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[–]Tryin2BeBetrThanB4Early 20s, Married, 4 years8 points9 points  (13 children) | Copy Link

OMG this is the best! But... You know... Me and my husband have recently reach a point where we are thinking about trying for a baby next year... This is not encouraging at all!!! XD

[–]teenMom868 points9 points  (4 children) | Copy Link

I loved being pregnant, I had easy births and recovered quickly, I had no trouble breastfeeding. Babies are time consuming but only a subset are difficult (and those usually get easier over time.)

All I see online about motherhood is the birth horror stories and people saying how hard and terrible babies are. I think those of us who have an easy time of it don't often speak up for whatever reason, maybe because we don't want to be insensitive to those who struggle. I don't know anyone who says it wasn't worth it though. I would have 5 more babies if we could afford them.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children) | Copy Link

I think those of us who have an easy time of it don't often speak up for whatever reason, maybe because we don't want to be insensitive to those who struggle.

Correct. If you say it's easy people think you're a bitch.

[–]Peterswaifu1 point2 points  (1 child) | Copy Link

Every experience is so different. The more kids I have the more I know how little I know.

If I had 3 duplicates of my son, I would tell you that babies are a breeze (he is the jolliest little butterball I have ever met).

OTOH, my second daughter was so difficult. I love her more than life itself but man, that first 18 months was HARD! She would scream anytime I put her down anywhere, which wouldn't have been so bad (my first daughter was similar, wanted to be held all the time) but the problem was that she wouldn't let anyone but me hold her. Not even my husband. It was really rough.

So after that experience, I totally get moms venting online about how they are finding it hard.

The infant years are so fleeting though. So while it may feel overwhelming in the moment, it's over before you know it. And they become SO COOL when they start to be able to express their needs in words rather than screaming :)

[–]teenMom860 points1 point  (0 children) | Copy Link

I totally agree, and I'm so glad moms have a place to vent when it's hard and know that they're not alone or unusual. I wish there were more of the happy/easy stories out as a counterbalance, but I guess the 'easy' stories are never exciting.

[–]okaygirl1230 points1 point  (0 children) | Copy Link

It's a wide spectrum as well!

Not pregnant (too young) but from what my mom told me, I was an extremely baby. When her water broke she expected to be put on a stretcher and then taken to the delivery room with everyone freaking out (she saw all that in movies.) Imagine her surprise when her doctor told her that she was perfectly fine, handed her an IV and then walked her to the delivery room. I was out in the second push and my parents do tell me I was easy to raise as well.

Too many horror stories float around, even in friend circles and I sometimes wonder whether they're exaggerating

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (5 children) | Copy Link

I'm 29 weeks right now. It's a blast. I love being pregnant. Just stop reading the internet now :) haha. The people who talk about pregnancy only talk to complain so all the good stuff goes un-talked about!!!

Though if you want to read (Shameless blog plug) this is the piece I wrote about baby prepping -- https://irisandoleander.wordpress.com/2017/04/02/pre-pregnancy-body-prep/

[–]kekeraeMarried 5 yrs, Mother of 21 point2 points  (2 children) | Copy Link

Happy to have other pregnant ladies on here. :)

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (1 child) | Copy Link

We're going to have a regular monthly pregnancy/mom/parenting thread on here soon. 😊😊

[–]kekeraeMarried 5 yrs, Mother of 21 point2 points  (0 children) | Copy Link

Awesome! Can't wait to learn and maybe contribute also. :)

[–]Tryin2BeBetrThanB4Early 20s, Married, 4 years0 points1 point  (1 child) | Copy Link

Sadly it wouldn't matter if I went offline or not >.< I have a lot of older friends that love to talk about their "horror stories" with eachother in front of me. Like how one was bleeding out in the delivery room, and another had complications with her C-section, and countless other things. Then they look at me, realize I'm part of the group, and will say something to the effect of "it's so worth it though" "it was a beautiful experience" and I'll just sit there like, uh-huh, yeah, ok then...

As far as they know they, we don't want kids yet, and I probably won't tell them till I'm showing and can't hide it anymore.

Thanks for the link! I love your blog, I must have missed that post though. I've been looking for articles like that since I've got about 6-8 months before were both ready, and I really want to spend that time being as healthy as I can be to give it the best chance I can.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children) | Copy Link

Ooh I have friends like that too! They love to sit around and vent and drink wine. I just drink wine (well not now haha)

[–]kekeraeMarried 5 yrs, Mother of 23 points4 points  (1 child) | Copy Link

I'll reassure you by saying the article is being dramatic for a funny effect. Never in my life have I went more than 2 days without a shower nor have I been up the entire time between 11pm-6am. :)

I had a largely positive breastfeeding experience (breast fed my daughter past her 2nd birthday), avoided post partum depression, lost every pound of baby weight buy the 10 month mark. It was either not that terrible or I forgot because I'm pregnant again, haha.

[–]Tryin2BeBetrThanB4Early 20s, Married, 4 years1 point2 points  (0 children) | Copy Link

I know, and despite reading all that, I still want one. Must be true feelings eh? :P

It is nice to hear positive experiences from others though, just to give some little reassurance. I can't believe it's always all bad otherwise we wouldn't exist anymore as a species!

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children) | Copy Link

ZOMG - hilarious! Also, I would happily volunteer to be the abdomin puncher hahaha

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (1 child) | Copy Link

I saw /u/Zombies_InTheSnow 's submission yesterday and remembered this woman's hilarious response - so I figured I'd share with all of you, fine ladies.

Personal favorites 6&7:

All of your non-sleeping time must be devoted to some sort of selfless service. Volunteering for a charity doing something like building houses or bathing badgers. There are no specific instructions as to how to carry out your duties in this service, and all the advice you can find online is conflicting. One thing you will know for sure is that you’re probably doing everything wrong.

Here’s a weird thing: A bear or a cougar or something scary will be unleashed in your house and will be threatening everything you love. But you can’t see it and you are the only person who knows its there. Nobody believes you. You know you sound crazy but IT’S THERE.

[–]BellaScarletta1 point2 points  (0 children) | Copy Link

7 was my absolute favourite haha, I definitely laughed.

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children) | Copy Link

This is fantastic, thank you for sharing.

My favorite hands down is:

You may not leave the house to see any friends for the first six months unless you take a badger (or a house) with you. If you take it to a restaurant, people will be assigned to look annoyed, because they don’t want badgers and houses in their public spaces. If you need them to move to make room for your badger or house they will be really annoyed. You will be expected to just suck it up because you chose this and you don’t deserve special treatment.

The 'badger(or house)' thing made me laugh every time. Along with the invisible animals. :0)

[–]StingrayVC3 points4 points  (0 children) | Copy Link

ZOMG! This is so hilarious!

Here’s a weird thing: A bear or a cougar or something scary will be unleashed in your house and will be threatening everything you love. But you can’t see it and you are the only person who knows its there. Nobody believes you. You know you sound crazy but IT’S THERE.

This article is so fantastic. I have more thing to add. The badger (house) must be touching you nearly continuously throughout the day and you are not allowed to get annoyed or take a break.

Oh and I love this, because it is SO true. I still think about this sometimes and now smile because I can now make my my kids do the dishes.

Every task you set out to do must be performed in intervals. If you are washing the dishes, you may only wash three dishes, then go bathe some badgers or build a house. Then three more dishes, then badgers (or house).

It would sometimes take me more than an hour to empty out the dishwasher.

[–]HappyLollie2 points3 points  (0 children) | Copy Link

I'm 29 weeks pregnant and this made my day, all the joys of motherhood I've got to look forward to!

[–]littleeggwyfEarly 30s, Married, 10 years total1 point2 points  (4 children) | Copy Link

Number 8 made me wince! I don't care if it's terrible or not, next time i really want to avoid that bit

[–]Peterswaifu1 point2 points  (3 children) | Copy Link

Anecdotal, but my first run at breastfeeding was a nightmare. It hurt every single time I would feed her, so much so that I would have to bit a wash cloth and cry :'( With my subsequent babies it was a breeze because I guess they had toughened up and it didn't hurt one bit.

But man, my first run at breastfeeding was really rough.

[–]littleeggwyfEarly 30s, Married, 10 years total1 point2 points  (2 children) | Copy Link

That's really encouraging, I only managed 6 weeks first time before I gave up, she was just constantly feeding when awake and it hurt so bad. Plus my production seemed low when I pumped so I think she had to feed lots because of hunger :(

This next time might be completely different hopefully!

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child) | Copy Link

Did you try anything to boost production? My sister had an underweight baby, and due to a heart defect they wanted baby to gain a lot of weight quickly in case they needed to have surgery on baby's heart. She mad batches of these lactation cookies and would binge them. Her production shot up. She would have to pump between feedings. But it was also great cause she had a huge stash of milk in the freezer for babysitter, and dad so others could feed baby

[–]littleeggwyfEarly 30s, Married, 10 years total1 point2 points  (0 children) | Copy Link

I didn't, I think because my baby put on weight sort of ok they didn't think i needed a breastfeeding counselor and i didn't know about lactation cookies or much really. We had an afternoon class about nursing and they were super enthusiastic about it but all the advice was about latching and positioning and the benefits to mom and baby not nutrition.

My MIL gave us oat biscuits and oatcakes and stout to try and help but the pumping still seemed painfully slow.

Next time i'm going into be a lot better prepped :) I'm hoping to manage at least the first 6 months as long as baby puts on weight OK.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children) | Copy Link

Excellent!

You can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea.

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