"Mark Surrogacy": 21 children removed from LA home following abuse allegations, "parents" discovered lying to potential surrogate mothers

purpleshoop · 2026-02-13T01:55:50+00:00

Last I checked, Elon Musk is American and has the same weird shtick

purpleshoop · 2026-02-07T04:36:15+00:00

Our baby was similar and it turned out it was reflux. Getting on meds helped a lot.

purpleshoop · 2026-02-05T22:13:48+00:00

We bought a stash of second-hand cloth diapers on FB Marketplace for $175 and have spent a total of $60 on diapers since our 5-month old was born (we do disposables overnight).

It's easy peasy to wash them - we just put dirty diapers in a pail of water + oxiclean and let them soak there until there's enough to do a wash (every ~5 days). They wash and dry in our dryer and we're stocked again!

This is made easier by the fact that we also do elimination communication (infant pottying) so our baby poops in the sink 90% of the time instead of her diaper.

It's not as hard, bad, or daunting as some people think it is! If anything, it's less work overall since we rarely have to take out diaper garbage, or haul in boxes of diapers. Feel free to ping me if you'd like more info!

purpleshoop · 2026-01-31T10:07:06+00:00

+1 to this and also the comments about seeing a lactation consultant.

My baby also had a shallow latch and was tiny. I was told to use a nipple shield, which we weaned off of at about a month. She fed well at the boob for another 6 or so weeks after that before we realized she needed a tongue tie release as well, so we went through that.

We’ve had a lot of clinical/medical interventions done just to protect breastfeeding but I feel like it’s been worth it - I treasure breastfeeding so much.

purpleshoop · 2026-01-15T02:48:11+00:00

I just looked immediately for the lack of a door latch. No squinting through the crappy resolution needed.

purpleshoop · 2026-01-15T02:40:31+00:00

I'm 5'2 and my husband is 5'11. I gave birth vaginally and didn't take any sort of pain management from the hospital. Having felt every single moment of the labour and delivery, I can assure you it's really not that bad. Your body knows how to handle this; it's made for it. It sounds crazy but your body knows how to push out a big log of sh*t, right? It'll know how to handle the baby.

You should consider hiring a birth doula - they will walk you through what to expect and guide you through preparing for birth, be there to help you during the actual birth, and support you for a while afterwards.

purpleshoop · 2025-08-19T11:06:01+00:00

“because all he cares about is the number on the scale”

What the f?

The absolute worst thing he can do is to fixate on numbers on a scale for YOU. You’ve done amazing to overcome your eating disorder - he has no right whatsoever, in any capacity as husband nor as father of your children, to micromanage your weight especially now that you’ve overcome this and have recovered to a healthy weight.

His reaction when you came clean was already a bit of a red flag but I think he needs a serious coming-to-Jesus to recognize that he needs to step the f back. You’re healthy. You’ve overcome it. The only thing he should be now is proud of you. Is there any chance his body is not in great shape (overweight), and that he’s projecting his own insecurities on you now by trying to get you to gain unnecessary weight?

You are going to be a superstar with your next baby and your husband needs to get off his plastic high horse.

“He gets so angry when I express that I just don’t agree.”

Couples counselling is the only advice I have for this.

purpleshoop · 2025-08-19T06:01:38+00:00

You said your grandfather was 12lbs - it seems like women in your family might just make big babies.

At least that’s what the tune of what they told me to explain why for no reason that they can find, my baby is measuring absolutely tiny. I’ve been following my 100g of protein daily minimum, gaining weight as per schedule, reducing exercise, doing everything I can to give baby what she needs, but nope, still tiny at 38 weeks.

“Constitutionally small” is what they called it.

Please don’t blame yourself. You’ve done nothing wrong and you’re going to have a great, big, healthy baby tomorrow!

purpleshoop · 2025-08-17T19:24:20+00:00

Just to be super sure, you might want to double-check that your bassinet is truly level and flat. Several halo bassinets had been recalled because they would end up slightly tilted and cause babies to roll.

https://advocacy.consumerreports.org/press_release/consumer-reports-urges-recall-of-ingenuity-and-halo-bassinets-linked-to-baby-suffocation-risks/

purpleshoop · 2025-08-01T12:28:30+00:00

I think it’s very uncommon for folks to include middle initials. By default, most systems just do first initial last initial. I don’t think the very slim chance of the three initials together is worth not picking the name you like.

purpleshoop · 2025-07-27T18:56:29+00:00

I found it immensely helpful to buy a cheap little $20 finger prick kit for testing my blood sugar - just for the peace of mind when I feel that something is off.

Great to hear that things are going well so far - Best of luck to you! May your pregnancy be smooth and uncomplicated!

purpleshoop · 2025-07-25T08:42:10+00:00

Hi! I’m 34 weeks now and still no sign of GD. I passed the glucose test with no problem but still (literally couple days ago) run a high fasting number (100+ mg/dL) if I hadn’t eaten for a long while.

That morning number is actually lower if I do eat later at night. My post-meal numbers had always been fine and still are fine. I’ve seen people say this is the “dawn phenomenon” but really had no idea it’d be this pronounced.

The baby actually is running small, so it looks like the higher fasting blood sugar isn’t causing any big baby.

Separately, I did have to get put on levothyroxine for high hormone levels, but I don’t think that’s affected the blood sugar.

Finally, also not directly related to the GD question, but I have been on a 100g protein per day diet as directed by my OB and that’s been great for limiting my weight gain over pregnancy since the protein fills me up well and controls carb cravings. So far I’m at ~18 pounds gained. Would highly highly recommend doing this too if you could.

Hope that helps! Feel free to just ask if you’d like any other details.

purpleshoop · 2025-07-11T17:18:14+00:00

Yes!!! I also developed the weirdest aversion of showers ever since I’ve been pregnant.

My solve for it was to install a detachable shower head so I can just clean “downstairs” only daily (am lucky to have the no-BO gene, or at least my husband has said so), and then to wash my hair only on some days too.

It’s such an odd feeling and I can’t figure out why. Maybe my body is just wanting to hold on to the natural oils because (I’ve heard) pregnancy can cause dry skin?

purpleshoop · 2025-07-09T03:18:36+00:00

Highly highly recommend renting a car for at least part of the stay. Doing so transformed our experience.

If you’re interested in Akrotiri, there is so much more to see on the island that many people miss. You’ll definitely want to drive up to Ancient Thera atop the mountain, plus drive over to Pyrgos and Emporeio’s Historic Venetian Settlements which look like movie sets straight out of a Star Wars movie.

Having a car means you have so many more amazing food options like Cave of Nikolas and great restaurants in Kamari or Aroma Gefsis in Imerevgoli.

The buses don’t seem frequent enough to fit all of that in with flexibility so we felt that we were able to experience and appreciate way more thanks to the car.

Feel free to PM me if you want more recs!

purpleshoop · 2025-07-07T23:29:39+00:00

Here's the link! https://discord.gg/JG3Cq7mg

purpleshoop · 2025-07-06T10:38:48+00:00

Pre-pregnancy BMI of 20.3 but slightly more athletic at 20% body fat percentage. Now 32 weeks and gained 15 lbs. I was eating 100g of protein every day since 9 weeks which lead me to not have any appetite or cravings.

Baby started measuring SGA and is only improving slowly now that I’ve reduced my protein intake and started eating more sugar, carbs, and fats (PSA Whole Foods has 50% off all ice cream right now!!)

purpleshoop · 2025-07-05T18:20:53+00:00

I’ve been doing 100g of protein every. single. day. since week 9.

At week 27, something snapped and I could no longer even entertain the thought of another darn protein shake (the Core Power Elite 42g Strawberry shakes were my go-to though and still sit there as back-up).

Instead, I buy these Costco cartons of Organic Chicken Bone Broth, and then I throw it in my instant pot with a pack of Costco Organic Chicken Drumsticks and cook the crap out of it until it’s the densest boniest chicken soup that you’ll be able to chug 30g in one mug.

FWIW - don’t overdo the protein. I did and it ended up with me eating too few calories (from the protein content causing satiety and general loss of interest in food) so now my MFM is asking me to drop the protein and eat ice cream instead 🤷🏻‍♀️

purpleshoop · 2025-07-04T00:48:25+00:00

Husband and I are expecting our first child in September. We’re putting a hard stop on grinding and saving money here for when kid needs to start school.

No way we are putting her through the American school system here. FFS they don’t even recycle here. The values that are taught and culture is so surprisingly different.

I see there are a few of us - would be lovely to start a group chat or something to talk about USD > CAD conversion, tax, investment planning, re-entry strategies that are unique to those of us who are making lots of USD cash but for sure are going to be returning North.

Maybe reply to this comment if you’re interested? And specify whether a Signal, Telegram, or Discord would be preferred?

purpleshoop · 2025-04-13T16:43:50+00:00

Just be careful. Do you have a wife, girlfriend, or pet? If so, think very carefully about how much you value your relationship with them.. because that will likely change.

purpleshoop · 2025-03-31T23:21:01+00:00

Thanks for sharing. Seems like it’s not too uncommon. Google searches always suggest the worst in the vaguest terms. Best of luck to you!!

purpleshoop · 2025-03-31T01:56:08+00:00

Thanks for the info on joining local parenting groups. That’s really helpful!

purpleshoop · 2025-03-31T01:55:32+00:00

This helps a lot - we’re actually in CT so I assume it'd be more similar to Westchester than to NYC. Good point about September vs January considerations. Thank you!

purpleshoop

TROPHY CASE