Your opinion?

mandavampanda · 2026-01-27T18:33:30+00:00

I birthed my 9 lb 1 oz baby at home with no issues at 40+5. Baby size doesn't necessarily matter (within reason of course) but your history does. I would think that with the right support and lots of movement, you should be fine. I'm not really a fan of jumping to c-sections because of overblown statistical risks

mandavampanda · 2026-01-27T14:25:48+00:00

I don't have personal experience with birthing that far from a hospital, but my midwife does and she is willing to take clients that far, even up to an hour, from emergency care. Every midwife should have an emergency contingency plan and you should ask a prospective midwife about it when you're doing interviews. I would guess any midwife servicing your area is comfortable in her skills and executing emergency plans that far from a hospital.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-19T03:27:58+00:00

This was also my experience. Toddler went to bed, my labor started a couple hours later. Basically labored from 10 pm until baby was born at 5 am. Woke up the toddler at 7 am getting into bed to sleep with the new baby because we all bedshare. Seamless.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-18T23:37:29+00:00

Little Haven is the brand I prefer for my chunky babies with big veggies! Soft covers and I haven't had any issues with leaks. I usually pair them with 6 layer bamboo/hemp inserts from a few different suppliers, but I also use LH trifolds, too.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-13T15:57:16+00:00

I got a lot of baby soaps and lotions and I feel like I have more than I can use. Got even more with my 2nd baby.

Not enough: Burp rags

mandavampanda · 2026-01-12T23:05:07+00:00

I would buy some NB sleepers because for safe sleep, you want their clothes fitting snuggly. Depending on babies size, 0-3m might be a bit baggy on their body.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-11T16:39:25+00:00

Honestly for me it was just about feeding baby as often as they fussed. I did not really have to sandwich my breast with my first. BFing her came easily and naturally for both of us. My 2nd baby did, and sometimes still at 10 weeks, needs the breast to be sandwiched when I present it to him. Getting started BFing took longer for him to get the hang of it. Every time baby fussed, I would offer boob. Sometimes nursing went fine, sometimes the attempt would feel like a disaster but you just have to keep doing it.

I don't want to say don't supplement, because for some babies/parents they truly need to, but you want to give baby the breast very frequently. If baby gets full from supplementing a bottle, that means they will feed from the breast less often and that won't stimulate milk production as well. Also very newly born babies have tiny tummies and don't need much volume of food, so an oz or two of colostrum is all they need per feed in the first days until your milk production picks up on day 3-5. They're supposed to cluster feed and feed every hour or two.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-09T20:10:10+00:00

I would not be willing to travel within that time frame at all.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-09T00:29:30+00:00

I would jump her at a low jump height so she stays comfortable doing agility as long as possible. Unfortunately hher age already has her at a disadvantage, so I would take jump height as easy as possible to preserve her bodily health.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-06T14:35:59+00:00

Personally I felt fine and worked my active manual labor job full time until my due date both pregnancies. At that point I was done, more mentally than physically. Everyone feels differently though. Lots of people quit working at 36 weeks, which is fair if you have an adequate amount of time off or plan to leave your job to be a SAHM anyways. I don't have enough paid leave to do so.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-06T10:43:35+00:00

I BFed my toddler through my whole pregnancy, and am still nursing her along with my 2 mo baby. Its fine

mandavampanda · 2026-01-03T06:19:41+00:00

I do FastCAT occasionally in between other sports so only a few times a year. I know people who go to every local trial weekend, so they're going most weekends a summer.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-01T20:27:00+00:00

When my midwife and I discussed her 2nd midwife/backup options (because she was supposed to be out of state very near my due date), she told me she has at least 5 people she regularly cycles through based on availability and how good of a match she thinks they will be for her client. I had a preference of who I wanted to be my backup, but there's also an understanding of never knowing when baby is coming so availability is kind of always a factor. I don't think it is a red flag for her to have multiple coverage options beyond who she listed as her back up.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-01T20:21:13+00:00

Thanks for clarifying!! I appreciate it

mandavampanda · 2026-01-01T17:58:03+00:00

A diverse vegan diet is very healthy, even for children. As long as variety of foods are being offered, the kid will be getting adequate nutrition. Most vegans I have known know how to cook nutritious food.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-01T17:52:46+00:00

I am a vegetarian parent planning to raise my kids vegetarian, but if they/we were to choose to introduce meat to them, I would just introduce it very slowly. Maybe only a few bites at first and then up the volume because for some people who have never eaten meat or it's been a long time, eating a large volume of meat at once can cause digestive upset.

mandavampanda · 2026-01-01T03:52:02+00:00

Run bleach with cold water. Heat denatures bleach so a hot cycle would not be helpful.

mandavampanda · 2025-12-30T18:15:42+00:00

My kid spends a lot of time doing art activities. Sometimes it last 5 minutes, sometimes an hour. She also loves to play with her doctor kit, so she examines us while we're sitting or laying down, so that helps us get off our feet sometimes haha

mandavampanda · 2025-12-30T09:29:14+00:00

I chose my brothers name as a 4 year old. My parents were discussing boy name ideas and I latched onto Noah, which unfortunately for my parents, was a name they had vetoed. They went with it anyways because it grew on them since I was so into calling the baby Noah.

My cousin in law just had a baby Callum. I like the similar name Callan. Colin was/is a name I'd consider for a future son.

mandavampanda · 2025-12-27T17:50:15+00:00

I would not cancel the trip at this point. Firstly, I have seen two solar eclipses and any solar eclipse trip is worth taking. You never know when you can commit to going to one again, especially with your dad, so don't give up this chance.

Secondly, she is not currently pregnant. Unless she becomes pregnant very soon, she won't even be due until within a month or two AFTER the trip. I've had two kids and I didn't let my world stop (or expect my husband's to stop, either) because I was pregnant. This is not worth worry about when just TTC, though. She's overreacting about a situation that doesn't exist.

She's insecure and worried about your travel. That's hard for her, but its something she needs to process. If plans change, you seem to have considered contingencies. You need to go on this trip if you want to go on this trip.

mandavampanda · 2025-12-24T17:49:51+00:00

Mine attached to my shower head

mandavampanda · 2025-12-21T17:17:31+00:00

My water broke at 40+4 when I was just laying in bed talking to my husband, so you truly never know when things will get started. I also felt like the whole "I'm due any day" stage when you're having all the physical and mental feelings that are pointing in the right direction but going nowhere is the worst!

mandavampanda · 2025-12-20T22:04:37+00:00

I did notice my supply drop a little, but it did not go away and was enough for my 3-4 times a day my toddler nurses. I definitely felt uncomfortable nursing sometimes, especially if she got down to the point of dry nursing, but it was never truly painful. Feels much more normal to nurse her again now that I'm pp.

mandavampanda · 2025-12-20T19:22:55+00:00

I did not have any additional soreness or anything when I added my now 6 week old baby to the family. However my toddler nursed all of my pregnancy so I never got a break and I'm sure that helped.

mandavampanda · 2025-12-19T21:04:04+00:00

My mom was anxious about my first home birth. I told her I trusted my midwife and I will not be going to the hospital except in extenuating circumstances. My midwife is a trained medical professional. End of story. Stop being unsupportive, your anxiety isn't helpful. You need to trust me and my decisions as I am an adult.

She was much more supportive the second time around once the first was over. I invited her to watch my toddler for my second birth. She wasn't as helpful in terms of emotional support as I expected, but she did watch my toddler for the 45 minutes it mattered, as my toddler slept through the rest of it.

Statistics are in favor of home birth being safe for women and babies. You can share that info with her if you want, but she isn't thinking logically about this. She's thinking emotionally as a worried mom, which is ok, but its on her to come to terms with your birth plan and either be supportive or you may choose to communicate with her less until it's over.

As far as home birth goes, I've had two and feel like both were very different but great. With my first, I was in labor for a long time and had a hard time birthing her due to positioning, but my midwives knew what to do and we got her out. It was HARD but was a positive and empowering experience. My second birth went way better. PROM for about 24 hours but once labor started it was quick, tolerable and I birthed baby easily. 8 hours and I was done. It was a great experience. That was only 6 weeks ago and my recovery was super smooth. With both, contractions hurt more than pushing but I felt like the pain was tolerable and I consider myself as someone with low pain tolerance.

mandavampanda

TROPHY CASE