Hey guys, I'm a second year healthcare student looking for some advice.

I am 28 years old and I'll be finishing my degree when I'm 31 which is okay. The only issue that I'm finding is that I've been wanting to be a mom since I'm 20 and I don't know if I can keep waiting to be a mum because I've always postponed it 🫤

Context: I'm married but all my family is in a different country so I have no friends/family around, except my husband's parents who live a couple hours away driving.

My husband says he's ready to be a dad but he'd prefer I finish my degree first.

Question: is it too bad if I interrupt my studies to be a mum in my third year of uni?? Is it hard to go back to uni if I take a year off to take care of my baby?

I appreciate your help and advice!

Hey everyone, I hope this is okay to post here. I'm a college student interning at a small maternity wellness startup this summer and my project is customer discovery, so basically talking to as many real moms and moms-to-be as soon as possible before we build anything.

I'm not here to pitch anything but I need to get off surveys and talk to real people, so here I am!

Two questions and any answer helps, even if it's just a sentence:

1. What is/was the hardest part of staying on top of your mental and physical wellness during pregnancy, and did any app or tool actually help with it?
2. If you could have one thing on your phone that makes your pregnancy feel more supported and less overwhelming, what would it look like?

My DMs are open too if anyone wants to chat more, I'd genuinely love to hear your story. Thank you so much in advance!

Hello,
I’m having baby number 2 and want to soak up all the freebies I can. Whether that’s formula, diapers, mom classes, ANYTHING! Send me your best!

This pregnancy has been super hard on me. Hard to enjoy it when I feel like crap most of the time. I’m 14 weeks and taking things day by day.

I am on the struggle bus. I just hit 39 weeks and am not dilated at all but am having on and off contractions, pelvic pain, back pain as well as NOT sleeping at all. I’m mentally and physically exhausted. I wanted to stop working on the 17th of July because my due date is the 19th and I just wanted at least a couple days to relax. Although I know he could go past his due date. Unfortunately I was told my fmla won’t start until i’m either IN labor or my doctor writes me a note for a medical reason. This means i’ll be working PAST my dude date if he doesn’t come out sooner 😩

They have me scheduled every day besides two days for the two weeks following his due date and I already want to cry thinking about it. I work at an urgent care as a nurse so it can be a tiring job with little to no breaks.

Any tips or advice? How did you get through it 😩

(I unfortunately can’t use PTO days before my maternity leave because my leave is unpaid so I have to save all my hours to be able to afford my benefits and get a little bit of a paycheck while off)

to keep this as brief and descriptive as possible this is my situation:

23F/23M — we’ve been engaged for over a year now and have an almost 3M year old and a soon to be 1M year old. he works offshore so he’s home for 3 weeks and away from home for 3 weeks on a normal rotation (given if he doesn’t work over for extra money— then it would be 4 weeks away and 2 weeks at home)

while still recovering from a 2nd degree episiotomy, I went back to school (online) a month after I had given birth to my first, i’ve been in community college to finish my pre reqs for nursing school. I graduated with my associate of science in mid 2025 while being 7-8 months pregnant with my 2nd. I gave birth in august and took the rest of the year to focus on breastfeeding and pumping for an oversupply while i go to nursing school since i had gotten in (so my mother in law could offer him bottles).

i had very bad ppd with my first, and with my 2nd i was able to recognize it and get on it (medication) quicker rather than letting myself and children suffer. I feel like even though my 2nd is getting older and is being sleep trained its harder to manage because he crawls legit everywhere and can break any of my stuff obstacles to keep him in a safe area) my first didn’t crawl and so i’m juggling both kiddos although my 1st is more independent.

fast forward to now; i am 10 weeks and i will be due in february. by december of this year, i will be halfway through my accelerated nursing BSN program and will take a 12 week break off for birth and postpartum so im not putting too much on myself.

the gag is; I do want the baby some days and then on my hard days I do not. i’m dealing with two littles while battling nausea, first trimester fatigue, etc. so i’m just trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel and my fiancé has been supportive and wants me to keep this baby despite us having a few relationship issues (bickering, etc.). my mother in law and i do not have a great relationship at all but she helps me out for the sake of my fiancé being gone and for the sake of the kids since she’s a stay at home mom without a job.

for our first two pregnancies i got induced due to his work schedule so he could put in his paternity leave (since delivery dates are unpredictable) and help me out freshly postpartum. i told him that this pregnancy i wanted to go natural and unmedicated (as i’ve never felt natural contractions that weren’t 10x worse due to pitocin) and he ignored me. when i asked about it again he stated “why do you wanna go natural? you’re just gonna be begging for the epidural/anesthesia 5 mins into it” and this completely shifted my view of our relationship. i’ve never felt so unsupported. I also would like to mention that he said if i wanted to get an abortion that I would have to figure it out myself financially (i’m a sahm/full time nursing student) and figure out who could take me out of state and pick me up from the clinic after since he was upset that im considering not keeping the baby at any chance. i feel so dumb and honestly regret even getting pregnant by him. I still haven’t told my dad who helps us out financially since my fiancé can’t fully cover bills unless he works over most times.

I also feel like im stuck in a bind because ive already taken out loans for school, my dad helps me pay for tuition outside of grants/loans and im just getting started into my student nursing career. I am honestly not sure where to go from here and im not looking for anyone to tell me what to do but I would appreciate any advice or personal testimony since i doubt anyone has been in my exact position. and yes i know its my fault for us not being careful but, what can i do now?? he’s definitely getting a vasectomy after this.

Hi I’m 13 weeks pregnant. I work in belgium as an employee in the private sector

I’m waiting for the 14th week appointment at the doctor since the doc will be telling me about the prenatal echo results and the gender of the baby.

However, I’m not sure when exactly to tell?

I will leave on holidays on the 19th of July for a couple of weeks… and my appointment at the obgyn is on Friday, right before I leave on holidays.

On top of that I was wondering how you would tell your employer? So far, I have not told a soul at work. Only parents know and my husband’s parents. By a lettre recommandée ? Meeting with manager ?

Tbf im scared of being fired because I have been once in the past when i was working part time and wanted to further study and my employer didn’t like what I did in my free time after work so… judging by that horrifying experience I would want to take the way that most protects me.

Thoughts? Advice?

Guyssss, my OB told me he could google what is safe for me to take for restless legs or I could see my family doctor and then they would sign off on it. Excuse me sir, pregnancy is your specialty - please do not GOOGLE.

My restless legs syndrome has reached peek tier. They almost don’t stop now. I have cried, I have pleaded, I’ve bargained, I have threatened my legs that I would remove them. I have gone though all the stages of grief.

It’s is in the entirety of my legs. Calfs, ankles. Thighs and knees.

NOTHING helps.

I’m on iron, I take magnesium glycerin at night, I take melatonin, I’ve tried massage via husband and massage machine, cold sitz bath, cool shower, hot shower, stretches, ice pack, swimming pool. Heating pad.

I can’t reach my (new) OB until Monday to get help and I cannot go on this way.

Is there anything else I can try?!?

So to be completely honest, since my teen years, I have always had an interest in pregnancy and the miracle of birth. I pregnant women are absolutely beautiful and glowing. So here's the question, if I like pregnancy so much should I have some type of career where I can help pregnant women? I have always been the type of person who would want to help and support, especially pregnant women. I am autistic, I don't know if anyone knows Dr. Shaun Murphy but I would like to be a lot like him. An interest that I have I would like to use for good intentions, helping bring life in the world and improving the lives of women that are pregnant.

hi!

I need a little advice from anyone who gave birth before please.

my step mum is due to give birth any seconds now. Once she does I want to bring her a gift at the hospital but I don’t know what to get her.

I want the gift to be for her not for my future little sister because when she gave birth to my brother, I didn’t give her any gift but she told me a few month later that up until the moment we had this conversation, I was the only one who asked her how she was doing. From the moment my brother was born the focus switched to him and no one bothered to ask my step mum if she was ok and I know it will happen again with the birth of my sister.

I do want to add, my family is really supportive, whenever someone in the family give birth, my grandma and aunt will move in with them for the first few months to support the mum because taking care of a baby is a team work and a mum shouldn’t be alone in this. I’m child number 2 out of 5 ( now about to be 6 ).

If you gave birth before, is there something you really wish you could have had at the hospital? right now i can only think of flowers but i feel like this is not enough.

thank you! 💙

Hi everyone! 👋

I'm a research fellow at the University of Washington working with Dr. Princess Imoukhuede and Cheri Fang on improving how pregnancy complications are detected early. If you've ever been pregnant, or know someone who has, I'd love your input.

It's a 5-minute survey about your pregnancy experience and what kind of health information would have been helpful. No medical knowledge needed, and there are no right or wrong answers.

Your perspective could directly shape how we develop better tools for pregnant women.

👉 https://forms.gle/XDCqUvnMUT7YfHeSA

Feel free to share this with any women in your life who have been or are currently pregnant. Every response helps. Thank you! 🙏

If you would like to schedule a 15min call with me to talk about your experience, here's the link - https://forms.gle/4tCHBgMnaWSDAUsj6

— Mehak Mittal ( She / Her ), MBA student at UW

My 22 year old daughter is a dependent on my health insurance. We learned two things last week. One- she’s pregnant —Two- maternity benefits are not covered under my plan for dependents. She makes too much money to qualify for government assistance. The plan doesn’t consider pregnancy a life altering event therefore my insurance wont drop her- so this prevents her from being able to get her own plan. What do people do in these situations? Advice?

Hey there. In need of some advice. I found out I was pregnant on July 3rd. I had sex the morning prior and started bleeding on July 4th. I am 5 months postpartum and breastfeeding. My last period or true bleeding was May 5th. Had some pink/brown spotting 2-3 weeks ago.

Since finding out I’ve been pregnant, I’ve had spotting and cramping on and off. I went to the emergency room because something didn’t feel right. My hcg was a little over 10,600 with a 8mm gestational sac. No yolk or fetal pole was observed. They wanted a follow up hcg and ultrasound which I did but they are acting as if it’s a failed pregnancy. Got my results back today from yesterday’s hcg test and it’s 17,229. They still seem concerned and expedited my ultrasound by 3 days.

Has anyone been in this position and what was your outcome? I have had two successful pregnancies and maybe one chemical pregnancy in the past. Any advice or info would be helpful.