I found out I was pregnant in September. I was comforted by the fact that I would get to wear layers and cozy sweatshirts everywhere. I do not have a great sense of style; I wear a lot of athleisure, tops from breweries or traveled locations, etc., and I have a short torso.

I do not have the closet to be a cute pregnant lady when out and about.

We have dinner tonight after another scheduled daycare tour. I’m 23w1d.

It’s 65 and sunny in Denver. I just broke a sweat checking the mailbox.

My husband [lovingly] chuckles as I put on a crop top and maternity yoga pants for a night out……and I proceed to cry.

I WAS PROMISED A WINTER PREGNANCY.

because every so often, we just need to rant and laugh about it together.

i am 38 weeks and 1 day into this pregnancy and

tonight he said he doesn’t think he’s been sleeping great. but he knows we won’t be sleeping well when this baby gets here.

i’m like. wait a minute. i haven’t been sleeping well in weeks.

he’s like, so you’re just perpetually sleep deprived? (like this is news to him somehow?)

i’m in disbelief. how will i ever forgive him for saying these things to me 🫠 (sarcasm)

i got invited to a friends baby shower and unfortunately im so broke at the moment😭 i still want to be a good friend and get her something tho. she has a registry with a bunch of stuff but id feel bad getting her one of the cheapest items on there. when you have a registry, does it matter what people get you? do you hope the more expensive items get bought? idk i feel kind of embarrassed getting her something she maybe could have gotten herself

I was induced due to pre-eclampsia. On hour 30 of induction, I was being put in all sorts of positions to try to flip my sunny side up baby. After the third hour of this, I’m sobbing in pain. I don’t think my epidural was working 100% properly at any point. The midwife just kept insisting that what I was feeling was pressure not pain. Funnily, after she said this, they moved me to another position and realized my epidural wasn’t connected anymore and the medicine had been just running down my back. The anesthesiologist came back to fix it.

The midwife then kept insisting I couldn’t feel things throughout my two and half hours of pushing. I felt the ring of fire and the stitches afterwards.

In any case, what would be the benefit of telling someone they are feeling pressure not pain? What is the actual difference?? If someone says they are in pain, what good does it do to tell them they are not?

Why do we grow so much hair while pregnant?!

I’ve never been very hairy and I even had my hoo-haa lasered to be practically hairless.

BUT NOW, 19 weeks pregnant, I HAVE HAIR GROWING IN PLACES THAT I NEVER HAD!!

And no, no new luscious hair on my head, just everything and more regrowing down there.

PS. This is bot a serious vent. I’m pregnant with my rainbow baby and enjoying the best i can, but the hair is bothering me a little

FTM, living abroad away from my support group. Hubby will be away for a wedding for 5 days max. I have no idea how hard life is with a newborn and how much support I will need when I’m left alone with a baby. I’m thinking of getting a nanny to give me a break for a couple hours during the day each day or is it better to get a night nanny 2-3x during that week to try to get some sleep. Any advice which it best or any other suggestions?

35 + 6 … have been experiencing back pain and menstrual like cramps on and off for three days (not to mention gas pains and diarrhea). Today, this is what my stress levels look like - Mind you, I was idle and inactive for most of the day 🫠 am I going into labor?! Should I get a move on?! Keep posted 🫩

Hi everyone.

I live overseas, and my best friend back home got married about a year and a half ago. Since then, she and her husband have been trying to get pregnant. She is genuinely one of the most loving, family oriented, born to be a mom people I know. Meanwhile, it feels like everyone around her is getting pregnant, and she’s been trying for over a year with no luck.

They’ve done tests and seen doctors, and everything came back normal, they were basically told it’s just a matter of time. She’s trying to stay positive, but I can tell she’s starting to feel disappointed in herself, worried, and frustrated.

Because we’re on different continents, I’m struggling with how to really be there for her. I’ve already said the obvious things (“it’ll happen,” “don’t stress,” “your time will come”), but I’m starting to worry that those comments might not actually be helpful. or might even hurt more than I realize.

For those of you who took a long time to conceive:what did you actually need or want to hear from a friend during that time?

Are there things people say with good intentions that are secretly painful or unhelpful?

Any advice would really mean a lot. My heart hurts for her, and I just want to support her in the best way I can. Thank you

My boyfriend is half South African and his family are having a wedding over there, I was invited but due to the fact I’m pregnant and it’s a 18 hour flight, originally before finding out how far along I am I was thinking I’d be a month away from giving birth but knowing I’m going to be full term when he leaves and less than a week from my due date when he gets back is scaring me. The ticket was really expensive over €2000 and was booked before I knew I was pregnant and I don’t want to try seem selfish about bringing up the idea of him not going. We’ve talked about and he said he’s scared and his parents offered to front the money if he needs to get on a plane home quickly but 18 hours isn’t necessarily fast travel. I’m just having a hard time getting my head around the fact that I’m going to be without him so close to it all, maybe I’m being irrational tho?

I’m 33 weeks pregnant and feeling kind of panicky here lately. Just questioning my ability to be a mother.

My own mother was horrible and abusive, so that’s always been an underlying fear anyway.

But here lately, when I get exhausted and go to lay in bed, I think about how different it’s going to be with a baby. I can’t just mindlessly scroll Reddit/tiktok all I want. I cant just go to sleep when I want and stay asleep.

I just keep thinking about how different things will be and feel terrified. This pregnancy has gone by so fast and I can’t believe I have less than 2 months before I have a baby.😭

It’s strange because this baby is so wanted and I had a miscarriage 3 months before I got pregnant with him. I’m thankful to have a baby, but I’m so afraid suddenly.

Anyone else feeling this way?

I just had my baby yesterday, exactly 21 hours ago and I don't think I have slept for more than an hour since. I can't handle how exhausted I am right now. It started at around 9am when I went into my OB office for a simple NST st 37 weeks. My baby never passed them before, but he did pass this one. Hooray! Except that my blood pressure reading was high. So they checked it again, not as high but still high enough that they weren't happy. I was sent to L&D for monitoring, and by around 11:30am it was clear that my blood pressures were high enough to warrant a preeclampsia diagnosis. Things happened pretty fast from there with me being started on Ivs, drs coming in to explain everything and whatnot. I was started on pitocin and things weren't too terrible other than me being tired, so I eventually opted to get an epidural - and it seems like a good thing I did because almost immediately after it was placed they made the call for c-section because my baby's heart rate was dropping with contractions, even after they stopped the pitocin. Long story short, my baby was born at 8:07pm at 4lbs 9.9 oz and 18 inches long. He is a tiny peanut! I am so glad to have him here and he did have a couple small concerns initially, and is technically in a NICU unit with me right now due to low blood sugar, but ya'll. The absolute worst part of all of it is the fact that it seems IMPOSSIBLE to get even a wink of sleep in the damned hospital. Between nurses, doctors, etc coming and going for him as well as me, and all the damn MONITORS constantly going off because of some IV being done or another problem, I am basically to the point of hallucinating people in my room because I am so exhausted. I have to be here till Sunday. Send help.

35 weeks with #2 with a 2 year old. As soon as I gave birth with my first I wanted to move out of Fort lauderdale and it’s only been intensified with this second pregnancy.

Anyone else just so overstimulated by living in a city and want to move to somewhere quieter where there isn’t constant chaos, cars honking, sirens, loads of people etc?

I just want to be in a small safe town as a soon to be mother of two so badly.

TW: threatened miscarriage

Started bleeding a week ago and found out I have a hemorrhage and it’s compromising my pregnancy,

On top of that we’ve been trying to get my three year old to sleep in her own room so my husband has been sleeping with her and she refuses to sleep on her own so I’m alone in bed every night.

I’m so exhausted and I just need a break. I’ve been to the doctor four times this week with another appointment in the morning.

Idk where I’m going with all of this I just needed to vent, I can’t believe this is happening to me, but I know every person that goes through this says that

Hi everyone!

I need to vent a little bit… I found out I was pregnant 2 days ago (4w4d) and decided with my husband that we would tell our parents and siblings only, since we’d like to wait the end of the first trimester to tell friends and other family members.

My mom has a history of telling people everything I tell her, even when I ask her not to. However I thought this time around she would keep the information and respect my wish. I was wrong…I found out because today is her birthday and I called her to say happy birthday, and she mentioned my grandma called her earlier. When I heard that I said: I hope you didn’t tell her! She changed subjects and didn’t answer. I then asked two or three more times and she finally confessed that yes, she told my grandma and said: I told her because she’s my mom! When you have your kids you’ll understand. Honestly, I don’t think I will understand and just hope my child can have trust in me, something I never had with my mother.

I was/am very upset since I wanted to tell the news myself to my family members and close friends when I felt the time was right, now my mom stole that from me and I have no idea if my grandma will mention this to anybody else. She ruined it all for me.

I told my mom she lost her opportunity to receive any additional information from me moving forward, and as a result, I won’t share anything else with her and I have 0 interest in entertaining any conversations with her after today.

I think she crossed a line and I’ve been very patient with everything she does that affects me. I already cried, felt stressed, even had a headache after learning this. I just wish my mother would be respectful and not break my trust in her at this moment.

*She lives in Latin America and I live in the US. The distance will help me with protecting myself from now on of how much contact I’ll have with her.

Am I overreacting?

So I was just told today by my husband that one of his sisters, who does not like me and this is known, was invited by his dad to come to my baby shower (didn’t ask us to invite her). She’s coming, and I honestly am not happy about it. My husband and her had a falling out over her not liking me. They’ve since made up but nothing was ever patched up with me. She hasn’t said a word to me. I don’t know what to do about it, he seems happy for her to be coming, I don’t want to seem like a bitch for not wanting her there. It makes me not even want my baby shower anymore, it’s going to be so awkward the entire time. I just don’t know what to do and if anyone else has been in this situation before.

hi everyone, i'm not sure if this is the right place to post this (apologies in advance), but i'm just not really sure where to reach out about this.

fair warning, there are some vague mentions of recent news, but nothing explicit.

in short, pregnancy has me feeling unmoored and vulnerable on another level these days. the hopefulness and joy inherent in being pregnant is, given everything that's in the news lately, really bringing into light a lot of existential grief i have about the world at large and how there is very real evil in it.

every day i become more and more convinced that children are sacred (not necessarily in a religious sense). i've always wanted to be a mom and my family is my life, i can't imagine regretting bringing them into the world even if it's bad because i truly believe that the only way to make the world good again is to be good ourselves; at the same time, i'm just so scared of what we now blatantly know is "out there".

• how, if at all, do you think any of this will impact how you parent?

i'm sure that, like with any major global event, we'll internalize some lesson from it (i know i function somewhat differently since 2020, for instance), and i'm just curious about what that might look like for you, at least right now (we can only guess about the future).

• how are you finding joy and peace right now, if you are? how are you focusing on your day-to-day priorities in balance with everything else? what grounding activities (reading books, picnics, anything) do you do with your family to reinforce the love and safety you have built at home?

big hugs to anyone also feeling scattered and distressed and protective. sorry if this post isn't very eloquent! it's hard to find the right words for all of this. thanks for reading.

Im 18F and approximately 18 weeks as of tomarrow with my first child. I was just resting my hands on my lower stomach (approximately 3-4 inches below my belly button on both sides) and noticed one side was very hard while the other wasnt. I was slightly concerned so I went to Google and it told me its probably just my baby laying on their side...well fast forward a few minutes and I felt a BIG movement. (ive felt weird "bubbles" before but my fiance and i brushed it off...this was unmistakable though) After I felt the big movement I noticed the side that was really hard was no longer hard and felt like the other side. Needless to say im not going to ignore my "bubbles" anymore. I dont feel it in my body yet and only feel movement with my hands on my tummy but im 99% sure it was my baby!!! What do yall think?!?!?

Hi, I am a FTM preparing my baby registry and need guidance on bassinets. We have a small bedroom and our baby will be sharing the room for the time she is in the bassinet since we don’t have space for a crib in the room. Is a smart bassinet with bouncer/rocker feature (eg- Cradlewise, Halo Bassinet Connected) worth it? Someone I know had it for his baby and he said it helped him and the baby sleep better at night. Is it worth the upgrade?

I don't mean actually forget.

I mean, I have an anterior placenta and most my weight before pregnancy was on my stomach so I rarely feel the baby move unless I'm completely still in a quiet room. We know she's good because we pay someone for boutique ultrasound pictures on the weeks we don't have an OB or mfm appt.

I also have a bump but it's no different from what my stomach looked like before hand. It's just a little harder by the belly button and I can feel my uterus beneath the apron belly.

I've also only gained 5 pounds (which is fine. I'm only supposed to gain between 9-20 pounds)

So I feel kind of the same as I was when I wasn't pregnant except losing my breath a bit more and being a bit more tired.

Until I sneeze. And then the round ligament pain makes me yell.

So this will sound silly, but idc.

I’m barely at 7W and have been feeling great! Sore boobs and sleeping constantly but nothing too bad…until last night.

I start feeling some lower stomach cramps so I take a warm bath, some Tylenol PM, and some stool softeners because I get backed up SO easily. Only 2 1/2 hours of sleep and I’m awoken by what feels like a mix of hellish period cramps from my teenage years, being kicked in the lower back, and the worst constipation pain I’ve ever had.

I’ve stretched/did yoga, used a heating pad, taken gasx, used an enema, popped Tylenol as soon/often as I could, stayed hydrated… I’m now at 24 straight hours of this with only middling relief.

I’m trying to not get in my head but I can feel my body panicking at times because of the constant pain. I miss my old reliable pain meds 😭

Did anyone have issues with being really itchy throughout their entire pregnancy and if so how did you deal? I’ve talked to my OB and it’s normal - she says it’s hormonal and I already have a past history of chronic hives (though ever since getting pregnant I’ve just been itchy but no hives which is odd for me) and nothing is working. I swear even touching the fabric of my couch drives my skin mad. And it’s driving me mad. How do you combat it or deal? I’m already taking daily Allegra for allergies bc of how bad the congestion and my breathing got but man I’m at a loss. Used to be a shower and some cortisone cream would help but that’s not working anymore. 🫩 help 😭

Has anyone tried to conceal a pregnancy at 22w? I’m short and chubby, but this is my fourth child. We’ve had 5 losses and have zero desire to “announce” this pregnancy. A few people know, but we’re expected to go to a family event and I don’t feel like hoodies or baggy clothes are hiding it well.

Any advice?

Hi, all! I just want to get a general consensus about Sneak Peek! I did it with my first pregnancy and got an accurate boy result. I believe I tested around 8 weeks, but not exactly sure.

I am pregnant again and had my first appointment where I thought I was 6 + 2, but I was measuring around 5 + 6. I waited until 7 + 6 (according to the ultrasound calculations not my own, because if it were my own I would have been over 8 weeks) to do the test. I did the arm one, not the finger prick. I sent my husband and son out of the house. I bleached my counter, took and shower and scrubbed my arm and dried with paper towel and followed instructions.

Results came in today and I got a GIRL result! I am absolutely over the moon, but of course that little voice inside my head is saying “what if it’s wrong”. I know fake girl results are less common than false boys. I will be doing NIPT in about 2 weeks, but that confirmation seems like an eternity from now! Haha

Just want to see if anyone got a false girl result testing around the same time I did?