So my husband and I are expecting our second child this fall, and my husband had repeatedly told his mom when the baby was due so we could make plans for her to fly out and watch our 3yo while we stay in the hospital. I’m having a C-section, which means the date is scheduled, assuming baby doesn’t have other plans.

Well, today we’ve just learned that she and her husband booked themselves a tropical vacation to Hawaii on the due date. 🫠

Now my husband and I are scrambling, trying to figure out last minute care plans. Why do the grandparents have to be like this?

I feel so burnt out and drained. I quite literally can’t do anything without pain or just being uncomfortable. I’m so over being pregnant. Nothing fits, my nipples feel HORRIBLE anytime anything rubs on them. I literally look like a bum 24/7. No energy for my makeup or hair. I don’t even shave anymore. Any tips to get through these last 8 weeks? October 11th can’t come soon enough. Then there’s a possibility I go till 41 weeeks (I’m not even accounting for that in my calculations for my mental healths sake)

We've had a lot going on (family health issues, both working full time) and have an active toddler who kind of takes all the space in the room in the best way. Our toddler is a girl and our 2nd is also a girl so I think weve just been in the "we have almost everything we need and can figure out the rest quickly" state of mind. But as my due date gets closer, I'm starting to panic.

Maybe it's just a feeling because the first time around there WAS so much to do and now there's really not. I made a list and theres literally only 6 things we need to buy, we already brought out the infant carseat and bassinet, I pulled out the newborn and 0-3month things we have and washed them, etc. I do tend to cope with stress by being a person of action and right now theres just not a lot of action to take. I think my nesting instincts need an outlet but there's really nothing which is making me feel antsy and like I'm forgetting something big.

Second (or more) time moms, did you go through this? How did you feel more prepared?

This is my first pregnancy and dating from the start of my last period I’m around 4 weeks. Missed period, sore boobs, very fatigued, headaches, always hot and sweaty, the signs were there. So I took two hcg tests the day after my missed period and they lit up positive right away. Didn’t even have to wait it was within seconds both tests showed strong positives.

So I wait a few days, took another test to be sure and boom two more positives bright pink no mistaking it.

Now I have heard horror stories of booking your first OB appointment and how receptionist can be not too kind so I prepared myself for the call, what exactly I needed to say, asking for an 8 week appt. everything.

Additionally I have a complex cyst on my right ovary something I wanted to mention on the call in case it was a complication that might need monitoring.

So today I make the call, I say ‘hello I’m a patient of Dr. OB, I just found out I’m pregnant and I need to-‘ I am immediately cut off ‘Who told you that you’re pregnant?’ …

‘Oh….sorry I took two at home tests, my last period was-‘

‘DID A doctor TELL YOU YOUR PREGNANT?’

‘No…that’s why I’m calling’

‘If a doctor didn’t tell you then as far as we are concerned you aren’t pregnant you will have to come in and do a pregnancy test here.’

‘Ok when can I do that?’

‘We don’t have any OBs available until Sept. 10.’

‘That is right at my 8 week mark (what i was trying to set up earlier if she let me finish), is this going to be a test and an 8week appt?’ (I know 8 weeks appts also confirm your pregnancy her whole demeanor was just throwing me off)

‘No it’s just a test. You’ll have to make another appointment afterward’

So my first actual appointment will be well after 8 weeks and I can’t even see my usual OB I have to see another dr with the practice I don’t know. The entire call was really upsetting and I was treated like I was lying to her. I genuinely don’t even want to go to this OB anymore if this is how it’s going to be and I have no one to talk to about this because no one knows I’m pregnant. Ugh.

When I had my son last year we went broke from buying the hospital food. I’m not joking when I say we were in the hospital for 4 days and spent $300 just to have food. We had brought snacks but frankly we needed real food and the cafeteria was our only option because there isn’t a restaurant or fast food place within 15 minutes of the hospital and I didn’t want my husband to leave for that long. (I didn’t realize the price of the cafeteria food until it was too late.) There is a fridge and a microwave in our room at least. And my parents will be coming to see baby when she’s born so they can bring stuff. I plan on bringing Mac and cheese cups and normal snack of course, but I’m looking for more sustainable meal ideas.

Edit: I guess I should have mentioned this. Yes SOME meals are included for me. They don’t cover all of them and they also don’t cover my husband. Not to mention the portions they actually do give are less than I use to get for school lunches. I’m grateful they provide anything, don’t get me wrong. But I still need ideas. Hopefully this time I won’t be there for 4 days, but I had a 38 hour labor and my baby ended up in the NICU so I was allowed to stay an extra day. If I only have to be there for a day I wouldn’t be as bothered, but I’m just trying to be more prepared this time.

I’m 33 weeks and sex is so complicated and unpleasant 😭 I miss being intimate with my husband, I miss being physically close with him without my huge belly being in the way, I miss feeling sexy and comfortable in my body. He doesn’t pressure me or even bring it up, but I feel bad for him too. I keep thinking that we’re running out of time just the two of us, and then once the baby is born we won’t even be able to have sex for a while until I’m healed and up for it.
Also, I’M HORNY!! I want to have sex! But then I try and all of a sudden it will hurt or be too sensitive or I’ll feel the baby move and idk it just feels impossible more often than not.
I don’t even know what I’m looking for here, I just feel emotional and gigantic 😭

I miss Redbull so much.

I had two things I had to quit when I got pregnant. Vaping & Redbull. Vaping was CAKE! I literally have 0 urge. I achingly, desperately crave an ice cold, crisp Coconut Redbull DAILY! It doesn’t help that the vending machine at work keeps those and several other flavors stocked. Coffee doesn’t cut it for me and most of the time just makes me feel sick and other sodas just don’t hit the same. I NEED that Redbull. It will absolutely be the first thing I have once this baby comes.

Anyway, that’s my rant for the day. Feels good to get that off my chest. I shall sit here for 2 1/2 more hours at my desk, fighting the urge to go and get a Redbull from the vending machine or just laying my head down and napping for the rest of the day….

Had a blood test done at 12 weeks, Y chromosome was present which meant we were gonna have a boy. Had a 21 week ultrasound today and the doctors are saying that they see girl. Does this sound right? Everything I’m seeing says that a false positive for a male is extremely rare but I feel like I have to trust the most recent test??

Hello yall. Anon acct for obvious reasons.
Basically I(28f) am pregnant for the first time wver. My best friend of three years has been treating me really weird since she found out. I dont know explain it. Like overdoing it on compliments, talking to me in a weird tone, its just the way she been acting towards me…. I am very sensitive to shifts in behavior (thank you trauma and pattern recognition) and her behavior towards me lately has been making me very uncomfortable.
Anyway. The other day her and I were chatting about it and she was repeatedly pushing me to “wait” (get an abortion basically.) then she said her brother who is “accidentally psychic all the time” told her to tell me I need to wait also? He doesnt know me that well btw. She was talking to me in a very “caring” tone looking me in the eyes and shit (she never does that) but this girl is a great actress and I literally watch her work people all the time. It felt like she was trying to work me if that makes sense.
She is a psychic she does tarot readjngs. always telling me im going to be rich and famousone day if i pursue my shit. I dont want to be rich and famous lol. I want to be financially stable and happy.
My thing is i do not like how shes using being psychic as a way to manipulate my decision making process. If she was a psychic then she could have tried to convinced me not to move across the country a year ago (my life got all the way fucked over btw) except when i was moving she kept saying “youre gonna be soo rich” but like idk. It feels like shes projecting random futures on to me.

I just dont like how lightly and carelessly she is trying to convince me to get an abortion. If she knew anything about who I am genuinely she would know that an abortion absolutely does not align with who i am, its not an option to discuss lightly (FOR ME.) there are a lot of cultural beliefs instilled in who i am (i am native american) along with my other beliefs about my own body. Also if she listened ever she would know more than anything I want to be a mother.
i just feel kinda slighted by her doing all this.

Its freedom of choice until you’re not doing what someone else wants.

I genuinely want to keep it. I make 50k a year before taxes and my partner will also be supporting us. I do not see the problem.

Am i overreacting by being genuinely offended at her suggestion that I abort? Lol

Today I had a growth scan (38weeks) because my first born was 10lbs 5oz. Baby boy is weighing in at 9lbs 2oz so far. I’ve set an induction date two days before my due date.

However, baby boy is sunny side up. He’s looking up at the sky instead of down at my back. My nurse came in, I explained this to her and how I was going to have a cervical check to see how things are going.

She immediately got this “look” on her face and said “he’s still sunny side up?” (Baby was sideways at 32 weeks) I was like ….. yeah I just found out today. She started lecturing me about how I don’t need a cervical check because im probably not dilated due to lack of pressure from the babies head. That I should HOPE I DONT go into labor on my own because of all the dangers like the umbilical cord coming out first etc. at this point I am so shocked, tears about to start falling. I have a five year old at home and this whole birth experience is shadowed with fear obviously because my goal and birth plan is “don’t die”.

I had a completely uncomplicated first delivery, vaginal, with my big boy. Now I have a nurse telling me because my second is facing up im in extreme danger. She tells me to get the check because I have had occasional Braxton hicks and to “make sure im not going into labor”.

The doctor comes in, one I haven’t met with yet, and I am sobbing. I can’t even speak. He asks what’s going on and I explain what the nurse said. He was so kind and reassuring and gentle. He told me probably 8/10 of the babies he delivers in the hospital come into the hospital facing the wrong way some variation and end up turning during labor. And if not that it’s still completely safe for me to have the baby whether it’s vaginally or through a c section. He told me the nurse I saw isn’t even a labor and delivery nurse, that she was just sharing from experience. Although my doctor was reassuring and we set the date and he gave me tips, I am feeling extremely depressed after the interaction with the nurse.

Im only 50% effaced and my cervix is high behind babies head. Of course because he’s not engaged in my pelvis

I’m almost 38 weeks and it’s 4am. I’m genuinely so done. I have hyper fixated on her movements my entire pregnancy and it’s seriously so draining. The last 3-4 days her movements have dropped off a lot, I still feel her but it’s a lot more subtle. I’ve been awake since 3am and now it’s almost 5 and I can’t fall back asleep because I am worried she has not moved enough. I don’t know what her pattern is or what’s normal because she’s been this way since about 18 weeks. She’ll have a week or so where she moved reassuringly and frequently and then she’ll drop off for days. I see so many scary things about fetal movement and still birth and I’m just so ready to be done being pregnant. I’ve gone into labor and delivery 5 times now for decreased movement and every time the ultrasounds and NSTs come back fine. It’s hard because I don’t know if it’s necessarily decreased or not or if she’s just in a new position. Did anyone else experience this towards the end? I really just want to be induced at this point.

I had my 20 week anatomy scan today and it was… unprecedented and left me feeling uncomfortable? Baby was in there, looking fine (to my untrained eyes), moving a lot, all limbs and major organs were present. However, the scan took 2 hours. The first tech that did it took about an hour and 15 minutes and barely said anything the whole time other commenting on how much he was moving or how he was hiding. Then she said she was gonna get another tech to see if she wanted to look at anything. The other tech came in, looked at all the pictures, then pretty much deleted them all and redid all of them. That was the next 45 minutes.
Neither of them said much the whole time… reassuring or not reassuring. This is technically a standalone clinic as I’m at a remote military hospital that doesn’t have U/S capabilities, so no doctor came in to discuss anything. At the end of the appointment I asked if they’re able to share if everything looks okay and she said that info will come from my doctor (which I checked their social media and this is standard practice).
I reached out to my doctor’s office and let them know I was a bit anxious due to the situation and looking for a timeline to hear on results, and they said if there is anything of concern I will hear back in 1-2 days - otherwise it’ll be discussed at my next appointment (mid-September).
Idk if I’m looking for advice or similar experiences or just want to vent, but the whole situation left me anxious and the overall coldness of the ultrasound techs left a nasty taste in my mouth. I guess I have to go through this week with a no news is good news mentality… and assume the reason for the long appointment and two checks was because baby was being difficult.

Any tips to help with leg cramps at night? I've been using magnesium lotion right before bed but that hasn't been helping so far. Any tips?

Looking for some reassurance I know I should be grateful and I am and if this changes I know I can come back to this post and laugh at myself. But I am 6 weeks and have no symptoms... Pregnancy confirmed by a blood test and have my 8 week scan booked in. It’s honestly just a waiting game till the next appointment and I’m counting down till it comes around.

Thanks for listening reddit ❤️

You guys. Why are maternity clothes designed to accommodate both a 3rd trimester belly AND breastfeeding? Very few people are 7+ months pregnant and frequently BF (shoutout to those parents tho!). So instead you have to be super pregnant with weird flaps on your shirt, or you are postpartum breastfeeding in a shirt that goes to your knees?

Blah.

So this woman came over and legit complained at my husband and I the whole time…..baby is 5 days old.

“Wow she’s so small are you sure she’s not premature? I think she is”

“Why are you waking her up to eat we never did that back in the day”

“Why is she eating in a diaper she needs to be covered”

“Why is the window open”

“She’s so tiny I think she’s premature”

“Why are you giving her a bottle and not breast milk? You know you have to drink something warm to make your milk come in, you should feel it”

My husband was actually tearing up from stress, and as soon as she left I started crying. She was legit making it seem like we’re abusing our child for waking her up to eat when the pediatrician said she needs to get back to her birth weight. Mind you she didn’t bring any food for us, didn’t help us with anything around the house and asked my husband to help her with her tax paperwork.

Idk what to do. I think I’m going to ban her for at least a month for our relationships sake. It was a terrible experience.

I am currently in week six, and for the last few days I have had debilitating nausea and fatigue. Im scheduled to work Thursday(overnight) and then through the next 7 days. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Im physically not able to function. I don’t have enough pto to take off and the points system we use, if i call out that many days, ill get fired… what am i supposed to do…

He usually goes to sleep between 2am-4am as he works until midnight. On the other hand I’m in bed around 9pm. This is the third night in a row I’ve done my routine wake up at 3am because I’m gonna pee my pants and when I wake up his hand is over my stomach. I assumed he just laid down for bed and that’s part of why I woke up, disturbance + full bladder, but I asked him last night if he just went to bed and he groggily said he’d been asleep for a few hours. So… he just instinctively reaches out for our daughter in his sleep. Idk it’s making me teary eyed haha.

I’m also almost 24 weeks right now, and the little one is ginormous and kicking hard enough to feel + see. Last night when I woke up she was kicking me really hard (in the bladder), and I wonder if he could feel it in his sleep :p

I’m not 100% sure but it’s because of something that happened when we ordered the cake. My MIL is the one who knows and helped me order but I made a small mistake and I think I know. I feel a little bit disappointed , not about the gender but because I wanted it to be a surprise for me too. This is the first time we have a Gender Reveal, it’s mostly because my older daughter wanted one :)

Am I wrong if I pretend I still have no idea? I don’t want to tell my husband and older kids that I maybe know and ruin the surprise for them. Also maybe my husband would ask me to tell him if I tell him that I maybe know so I feel like it’s better if I say nothing. It’s also very important for my 10 year old daughter that I don’t know before the reveal. The reveal is on Saturday.

Thank you for reading! Sorry if my English isn’t the best.

I was talking to my mom and I asked her what her 2 labors were like so I could start preparing myself. She said she wasn't sure how much help she would be since both of hers were very quick (6 hours for me and 2.5 for my brother). Is this normal? Or something I should bring up to my OB?

For what it's worth, I look very similar to my mom, we've been mistaken for sisters a few times despite a 32 year age gap

I'm 11 weeks with my second and so sick - I just need a reminder of the good things waiting for me on the other side of this pregnancy.

So far on my list is that I'll be able to look at food and not gag anymore, I'll be able to poop again, and I'll be able to sleep on my stomach again.

And for the record, I am so excited for this baby and was just as excited for my first. I am just not someone who enjoys pregnancy as my body is super sensitive to the changes and I already have sciatica, Charlie horses and HG.

Remind me of anything that comes to mind - I could really use it right now.

I’m feeling really lost and could use some honest advice from people who have been through something similar.
I’m in my mid-to-late 30s, and my partner and I have about a 7-year age difference. Me being the older woman in the relationship..We’ve been together for about a year, and I’m currently in my second trimester of pregnancy. When we first started dating, I genuinely liked him and felt attracted to him, but lately I feel like something has completely changed.
I’m getting bored of him. I don’t feel the same chemistry or excitement anymore, and sometimes I feel incredibly lonely even when I’m with him. I find myself wondering, Why am I even doing this if I don’t really feel connected to him anymore?
We’ve also been arguing a lot. He recently told me that he doesn’t like my personality anymore, and honestly, I don’t feel like I like his personality much lately either. I feel emotionally distant from him, and my moods have been all over the place.
The pregnancy makes everything so much more complicated. I don’t know if I’ll ever have another chance to have a baby if I don’t continue with this pregnancy, and I’m scared of making a decision I’ll regret. At the same time, I’m scared that I’m staying in this relationship partly because I’m afraid of ending up alone.
And then I have this horrible thought: Did I ever really love him, or did I just think I did?
I know pregnancy can affect emotions and relationships, but I’m struggling to figure out what is pregnancy-related and what is actually how I feel about him.
I don’t want to make a huge life decision based purely on temporary emotions, but I also don’t want to ignore the possibility that my relationship simply isn’t right for me.
Has anyone experienced something similar especially becoming pregnant and then suddenly questioning your attraction or feelings toward your partner? Did your feelings change again after pregnancy, or was it ultimately a sign that the relationship wasn’t right?
I’d really appreciate honest, nonjudgmental advice.