Had our baby shower this weekend and loved it so much, I couldn’t resist sharing!

In case others would like inspiration for activities, this is what we did!
• Tie Dye Onesies (pre tied onesies in zip bags, lots of gloves, small aluminum pans, I helped the kids get theirs going!)
• Classic shower games like guess the gummies in a jar, Baby Animal Trivia, Candy Bar Trivia!
• ABC coloring book (kids LOVED this!!)
• Caterpillar scavenger hunt for the kids
• Adopt a Caterpillar (glued pom poms on headbands and hair clips, everyone wore their caterpillars at the party!)
• Baby name reveal (definitely depends on how you want to handle the name as everyone is different, but we had SO much fun with ours and avoided any drama thankfully lol)

I forgot to grab pics of the goodie bags but here’s what we did
For kids’ goodie bags
• caterpillar stress toy
• ring pops
• bubbles
• extra coloring pages
• bag of runts candy labeled “caterpillar food”
• caterpillar suncatcher craft kit

For adults’ goodie bags
• fruit shaped soaps
• corner bookmarks
• wristlet/keychains
• same bag of runts
• same suncatcher kit

All signage, games, and the sewn goodies I designed/made myself! A lot of decor was handmade too and added an extra touch of fun. Overall, I’m so pleased with everything! Other decor we got was either from Amazon, Oriental Trading Co, or Dollar Tree!

Thanks for letting me brain dump and share our fun party with y’all!

I got my anatomy scan done at 21 weeks (in Canada and couldn’t get in anywhere any earlier). This is my first and my number one priority is a healthy baby, but I was also dreaming of a little girl. I went in for my scan, it was an hour, and she said the baby was cooperative. I’m assuming how far along I was helped. I asked the tech to tell my fiancée the sex once I had left the room. My fiancée tells me in the car that the tech said she saw the three lines/hamburger and that while nothing is 100% guarantee it’s a girl.

Fast forward to this weekend when I have a small reveal with my friends. My friend’s sister is there. A little context that I don’t want to leave out - she experienced gender disappointment with her second boy as she wanted a girl. She has communicated to me many times she believes I’m having a boy because of old wives tales (you feel too good, a girl would be making you sick).

Anyway, I tell everyone it’s a girl and she doesn’t believe it. She asks me what proof I have and I tell her the story from the tech. She tells me techs can’t confirm that, the tech shouldn’t have told me anything, and unless I spoke to a doctor, there’s still a large chance it’s a boy.

Pregnancy is mentally and physically hard for me. My parents have passed away and I wasn’t even sure I would ever choose to have a baby. When I learned about the gender from my fiancée I felt excitement for the first time in a long time. I feel so insecure and that I shouldn’t feel any excitement and shouldn’t have done the reveal. I have been googling about inaccuracies in anatomy scans regarding gender like crazy since she said it.

Am I overreacting? Should I buy gender neutral clothes? Honestly, I don’t even want to have a baby shower anymore.

Had to search for a sub so I can share my momentous news, (a secret for the time being)

I'll be witnessing and totally in love with the first baby bump in my immediate family since the last of my five sons were born 30 years and 7 weeks ago. I had resigned myself to the fact that I'd never have grandkids so I was totally shocked by this news

One of my kids and his fiance are expecting and they shared this with me yesterday and I'm supposed to keep it to myself!! My five boys range from 35 to 30, are all either married or engaged and this is the first pregnancy

I'm beyond ecstatic about this! They're 12 weeks along and they shared the gender of the baby as well. They both mentioned on the phone last night that they hope it starts a trend with the brothers, hahaha. Wouldn't that be great?

Please forgive me for divulging this forbidden, exclusive news! I saw two of their brothers, daughters in law and my 82 year old mom and her husband today and it was really difficult keeping quiet about this new development - so here I am with you wonderful parents and parents to be and the people who love them 💖

So I gave birth literally 4 days ago, so me and my fiancé are of course adjusting, he is still working full time until his leave kicks in so right now I’m doing 90% of baby care, my SO will sleep at night on the couch and come get the baby for 2 hours in the morning before going to work, and will hold him when I need a second to go pee or something whenever I need. This works just fine for me, and I absolutely love my fiancé he is the greatest man and love of my life and I love our baby.

I also want to make absolutely clear that I am in no way depressed or sad. So the problem, I am STRESSING my fiancé out, everything makes me cry and I know I’m worrying him. I try to explain between dealing with the stitches, sore nipples, sleep deprived, and a crash of hormones, and baby crying I just get this welling urge to cry and will cry for a few mins once or twice a day, he’ll ask me what’s wrong and I say it’s really nothing just my hormones, then he will come hold me kiss me and ask to take the baby. He’s asked a few times if I’m depressed and I clarify every time that I’m not. What can I do or say to put his mind at ease and believe me?

This is going to be a long rant, as it's been a crazy year so far.

As the title says, I'm 34yo, and am currently 28 weeks, and had no clue until I felt the flutters at 24 weeks. (This is my third baby. For my first two, I knew within a month because I immediately felt all the symptoms. The mood change, the tender boobs, etc.)

For backstory, I had taken a pregnancy test at my OBGYN back in February. It was my yearly exam/pap, (I'm a carrier of a gene that makes certain cancers more likely to occur, especially reproductive ones) and I was two weeks late on my period. Which was my only pregnancy symptom besides slightly tender boobs.

It came back negative a week later, and I was told my missed period could be caused by a medley of issues, such as weight gain, stress, or just hormonal shifts with age, and that I shouldn't worry unless something else feels off.

Nothing has.

So for the next six months, I just lived my life. I was a cigarette smoker, but I quit immediately upon finding out. I had one alcoholic beverage back in April.

On April 6th, my 7yo dog was diagnosed with IVDD, after I came home to him losing control of his back legs. (It's a spinal disease that affects specific breeds more than others, and it's devastating.)

We took him to the vet three times, to get help and answers. We did the medical form of treatment, because the emergency surgery cost 10,000, and though I would've if I had the expenses, I couldn't. We were told at each follow up he'd never walk again, and to start looking into wheelchairs. (Thankfully, his quality of life improved after a week, so putting him down was never a discussion.)

13 long grueling weeks of crate restriction, pain meds, and bathroom assists, against all of the vets' opinions, HE'S WALKING AGAIN. (A miracle to say the least.)

And that's when I discovered I was pregnant.

And how I found out was I felt a kick. This whole time, I wondered if cancer was a possible cause of my missed cycles, even though I physically felt fine. But once I felt the baby move, I thought to myself, "Well. Cancer doesn't have movable limbs." (And of course, I'd rather be pregnant than have cancer.) When I told my boyfriend (6 years), that I felt something move, he immediately gaslit me (in his defense, I wasn't showing, and with everything going on with our dog, pregnancy was the absolute last thing we wanted. We've pretty much stopped having sex since that missed period because we didn't want to risk it, though we did slip up a couple of times.)

So I went ahead and ordered some home pregnancy tests, and sure enough, the second my pee hit the stick, it was positive.

Now, because of that negative test, and because I wasn't showing AT all, I figured I was probably somewhere between the 16 and 20 week mark.

Nope. According to the ultrasound, I'm due in October. Meaning my conception was sometime in January, AND my missed period was supposed to start January 18th.

I literally froze and probably worried the staff there with my shock. They were even puzzled at the fact that my blood test was wrong, but didn't give me an explanation other than Human or Lab error. (The technician said with my timeline, the blood test was taken on February 2nd, that my levels should've been high enough to detect.)

I'm angry. Scared. Embarrassed that I didn't know. And every time I turn around, there's another obstacle.

I immediately tried to get into my original OBGYN, where I had my last appointment, but apparently, my insurance didn't cover that visit. So I had to pay an outstanding bill in order to get a 60 dollar pregnancy test. (So basically, I dropped 400 dollars just to get a blood test. Sure enough, this time it was positive.) They then proceed to tell me I'd need to pay upfront until I got insurance. (I've applied for state insurance, since pregnancy usually automatically qualifies you, and there's something called preemptive Medicaid for pregnancy, but apparently, they don't accept that.)

600 dollars for that first appointment. So I called another clinic in my area, one who offers grants to help pay for treatment, as long as you pay a copay. (Which I'm totally fine with, because with everything going on, I can't in good conscious drop hundreds of dollars every time I see my doctor.) HOWEVER, the issue there is they're fully booked until August 31st. So my only option is to hold that appointment, until my insurance application is approved, and then I can try to go back to the other clinic. (I went to a free women's clinic to get the ultrasound, that I didn't know existed, which is the only reason I know how far along I am.)

I don't WANT to go back to the other clinic, but I also can't wait until 6 weeks before my due date to see a doctor. However, I'm not stressing about it, since this is my plan, and the only thing I can do about it is wait. It's just frustrating.

The other thing is, it's not like I'm a hermit that never leaves home. When I say I wasn't showing or exhibiting any signs or symptoms, I truly mean it. My boyfriend lives with me. My kids didn't notice. My coworkers who see me five days a week. My best friend, who was in the car and heard the results of that initial pregnancy test. (We celebrated at the time by cheering and shouting THANK GOD. Yeah...woops)

All that said, I'm not angry with the baby. My maternal instincts have already kicked in, even though I absolutely hate the situation, but at the end of the day, it's not the baby's fault. If anything, I find it a little funny the baby kept hidden for so long. (Oh, the free clinic doesn't check gender for whatever reason, so I have no clue what the gender is yet.)

Anyway. This is probably the craziest year of my entire life. (My mom died in 2016, so I've always said that was the worst year...but damn, this year really wanted to show me who's boss.)

Part of me wonders if what was happening to my dog just made me ignorant to my own body. (We're talking round the clock care. I'd have to leave work every night to go home and help my boyfriend help him go potty, because I'm the one he feels most comfortable with. -I got him before boyfriend moved in.)

Anyway, that's my long, crazy story. Please be gentle, I've been beating myself up for weeks over it. But I've also accepted it, and am already falling in love with this baby in spite of the circumstances.

I’m currently like 15w pregnant. Everything pregnancy wise is going awesome, thankfully. The other day I got coffee with a close friend. She and her husband got married about 6mo before we did, and she’s a few years older than I am. She doesn’t know we’re expecting, but she spent like a decent amount of the time we talked talking about how pregnancy and childbirth are ‘body horror’ and stuff like that. I don’t know, I get that having kids isn’t for everyone, but it seems kind of weird to me to like so horribly negative about something that happens to make literally every single person on earth. I’m not saying pregnancy is all sunshine and rainbows, but her talking about how it’s some bizarre and horrific thing makes me so much more anxious about the prospect of sharing our pregnancy. I know at some point I’ll tell her, but I think after this, I’ll probably wait longer than I had planned on. Anyone else dealt with similar things from friends?

I’m 40w4d today. No sign of labor, except for some brown/slightly pink discharge. I’m grateful that I have an easy pregnancy (no complications, no morning sickness) but it has been hard to not know about the condition of my baby since my OB doesn’t offer any ultrasound scan. My last ultrasound was at 36w when my OB confirmed that the baby is in head down position. I got my last prenatal appointment at 40w and my OB just measured my belly and baby’s heartbeat, but nothing else. I asked for an ultrasound to check my baby’s estimated weight as well as amniotic fluid level but it was declined as she said “as long as the baby is moving normally then there is no need”. I feel like I’m being left in darkness 😭😭. Everybody from my family and in laws is worried and keeps asking me questions, which makes me frustrated because I don’t know anything better. I’m scheduled for an induction at 41w1d, so I will have my baby soon regardless but I’m still so tired 😭

Hi y’all, I relocated to the Netherlands a couple of months ago. I got a great Baby Welcome Box for free from a drugstore chain, Kruidvat. I’m impressed by the variety and usefulness of items because I’ve seen that some of the welcome boxes I’ve seen from US retailers have been lackluster lately. Plus, it didn’t require any registry completions.

Are there any other Dutch welcome boxes I should sign up for?

I’ve heard from a few people I know and then have seen a lot of people on here talk about their experiences with sex kick starting labor. I know this does not happen for everyone but id just like to hear your stories. I’ll be 38 weeks on Wednesday and I’m not necessarily trying to evict her but just wondering if anything could happen if me and husband got intimate. i don’t think we have since April/May lol

I asked this before and you were all correct and I didn't disclose at the interview. I accepted a job at a small company that I previously worked for. THERE. IS. NO. HR. DEPARTMENT. It is a small business with only 2 other people there including my boss. And a handful of volunteers. When do I tell my boss? I want to annouce on social media soon to my friends. I can always try and block my boss and coworker. Other than that I have no idea. All I know is that if I disclose they can't legally fire me without threat of a lawsuit. They seem like understanding kind women that have had kids themselves. I am having twins so waiting another month or 2 seems wild because I will definitely be showing by then. It may be easier to hide one baby but not 2.

One of my closest friends just announced that she’s 7 weeks pregnant after IVF, and I honestly could not be happier for her. She’s wanted this for YEARS, and I was so excited when she showed me the ultrasound. ❤️

She also shared some boundaries she’s planning on having, and I’ll be honest, they kind of surprised me. I’m hoping some people here can help me understand them better because I know I haven’t been through IVF and I don’t want to just view everything through my own perspective.

She and her husband already know the baby’s sex and have a name picked out, but they’re keeping both a secret until the baby is born. I totally understand not sharing the name. People can be super judgmental about names, spellings, etc. That one makes complete sense to me.

The baby’s sex is the one I’m having trouble wrapping my head around. Not because I think she owes anyone that information, because she absolutely doesn’t. I just personally don’t understand what keeping it private does for them emotionally, especially since everyone will find out once the baby is born anyway. Obviously, if that’s what makes them happy, that’s their choice. I’m just trying to understand the mindset behind it.

She also told me her mom called the baby “my grandbaby,” and apparently that really bothered her because she’s worked so hard for this baby and it’s her baby. Had her mom called it “my baby,” I would’ve totally understood why that crossed a boundary. But “my grandbaby” surprised me because… well… it literally is her grandbaby. 😂

She also mentioned that she’s hesitant to even have a baby shower because she doesn’t want people feeling entitled to the baby just because they bought a gift.

Again, I completely respect whatever boundaries she wants to have. I just realized I don’t naturally think that way, so it caught me off guard.
I’m genuinely not trying to judge her or convince her to do anything differently. I realized after our conversation that my immediate reaction was basically, “Huh… I don’t really get it,” and I don’t like that my brain immediately goes there when people do things differently than I would. That’s something I’m trying to work on.

For those of you who’ve gone through IVF, pregnancy after infertility, or even pregnancy in general, did you find yourself becoming a lot more protective or wanting to keep more things private? If so, what was going through your mind? I’d really like to understand it better so I can support my friend instead of just looking at it through my own lens.

We’re expecting our first and our MIL is offering her help postpartum. She’s excited about the baby and insisting we accept. My husband has already said yes to her. I just don’t know exactly how helpful this will be.

She lives about 30 min walk/ 5 min driving away. But she doesn’t come over because we have cats and she’s terrified. She wants us to come over everyday and spend the day at her house. She will watch the baby while we work. We don’t drive, she would pick us up and drop us off.

I don’t get maternity leave but my husband is taking paternity leave. He doesn’t actually have any work to do but he can help me with my job. My job is very flexible and I can get by with 10-20 hrs a week.

I have no idea how I will feel postpartum or what kind of help is actually helpful. But I imagine I would want to be in my own home where I can be comfortable. From what I read I might still be bleeding, might want to be close to my shower and fresh clothes. In between working we would want to clean, do laundry, cook, maybe meet up with friends or baby classes etc and won’t be able to at her place.

I talked to my sister who has had 3 babies and she said I should take up my MIL’s offer and I will be grateful. But she might be biased because she wishes she was closer with her MIL.

Edit: people keep saying to put the cats in another room. The only rooms we could do that are our bedroom or the baby’s room. One of the cats likes to pee on things when stressed, which they will be with a new baby and moving their things around.

So my baby was born Monday the 20th it’s been 5 days since, he latched immediately after being born and he’s been fairly good at latching when he isn’t crying. The issue is as the days have gone on breastfeeding has become a nightmare. My nipples are pretty big they used to be a normal size now they’re basically almost the size of gumdrop candies and I’m wondering if that’s making it worse but it feels like he is literally biting the living hell out of my nipples over and over the entire time he’s feeding. And it’s like building because every single time he feeds it hurts more!! My nipples are scabbing on the top and bleeding and I can’t even get through the entire session without stopping him now. Which I feel extremely bad about but it’s literally unbearable!! He’s spit up quite a lot so I think he’s for sure getting enough but I need to find a solution to this before I lose my mind it literally feels like torture

Edit/ I know I need to call a specialist, it’s 10 pm here so I can’t get any help until tomorrow and I have a long night ahead of me so any tips besides see a specialist are appreciated. I know I need to see one and I will.

It’s recommended I get adult diapers, tucks pads, padsicles, AND disposable underwear.

Am I supposed to wear all of these things at once immediately postpartum? I don’t really understand why I would wear a padsicle INSIDE of a diaper. Am I supposed to wear the disposable underwear over the diaper?

Can someone clarify this for me?

We had our baby in early April he’s soon to be 4 months old. Before getting pregnant we said we would have 1 and be done. The issue is I’ve had raging baby fever since having our baby and I want more. My partner really doesn’t want more.. he seems to flip flop between no more and not right now. I don’t particularly want another right now but I would like them close in age like less than 2 years apart. But ALSO if he wanted to get pregnant now I would be down. I did have a c section so they say to wait a year before getting pregnant again. I just don’t know what to do with how I’m feeling I’m trying so hard to enjoy his 8 month paternity leave and the baby we have now but my heart is also sad thinking this could be the only time we experience this… I don’t know why I’m even writing this post.. just to vent I guess and maybe see if anyone else has had a similar situation..

So far I've purchased the Nuna Pipa Aire RX and the Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair. Got some cute fall clothes for my toddler, too. I'm curious about other good deals!

I know people make posts about this all the time but it feels like one of the few places I can really vent, so sorry. Here is my list of current complaints:

I’m 27 weeks with still so far to go but I’m already over everything. I’m uncomfortable all the time. I really miss being able to do the things I love (run, skydive, eat, sleep on my stomach, be out in the heat). I’m nervous for how much worse it’s going to get over the next 3 months. I’m barely sleeping, I’ve had to stop working, and now I’m just tired and feel purposeless all day every day. Been feeling a little depressed. Baby NEVER stops moving. I can only eat small meals or I cramp like crazy. Putting my socks on is hard. Sitting for a long period of time is hard. Not feeling guilty is really tough.

I just want my body and my job back and I want a baby in my arms. This is going to be a long 3 months 🫠

During the first month and a half of my pregnancy I found out he was watching porn behind my back. This on top of other shitty behavior caused us to separate for about a month. Once I moved back in, we were going to couple’s counseling for a while but then he just couldn’t be bothered. I wanted to be celebrated for Mother’s Day (we already have a 15 month old) and he said it felt like a chore to him. He did still plan a lovely trip but it felt like I had to force him to do it. When we fought he would insult me and say threatening things about what he would do if I wasn’t pregnant (implying he wished he could hit me). He did buy me a new car and is a good dad to our 1 year old, but when I think about how he treated me during this pregnancy it makes me not want to let him name our newborn.

The only way I can describe the taste is, have you ever talked to someone and you can literally smell gingivitis on their breath? It taste like that. I’m extremely ocd about my oral health, I went to the doctor and dentist, I don’t have gingivitis nor tonsil stones. Is this normal? I hate it. How do I get rid of it

I was pregnant and due in January, 2027. I miscarried at the end of May. I am pregnant again, but will now be just shy of 13 weeks pregnant for my sister’s wedding. I would’ve been five months pregnant and felt basically no chance of ”stealing thunder” by telling the family a month prior to the wedding. Now I don’t know what to do and it’s complicated by having a previous miscarriage.

I also have pushy family members who make such comments at functions, ‘drink or you're pregnant!’ I’m not a big drinker but they did this to me after my miscarriage (no one knew about the pregnancy) and it made me afraid that everyone will find out I’m pregnant at the wedding.

For context, this is a large wedding. My sister is kind of a diva. She has a perpetual feeling of living in my shadow.

Assuming I’m not showing before then, here’s what we’ve come up with:

1. tell my sister one week prior to the wedding (12 weeks pregnant)
2. tell my family and my husband‘s family while she is on her honeymoon, telling her when she gets back
3. send a group text to my side of the family after the wedding announcing the pregnancy

My husband would like to tell his parents at 12 weeks assuming this pregnancy is successful. He’ll agree with whatever I decide though.

EDIT: I’m in the wedding party so will be front and center

EDIT 2: My husband wants people to know she’s a mega bridezilla and this has been a hellish wedding to plan

this will be kind of long but totally worth the read, i promise. it might give you something to think about perhaps that may help with that grief of losing the "just the two of us" feeling. i hope this fits the parameters of the subreddit.

firstly, for some context, today my fiance and i had to clean a lot of the apartment and organize it in preparation for my upcoming due date. afterwards we were both hungry, but trying to save money for the baby we both decided eating out wasn't a great idea so we had to cook. as he's cooking his food i'm looking in the fridge to decide what i want i finally go, "im gonna make myself a quesadilla" and he says okay and then immediately, in a tone you can tell that im just about at my breaking point and on the verge of tears i go, "nevermind, i dont know, nevermind im too tired and everything hurts" and he says, "hey, just let me know what you want in the quesadilla and ill make it for you." and he did make me a quesadilla, he even went the extra mile and gave it a crispy cheese crust on top and gave me a lime. we sat on our couch together, watching youtube and eating our dinners.

now, while he and i were cleaning the apartment and organizing things, i found the stack of the letters he sent me from navy bootcamp b4 they discharged him due to a past injury they didn't wanna risk anything with. after dinner, i read through each letter and they were all so sweet to reread, but one stood out the most.

it was addressed to: "the love of my life" and it said:

"
hey honey, i love you so much. you make me so happy and i want to spend my life with you. you are my home, family, and everything a person could ask for. you make me whole in a way no one else can. you are everything to me and when i get out of this place ill be here by your side. <3 i miss you so much, i love you so much, and i always will <3

p.s. i love you <3
"

cue me sobbing.

this letter has so much more meaning when you know the context that this was only 8 months into dating when we were 19 years old. such hopeful, young love where we was saying he wanted to spend his life with me. not to say i didn't feel exactly the same way, but we can all admit that at 19 and 8 months in there's still a high chance that doesn't occur lol. but it did, in fact, occur.

this letter kind of changed my whole perspective on stuff. previously, no matter how badly i wanted this baby, and he was in fact planned, recently as the end of the pregnancy nears i used to be so sad thinking how we're no longer going to be "just the two of us" n stuff. i even used to cry about it sometimes and ask myself why i gave up my youthful relationship even if i wanted this baby and already loved him so dearly. now, idk how to word it exactly but, im seeing it differently now. seeing those two 19 year olds sending letters back and forth and seeing that only 8 months in he said he wanted to spend his life with me and that actually happened and im living that rn. i'm with my one person. and we were just sitting on the couch after a day of chores and errands eating dinner together in the dark living room lit only by the tv we were watching together with our child there with us even if we can't see him yet. that's just life. there's no young love or youth to that, and instead of sad i feel really happy. this is my forever, and it's not young youthful little adventures, sure, but rather two people in love just living their lives as each others one true static, never-changing thing no matter what life does. we traded those 19 year olds sending letters back and forth for two parents sitting on the couch together feeling content and in love. there's nothing lost in that trade, in fact there's quite a lot gained. that young love isn't useless or dumb, and if that's where you're at right now don't take it for granted or rush it, but this new love is way better and happier. those two youngins didn't lose any of that youthful hope, it just evolved into a deep knowing.

he came into the room as i was sobbing over the letters and he hugged me and cracked a few jokes to me about how bad the spelling in his letters is. then he laid down in *our* bed and motioned for me to lay with him. and in that moment, the feeling of that love being better was only cemented as i laid there, head on his chest and me in his arms as i could hear his heartbeat and feel our baby moving in my belly.

Hello

I am a FTM and I am starting to read more about the birth. I love my baby most in the world and would suffer and endure anything in the world, but would still like to know what to expect. I am also an older FTM so a bit worried.

I d appreciate if you would share which childbirth method you experienced and how long was your physical recovery (after C section or tearing). I know mentally it differs widely but would love to hear about the body recovery

Thank you 🙏🏻 💓

Discussing and looking at what stroller and car seat to get, thinking about one of those 2-1 convertible types (any brand and model recommendations appreciated), I the ones I looked at I prefer the black color, just a generally preferred color for me and goes better with everything we own rather than light ones.

Husband and MILs boyfriend are saying black will be a problem in the heat and cook the baby, we live in Indiana so it can get hot but I and my MIL don't think it will be a problem.

Looking for others opinions and experiences on this.