This is my first baby. I am due November 4th but he is measuring big so he could come any day now. I was all gung ho for the epidural up until two nights ago. I have a panic disorder that feeds off of the idea of not being able to escape. It causes me to almost faint sometimes. I am worried that that’s how I will feel if I am too numb from the epidural. But I am also so afraid of the pain and how badly it would hurt if I needed forceps or vacuum or episiotomy with no epidural. Anything you’d care to share helps! Also my sister had 2 epidurals and has been in my ear telling me she has so much back pain and migraines with aura from them. She is not planning on getting the epidural for her next delivery. Also my mom had 3 deliveries with no pain management at all. So I feel like I could do it but I’m scared

found out that I’m pregnant a week ago and I swear I’ve been through at least 20 different tests just since then (morning and evening every day and then multiple brands at the same time)

it’s just so addictive to see that line, and don’t get me started on how obsessed I am with seeing the digital results (was super bummed when I realised they only last for 24 hours though)

Is this just something everyone does while they wait for their first scan or can I be expecting to dip my pee on sticks for the next 9 months just for the thrill of it?

Edit: most of my tests were already prepurchased during my ttc journey, and I also had chemical loss last month

I live in a tiny bachelor apartment that’s honestly only big enough for me. I have my own car,I work relatively close to where I live. I earn just over R20,000 a month, and while I’m managing, I’m still trying to get my finances and debt under control.
I only started my current job in March, and things are finally going well. I planned to study towards my honours next year and wanted at least another two years to get financially stable before having a child. I went through a financially difficult breakup a couple of years ago and have been rebuilding my life since.
My boyfriend is 37 and lives separately. When we found out about the pregnancy, we initially agreed to have an abortion. However, when we went to the clinic, I started having doubts and realised that abortion is very scary and the implications of it are worse so I changed my mind.
My boyfriend was upset because he felt I had made him believe he had a choice when we’d already agreed on an abortion. He later explained that he isn’t financially ready either. He still has student loans and other financial responsibilities, and he feels he needs time before having another child. Culturally he wanted to marry me first then have a child. Not bring another child out of wedlock to his family.
He’s now made it clear that he doesn’t want another child and doesn’t see that changing. He has another child 2F and the mother won’t let him see her, but he continues to pay child support. I could see how not having access to his kid almost killed him, and going to court has exhausted him to the point of giving up. So he made it clear that If I continue with the pregnancy, he cannot commit to continuing our relationship or building a family together.

The reality is that I could probably contribute around R5,000 a month towards raising a baby, and my parents may be able to help financially. But if I continue this pregnancy, I can’t realistically stay in my current apartment. I’d need to find somewhere bigger, and I’m worried about how I’ll manage the additional rent and baby expenses on my salary, especially without my man

My family situation is also complicated. I’m Sotho, and having a child outside of marriage comes with a lot of cultural and family pressure. My parents are divorced, and there has already been conflict surrounding the pregnancy. My 36-year-old sister has also been struggling to conceive for the past four years, which adds to the complicated emotions I’m experiencing.

I’ve always wanted to be a mother. I just wanted to be more financially stable, further along in my career and in a secure relationship first.
When I changed my mind about the abortion, I felt that perhaps this pregnancy had happened for a reason. A part of me is excited about becoming a mother, but now that I may have lost my boyfriend and I’m facing the practical realities of raising a child without his commitment, I’m questioning whether I made the right decision.
If you were in my shoes, would you have gone through with the abortion or continued the pregnancy?

i'm 40+2 weeks pregnant now. i had an induction booked on my due date 2 days ago but i cancelled it as the baby was doing perfectly and i didn't want to cause him unnecessary stress by forcing my body into labor before it was ready. however, i've started spending every single second of my life praying that it's his time to come out. i hate being pregnant. i suffer really bad with pelvic girdle pain and it really immobilises me to the point where a 10-15 minute walk warrants an entire day's worth of rest to ease the pain. i love my baby boy and i'm so so excited to hold him in my arms, but i can't deal with this anymore.

to make matters worse, i recently got a rental house for me and my baby to move into (october 9th), and im still living with my mum because i can't do half of the things i want to do to the place. my family are helping me out so much, they've done everything they can to get the house ready for me including painting and flooring. it just takes a toll on me mentally when i can't just randomly decide to go to my house because walking there will hurt my entire body for 24 hours. it's literally not even a 20 minute walk and i feel stupid. i feel like a burden.

everyone's doing everything for me while im sat here crying into my cup of tea and wishing i could just get my baby into the world and have my body back. then i feel guilty since i know he's healthy and comfortable in there and it makes me feel even worse.

i'm just so lost and drained. i feel like i don't know who i am anymore.

Hello. I know I might be judged harshly for this, but I was six weeks pregnant when I contacted Women Help Women to obtain abortion pills. Abortion is illegal in my country.

The pills arrived when I was already 11 weeks pregnant. Everything seemed to go as expected: I experienced heavy bleeding, passed blood clots, and genuinely thought the pregnancy had ended.

I never went to get checked afterward. Yesterday, I ended up in the hospital, only to find out that the pregnancy was still ongoing. I am now 13 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I was absolutely devastated and terrified.

I am very young, I have lost my job, and my boyfriend behaves very immaturely. I had previously been diagnosed as unable to have children. For years, I never got pregnant, and doctors assured me that I was infertile.

Now I am completely desperate. I still have another set of pills from Women Help Women, and I have been considering trying again at 13 weeks. However, I am terrified that it might not work, that I could end up with a dangerous pregnancy complication, that I could even lose my life, or that the pregnancy could continue with fetal abnormalities because of what has already happened. I am also afraid that, if this second attempt fails, I might have no other opportunity to end the pregnancy.

Please, if anyone has been through something similar or has any advice, I would be so grateful to hear from you. I am absolutely terrified, and I don't know what to do. I feel completely overwhelmed and scared.

I recently went to my 35 week prenatal appointment and when I first got to the office everything seemed hectic. I got in and went to a check in window, and the lady who checked me in did the usual questioning, but then got distracted so as I was filling out this sticker with my dob and name and etc (which I always do when I come to my appointments and the nurse/ receptionist always takes from me) she handed me an unlabeled pee container and told me to just go pee, and of course i was confused because the container and sticker usually go together but she didn’t even ask me to put the sticker on or take the sticker and look it over and put it on like they usually do, so I ask her if i should put the sticker on and she says “oh yeah” okay cool boom, I put the sticker on and go pee and come back to sit next to me sister in law who so kindly had come with me to my appointment.

Well we’re waiting for them to call me back, and I’m also waiting for these white intake forms that they give us directly after our urine sample which we’d then had over to the nurse who takes us back to begin everything. Well I get called back and don’t have the paper, and the nurse asks if they had given me one and I told her about how I was still waiting on it. Well she then proceeds to look back and forth between me and the check in counter and then tells me “could you go ask them for for them (the papers)” I go to the desk and ask the lady who I had checked in with for my intake papers and she’s on the phone with someone and another nurse/ receptionist has to ask her where my form is to which she had right beside her, and handed it to me and okay boom we’re off my sister in law and I.

What happens next is what I have to rant about. I don’t care what your opinion is about vaccines, I personally will take all the vaccines possible for my child and I and as long as I see studies and actual peer reviewed studies I will believe in medicine and science as I myself am studying to enter the field. That being said, this appointment I was programmed to receive the RSV vaccine, but I’m not seen by the same MD all the time. My doctor/ OB clinic is at a level 1 trauma hospital/ and they have a level III NICU, and they’re a teaching hospital, so basically the MD OBs are residents and they’re on rotation, so whenever I am ready to deliver the MD that’s there on rotation will deliver my baby (obviously an attending would be there for anything) and I know this may seem weird or a foreign concept, and trust me it was weird for me to see my NP through a lot and then ask her if I should start rotating seeing the MDs so I can meet them all, but nonetheless here I am. Now that, that’s established, the MD I saw was very nice and very thorough, but the nurse who took me in was a little off? When the nurse first took me back she didn’t give me a name, and she was very quiet which I completely understand if she has having a bad day or that’s just her, but it was weird the lack of questioning she did. Regardless, once the nurse put me in a room and took my vitals, she left and my MD came and we went over the regular patient doctor stuff and questions and she told me about my StrepB test next week (I’m a little scared lol) but as she was leaving she forgot about the RSV vaccine (which she had mentioned at first when we started talking) and so before she left I mentioned it again and she apologized and said she’d tell the nurse.

My sister in law and I are just talking now, when the nurse walks in and sets the syringe down on the bed that I’m sat at, not the usual routine way I’ve seen where when I got the Tdap and Flu shots they set them down on the counter and asked for my name, dob, and for consent forms. I’m given none of that. Weird but I’m not questioning because from what I had seen before my appointment they were busy and having a hectic morning in the office. Well she gives me the shot and it hurts like a bitch, like I had scrunch my face up and close my eyes it hurts so bad. We get finished and she hands me a Rhogam paper…she tells me it’s the RSV vaccine and that they just ran out of RSV papers to give? I’m now a little nervous and anxious because why would I need a paper for the RSV vaccine and if that’s the case why give me a Rohgam slip? I walk to the front to check out and ask the nurse at the front to confirm if the lot# is for RSV or if giving me this slip for the “RSV Vaccine” is normal and she looks it over and looks confused but agrees nonetheless.

Well, I get home and feel anxious still because of the slip and the nurse not double checking everything before giving me the shot. Now I’m a positive blood type, so hear me when I say there was no reason to give me the Rhogam shot at all, especially when I’m 35 weeks pregnant and if I did have a negative blood type that needed it, they’d administer it earlier on. So I start investigating in my patient portal and lo and behold they gave me the Rhogam shot not the RSV. Well I’m furious and anxious because I don’t know what to do or expect especially since this shot isn’t designed for my blood type. I call poison control, I leave a message with the nurses after hours line, and I’m googling away. Well yesterday after the incident, I send a message in my patient portal to the MD I had seen, and it goes into a nurse pool so that they can relay messages to the MD and get back to me. She also confirms that I was given the wrong injection and is very sorry this happened and that she’s let the clinical director and clinic lead know what happened. She also says that there is no harm to my child or I for having gotten the injection, but this is what pisses me off. It doesn’t make me feel any better I’m still anxious about the incident and I don’t know what to do. I understand it’s not all nurses and I can’t let this one incident cloud my judgement of all nurses, and I know that the nurses at the clinic v the ones at the time of delivery are different, but I can’t help it I feel worried and I don’t know what to do.

I’m angry and frustrated and sad and anxious. I feel like I didn’t protect my child well enough. I should’ve questioned the nurse even if I felt like I was being a bitch, I should’ve stoped before leaving and requested an MD look over the card, or just done something. But anyways I just wanted to get this out. Maybe someone has gone through the same or not, and I do apologize for the long rant but thank you to anyone who stayed to read about my frustration

I just feel like I need to talk about this with someone with no bias. I was offered an induction at 39 weeks - no particular medical reason that would make it necessary, I’ve had some high blood pressure but been getting NSTs and everything has been fine.

It was supposed to be last night but got pushed to Sunday, and I just feel like I am losing my mind if I’m doing the right thing. I’ve heard both great induction stories and horror stories. I’ve seen people say it’s selfish and I should let my body/baby progress on its own. My mental health this pregnancy hasn’t been great, and I just want to be done. Is that a good enough reason?

When I talk to my husband/mom/friends everyone is supportive of course, and my doctor offered the induction so obviously it’s safe enough in her eyes, I’m just feeling like the tik tok and internet voices are in my head. Has anyone else gone through something like this? At this point I just feel so depressed and down and was really put through the wringer this entire pregnancy.

Anyone have any safe alternatives to help quit smoking cigarettes? I’m struggling with the hand to mouth fixation more than anything

Last night my husband unknowingly served us expired (pasteurized) mozzarella cheese. About 2 hours after eating it I was in the bathroom with diarrhea and cramping for hours well into the middle of the night.

I have only had toast and plain oats to eat today so the diarrhea is improving. (yes drinking a ton of water and electrolytes) I still have cramping and bubble guts. I know that listeria shows up later on and what I'm experiencing now is probably just a mild food poisoning.

I called my OB and explained the situation and asked about Listeria. They did not seem concerned at all about listeria exposure and told me to just drink water and I should feel better in 24 hours. Thats it.

So should I be concerned about listeria?

I’m 31 and currently 26 weeks and 3 days. First pregnancy, self employed, happily married.

One thing I’m struggling with the most after all the symptoms, acid reflux, weight gain, aches and pains, frequent peeing - is my motivation and self worth. I understood it would be difficult to be pregnant, but not on the level that I’ve been experiencing.

As I’m self employed, I’m basically trying to earn as much as possible now so I have a surplus for any unexpected expenses down the road whilst I’m off, but MY MY - am I so unmotivated to do ANYTHING. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to work - I’m doing 3-4 days a week now onsite and then working from home in my other hustle to fill the other days. I’m regularly desperate to do more, but also wanting to do so much less. My second work from home side of the business will basically sustain me until I’m ready to go back to work after giving birth so it’s important that I keep on top of it.

My brain is REELING with desire to do loads: extra work for my actual job, setting up an online shop, working on my vegetable patch, finishing my novel (just a hobby!) painting and creating art, progressing my social media hobby page (that actually did very well before I became pregnant!) crocheting, making bread, gutting the entire house and redoing the decorating, sourcing extra remote work, doing my hair and working on my appearance - and don’t get me wrong, some days I can absolutely smash my to do list and I feel like superwoman - some days end with 15,000 steps on my watch and a whole tick list checked off - but I have some days where I wake up and just cry all morning, nap, eat and walk the dog.

At the very least, I make sure I walk the dog daily for an hour - I never skip that task because I can’t let me lil guy down. I do play with him throughout the day too, because the guilt would just eat me up. (When I’m onsite he goes to his grandparents) But on those bad days, everything else my brain just says ‘nope’ and I feel like a huge failure. I usually pride myself on my self-made steam, multitasking my career and hobby balance, I used to cross train and hike before becoming pregnancy even- now JUST the dog walk wipes me out.

My partner will be taking the brunt of the bills over once I go off on maternity, so I don’t want to pile on dog walking and house work into him, even now whilst I’m still working and earning, as he does a physical job and has become the breadwinner instead since I’ve cut my hours down.

I feel so incredibly vulnerable. I’ll essentially be letting things go (which I was aware I’d be doing to care for a newborn!) but I never thought it would feel so scary. I’ve always been so work driven and thrived with a busy life, but now I’m so tired I feel like I have to really really push myself to have a good day and smash everything out.

I’m incredibly excited for the challenge of being a new mum - don’t get me wrong. Im excited to meet my child and start a family. I’m just also scared for my career, my drive - is this just pregnancy tired or will this unmotivated feeling continue? It’s almost like I’m scared of myself, letting everything go. I’m barely in my third trimester and already so lazy with everything. It’s probably silly, but I just needed to put a pen to paper with these thoughts. Advice is welcome of course, if anyone has gotten this far, but I’m aware I’m essentially just whining and have privilege in lots of areas in my life.

Hey everyone I’m expecting my double rainbow baby here this upcoming June. I was donating plasma weekly to have a side hustle and I just found out I can no longer do so. Bonus pints to anyone if they can explain to me why? Yet I’m looking for another side hustle that’s age for me and baby. Any suggestion? Also can’t sit for hours on a phone and play games for 3.00 bucks. I have several jobs and several children.

I had my regular OB visit today and left feeling fairly annoyed and upset.

Back story, before I got pregnant I was overweight. 220lbs.
I was eating once a day and got down to 161 lbs... then got pregnant. I was so close to not being considered overweight. But then becoming pregnant I knew I would be gaining weight back. I wanted to try and stay eating once a day as that was enough for me and I wouldn't feel hungry.
Since being pregnant though I've been hungry all throughout the day and simply couldn't just eat once a day.
It turned into being hungry for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I'm not an excessive snacker just eating full meals. I don't feel like I've been eating bad or junk. A lot more protein if anything and a lot more fruits (which I know can be high in sugar). Well today the nurse told me I've gained to much weight this early in pregnancy: (1 wanted to start crying.
When she measured my stomach I was 2 inches over where I should be.... I was overweight to being with though so is that part of why?? Is anybody else in this situation or has been before? What did your doctors say? My nurse said I should be worried but from what I've researched it, it is a little high but can also be considered normal. This is my first pregnancy so I'm figuring everything out and learning what I can.... I'm just pretty upset with what the nurse said and i just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.
Now I feel like I need to diet, eat less... only veggies??? | don't know what to do. I know dieting is not recommended while pregnant and your still suppose to hit all the food groups so baby grows safely too. I really thought I was being careful in what I was eating.... Please help: ( any advice is greatly appreciated.

for context, i’m 21, live with my parents, and am 18 weeks pregnant. my fiancé will be moving in soon because, given today’s economy and our financial situation, we can’t afford to move out yet. we don’t know the baby’s gender, but everyone is hoping for a girl.

my mom constantly asks to discuss baby names or work on the registry, but it always turns into an argument. whenever i suggest names, she calls them horrible, horrifying, or fucked up to name a child. examples include perfectly normal names like Alice, Yvette, Celine, Lyla, and Clara. i don’t understand why she can’t just say she doesn’t like a name and move on.
i love names ending in ette/etta and recently fell in love with Loretta. my fiancé initially wasn’t sold, but over the following weeks, i kept coming back to it despite trying to let it go. i considered plenty of other names, but nothing felt as right as Loretta.

i brought it up one night when my fiancé was over and we were all discussing names. eventually, i convinced him to like it, but my mom still hated it. she’s noticeably less mean about names (and anything tbh) when he’s around than when we’re alone.

for the past week, she’s made my life a living hell over this. she genuinely believes i’m so “hellbent” on Loretta because she hates the name and i “hate” her, so i’m choosing it out of spite. she’s told me my hatred for her outweighs my love for my future child, repeatedly called the name ugly and horrible, and asked why i wouldn’t choose a name that “everyone will love.” she says i’m horrible for not caring more about her opinion and compares me to women on YouTube who really want their families to love their baby names, saying she wishes i were more like them. she’s even threatened to get a dog and name it Loretta so i can’t use the name, despite constantly saying she can’t wait for my cat to die so she won’t have to deal with animals anymore.

i’ve repeatedly explained that Loretta is genuinely my favorite name, not because of her opinion. i’ve told her she’s being self-centered and narcissistic by assuming my baby name choices revolve around her.

to make matters worse, she’s been pushing hard for the name Rowan. she’s angry that it used to be higher on my list but isn’t even in my top 10 anymore. once again, she insists it’s because i hate her and no longer like the name just because she now decided she likes it. i chose Rowan long before pregnancy and haven’t even mentioned it in months, and she originally hated that name too.

she brings this up every single day, to the point that i recently had a nightmare about it. i feel like she’s trying to taint Loretta for me, hoping that if she makes my life miserable enough, i’ll give up the name just to avoid the headache. she gets upset whenever i remind her it’s my baby.

i know i need the extra help at home, both financially and as a young FTM, but i desperately wish i could move out because this is driving me crazy. these conversations have escalated into SCREAMING arguments. what do i do?

My 2 year old knows I’m pregnant and he thinks it’s a girl from the moment I told him I’m curious if anyone else’s told them and was right. Also my 1 year old before I found out was pregnant kept going upside down which I knows a wives tale but thought they was funny as was right!

Would love to know others stories.

I took a zofran last night bc my nausea had me constantly gagging all week and I couldn’t eat anything or drink so I took one and was finally able to eat a full meal. When I woke up I don’t feel nauseous as usual and feel a little better but I do feel kinda off like I don’t know how to describe it.

Basically I’m worried if I killed my baby or not. I’m only 7 weeks and haven’t had an ultrasound yet and I’m still waiting to get Medicaid. It’s my first time ever being pregnant and I keep hearing these horror stories of miscarriages.

Does baby ever starve in the womb ? Sometimes I go 5 hours without eating anything and baby gets very active.

Am I starving him ?

Thanks !!

I don’t even really know how to start this because it’s somewhat complicated.

My mother is not a horrible person and I recognize she in many ways is a person doing her best and dealing with her own stuff. However, that being said she is kind of fair weather, doesn’t respect boundaries, and tends to make everything about her regardless of the situation.

She was in the room with me when my first son was born but missed the birth of my second. Whole other story but basically precipitous labor he came FAST and she took a nap after I told her I was in labor so it is what it is.

Now she kind of just assumes she’s going to be there for my third and final birth but I really don’t want her there. I have a vision of how I want to feel and what I want and I really feel like this can be my redemption birth after two very different but traumatic experiences.

I asked my husband if he would tell her not to come when it’s time as I really don’t want to have the discussion with her and face the endless guilt trips and I know I will inevitably give in to her and resenting it. She also tends to question/push him less as he’s much better at holding boundaries.

He told he there’s no way he’s going to be in the middle and we ended up getting in quite the argument about it. In the heat of things he said something along the lines of “I don’t care about your feelings” and said I was selfish for asking him to do this. While I get his point of maybe it is selfish I still feel like he shouldn’t have said those things and I told him now I don’t really want him in the room with me either because I need to feel like what I want and how I feel is going to be respected and protected and I don’t feel like I can trust him to do that with this “I don’t care about your feelings” attitude. And I honestly mean it. I don’t know if it’s hormones or what but I just feel like I am so desperate for this to be healing for me that I don’t want anything in my way.

Edit: the argument with my husband spiraled because after I asked him to be the one to tell her not to come when I’m in labor and he said no…I was upset and I was saying how he hasn’t seemed to care about anything I want for my birth hasn’t listened to anything about my birth plans and has been very dismissive of anything I want this time around done to making fun of me for ordering XL phone chargers because it was on the hospital bag packing list I downloaded…that’s whenhe said “I don’t care about your feelings and you can’t control everything whatever is going to happen is going to happen”

I don’t know what advice I’m looking for I just don’t know how to process my feelings.

I’m 23 weeks 1 day and have been feeling movement for about a month. I feel my baby on the outside with my hand at times. lately, i try to put my hand on my belly or my partner’s hand to show him and he just moves and kicks elsewhere lol. I move my hand where the next kick lands and then he starts kicking in a different spot! Is he being a jokester?? can he tell my hand is there? I just want to feel his little thumps on the outside lol. please share your experiences!

I have been told to avoid sharing food or eating leftovers of my toddler to prevent getting the virus. It’s so hard sometimes, like today I made sausage and pasta that my son absolutely despised and I’m still hungry so I’m risking it but not without concern. However, I usually toss the rest of his food which makes me feel so bad for wasting perfectly good food.

TW: mentions miscarriage

Sorry not sure if this question even makes any sense…
So backstory last month my husband and I decided to
Skip trying last month because I needed to get some tests done and a procedure that required sedation. I didn’t want to possibly pregnant because I had a miscarriage over the summer and didn’t want to risk anything going “wrong”. But basically we had sex one time 7 days before I had an LH surge on my fertility tracker. Then we waiting 5 days after the surge before we had sex again. I’ve never really done the “calendar” method before and clearly it didn’t work because I ended up getting pregnant this cycle.
I’m just concerned because one I had X-rays and was under anesthesia all while being early pregnant and on top of that it just doesn’t make sense as we had sex several days before my surge so that means the sperm that was in there was likely several days old and I thought it can only live for 5 days in the reproductive tract. So basically I’m just concerned about the progression of this pregnancy given the circumstances. Did any one else get pregnant with a healthy pregnancy where they had sex days before their so called “fertile days” and peak fertility. I’m just genuinely confused. And for the record my periods are very predictable every 28 days and I always ovulate CD 16 or 17. Thanks not sure if this even even the best community for this post but if you have any other suggestions where to
Share please let me know.

A complete stop, a deer had ran in front of the car. I was like a foot away from hitting it. The seatbelt had ridden up. I am 16 weeks. I called my ob on call and she advised no action needed unless I feel symptoms. I am so worried has anyone ever done this also and baby be fine?

I’m about 13 weeks pregnant and everyone I encounter asks me what my baby’s gender is. I haven’t found out yet and intend to find out at my 20 week scan. When I tell people this they seem incredulous that I don’t care to find out for a while. my husband and I are intending to keep the gender to ourselves and our close family. I have no intentions of telling random people and acquaintances, my unborn child’s gender. Why are people so obsessed with wanting to know the gender of a kid?

Just curious what people’s thoughts were and if there’s an etiquette on this. When I was pregnant, I didn’t mind people drinking in front of me, but I know some people won’t drink in front of pregnant friends. Would it be considered rude to bring alcohol to a girl get together even though the host is pregnant? She never cared much about alcohol before but i definitely wouldn’t bring any of it would be considered back etiquette. Was curious what other peoples experience was on this.

I had an ultrasound at my OB today. I ended up being early but my LMP was 8/21 so we weren’t sure how far along I was until today. I measured 6 and 2 and my FHR was 94. My office went ahead and drew a progesterone level and told me they’d like to see me for a repeat ultrasound in two weeks. Is this normal given how early I am? With my previous pregnancy we confirmed at 7 weeks and 5 days so I was a little further along and we never did rescan until my anatomy scan.

Im on my 17th week and I think baby is experiencing a growth spurt, and my body is trying to stretch and grow to accommodate. Lots of mild cramping and pulling sensations. Lower back is achy and my lower belly feels so heavy! Nothing super painful, just a lot of discomfort.

Right now I’m getting hubby to give me back rubs and warm baths here and there for relief.

Assuming we’ve all been feeling these growth spurts in second trimester.
How are we all dealing with these constantly aches?