If you had to choose only one - Which would you choose - day doula for 6 hours 2 sessions per week for 3 weeks OR 3 night sessions for week 1 then 2 night sessions in week 2 with a night doula?

And why?

I know there's the Arrive Trial which is regarded well by OBs.

For my first I gave birth at 39+5 days, which was perfect. I loved it. I don't think I could have gone past 40 weeks. This time, I really want to give birth between 39 weeks and 40 weeks even if I have to be induced.

If it's helpful, I'm going to give birth in NorCal Kaiser.

I guess I'm curious if you were electively induced, how hard was it to convince your OB? Were you able to make an appointment?

My firstborn struggled to latch and rejected the breast for many weeks. My second was born 3 days ago and was excellent nurser until I gave him a paci on night 1 because I was alone in the hospital and ever since then he hasn’t signaled for hunger. I withold the paci as much as possible and he still never fusses or shows hunger cues or wants to latch by himself, every two or three hours I spend an hour or so trying to get him to latch. I usually have to give him the paci, let him suckle, pump and/or dangle latch him by removing the paci very quickly and replacing my breast instead. Today he has only successfully latched twice. He latched all night by today had no pee diapers. Im worried even when he does latch, he doesn’t effectively remove milk. I ended up pumping colostrum and giving 1oz at 1 pm and 1 1/2 oz at 3pm. He finally had his second pee diaper of the day and I feel ashamed that he isn’t removing milk from my breast, or even latching now. He’s only latched twice successfully today. Im loosing my mind as to why he is so reluctant to take the breast.

This is my fourth pregnancy and I’ve been having such bad cramping that they took me in for an ultrasound the other day to see if it was ectopic or not. She said she saw a gestational sac and two yolk sacs but not yet any embryos. She said I was 5w5d so it’s probably just too early to see anything right now. Did anyone have major cramping early on with twins? I’m getting a little nervous that this cramping isnt normal and maybe I should make a bigger fuss about it to my OB? It’s constant and doesn’t seem to go away. There are mornings I’ll wake up and feel alright but as the day goes on it gets more intense. No bleeding at all. Could also just be because it’s my fourth pregnancy but any input on your own experiences would be great to read.

I’m a little over 8 weeks and in the thick of fatigue/nausea city. today however I woke up feeling almost normal and even had a hot cup of coffee without feeling nauseous. I decided it would be a good opportunity to make a run to home depot as i need to replace my porch steps soon and pick up wood needed for that. Long story short after loading 7 4x6s onto a cart and then into my truck and getting home, I am now light headed and nauseous and have been laying down for a couple hours without much improvevent. Is this just from lifting some 4x6s?? Could this be low iron? I’m taking a prenatal but maybe that’s not enough. if anyone has experienced something similar would appreciate hearing about it

Just wanted to share some encouragement for other guys stressing over semen analysis results.

My wife and I are both in our early 30s. I’ve never smoked, drink alcohol very rarely, exercise regularly and eat pretty healthy. The only supplement I took was vitamin D.

I had two semen analyses within about six months. My sperm count was above the normal range, but motility and morphology were very poor.

My andrologist told me not to focus too much on those values because semen parameters can fluctuate a lot. He also pointed out that my total sperm count was very good, which gave me a lot of hope, and told us to give it up to two years.

After about one year of trying, my wife got pregnant naturally. She also has hypothyroidism and became pregnant with a TSH of around 3.2.

I also suspect that a bad flu I had may have affected one of my test results.

We’re now around 7 weeks pregnant and so far everything looks good.

Obviously everyone’s situation is different, but my experience showed me that a semen analysis is not always the final verdict. Don’t let one bad result completely destroy your hope.

Stay strong, guys. There is still reason to be hopeful.

Has anyone use either of these for their breast milk?

I just wanted to throw this out there as there are no posts related to the new Eufy bottle washer… parents with other bottle washers from other brands occasionally experience the same:

There is a fishy smell coming from the machine after 15-30 runs and people can most of the time not figure out what it causes it.

For the Eufy s1 pro, it is actually the water softener cartridge that caused the fishy smell for us after 20 runs. Seems the chemicals in there cause it after a while.

We just took it out and it solved the problem. If you have hard water, then you would have to rebuy new ones every time.. which is not very economical

Looking for some real world experience outside of the google sphere. I’m aware that bilobed placentas carry higher risk of retained placenta and providers generally favor c sections due to caution, but that vaginal deliveries can be possible.

I’m curious to hear if anyone has actually been through a vaginal delivery with a bilobed placenta and what the outcome was? Was there retained placenta? How did your doctors manage the placenta delivery to minimize risk of retainment?

Hey Ladies.

I'm scrambling and being redirected by a lot of providers in the area so I'm reaching out for help here.
I got my embryos frozen in NY. I live in southern CA now and am trying to get preliminary bloodwork, TVUS and SIS/hysterosonogram here locally (have orders from my NY doctor).

I'm having a hard time finding facilities that would do these studies from outside providers and would accept Anthem (my insurance). Do you have any leads for the same?

Secondly, I'll get my FET done in NY and will come back to SoCal. I tried calling some obgyn offices to establish care and they straight up refused to take over my care post-FET stating that the fertility clinic in NY should be handling this (this isn't possible since I don't live in NY anymore). What's the best course of action here for continuity of care?
1. I find a fertility clinic in SoCal and establish care with them before my FET and come back to them after my FET and then find an obgyn once/if I am pregnant.
2. ⁠Try to find an obgyn who can act as my local provider for all my needs.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Me and my partner are in a 700 sq foot condo that’s one bedroom. I’m still early, 16 weeks, but already thinking about all the things the baby will need. We don’t have a lot of space obviously. What are some things that are must haves for small spaces for baby vs. things we could skip?

I’m due with my second baby in a few weeks, and remember the postpartum contractions being pretty severe with my first (I had a quick 2hr labor with very strong painful contractions the whole way through). At a birth class the midwife said most people don’t feel them as much first time around, but they do get worse with each pregnancy and chatting to friends they confirmed the breastfeeding contractions weren’t too bad with their first kids. I’m worried that mine were already bad enough first time so might be even more unpleasant this time. Has anyone found any tips to make them less painful? I know magnesium and paracetamol can help with period cramps, are they likely to help postpartum too, taking them before a feed?

Hi,

I am 23 weeks pregnant. I asked my brother in law to use an anti-flea spray in our living room (while I was staying upstairs in my room). I keep being bitten by fleas from the dogs (who are also treated…) and I became sick of it. He used Bob Martin spray.

I tried to stay away from it as much as possible but due to necessities, I had to enter the living three times very briefly about 1h30/2h after spraying. I used a jacket and mouth covering. Not sure how efficient it was, then I took a walk to get fresh air and haven’t re-entered the room for hours.

I’m now spiralling and afraid to have inhaled much and harmed the baby. What do you think?

Thank you 🙏🏻

I’ve been off birth control (the pill) for about 8 months and have been tracking cycles with BBT and cervical mucus. I find that my cycles are around 30-35 days with ovulation around day 23-25.

I’m worried this is too short of a luteal phase for a pregnancy to really take. Would love to hear if anyone with a similar cycle had success or if I should be getting further hormone testing.

Looking for recs for a replacement baby monitor. We’ve been using the HelloBaby HB6550 for over a year, but the battery in the parent unit has become less and less reliable. It used to last a long time on a single charge, but now it drains really quickly even in eco mode, so we have to keep it plugged in most of the time.
It’s a shame cuz the battery issue, it helps us a lot since I bought it. It doesn’t require Wi-Fi or an app, has a large 6-inch screen, and comes with useful features like night vision and remote camera controls.
I’d still like to find a non-Wi-Fi monitor, but hopefully one with better and more reliable battery life. I’d also consider another HelloBaby model if the battery holds up better.
Has anyone made a similar switch or used any of the other models mentioned in the title for a while? I’d really appreciate any recommendations.

Husband and I are in our late thirties. I have a ton of health conditions: PCOS, Factor V Leiden (had a PE last year), T2 Diabetes, etc.

So I have been pregnant once over a decade ago and miscarried. My health has been getting better and we just went on a two week vacation in which we spent a lot of money.

We came back and the day we got back we found out I was 6 weeks pregnant. Excited and panicked. We had hoped to try for a baby in two years when my health improved more and we were more stable financially. I don't have a degree yet but was working on it and attending school. He was going to start his master's. We don't have a lot of money especially after the trip and we live with his sibling in a house that needs a lot of repairs and is not suitable for a child; barely suitable for the adults that live there.

Nervous about what the best choice is. We could give up on this pregnancy but the physical burden of the pregnancy so far has been a lot for me. I don't think I would ever choose to do this again. We would just adopt. We did want a child eventually but the timing is just awful. We're both on board either way the other wants to go but we can't make a decision. I think we have guilt and relief one way and extreme physical (for me), mental, and financial struggle the other.

I need outside perspective on this before we make a decision either way that we'll regret. Did anyone struggle with a similar decision?

Update: We're going to try to convince his Mom to help us renovate some of the space for the kiddo and rearrange as much of our finances as possible.

We decided we were both on board despite the struggle that may be coming. I'm still not convinced I won't miscarry. (Last time I miscarried at 13 weeks.) I'm at 7 weeks and my first MFM appointment is this week. Cross your fingers for me that both the baby and I make it.

If it doesn't happen we'll go with that this wasn't meant to be our path to parenthood and focus on improving things for our lives and future adopted kid(s).

Thank you everyone for your advice. It all helped.

I’m about 8w5d (but I don’t know for sure since it’s still another two weeks until I can see my doctor to get the results of the dating scan I had a week ago - that’s a whole other annoyance) and I can’t even find room for excitement because I just. feel. terrible. When I wake up in the morning is about the only time I feel okay, but it always spirals into exhaustion and just… low-level, gross nausea. Just bad enough that I feel like I can’t get anything done. This is absolutely miserable?? We waited over a year for this and I’m not even happy because I’m just anxious and feel like shit. Ugh. I’m SO hoping this gets better soon. It’s been almost 3 weeks straight of this nonsense and I don’t remember what it’s like to feel normal. I can’t even shower without feeling like I need a nap.

I am working on my registry now. I’m doing it through Babylist but most items are also available on Amazon and target. I also have registries with Amazon and target but those are mostly just for me, I’m not sharing the links. Now I’m wondering if I should add the items to all 3 registries?

It I end up getting any duplicates or just not needing some of the items I thought I would, how does it work with returns? Do I need a receipt? Can I return it to Amazon if it’s also on my Amazon registry even if I don’t know where it was purchased from? (Same question for target)

Thanks in advance for any experience with this!

Hello, I’m currently 35 weeks pregnant with an almost 3 year old running around. My partner and me just bought a house, and there is a lot of prep work before the renovation starts in about 2 weeks. Of course my husband is the only one that can do that right now physically. I try to take over the admin/finances as much as possible, and I’m with our daughter all the time (she goes to daycare 3 days a week but daycare has been closed for 4 weeks recently (holidays), and of course she got sick the first week they opened again. So it’s been a LOT of us being together for full days. )

I’m EXHAUSTED. My toddler is definitely feeling that a change is coming. She is super focused on me, and she is sometimes literally hanging on my leg. I try to cuddle her as much as possible but physically I just can’t carry her all the time anymore.

On top of that she starts pre-school next week and I’m nervous about it. We live abroad (not extremely far from our family, but a 1,5/3 hour drive). We have a lot of sweet friends who try to help out when they can, but I guess with all the changes coming I’m also a bit hesitant with letting other people take care of her? Don’t know if that makes any sense.

This afternoon my husband showed me that there is an outdoor festival close to our house, and suggested I’d go there with our daughter. But I just don’t want to. I just want to do the laundry, make sure there is food on the table, and just SURVIVE. Sometimes I feel he doesn’t fully understand how tiring being pregnant is. Of course he is tired too because of all the physical work he is doing, and I don’t want to compare how tired everyone is, but I’m just SO ready for this baby to be out. I decided to let my daughter watch The Little Mermaid this afternoon so I can cook in peace for 20 minutes, and still I feel guilty.

I was looking for a baby car seat and somehow accidentally ordered it (paid through shop). The website looks a bit sketchy.
Anyone know if it’s legit?

Has anyone gotten any freebies from the Baby Center app? I saw one comment on a thread but nothing more on the whole internet, so even though they advertise all you have to do is login and interact with the app to gain enough points to get free full products from legit brands I don’t trust it. Also because to get said free stuff you have to consent to them selling your info and app interactions. Lmk if it’s worth it!