I used to coach high school cheerleading and I have kept in touch with several of the girls over the years. One of my favorite ex cheerleaders sent me a message this morning that she is expecting baby #2 in August! Im.so happy for them. She has the most beautiful little family. 💜
My HS bestie posted on FB that she's having her 2nd in August. I'm so excited for her and totally wishing she wasn't in NY! It would be so fun to be on ML together!
in other random news... It annoys me to no end that, all of a sudden, I'm pregnant and I lose my ability to decide if I want to use my front pockets or not. WHY do they put false front pockets in maternity jeans? WTF jean manufacturers! This isn't your decision to make
@modoodles no but I already have it all typed up in a note and know which pictures I'll probably use (I want to be extra and put some pictures of the IF "journey" I was taking along the way). Probably won't share until late January/early February or maybe later, I haven't decided how far along I want to be before posting. DH doesn't really do social media so he doesn't care either way.
Does anyone have any maternity dress pant recommendations? It feels far too early to be needing these but all of my pants are just so uncomfortable now. Sitting here in my "dress leggings" and have to have the clasps undone just so I can breathe.
My DS is 2 and has major constipation issues. He seriously did not poop for a week. Last night he let it all out. It was SO. MUCH. I literally almost threw up like 4 times. All the while my DH is taking a leisurely shower and I am changing out 5 diapers.
@JessDG now that it's all out, I have some recs for keeping him regular, if you want them. If not, NBD. One of the girls on DD's BMB is now a constipation expert after dealing with her daughter and shared everything with us when DD was having issues.
@blaf322 Yes! Please! I'm all ears. We have been doing milk of magnesia twice a day. Someone on my other BMB suggested swapping to 2% milk, so we may try that. He's at a picky stage, and doesn't seem to want to eat anything that is high in fiber...so so frustrating!
@b_1029 I have stalked the sales on Motherhood maternity and Old Navy and found several good options. I wouldn't pay their usual price but watching the sales I got them for $10 to 14 which felt reasonable.
@JessDG we dealt with Constipation issues with my youngest for a long time. That does not sound pleasant changing poopy diapers right now. I think I might have thrown up! My oldest is in a bad habit of not flushing because I used to tell her to leave it during nap since it would wake our youngest up (bad idea because how she forgets to flush all the time). Anyway, if she’s gone and didn’t flush I almost throw up. On a side note, something that’s made a huge difference with our youngest is a probiotic. She goes almost every day now.
Our Motherhood is closing so I got a few things for like $5 but they didn’t have any leggings 😕 I only have maternity jeans and they just don’t sound comfortable right now.
@modoodles we haven’t announced yet but I probably will earlier than most just because I don’t think I can wait much longer! We’ve told most of our family and are waiting for the 8 week ultrasound tomorrow. I am wanting to do something rainbow baby related but not 100% on what it will look like or say yet. We were going to wait until Christmas to share with family but I’ve been so sick and my MIL comes over once a week so she was starting to ask questions.
@JessDG okay... I'm just going to copy/paste since there are tons of tips and links. Warning: it's REALLY long... but, now, it's basically our group's poop/constipation guide for toddlers lol Here's the whole post (with names/changed/removed for privacy) in a spoiler b/c of length:
Blaf322 summonsed me (the Constipation Crusader... the Excrement Expert... the Pooper Trooper... 😂) for M***** yesterday, so I’m SSing for future reference because I know a lot of us have had issues with constipation at one point or another. This is what I wrote out for my daycare moms who were interested in alternatives to Miralax. Our daycare has all but banned it because of how it effects the kid’s behavior.
💩 These are some natural remedies we know to be safe and successful. I'm going to break them into three categories:
1) Maintenance: for when everything's flowing fairly smoothly.
2) Short term constipation: for when your child hasn't pooped in maybe 2 or 3 days, but was previously having normal, soft bowel movements.
3) Chronic/long term constipation: for when they haven't pooped in a week or more, are having pain, "pellet poops," skid marks, etc. Something important to consider- when you start seeing these signs, your child has probably been backing up for quite some time. Short term and maintenance solutions are NOT the answer.
Maintenance:
-WATER, WATER, WATER- Any way you can get it in them. We've done half juice/half water, water with Mio, watermelon, ice pops, drinking out of crazy straws, letting her pick fun cups, letting her drink out of our bottles (they always want what we have, right?! lol)... anything to get them to drink. So simple, but so important!
-A daily probiotic (culturelle and Garden of Life have both worked well for us)
-A fiber supplement ***It's very important to note that fiber is a double edged sword. If your child is already constipated, giving fiber will only make it worse. Fiber is only to be given for maintenance, to *keep* them moving, not to *get* them moving***
-Pedilax Chewable Tablets (they've got to drink a lot of water with them for this to work well)
-Pedilax Liquid Glycerine Suppositories (these have been life savers for us for short term constipation. They're not fun, but they work SO well!)
Long Term:
-There are plenty of clean-outs out there, but the thing we found absolutely most effective was the milk and molasses enema. This is the big dog... the thing you pull out when your child is in pain, hasn't pooped in what feels like forever, and you're at your wit's end. It sucks, but it's a legit miracle worker. Here's how it works: Buy a standard Fleet enema and dump the saline solution out. In a double boiler, combine 1/2c regular white milk and 1/2c molasses. Warm and stir to combine, then allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Pour the mixture into the empty enema bottle, attach the cap, and you're ready to go. Have the child lie on their left side and administer the enema (Youtube it if you need help. This video was particularly helpful for us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cHjrniClsU). Have them lie there for several minutes (10 minutes is optimal), then have them evacuate their bowels on the potty. This was recommended to us by our pediatrician and I could not believe how well it worked. It literally turned a huge, hard blockage into absolute sludge. It's all natural, safe, and a wonderful solution to hardcore, long term constipation.
I took my Panorama blood work today and Im so dying to get the results. In the end the longest it will be is 2 weeks so I should knew before the years end but I would love love love to know by my Dec 23rd appointment before Christmas ideally.
@modoodles I'm not sure I will share on social media until the spring. I wasn't going to really tell anyone until after Christmas but since we found out about the twins I told my mom and some close friends. We will tell the rest of the family at Christmas and then start openly sharing with more friends.
History and blog link in spoiler
2016 - dx with super low ovarian reserve; failed cycle with clomid, failed IUI, 2017 - egg retrieval #1 - 3 eggs, 0 embryos appropriate for transfer; ER #2 2 eggs, 0 embryos on day 3; ER #3 1 egg 0 embryos moved to donor egg in summer 2017; 35 eggs retrieved; 19 fertilized; 9 total embryos Fresh transfer Dec 2017= BFP! baby boy born 8/22/18
May 2019 - surprise natural pregnancy ended in MC Nov 2019 FET; MC at 9 weeks May 2020 FET; BFN July 2020 FET; CP treated with methotrexate Oct 2020 BFP!
@JessDG aww.. poor buddy. But I'm glad he's getting it out so, hopefully, you can get things regulated and get on a good track going forward. FWIW, PTing made DD's issues so much better and did the same for my friend that post those tips... so you're, hopefully, not far off from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
I feel so behind! I have a semi-snow day today. I'm supposed to be "working from home" because my daughter's daycare is closed, but how much work do they really expect me to do with an almost 2 yr old home with me? Anyway, hi! Hope everyone had a great weekend and hopefully I can catch up tomorrow!
@blaf322 that is so cute that DD made that decision for you guys lol.
@b_1029 last time, I got a couple of pairs on sale from Pea in the Pod. They are generally not cheap, but the ones I found were great quality and I remember them having decent sales. I felt like it was worth investing in a couple of pairs since I would be wearing them to work every day! They weren't even super "work-y" pants, just nice enough and people generally cut you slack when you're pregnant lol.
@stlbuckeye132 there can be no "working" from home with a toddler, except during naptime, and F that because you need that time to rest and recover lol.
My random is that we finally put up our (fake, pre-lit) xmas tree and the lights on the entire middle section don't work! It looks so lame. We tried so hard to trouble shoot but I think we are stuck with it being that way. And in all of the trials and tribulations, our cat got in the basement and we couldn't find him. It was so stressful and I had to lie down afterwards lol.
@modoodles et Al, we've been telling family and friends in person when we get a chance and I've told some close with people. We'll continue doing that as we see people who mean the most to us around the holidays, and then do a social media post around the end of the first tri in January (I'm noodling on a Baby Yoda theme....)
All that said, I think it's a little crazy that we "can't" talk about it during the first trimester! It's among the most symptom heavy times, and it's when we have the most questions and uncertainties. I understand the relationship between secrecy and MC risk and of course recognize personal preference here, but I find it to be such an odd (and potentially outdated?) norm that we hold. It feels like one of the best ways to find support in pregnancy is to talk to other women and I hate feeling like we're discouraged from doing so!
@meanjellybean I sound like a pushover parent (which I kind of am ) but it just was not worth the argument first thing in the AM when I've told the director so we can register this baby and the cat would be out of the bag within a few weeks anyway lol
Also, glad you found your cat! Re: the lights on your tree... we had that happen with our old pre-lit tree and used one of those bulb tester things to help us find the bad bulb. Once we pulled that bulb out, it worked again. I'm not sure if we just got lucky or if that thing worked... but we got the tree working, so I figured I'd share
@mehugg I kind of agree about the not talking about it thing... I think you should tell anyone you'd lean on if something did happen. So, I get why people don't want to talk about it in the beginning though... b/c untelling someone you're not that close with would feel impossible.
@mehugg I also hate the hush hush around first trimester and miscarriage. *tw, loss* I hadn't told anyone really when I had my mc in September, amd the hardest thing I had to do was call my mom that morning and tell her I couldn't be my sister's labor support that day like I was supposed to be. They didnt know I was expecting, so telling them all the good and all the bad at once was something I never imagined being so traumatizing. *tw over*
Right now my mom and sisters and my two best girlfriends know. They are who also know about our loss.
My mom today had to have an ultrasound on her knee (likely just swollen/nothing major) and she told the ultrasound tech she had a pregnant daughter/was very pleased to do so because I told her she couldn't tell anyone but this basically doesn't count so I'm glad she got to have some fun.
We're telling H's siblings Wednesday and once we hit week 12 in a couple of weeks will tell more folks, I don't think a social media announcement is in the cards until photos of me appear online with a bump.
@modoodles yeah I always wanted to keep everything a secret because I didn’t want to tell anyone about bad news. TW - But I ended up telling my boss I was pregnant at like 4.5 weeks last time because I was feeling sooo crazy from hormones and he was like, “what’s going on??” And then when I miscarried a couple weeks later, it felt a lot easier to send a quick email explaining what was happening, since he already knew. I didn’t need the world to know, but between him, my mom, and my husband, it was a lot easier being able to explain with them already knowing. I’m sorry you had to go through it all at once, I appreciate how hard that would be.
@modoodles I totally agree with you, although my own personal preference is to wait. I know plenty of people who share right away, but then I’ll read something from TB or another pregnancy site and they’re basically pushing people to wait to tell which is ridiculous IMO. If you want to tell and are aware you may have to also tell bad news later (but most people never need to!), then go for it whenever you’re ready!
2/13 Blighted ovum, D&C -- 6/13 MC -- 8/14 DD born -- 3/17 MC -- 9/18 DD2 born Expecting again -- EDD 7/27/20
DH is freakin amazing. He just went down and made me ramen (all I can stomach tonight) at 830pm. He brought it up for me and then went back downstairs to eat whatever he made himself for dinner bc he knows it smells a lot and didn’t want to make me feel worse.
I’d think he’s trying to get me in a good enough mood for a bj... but he’s aware that’s 100% not an option right now 😂
Watching the episode of Friends where phoebe is implanted with her brother and sister in law’s embryo and then like a day later she gets a positive pregnancy test 😂 pretty sure that’s not how that works...
@enchantindragon is the Panorama test the same as the Harmony one, screening for chromosomal issues? If so, I had mine yesterday and am also hoping to have the results for my 12/23 appointment too!
Well I'm back at work today which means I've spent the last hour bumpin. Happy Tuesday! My random is MH told our daycare about baby #2 this morning when he dropped off DD and got some good info. The significant drop in rates that I've been waiting DD's whole life for apparently is coming when she turns 3. So we'll only have about 6 months of paying an ungodly amount for both of them before it gets a *little* better. And we for sure decided we're staying there after our couple of tours last week. Yay! Glad we have that figured out already.
@stlbuckeye132 I think it was you I was talking about daycare rates with a while back... anyway, thought you should know we are now saving a whopping $13/month now that DD moved from the 2's room to the 3's room. They didn't give us the discounted rate right away but I took care of that Dollar menu lunch is on me, folks!
My random is curiosity on whether folks are tracking their diet at all using food journals, apps, etc. I’m using NetDiary app, which I’ve set to maintain my weight so it isn’t restrictive. I started this pregnancy overweight so while I’m not restricting by any means, I’m trying to be as healthy as possible and minimize weight gain. I like the NetDiary because even the free version shows macros (carbs, protein, fat) and I like having the visual on what I’m taking in. Just curious if others are doing something similar or if they use different apps.
I also have the Ovia app which you can track not individual foods but servings of dairy, whole grains, water, etc. But I prefer seeing the calorie count in the NetDiary just to keep an eyeball on a reasonable caloric intake.
@blaf322 OMG. Thanks so much, guys! Thirteen whole dollars!! Yes, that was me because turns out my entire life revolves around that freaking daycare tuition. I'm happy to report (but also sad for you) that the difference between her 2 and 3 room is much more significant than that.
Your $13 savings reminds me of when I asked our director if the rate would change when DD switched from the infants 1 to infants 2 room. "No, but it will go down by $5 when she turns one!!" Oh, super. That's so helpful! Then they proceeded to not lower the rate by $5 after she turned one, but I refused to be the person who reminded them I was supposed to be saving $5/month.
@rachelredhead I have been using Lose It to track what foods I'm eating, but to be honest I haven't been able to eat much other than crackers, noodles and the occasional piece of fruit lately. I had some egg rolls on Sunday and while they were delicious, it was bad later. The bad thing about Lose It is that you have to pay for the premium features of tracking water/food groups/etc.
@rachelredhead I would really love to be... I’m also starting out overweight and would like to keep my gains minimal. But I just can’t right now. I have to eat what I can and that has me down a little under 10lbs so far.
If the nausea gets better and I feel like I’m eating like a piggy, I may sign back up for WW and put my status as nursing to get the few extra calories needed for the baby. Obviously, I’ll eat if I’m hungry... but bc I’m already fluffy, I don’t actually need to gain anything at all.... but WW keeps me in check with making the right choices with food.
Re: Weekly Randoms w/o 12/16
FTMs- LMK if there's anything you're really wanting opinions on
STMs- LMK if there's a product type you feel should definitely be discussed
Does anyone have any maternity dress pant recommendations? It feels far too early to be needing these but all of my pants are just so uncomfortable now. Sitting here in my "dress leggings" and have to have the clasps undone just so I can breathe.
@b_1029 I have some from motherhood that are over the belly ones that I loved last time around. They aren't cheap, but can be reasonable when you get a good sale. I actually found 2 pairs similar at a consignment sale and was SO EXCITED. I think they were these ones... https://www.motherhood.com/secret-fit-belly-bi-stretch-suiting-straight-leg-maternity-pants/011-91401-006-001.html?dwvar_011-91401-006-001_color=006-91401-07&cgid=clothing-pants#start=1
DD insisted on wearing her "Promoted to big sister" shirt to school today.... so I guess we're telling daycare lol
Yes! Please! I'm all ears. We have been doing milk of magnesia twice a day. Someone on my other BMB suggested swapping to 2% milk, so we may try that. He's at a picky stage, and doesn't seem to want to eat anything that is high in fiber...so so frustrating!
Here's the whole post (with names/changed/removed for privacy) in a spoiler b/c of length:
Blaf322 summonsed me (the Constipation Crusader... the Excrement Expert... the Pooper Trooper... 😂) for M***** yesterday, so I’m SSing for future reference because I know a lot of us have had issues with constipation at one point or another. This is what I wrote out for my daycare moms who were interested in alternatives to Miralax. Our daycare has all but banned it because of how it effects the kid’s behavior.
💩 These are some natural remedies we know to be safe and successful. I'm going to break them into three categories:
1) Maintenance: for when everything's flowing fairly smoothly.
2) Short term constipation: for when your child hasn't pooped in maybe 2 or 3 days, but was previously having normal, soft bowel movements.
3) Chronic/long term constipation: for when they haven't pooped in a week or more, are having pain, "pellet poops," skid marks, etc. Something important to consider- when you start seeing these signs, your child has probably been backing up for quite some time. Short term and maintenance solutions are NOT the answer.
Maintenance:
-WATER, WATER, WATER- Any way you can get it in them. We've done half juice/half water, water with Mio, watermelon, ice pops, drinking out of crazy straws, letting her pick fun cups, letting her drink out of our bottles (they always want what we have, right?! lol)... anything to get them to drink. So simple, but so important!
-A daily probiotic (culturelle and Garden of Life have both worked well for us)
-"Poop candy": https://naturalconstipationsolutions.com/chocolate-coconut-oil-poop-candy-for-constipation-relief/
-Epsom salt baths
-A fiber supplement ***It's very important to note that fiber is a double edged sword. If your child is already constipated, giving fiber will only make it worse. Fiber is only to be given for maintenance, to *keep* them moving, not to *get* them moving***
-A magnesium supplement. This is the one we use: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HOX40WU/ref=twister_B079YZLQS4?_encoding=UTF8&th=1 ,
Also a good one: https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Plus-Sugar-Free-Childrens-Supplement/dp/B01BHV7I3W/ref=sr_1_3?gclid=CjwKCAjw3azoBRAXEiwA-_64OlJ6IgBOgSdBvGZjNqe7x-2J68MV7YjlJhbv37-KoFLgjIqyp5jwYhoCsdcQAvD_BwE&hvadid=198851945424&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9012962&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=12361670490537079043&hvtargid=aud-649564993678%3Akwd-336224562236&hydadcr=5940_9212870&keywords=magkids&qid=1561043324&s=gateway&sr=8-3
Short Term:
-Milk of Magnesia
-Senna
-Natural Calm (A short term magnesium supplement)
-Pedilax Chewable Tablets (they've got to drink a lot of water with them for this to work well)
-Pedilax Liquid Glycerine Suppositories (these have been life savers for us for short term constipation. They're not fun, but they work SO well!)
Long Term:
-There are plenty of clean-outs out there, but the thing we found absolutely most effective was the milk and molasses enema. This is the big dog... the thing you pull out when your child is in pain, hasn't pooped in what feels like forever, and you're at your wit's end. It sucks, but it's a legit miracle worker. Here's how it works: Buy a standard Fleet enema and dump the saline solution out. In a double boiler, combine 1/2c regular white milk and 1/2c molasses. Warm and stir to combine, then allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. Pour the mixture into the empty enema bottle, attach the cap, and you're ready to go. Have the child lie on their left side and administer the enema (Youtube it if you need help. This video was particularly helpful for us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cHjrniClsU). Have them lie there for several minutes (10 minutes is optimal), then have them evacuate their bowels on the potty. This was recommended to us by our pediatrician and I could not believe how well it worked. It literally turned a huge, hard blockage into absolute sludge. It's all natural, safe, and a wonderful solution to hardcore, long term constipation.
I hope this helps! 💩💩💩
THANK YOU!!! I'm going to try some of those things. Babysitter said he had 2 more BMs today and his poor little butt is so raw!
2017 - egg retrieval #1 - 3 eggs, 0 embryos appropriate for transfer; ER #2 2 eggs, 0 embryos on day 3; ER #3 1 egg 0 embryos
moved to donor egg in summer 2017; 35 eggs retrieved; 19 fertilized; 9 total embryos
Fresh transfer Dec 2017= BFP! baby boy born 8/22/18
May 2019 - surprise natural pregnancy ended in MC
Nov 2019 FET; MC at 9 weeks
May 2020 FET; BFN
July 2020 FET; CP treated with methotrexate
Oct 2020 BFP!
Take a look at my blog
FWIW, PTing made DD's issues so much better and did the same for my friend that post those tips... so you're, hopefully, not far off from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
@b_1029 last time, I got a couple of pairs on sale from Pea in the Pod. They are generally not cheap, but the ones I found were great quality and I remember them having decent sales. I felt like it was worth investing in a couple of pairs since I would be wearing them to work every day! They weren't even super "work-y" pants, just nice enough and people generally cut you slack when you're pregnant lol.
@stlbuckeye132 there can be no "working" from home with a toddler, except during naptime, and F that because you need that time to rest and recover lol.
My random is that we finally put up our (fake, pre-lit) xmas tree and the lights on the entire middle section don't work! It looks so lame. We tried so hard to trouble shoot but I think we are stuck with it being that way. And in all of the trials and tribulations, our cat got in the basement and we couldn't find him. It was so stressful and I had to lie down afterwards lol.
All that said, I think it's a little crazy that we "can't" talk about it during the first trimester! It's among the most symptom heavy times, and it's when we have the most questions and uncertainties. I understand the relationship between secrecy and MC risk and of course recognize personal preference here, but I find it to be such an odd (and potentially outdated?) norm that we hold. It feels like one of the best ways to find support in pregnancy is to talk to other women and I hate feeling like we're discouraged from doing so!
End of soapbox lol
Also, glad you found your cat! Re: the lights on your tree... we had that happen with our old pre-lit tree and used one of those bulb tester things to help us find the bad bulb. Once we pulled that bulb out, it worked again. I'm not sure if we just got lucky or if that thing worked... but we got the tree working, so I figured I'd share
*tw, loss* I hadn't told anyone really when I had my mc in September, amd the hardest thing I had to do was call my mom that morning and tell her I couldn't be my sister's labor support that day like I was supposed to be. They didnt know I was expecting, so telling them all the good and all the bad at once was something I never imagined being so traumatizing. *tw over*
Right now my mom and sisters and my two best girlfriends know. They are who also know about our loss.
We're telling H's siblings Wednesday and once we hit week 12 in a couple of weeks will tell more folks, I don't think a social media announcement is in the cards until photos of me appear online with a bump.
Expecting again -- EDD 7/27/20
I’d think he’s trying to get me in a good enough mood for a bj... but he’s aware that’s 100% not an option right now 😂
Your $13 savings reminds me of when I asked our director if the rate would change when DD switched from the infants 1 to infants 2 room. "No, but it will go down by $5 when she turns one!!" Oh, super. That's so helpful! Then they proceeded to not lower the rate by $5 after she turned one, but I refused to be the person who reminded them I was supposed to be saving $5/month.
If the nausea gets better and I feel like I’m eating like a piggy, I may sign back up for WW and put my status as nursing to get the few extra calories needed for the baby. Obviously, I’ll eat if I’m hungry... but bc I’m already fluffy, I don’t actually need to gain anything at all.... but WW keeps me in check with making the right choices with food.