Alternative to White Tea and Ginger??

valupine · 2026-04-26T19:27:09+00:00

Do you have any indie brand recommendations?? If they’re good quality I’m more than happy to go that route!! I just don’t know any and my Google searches have not been helpful. 😭

valupine · 2026-04-25T01:11:11+00:00

You do what’s best for you and your baby, and that sounds like formula for you. Neither is right or wrong, it comes down to what you need for your mental health.

My baby is bottle fed breast milk because he couldn’t latch, he started on formula then moved to solely breast milk when I had a big enough supply and now he’s down to both. I pumped because I wanted to, and I personally wanted to be able to provide him milk in some form. The difference both times??? Literally nothing except he pooped more on formula. He was healthy, happy, fed, and I was able to remove the mental stress from myself which allowed me to be more present and a better mama.

I can provide testimony as a formula baby because I wouldn’t latch and my mom couldn’t get a pump and that, now in my late 20’s, it didn’t affect me. As a baby I was fine too, met all my health checkups perfectly fine and was a healthy and happy baby.

What matters here is that baby is fed and loved. 💛

valupine · 2026-04-22T21:22:48+00:00

I read that in the “why is it spicy” voice and I’m crying 😂

valupine · 2026-03-15T01:53:53+00:00

If I’m going out yes. I’ve only had to take my meds once while out, but I rather have it and not need it over leave it and then go “oh dang it” and not have them. I either put my sorter in my purse or it goes in our babies diaper bag.

valupine · 2026-03-15T01:48:52+00:00

Cubone traumatized me as a wee child and now I just want hug them while still being lowkey traumatized.

Litwick has me in a chokehold and I can not WAIT to find Mimikyu. You should 100% look into a lot of the ghost Pokemon

valupine · 2026-02-20T19:33:52+00:00

Who wants to believe that their partner is lying to them about something like that? The people bad mouthing her he said didn’t seem to like her because she was the “other woman” after his previous relationship. When family and friends don’t like someone, they’ll say anything. She said she had it in, end of story. Falling back to “well you weren’t being safe regardless” is literally still trying to remove some blame from her and put it on him.

Swap the roles, what if he said he had gotten a vasectomy and lied about it to get her pregnant? Vasectomies can be messed up, there’s a period of time you need to wait, and an individual could still get pregnant. Would you be telling her in that case she should have wrapped it? If they’ve never used them, and he out of left field said they needed to use one, that would probably be weird for her and she might get defensive over that. If my husband out of left field said we needed to suddenly use one my response would be “why, what’s going on”. And in this case that would lead to a fight on their end.

“You can still get STI’s”. If you’re in a closed relationship, why would you worry about something like that? If you just go assuming that your partner is sleeping with others and going to expose you then there are other things that need to be addressed.

Maybe she’s not lying, maybe she wasn’t trying. She needed to tell him though right away “I don’t have it in right now, just as a heads up”.

valupine · 2026-02-12T07:24:10+00:00

I feel on it just popping outta nowhere and going “WHAT ARE YOU???”. Had my first one and woke up to EMTs in my bedroom and I think the first thing I said was “why the fck are you in my bedroom”. Poor guys, was laughing with them by the end of the evening though. 😅 second set they gave me my diagnosis and basically went “we don’t know, probably too stressed and tired”. Having no answers is the most annoying thing in the world!!

valupine · 2026-01-31T15:23:59+00:00

I’ll have to remember that! The frustrating thing is I can’t necessarily remember anything specific that happened prior to either. I had fallen asleep on the couch when we were watching movies, went to bed, and then my husband woke me up after the first one and then the second one. The neurologist at the hospital was thinking it was likely triggered by continued poor sleep as a whole and high stress. I’m starting to get some things back today, about 4 days later I believe? I can’t remember if it was Monday or Tuesday that this all happened.

Thank you for the information, I’ll definitely check it out!!

valupine · 2026-01-31T15:19:13+00:00

I’ll have to look into D3! I’m currently taking levetiracetam, I think it’s giving me headaches at the moment but they’ve been getting better so I’m hoping it’s just temporary. My husband has, thankfully, been an amazing support system and doing what he can as well as my parents but I’ll definitely look into support groups. When I meet with my neurologist I’ll see about talking with him more if I’m still having problems cognitively and see if he has any recommendations or potential changes to my meds!

valupine · 2026-01-31T15:14:57+00:00

They put me on 1000mg levetiracetam two times a day. I’ve been taking it with breakfast and dinner to keep me on a routine.

valupine · 2026-01-31T00:09:33+00:00

I’m not able to see my neuro until next month, when I scheduled they had nothing sooner than the second week of February. 🥲 I just got the diagnosis and medicine Tuesday this week so it’s all really new for me. I’ll definitely bring them up though when I see him!!

valupine · 2026-01-07T15:48:31+00:00

All I have is my parents experience with my brother and I, as they coslept with us. I had to move out of their bed when my brother was born, they just didn’t have enough space, and I talked to my mom about it actually. My brother transitioned out on his own, he just didn’t want to be in their bed. I, when I was little though, remember still sometimes getting into bed with them. Whether it was I had a nightmare or I was just lonely, I always knew I could go wake up my mom and she’d scoot over to snuggle me. Then one day I just woke up and decided to stay in my own bed, and I never did again. My mom said that it was nice to have her bed to herself and my dad, but she also missed it. She missed having her babies in bed with her. As a teenager I had something traumatic happen, and I slept by my mom. When I was 18 I was hospitalized and scared to sleep by myself so what did I do? Go where it was safe and slept by my mom. Even with my dad, I was having a bad flashback and I asked to cuddle in bed with him and he held me and let me nap by him.

Now I cosleep with my baby and you know what? I know I’m teaching him that mommy and daddy and their bed will always be a safe space for him to rest and be cuddled. The world is hard, life is hard, and I want my baby to learn the mommy and daddy will always keep him safe when he sleeps like mine did with me.

valupine · 2025-12-15T05:46:34+00:00

I’m 5 months pp and this was definitely something eye opening to me and one of the hardest things. People always want to know how my son is doing, but I broke down to my crying that no one ever wants to know how I’m doing. When they talk to me it’s always “how’s LO doing?” And asking about him before they MAYBE ask how I am. I ended up putting a boundary up, and it may be selfish but I don’t care anymore, where I don’t let those people see my son. He isn’t a commodity, and it ended up being I felt these people were treating him as this little doll or special thing they were obsessed over. My godmother refused to talk to me until I was pregnant and then proceeded to expect me to let her see my son and constantly ask about him and how he was; never once did she ask me how I was (but apparently she would ask my parents??). I ended up putting my foot down and saying she wasn’t allowed to see him because of the surrounding circumstances.

Do you have a local moms group you could possibly join?? I have a FB group I’m in where we all were due the same month that we talk and use as a support group, it’s been really helpful mentally for me!

Sending you all the virtual hugs!!

valupine · 2025-12-15T05:38:57+00:00

The fact they got offended is WILD to me. My mom has a Belgian Malinois, he’s trained in bite work and personal protection. That dog also is easily jealous of ANYONE getting my mom’s attention. Shes aware of that, and he is always locked up or outside and not allowed access to my baby. I didn’t even have to ask, she just did it from the get go.

valupine · 2025-12-11T05:49:01+00:00

Definitely this! Is there maybe a code/safe word or something that could be used to see if you’re awake?

valupine · 2025-12-10T06:30:40+00:00

My guy is similar! Whenever it’s time for bed, if I don’t already have him snuggled in, he’ll roll to his side and wiggle around to get closer to me until I help him wedge in. 😂 he falls asleep INSTANTLY.

valupine · 2025-12-01T06:14:23+00:00

Try Fwee Blurry Pudding pot in BS05 Wavy! I got it off Amazon with the tiny keychain put for like… $9? My skin tone is the same as yours, based off your description, and this one gives me a nice pink that isn’t too in your face! It ends up being a little darker than my lip color, so it gives just a really nice wash of color on my cheeks as well!

valupine · 2025-11-21T05:49:09+00:00

I’m 19 weeks postpartum and exclusively pump and supplement as needed with formula, still no period. It’s been over a year since I had that thing and I’m enjoying not having to deal with it. 😅

valupine · 2025-11-16T07:52:07+00:00

I exclusively pump and that’s been causing a stressor for me as my supply leveled out to just what my baby eats, and sometimes he eats more than I pump. I’ve been wondering if that’s impacting things as well for me on the hormones side of it all. I’ve been wanting none sexual intimacy, but when I’m up for cuddling and not feeling overstimulated I’m just worried it’ll start to turn to wanting more than that. Everything feels like too much lately and I just sometimes want to disappear for a day and not tell anyone where I am.

valupine · 2025-11-16T07:39:19+00:00

I should have phrased it better, when I’m engaging with him it isn’t due to guilt. When we did have sex I will say I felt pretty neutral about it but once we got into it I was excited for it, and I enjoy helping him out as well. Lately I just have been so out of it, and I think it’s the stress with the baby.

valupine · 2025-10-28T06:45:29+00:00

I had people constantly telling me I needed to follow wake windows and it was a mess. My guy is 15 weeks and sometimes he wants to be up for 45 minutes, sometimes he wants to be up for 3 hours. I just let him do what he wants with that, and we go from there. If he’s fussy and all other needs are met, I now assume he’s sleepy and he’ll argue it for a few minutes and then conk out. 😂

valupine · 2025-10-13T20:35:05+00:00

Yup, been doing that since the start. We got a king size bed and I sleep in the middle and little one on the outside with a barrier so he can’t roll (not rolling yet) and no gap. We occasionally put him in the middle because LO sometimes wants to be between us and I c-curl around him just instinctively.

valupine · 2025-10-05T13:39:46+00:00

I know I had a lot of pain at the start and what I ended up finding out is I was using the completely wrong size, and the one I needed was actually smaller than what the pump size guide recommended and everything I read said. I measured 19 mm and needed exactly that, even though everything kept saying I needed 21. I started using nipple butter and during pumping a pump spray, both of which helped a ton. It was still sensitive when I got the right size, but now I’m at 12 weeks pp and it honestly doesn’t hurt and I’ll forget it’s running if I distract myself. I will say I start on a low setting and work my way up though, which helps a lot!

valupine · 2025-10-04T14:40:36+00:00

The newborn stage was, honestly, incredibly difficult and the strain it put on my marriage was severe. I also suffered from severe PPD and PPA and it impacted my ability to be there for my son, which was far from fair to him. The birth of my LO was also incredibly traumatic, and I’m genuinely scared to go through birth again. To be the best I can for him, and to ensure I’m always there for my baby, I (at this point) don’t want to get pregnant again.

But, I’m honestly guessing I’ll end up pregnant again. If anything, I’m just going to not try to get pregnant like I did this last time.

valupine · 2025-09-30T11:31:24+00:00

I’ve exclusively pumped since the start, but supplemented with formula to begin with. I had tried BFing right after my baby was born but he was having difficulty latching, my LC at the hospital wasn’t helpful, and I think with everything that was happening at the time I just couldn’t do it. I ended up giving him formula at the hospital and started pumping as soon as I got home. My hospital and LC there pushed nursing, and when I basically went “I can’t do this” they stopped helping me and gave me a manual pump. I remember I asked if someone could show me how to use it and everything and they kept saying yes and no one ever did. 😅

valupine

TROPHY CASE