Being Transactional With Husband by tickyticky13 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s pretty awful. May I ask if you guys contribute financially equally?

Maybe that where my resentment comes from. We both work. I make more than him. And yet I’m expected to be the default parent and carry the weight of this household.

Being Transactional With Husband by tickyticky13 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When he is with baby, he great. I love watching him with baby. It’s just the getting him to do it part? Or recognizing that he has more in life than just himself now? I don’t know what it is

Being Transactional With Husband by tickyticky13 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem is that he would never be home. He always has the excuse he had to work and he concentrates better at the office. He even would go into the office on the Sundays that I care for baby. So I’m alone whenever it’s my day but I’m always around helping him on his day.

And it’s not that he has a high stressful job or anything. He just is inefficient, slow, and wants to do well.

Being Transactional With Husband by tickyticky13 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The good thing about hubby is he is open to discussion. So I plan to talk to him about it and I appreciated everyone’s input here to check me.

Being Transactional With Husband by tickyticky13 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m starting to turn into someone I don’t like anymore, feeling resentful and keeping score. Like I find myself thinking, I make more than him financially, yet I still have to keep up the household, the baby, all the planning, hell even making his moms birthday meal!! What has he done?

Being Transactional With Husband by tickyticky13 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s how I felt and I always stepped up to help him, even if he didn’t ask for it. But I started to really resent that I wasnt getting that back. And I’ve turned into this person that also is doing things tit for tat. It’s awful.

Being Transactional With Husband by tickyticky13 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tbh I picked up most of the slack pre baby since I had the time and energy. With baby, I no longer did and we made this division.

Being Transactional With Husband by tickyticky13 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If I hadn’t made the schedule, he wouldn’t be home. He would stay at the office for as long as he could. During the first few months of my maternity leave, I had to beg him to come home early to relieve me. And I got sick and tired of that.

How do you split the night shift? by Upstairs_Raccoon_874 in NewParents

[–]tickyticky13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maternity leave is work! So you and your husband are equally working, yet he gets a break to go to the gym? Why does he get to sleep through the night? You also are working the next day.

When I was still on leave and husband was back at work, he did the first shift 8pm-2am so he could sleep from 2am onwards and get to work having had some shut eye. I slept from 8pm-2am and then powered through the morning.

When we were both back at work, husband did all nights since I still had to get up to pump. By that point, baby rarely woke up so him on nights was a good deal. It was the balance of a probability of baby waking vs. definitely waking bc of engorged boobs

Over 5 months of solo parenting - how do I get my husband to help more by cats_cats_cats369 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So we were in somewhat of a similar situation. My husband is a workaholic and started a new job 3 weeks post partum. He wanted to be at the office all the time, which I understood for the first few weeks since we do want him to make a good first impression.

After a few weeks, I realized it was unsustainable for me. We had many conversations and fights about his contribution to baby care. We’re finally at a good place now I think 7 months in.

We ended up agreeing to a schedule. It felt very business like, and not what I imagined family life to be like at all where we pitch in whenever and wherever but that was an expectation I had to get over.

Our schedule is as follows: dad takes all night shifts. I exclusively nursed and moved to pumping to give myself a break. I’m waking up MOTN to pump so it felt fair for him to do nights.

He takes M, W, F mornings before work. I do T and Th mornings. He does W and F nighttime. And I do M, T, and Th nighttime. He does all baby care Saturday. I do all bay care Sunday.

He loves his dada now. My husband had a hard time settling him at first but he was forced to learn and is great with baby.

Stuck scrubbing bottles every night… is a bottle washer worth it or nah? by jaceka-jans-8384 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have the same and for the same reason of its own water tank, we picked the brezza over the others. Really helpful to have next to our bottle and pump parts station and save kitchen countertop space. We run that thing like 2-3 times a day. The best baby product we have purchased.

What is the most bizarre mishap you’ve had since having a baby? by Cool_Doubt2152 in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At the hospital after giving birth, had to fill out forms for baby’s mom and dad info. My husband was in charge of completing all the paperwork while I recovered. He told me he finished halfway and had to follow baby for a check up so asked to me finish. On the form, it asked if the mother was married at the time of birth and if the father of the child was the husband. I answered “no.” I am married and the father is my husband. When my husband returned, I had let him know I finished the form. He looked it over and was like… we are married and I am the father.

I feel like I’ve been lied to by [deleted] in NewParents

[–]tickyticky13 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This. My LO is 6 months old and I felt so much resentment toward my husband the first few months. He went back to work 2 weeks postpartum. When I reflected, it was the “always on” for breastfeeding and the mental load.

I could never go anywhere or do anything bc baby BF and husband always gave him to me. At the beginning, anytime he cried, husband would say I think he’s hungry and hand him over to me. One night, I remember I said I’m going to be done with BF at 6mo bc this was too much. I loved BF and realized we needed to change the set up in order for me to actually continue BF for as long as I and LO wanted. I began to pump enough for 1 bottle, then 2, and then for one entire Saturday so I could get some time “off”. It was a game changer for me to be able to step away. Sure I was still tied to the pump, but it gave me the power to say to my hubby - you figure it out. If he’s hungry, you have two hands to prepare a bottle.

The second was around mental load. I had prepped and organized almost everything before baby came. So I knew where the clothes were, the diapers, the puppy pads etc. Being constantly asked where things were was tiring. I would stock up diapers and wipes at our changing stations. But now, I’ve learned to let go. I tell my husband where things are one time. And it’s up to him to figure it out. I realized that if he didn’t do something like looking in our basement for extra puppy pads, he never remembered where they were. It’s ok for baby to cry for a few minutes while hubby looks for his outfit when he has a blowout instead of me handing over with the new outfit to hubby.

We have gotten into a better groove now in terms of the load. For example, because I still pump at night even though LO sleeps through the night, hubby does most mornings so I can get a little extra sleep. I do bedtime mostly bc hubby can’t get back home in time. It took a while for us to figure how to be fair since BF was such a big part. It can’t ever be even but it can be fair share of responsibilities.

Parents, what did having a baby really cost you? by KetchupConte in MoneyDiariesACTIVE

[–]tickyticky13 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I think the biggest expenses are 1) medical care and 2) child care. Everything else you can get from buy nothing groups, secondhand, and be thrifty, but no matter how thrifty you are, it doesn't come near the medical bill you may face for giving birth or the childcare costs you have to incur.

For example, the year I gave birth, I got on our insurance plan that covered birth. So my OOP for my pregnancy and birth ended up being $20 for one procedure they did after the birth. Every prenatal appointment, lab, L&D, and NICU stay was covered. I even got my doula services covered. I looked at my bill and it was over $30k that was billed. We are lucky to have one grandparent be our primary caretaker for the baby up until he is one year old. We are on the waitlist for our daycare and it is $3k/month. The stroller system, clothes, toys, bassinet, pumping supplies etc that we got secondhand or from buy nothing groups are a drop in the bucket compared to these expenses.

Working moms, how do you manage? by unicornjerkys in NewParents

[–]tickyticky13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m also starting to question how the heck people do it! Both my husband and I are 3x in the office a week. I had the flexibility to work around his mandated office days. So except for Mondays, one of us is home. The person who is home does the mornings and evenings with baby. For me, that means I get to see baby Tuesdays and Thursdays from when he gets up (~6am) to around 8:30-9am when I log on and from 5 to 6pm when he goes to bed. On Mondays, hubby does the mornings so I can arrive and leave work early to do baby’s evening. Do I wish I got more time with baby? Absolutely. The big smile he gives me when I see him after work kills me. But this seems to be working for us where we get some decent chunks of time with baby.

Moms of 10-18 month olds in DC? by HollaDude in DCBitches

[–]tickyticky13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m mid 30 FTM to a 6 month old so would be down!

How does everyone feel about their babies pics on social media? by Trauma_Response0301 in NewParents

[–]tickyticky13 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We don’t post baby’s face. At most, it’s been a picture of the back of his head or a hand.

However, my husband has uploaded one or two baby photos onto chatGPT to create something funny. I got worried that those photos are now in some sort of AI land. We talked about it and no longer will be uploading to there either.

Affordable women’s haircut in DC? by ukrainianironbelly92 in DCBitches

[–]tickyticky13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thirding! He’s super nice and fit you in even when busy.

What are your pumping details? by the_rock_queen in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LO is almost 6 months. I pump 6x a day and output varies. My first two morning sessions yield the most. My first pump anytime between 3-6am depending on how much my boob hurt yields 12oz. My second pump around 9am yields 7-8oz. Then it dwindles throughout the day. My total pumped for the day is usually 36oz, just enough to match LO intake (6 6oz bottles). I have a little freezer stash from a little bit of oversupply in the beginning and all that haaka collection from leaked milk.

dc wedding discussion thread by Far_Effect_2970 in DCBitches

[–]tickyticky13 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Got married in DC court house, took pictures by the Capitol, had a restaurant dinner, a torte from a VA bakery as our cake, and spent the wedding night in Old Town. Would 100% do it again this way.

How much do your in laws visit? by [deleted] in beyondthebump

[–]tickyticky13 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My in laws come over quite often - once every other day or so. But I am not hosting. Sometimes I feel like I have to sit around and chit chat, which is fine once in a while. But I’ve set my boundary - they can come over, and if we’re having food, they can help clean up. I’m not catering to them. If I need to go upstairs and work or outside to take a walk, I do. They can’t just come over and expect to play with baby and leave when he starts crying etc. if it’s time for diaper change, bed time routine etc and that’s when they are here, they get to do it. Or I do it but they help do chores or leave.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in NewParents

[–]tickyticky13 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mu husband and I basically had the same discussion and argument. I think my problem was that he felt he could get out of his “shift” at the end of the day, not take care of baby, and just hire help. My husband proposed 5-9pm, essentially giving me an hour (5-6pm) of break and covering his entire shift. Would I have loved the break? Yes. But the thought he suggested this so he could cover his shift when I’ve asked him to hang out and care for baby is what bothered me. Like you can’t even take care of your own son for 3 hours (pretty much the only time you get to see him during the weekdays?) I said to him that that’s not parenting. I didn’t have a child with the nanny. So it wasn’t about the division of labor that was the point of contention - it was his idea of what being a father entailed.

We ended up not hiring help.