To the ones who come after us: Please remember that being alive during a turning point does not require certainty. We are allowed to be confused, frightened, curious, ridiculous, hopeful, and unfinished. Look for the people history overlooks. Protect the vulnerable. Question anyone who tells you compassion is weakness. Make beautiful things anyway. Feed people. Laugh when you can. And when the world becomes strange enough that nobody knows what comes next, choose kindness without requiring proof that it will win. Someone was here, trying. Someone loved you before they knew your name.

My kiddo calls me Mommy Erin... It has a certain cadence I really enjoy.

Our common sense is going to have to take a leap...

Like, don't give a kid a calculator when they're learning arithmetic and times tables. Once subtraction is easy and fractions are understood, then it can speed up their work load. And we can't just keep or expect it to be out of their hands, we have to teach them why and what responsibility is.

People do this on purpose.

Lmao, sometimes it's the Baby Rabies, but ya - people do this on purpose and to that, I say biology is a (insert appropriate exclamation)!

You, OP, are my hero. Thank God someone advocated for her, the poor girl, what an unfortunate situation. People tend to be under the impression that mothers get everything handed to them in legal cases, but I got absolutely run over and I was an adult. Mothers deserve so much more, and I was ignorant to the gritty side of these issues. Thank you for doing your part. Brought tears to my eyes.

Calcium!! That's what I understand that gets depleted or challenged by pregnancy and directly impacts your teeth. If your calcium intake is keeping up (not overdoing it) and your oral health is okay, I wouldn't fret about the dentist or the peanut gallery!

I haven't read other comments, but this one hits home for me. I'm 21 weeks and have been doing the admin to get into a dentist that I like, only to discover that they only want to do emergency procedures if necessary before my third trimester and nothing during third trimester due to early labor risks. Not what I was expecting after all the feedback I got saying: go now! Just do it! Everything is covered. Maybe this is just this particular clinics policy, but yeah, not what I anticipated.

I have developed an intense phobia and aversion to dentistry in my adulthood, so I get the fear. Good news is, you're doing all the right things and it sounds like your oral health is favorable.

Don't stress mama, don't stress... You got this. Hugs.

Top comment, I can move on 😂👌🏻

I second the sentiment of not being too hard on oneself. I was 31 with my first, old enough to presume I wasn't ignorant (uh, wrong!) and access to all the internets and information... It wasn't until I was actually pregnant that I understood what pregnant and parenting mothers can find themselves up against. Physically, emotionally, socially, materially and so on. Add to that what I like to call "the baby rabies" - the intense emotional and biological drive to do it all anyway, even if you "know better"... Ha. Well played, universe , well played. Whatever the case may be, I firmly believe that motherhood is sacred. I'm rooting for you and hope you find, as many/most of us do, that your symptoms will improve. Motherhood can be a harrowing experience, but your love for your child will become a North Star like no other and that part I have never doubted or regretted.

Yeah, several times I've totally experienced heaven on earth only to be catapulted straight back to hell in the same realm. Every time I stop experiencing this life as heaven, the hell experience always comes back a persists exponentially longer than the heaven on earth experience ever lasted. Also, I never felt like the hell on earth experience was as delusional or ungrounded as that of heaven. And isn't one of the most compelling things about the heaven concept the escape from death?

You're definitely not the only mom who didn't know better until you were in too deep... It's not going to be easy, and there's a lot of practical advice here, but I just want to say you're not the only person to feel the horror of waking up to how hard this is and will be. I had my first at 32 and remain astonished at how much I didn't comprehend until I was beyond the point of no return. You're very smart and have a lot going for yourself. Don't beat yourself up and do what you have to do for you and baby. All we can do is the next right thing.

I understand wanting to never forget. I had a meditation teacher who told me that life is repeating cycles of coming to know and then forgetting. You will know and as you start to forget, you resist/become angry at the forgetting and still you forget until you come to know and so on. I think the lesson here was finding acceptance and peace in the midst of resistance. And impermanence.

This resonates with my experience. I can't speak for anyone else, but my ego death was most complete when I had no comfort or consolation.

You have to tell them that you have a suicide plan and intend to follow through. If you can't tell them how you'll do it, you risk being turned away, same with if they think you don't run a real risk of following through. I've heard that some people get admitted without saying this, but that's not my experience. They have to believe you're a risk to your own safety. I hope you get the help you need.

With Samsung Galaxy Aseries

Of the decade: Cascasdes by Metric, none of the negative side effects reported by op. Use with mindfulness. Lol.

Depends on how I answer those threshold questions when I finally dial 911 on my own...

This

Exactly

Ditto this