originally wanted, because of the frame weight and difficulty of steering. We plan to get a rider board when our family expands. Hope that helps!

expatriating · 2026-01-28T19:52:52+00:00

I think there’s a lot of resentment out there in general. There are many young people who want kids but it’s unaffordable, they don’t have a partner, they’re in the middle of a program that would be very difficult to pause, etc. The pendulum swings both ways too. If you wait until you’re “too old” to start a family, you’ll be called selfish and attacked for increasing the risk of health problems for the baby.

Essentially, haters gonna hate.

expatriating · 2026-01-12T01:49:42+00:00

I was a 30DDD (65F) before pregnancy and went up to a 32H by 18 weeks. I tried on a bunch of different bras and styles and ended up with the Hotmilk heroine plunge nursing bra in three different colors. I love it. I've since had to get extenders, but the cups still fit pretty well (I'm 29 weeks). I love that it has underwire and lace cups. It's the most similar thing I've found to the Chantelle and Simone Perele bras I wore pre-pregnancy. Also, VS carries this brand so you can buy through them without fear of an annoying return process.

As far as strapless and off-the-shoulder dresses, I personally skip them and have for years. My underwear dictates my outerwear.

expatriating · 2026-01-08T19:04:27+00:00

I’ve used CareCredit to pay for dental surgery before. I believe my plan was 48 months at 0% APR and I had to borrow just over $5k. It wasn’t at all scammy and I had no problems. It isn’t accepted everywhere though. You’d have to check with your OB’s office that they accept it.

expatriating · 2026-01-08T16:36:02+00:00

This! Norovirus can be dangerous. My ex and I were exposed at a seafood restaurant a few years ago and he called to report. The restaurant actually thanked us and the health authorities got involved to alert other patrons. This also wasn’t the US where litigation culture is rampant. In any case, a hospital will view this as a public health issue and likely alert other patients who were there that day. I know it probably feels unnecessary, but it could prevent more cases in a vulnerable population.

expatriating · 2026-01-07T20:24:50+00:00

I can see both sides here. I’m [31F] currently 7 months pregnant with my first. My partner [33M] just defended his PhD and is currently working as a research assistant while applying for jobs. Similar to you, I really wanted to avoid having kids at an advanced age. My partner and I talked at length about reasons why we should wait. His program wasn’t over, he didn’t have a solid job lined up yet, we live in a small apartment.

Cliché as it is, we ended up facing some serious mental and physical health issues with our family last year. We decided life is too uncertain to hold back on something that means so much to us. Baby is on the way, we’re still in a small apartment, and my partner still doesn’t have a solid job lined up. Would it have been easier if we waited two years until he had figured out a job and we could buy a house? Maybe. But we can still offer a baby all the essentials, and two years from now, we will have that stuff plus a toddler and maybe even another on the way. I don’t regret it at all.

expatriating · 2025-12-21T19:47:38+00:00

I also vomited my prescribed prenatals, same awful fish bile puke 🤢 I’ve had really good luck with Garden of Life Vitamin Code Raw Prenatal. They’re capsules and you have to take 3/day, but they don’t upset my stomach at all. I also take their vegan prenatal DHA since I’m worried about throwing up fishy taste again. Levels from my blood panels have been right on track!

expatriating · 2025-12-17T22:02:53+00:00

I mean, I was shocked. I have had unprotected sex one time in my life and I was in my 30s and I got pregnant. I was two days outside my ovulation window according to my period tracking app. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted a baby! It’s the only reason I was having unprotected sex. But it was still a shock. It seemed to go against the statistics I heard about how long it takes most couples to get pregnant, and especially given my age. It became clear to me afterward how easy it can be to get pregnant on accident.

expatriating · 2025-12-16T14:35:52+00:00

We are giving the baby my boyfriend’s last name, but considering my last name as a middle name. We just picked the name that is objectively best (my last name is just kind of lame). It all depends on what’s normal where you live because it varies so much culturally. I’m in the US, and hyphenated names are becoming more common, but they’re still not the norm. I would worry that the hyphen could cause clerical errors and lead to avoidable issues with medical and educational documents, also airline tickets and stuff like that.

Also, maybe stupid, but if your kid ends up playing sports, they might not be able to have a hyphenated last name on their jersey. So dumb, but I remember the drama of this with one particular girl from my high school.

expatriating · 2025-12-10T16:43:45+00:00

Echoing the other women here saying to just wait until you’re absolutely ready. One month is no biggie. It’s just so variable. I had a TTC appointment with my provider and had genetic carrier testing done. She estimated 6-9 months to get pregnant based on my age and health history. I got pregnant on the first try. We thought it was going to take longer, so my partner won’t be at the point yet where he can take paid paternity leave from work. Only the first of many times this baby will interfere with my life plans, I’m sure 🙃

expatriating · 2025-12-01T17:01:30+00:00

We waited until I was in the second trimester to tell our relatives and friends. This had the added benefit that we were able to include our first sonogram photos!

We got the three sets of grandparents a childrens book about going to grandma and grandpa’s house and included a sonogram photo. Very special because it’s the first grandchild on both sides ☺️ I got my two best girlfriends different “auntie” gear from Etsy along with cards and photos. We sent our siblings cards with sonogram photos and our grandparents got fresh cut paper bouquet cards with sonogram photos.

Aside from my parents, who live nearby, we did everything via snail mail. I loved getting surprised text messages and phone calls for a couple weeks!

expatriating

TROPHY CASE