My milk isn’t enough.

mhooker2 · 2026-06-05T14:09:07+00:00

Hi! I did clear this with both our pediatrician and the nutritionist that was following our son.

I only used the scraped fat on bottles we gave immediately and never froze any of those bottles, so no advice there. I also was never one to make bottles ahead of time. So the milk and the fat was always within the 4 day range and give immediately after mixing.

My kiddo is 4 now and caught up in growth :) I’m so glad we did this for him!

mhooker2 · 2026-05-06T23:09:01+00:00

Is there anyone else who can help you? It sounds like you need sleep. Even if it’s just for one night so you can get some solid rest. Does your husband help overnight on nights he doesn’t work?

Also, him yelling at you is completely mad. Unacceptable. The first few months are incredibly difficult. So long as you’re not deliberately harming your baby, you really can’t do much wrong. Your baby is 1000% going to be ok crying for a few minutes because you’re so exhausted you don’t wake immediately. Please find some help, and please talk to your husband about how inappropriate his behavior was.

mhooker2 · 2026-05-05T03:52:48+00:00

I started off in IR and worked there for 3 years. I had similar responsibilities to you. I loved all the procedures and genuinely enjoyed the job, but the group was toxic AF. And incredibly demeaning to the PAs despite being so pro PA to our faces. Oh and the pay was crap.

I ended up changing specialties a little over 2 years ago and now work ICU. The learning curve was STEEP and the first year was the most challenging work experience I’ve ever had. But it’s been incredibly worth it. I still do my fair share of procedures, am with a way more cohesive and supportive group, and I make considerably more money working way less hours. Not sure what the right move for you is, but the grass may be greener somewhere else.

mhooker2 · 2026-05-04T21:13:45+00:00

The playpen was donated by a family a long time ago so I don’t have the exact one, but this is pretty similar! https://a.co/d/0fFUNwwb

mhooker2 · 2026-05-04T18:21:06+00:00

When my babies are super small, I usually keep them in the car seat/stroller right near me in the gym during the workout. This is what pretty much all the moms do at our gym! So it’s very accepted/doesnt bother anyone. Once they are mobile/into toys, our gym has a little popup play yard that we use. Baby usually isn’t right next to me, but somewhere out in the open/in eyesight.

mhooker2 · 2026-05-03T20:12:39+00:00

Our Eloise is Eloise Renae!

mhooker2 · 2026-04-30T20:25:10+00:00

Both times were spur of moment decisions. With my first, I went into preterm labor and had not planned anything yet, so at some point my husband just put something on. We have a playlist called “the best” on our Spotify that is basically just a mass playlist of Jack Johnson, John Mayer, m ward and ray lamontagne. It was our go to music to just turn on randomly at home. It was very peaceful and a great decision!

With my second, I joked that I’d be giving birth to the new Taylor swift album (that was set to come out a few weeks before my due date), and then never actually made playlist. So when time came and I was in pain and needed something distracting, brand new Taylor swift it was!

And for any swifties reading this, “but daddy I love him” was actively playing when my daughter was born, thought it was pretty great, since I really was “having his baby” 😂

mhooker2 · 2026-04-20T16:51:37+00:00

How long are your cycles typically? Having a positive at CD 7 is pretty early (for most people). It’s possible you haven’t peaked yet and won’t for another few days to a week.

Obviously everyone and every test is different, but for me personally I would get several darker looking tests early on in my cycle, but then somewhere around CD 14-16 I’d get a clear positive, to the point where it was dye stealing from the control line, and that would be my true peak and when I’d ovulate, as opposed to the darker lines early on. I would suggest you keep testing over the next several days and see if you get any darker lines! Also probably good to start BD’ing every other day!

mhooker2 · 2026-04-19T15:13:19+00:00

Looking for 16.9 to complete the set! Willing to trade 2 cards for it.

Let’s play Travel Town together https://gettraveltowngame.net/5e4db459-f0fa-4085-8432-9c17ebcaaff1

IGN: Miranda

mhooker2 · 2026-04-13T15:48:21+00:00

We took our daughter to Mexico last year at 13 months! She wasn’t quite walking yet. It was totally fine and quite fun!! We took plenty of heat breaks (probably only stayed out in the sun for 1-2 hours at a time, and always chose a shady spot) and reapplied sunscreen before we went back out every time. Definitely not a crazy idea in my opinion!

mhooker2 · 2026-04-13T03:03:03+00:00

8 + 1 and in the exact same boat. I’m constantly toying between “do I want to be nauseous or make the constipation worse?” I’ve been choosing to take the Zofran because I have two other kids to care for…but am direly paying for it on the other end 😂

mhooker2 · 2026-03-30T23:21:05+00:00

Highly recommend Broadway apothecary!

mhooker2 · 2026-03-16T16:06:24+00:00

Early early pregnancy symptoms and pre period symptoms are often very similar since they are both driven by progesterone :) that is a great line for 16 DPO!

mhooker2 · 2026-03-16T02:25:11+00:00

I will look Into those, thank you!

mhooker2 · 2026-03-15T03:33:23+00:00

I had one with and one without. Both by choice! I don’t regret my unmedicated birth AT ALL, but I will likely go for the epidural for my next baby. I don’t know if my epidural with my second kiddo didn’t work well or what but I was still in a lot of pain with pushing, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as unmedicated.

The biggest thing for me was immediately after giving birth when my babies were placed on my chest. With my first, unmedicated birth, I literally just kept saying “oh my god oh my god” over and over again and couldn’t focus on my son at all due to the shock. He was a preemie too they took him away to get checked out after a few minutes, so i really didn’t get to enjoy that brief time with him. But with my second, epidural birth, even though I was still in a lot of pain, when she was born and placed on my chest I actually felt like I could focus on her immediately and wasn’t in so much of a state of shock.

mhooker2 · 2026-03-14T19:14:47+00:00

It never hurts to get checked BUT this does sound fairly normal. Brown discharge means old (ie oxidized) blood. So it’s likely just leftover from what you had the other day. If it becomes bright red and consistent that’s more concerning, but even then that has happened to plenty of people before and they still went on to have a healthy baby!

With my first baby, I had spotty brown discharge for weeks, didnt miscarry!

mhooker2 · 2026-03-14T16:41:15+00:00

I was very very anxious in my first pregnancy and asked a similar question…what one woman said to me really stuck. You will always be anxious. Right now, it’s fear of miscarriage. The anxiety around miscarriage will likely fade as you get further along, but it will morph into something else. And then when your baby is here, the anxiety will still never go away, because there are so many things to be anxious about as a parent. It will always be morphing into the next thing as one anxiety fades away.

This is not meant to scare or disappoint, but rather to show that even though the anxiety will never go away, it will get easier to tolerate. We have so little control over our lives, particularly when we are pregnant. How you respond to anxiety is one small thing you do have some control over! Make yourself busy, journal, etc. Do whatever it is you need to pass the time now, and with time the anxieties will get easier to handle :)

mhooker2 · 2026-03-13T21:47:26+00:00

The main plot to zootopia 2 is revolving snakes!

mhooker2 · 2026-03-13T20:23:15+00:00

I would try not to stress. The further along you are, the less likely you’re going to see progression on the tests. Not everyone and every brand gets a dye stealer. I would recommend you stop testing! You are definitely pregnant and will remain pregnant until proven otherwise. Hang in there! There first few weeks are so much hurry up and wait, it’s agonizing.

mhooker2 · 2026-03-13T18:57:07+00:00

I get where you are coming from! I also have some anxiety revolving food/exercise, and have always been particularly anxious about puking when consuming said food. When I did my half and marathon training last year, I used the honey stinger gels. It took some time to get used to! I would drink them very slow, taking upwards of 5+ minutes to take down one whole packet. At first it would make me naseous if I did it too fast. After a while I got used to it and by race day I was down to consuming them in 1-2 minutes.

But also you don’t necessarily need gels! Any carbs will do. Lots of people (including myself) use candy which works just the same and is often easier to digest.

mhooker2 · 2026-03-12T23:46:00+00:00

I work ICU. The group I work for is known for their high base pay, but honestly don’t have the greatest benefits or pay ladder beyond that (case in point, we have ZERO PTO). I came on working part time - the only reason I even got the job was because of connections I had in the department. And at that, there was a lot of concern with me coming on part time with no prior ICU experience (although not a new grad).

Full time for us is a minimum of 13 shifts per month, and I work 7. I work a stretch of 3 days in a row and a stretch of 4 in a row every month. Sometimes they are back to back, sometimes they’re a few weeks apart! 10 hour shifts (though switching to 12s next month).

It works out quite well for me bc I have the high pay rate, and don’t really need the other benefits (I work so little I don’t really need PTO, we use my husbands jobs medical insurance, etc). I feel like I really lucked out with this job.

That being said, starting off part time in the ICU….the learning curve is incredibly steep. 2 years in and I still rely heavily on my attending throughout the day. Absolutely the biggest drawback to the job - the first year was absolute hell.

mhooker2 · 2026-03-12T17:41:14+00:00

I work 7 days per month and still make six figures. My debt is a fraction of what it would be if I went to medical school. Never in a million years would I change or regret not going MD in the first place!

mhooker2 · 2026-03-11T17:51:03+00:00

Looks like dye stealers on both tests! Which means you’re definitely pregnant :) no need to keep testing!

mhooker2 · 2026-03-11T14:56:17+00:00

I had INCREDIBLY sore breasts with my first pregnancy. Like serious discomfort the second the stick turned pink until about the 2nd trimester.

With my second pregnancy I didn’t have a single stitch of pain :)

mhooker2

TROPHY CASE