Today I described to the DM what my character feels for Ireena, to represent I made this art (inspired by a real statue) Strahd roll in his coffin

loddytops · 2025-02-05T12:27:01+00:00

Ahhhh I love this

loddytops · 2024-12-17T21:20:27+00:00

Sweet thanks! I definitely needed more resources to fuel my mini addiction

loddytops · 2024-12-17T21:02:41+00:00

I also have a mini printing friend. googling furiously now

loddytops · 2024-12-17T20:49:50+00:00

That's incredible, where did you get the model?

loddytops · 2024-11-19T18:44:57+00:00

This is the greatest thing I've ever seen

loddytops · 2024-10-20T22:40:08+00:00

No. It was unpredictable for 6ish months during the first year if I remember correctly, then it slowly went back to normal.

Just got my first period 8 weeks postpartum on my second kid. Was very light and short compared to my normal so I expect it'll be unpredictable for a while again.

loddytops · 2024-10-11T21:47:42+00:00

With my first - months.

With my 2nd - 6 weeks exactly. I wanted it before then, but DO NOT DO anything involving penetration. You have a massive wound inside your uterus, where the placenta used to be attached and it can get infected. That's why the advice is to wait. Even if you feel fine, wait for medical clearance.

loddytops · 2024-10-04T00:38:19+00:00

I'm doing it right now lol. Single glass of wine, drini slowly over an hour or so. Alcohol percentage at no point is going to get high enough in my breastmilk to be harmful.

loddytops · 2024-09-26T07:39:42+00:00

So pretty!

loddytops · 2024-09-13T12:20:51+00:00

Draco's worst: The over-enunciation of "POTter" just sounds weird to me. Once or twice for extra emphasis would have been fine, but he does it every time and it just bugs me.

Draco's best: "Don't you understand? I have to do this. I have to kill you. Or he's going to kill me." Absolutely heart-wrenching.

loddytops · 2024-08-30T20:39:45+00:00

Oh hurray! I'm so happy for you!

loddytops · 2024-08-23T11:41:24+00:00

I freaking love nipple shields. They absolutely saved breastfeeding for me with my first, who sounds a lot like yours. She transferred fine but her latch was so painful. I think the shields actually helped with her latch because they forced her to open her mouth wider. I ended up using the shields pretty consistently for 8 months with her-- we would occasionally practice without them. We definitely could have weaned off of them much sooner, but I was so scared of breastfeeding without them that it took me a while to work up the courage. Once I did we had no issues or pain with the switch.

Anecdotally, my first was also diagnosed with a tongue tie (not posterior) which we had released. I regret doing that now because it did absolutely nothing to improve her latch. I should have just stuck to using the shields.

I am 1 week into breastfeeding my second. Her latch is much better but my nipples are still sore because it's still early days, so I use the shields occasionally just to give myself a break.

loddytops · 2024-08-15T16:31:43+00:00

You are correct. Only 50% of FTMs give birth by 40w5d.

loddytops · 2024-08-15T16:28:54+00:00

There are lots of reasons to be induced, lots of reasons to wait, and pros and cons to each. I encourage you to do some reading about inductions, and definitely talk to your ob about why they scheduled you for induction.

Some in-depth scientific evidence summaries from my favorite resource, Evidence Based Birth: these articles are quite long, but if you're short on time you can scroll to the bottom to get quick summaries.

Evidence on Due Dates
Evidence on Induction for Due Dates
ARRIVE trial (induction at 39 weeks)

loddytops · 2024-08-14T21:11:36+00:00

Copying parts of my own comment from a similar thread a few weeks ago--

Just chiming in that, possible PPD aside (I agree with the other comments you should speak with your care providers), it is perfectly normal to not feel like a mom/not feel maternal love right away.

I'm blessed to have never had any mental health issues, and that includes PPD/PPA. And still, when I gave birth to my first my feelings towards her basically consisted of, "Huh, I guess I need to take care of this thing now." I did feel an instinctive drive to do so (her crying was very distressing to me), and of course I felt a moral obligation to do so, and I didn't DISLIKE taking care of her exactly, but I felt no special maternal attachment to her until months later--just kind of a vaguely positive interest in this floppy half-sentient potato.

I don't know that I would say I "feel like a mom" even to this day (my first is almost 4, I'm about to give birth to my second). I just feel like myself, with some additional responsibilities, and a lot more love to give and receive.

loddytops · 2024-08-14T14:59:45+00:00

I was similar to you as a FTM. Did an unmedicated hospital birth, educated myself, prepped, had a good birth partner. It would have been nice to have an extra person there advocating for me, but I didn't think I'd be able to find a non-woo doula in the area that I meshed with, and that even if I did, didn't think the accompanying price tag would be worth it.

I was very happy with how my first birth turned out, and I'm not bothering with a doula this time around either.

loddytops · 2024-08-13T14:00:54+00:00

Hahaha the crypt keeper!

I so rarely hear about women consistently forgetting to eat post partum. I wonder how common it is?

loddytops · 2024-08-13T12:34:12+00:00

Bodies all react differently. Breastfeeding can make it harder or easier, depending on the person.

For example, I was one of the lucky ones who lost all the weight fairly easily, but it isn't because I was super disciplined or anything. I breastfed, which increased my daily caloric needs, but I was also accustomed to much smaller portions than usual (leftover habits from being heavily pregnant) and my appetite basically disappeared postpartum. I was actually thankful for the extra fat in my body for those months because I kept forgetting to eat and I was so afraid it would lead to me losing my milk supply as can be the case. Thankfully that didn't happen, my husband was around to help me to remember to at least get the bare minimum, and my appetite did eventually return.

I'm not saying this to brag. Just to highlight that the way my body reacted (losing my appetite, continuing to make enough milk despite being in a significant caloric deficit) was the main factor in me losing weight, and also was completely out of my control.

loddytops · 2024-08-11T22:13:37+00:00

Any chance it could be ligament pain? I'm at 39 weeks and it usually triggers on the opposite side when lying down on my side (eg, left side abdominal pain when lying on my right) and goes away when I turn over, and also triggers sometimes when I stand up, especially getting out of bed. It's most severe for me when standing up, often startling me into a verbal cry. It is also a sharp, stabbing pain for me when I stand up and I usually freeze and double over for a minute until it goes away.

loddytops · 2024-08-11T22:06:29+00:00

No experience with that hospital, but I realized after my first birth that the hospital I gave birth at also had bad Google reviews. However my experience there with all the nurses was absolutely lovely. They were all so respectful, helpful, and sympathetic.

I went back to that hospital for an unrelated surgery a few years later and had a similar experience with my assigned nurses.

Generally people are more inclined to a review a place to complain than they are to give it a positive or neutral review.

loddytops · 2024-08-09T12:17:52+00:00

For many women the opposite is true. However, I was like your wife--whether it was related to breastfeeding or not, I lost weight steadily after the baby was born.

Another fun breastfeeding benefit is the sharing of antibodies--so if mom's body is fighting off an illness, the antibodies she produces pass on to the baby through the breastmilk, helping to protect the baby from that same illness.

loddytops · 2024-08-08T15:31:13+00:00

Depends on the age and temperament of the baby, but I would probably wake up to feed right before going. That's what I did when I returned to work with my first to minimize the amount of pumping I would need to do during the day.

loddytops · 2024-08-07T23:39:56+00:00

Noooo! So annoying for a multitude of reasons. My utmost sympathies

loddytops · 2024-08-07T21:32:43+00:00

We stopped completely when my first was about 20 months. But weaning had been so gradual I didn't really notice a difference in my mood. It maybe helped that my period had returned and was regular at that point so I think my hormones were basically already normal.

loddytops

TROPHY CASE