General chatter while we wait (and commentary on the "pull out method")

[DobbyForever]

Yeah I definitely miss the activity. I also don’t think Dobs has been on since the election, I know she was having a hard time with that. I miss her posts.

high key had a mental breakdown. In therapy. On meds. Slowly healing. I do still pop in from time to time to read up on how everyone is doing. Probably a solid month or two from being ok and back to checking in more regularly.

 

[gigglebox]

Dobby!!! I've been thinking about you I'm so glad you popped in, even with a short update. I miss hearing your life updates. I'm so sorry to hear about the "menty b" (isn't that what the youth call it these days?) but really happy to see your seeking help. I hope nothing but the best for you and hope to see you on again soon, when you're ready

Jules glad you're not moving too, too far but that's too bad about the school change for the kids. With it being so close, could the school just add a stop temporarily? I suppose that's asking a lot though...When do you have to officially be out of the old place and into the new one? Glad you have some time to transition slow-ish. When we moved into our house we had rent overlap by a month and that was much nicer (vs. our last move where we had to move 2 hours away in a weekend....that was rough!)

Shae, that husband of yours needs a confidence boost! I'm sure if they contract with him, it's because they believe in his capabilities. He needs to believe in them, too! I am so excited that you may just get to ttc in 2025 ahhhhh that's so exciting!! And yay for not having the genetic issue! I know that was weighing on you. Would you still be able to pass it along to offspring or no?

Afm...I had my last ob appointment the other day and it was rough. Despite trying to improve my diet, I gained another whopping 10lbs since the last appointment. This is the first time the ob brought it to my attention (a different ob this time because it's a group practice, but still). I had my GD test but haven't gotten results back. Anyway I have no idea why I'm gaining at such an alarming rate, despite trying to not be super horrible about eating. I'm still eating junk here and there though so now it's time to seriously cut it all out. I'm keeping a food journal now as well. On top of all this I'm measuring about weeks ahead. Ob set me up with a growth scan in 2 weeks to see how big baby is...I suppose this information may be useful to surgeons for a c-section so they know if they are going to be expecting a larger baby or not. I mean a larger baby isn't unexpected (my first two were 9+lbs) but I guess it's information they'd like to have. So if I'm up another 5lbs by next appointment despite really dialing in my food, I don't know what I'll do except just ride it out and deal with the weight after baby's born. Wouldn't be the first time (I gained 60lbs with ds1) so this may just be a thing my body's doing against my will and efforts. But it sure is depressing. I feel and look huge. My face has gotten so pudgy. I think on the whole I'm up about 35lbs and still have, what, 11 weeks to go or so?

crazy though...11 weeks!! time is FLYING. I am so not mentally there yet to have a baby lol. I get there some days but most days I'm panicking about how the heck I'm going to manage life. We're always so busy as it is...although I do it to myself really. Especially with all the fish. I have too many animals lol

 

[shaescott]

Praying it all goes smooth and quick! It’s sucks being in limbo, but he’s going to do great. I don’t think PA had short term disability. I use fmla and can get up to 16 weeks, but it’s not paid. My company gives me 2 weeks paid then I use sick then pto. My plan is 12 weeks this time around.

Ah geez, I didn’t realize it depended on the state. Well, we’ll see what the rules are wherever we end up. No updates yet on the job.

It’s been a year since I last checked my AMH levels (indicator of egg reserve), and given that they were borderline last year and had dropped from the previous year, we decided to order another Modern Fertility test to check them again and see where I’m at. It has to be taken on CD3, so I won’t be able to take it for a few weeks, I’m CD16 and my cervix just rose today, so I’ll probably ovulate in a few days. It tends to rise when my estrogen rises, so it gives me a few days advance warning if I bother to check lol. Otherwise I just get a ton of EWCM and take an OPK lol.

Anyway.

I’m pretty nervous about the AMH level, considering how if it drops nearly at all from last year it becomes low, which indicates early ovarian failure or some other issue with egg reserve. Considering my mom didn’t hit menopause until her 50s and my grandmother had a few miscarriages in her early 50s, I’d be pretty shocked if I ran out of eggs in my 20s. But who knows what I could’ve been exposed to, from harmful medications at work, to microplastics and artificial growth hormones, to who knows what else. Every day we find out another thing is poisonous, and also that it’s everywhere and we can’t avoid it. All that said, I know it’s totally possible to have a slightly low AMH level and have no difficulty getting pregnant. So, prayers that regardless of my level, everything will be okay.

 

[shaescott]

I forgot to hit post last night and just hit it now without refreshing… and then the new posts loaded in.

high key had a mental breakdown. In therapy. On meds. Slowly healing. I do still pop in from time to time to read up on how everyone is doing. Probably a solid month or two from being ok and back to checking in more regularly.

Ahhhhh I’m so happy to hear from you, but I’m sorry you’ve been struggling so much. I’m glad you got help and are slowly improving. Sending so much love to you and A.


Gigs aw sorry about the weight gain. Hopefully it’s just your body doing its best to grow baby and that there’s no other issues. I know the recommendation is 25-35 lbs, but I’ve read that it’s perfectly fine to go over that and it’s way better to gain more than the recommendation than it is to gain less. I’m sure you look beautiful

DH for sure needs a confidence boost, he’s always struggled with that. He’s a perfectionist, he never sees himself or his work as good enough.
As for the genetic issue, I cannot pass it down, it’s just one variant and I don’t have it

 

[gigglebox]

I kept forgetting to check this website! whoops.
Glad to hear the genetic issue is not a concern! yay! Also I wouldn't worry about the egg reserve business until it proves to be a problem. You know how many times I've read stories of even doctors telling women they're very unlikely to get pregnant, only to get pregnant with no issue? I'm sure it would be discouraging to hear but don't fret. Or maybe use it as fuel to start the ttc journey earlier

Thanks about the weight, the weird thing was I weighed myself at home like a day or two later and my home scale said I was only up 2-3lbs...? Who knows. I have another appointment Friday so we'll see what the new total is, and also about how big baby is measuring.

So much for the food journal. I kept it going for about a day and a half but I HAVE been more mindful about my food intake and feel like I've been doing much better.

I'm sad that winter seems to be over I was hoping for one more good snow before it started to warm up but it's March now, I guess I should be thankful for the storms we got. And I got some cute pictures of the kids in the snow, so success!

 

[shaescott]

Gigs if you want never ending snow, move to a state on the Canadian border we live in a valley in VT, and it feels like it snows every day in winter. It’s actually ridiculous. We are so sick of snow and so ready for warm weather. It can keep snowing here until late May. They tell you not to switch out your snow tires here until Memorial Day weekend.

No news yet on DH getting a contract. Boo. We can’t TTC until after we move, it’s just not a good idea financially, so we’re waiting on the company. We agreed that if he doesn’t get a contract by summer, we’re going to give up and move on to something else, and move back to where we used to live. We loved it there.

Unrelated, I’ve decided to give up social media for Lent. No more mindless scrolling for hours on end, or ignoring DH because I’m watching a reel and my brain can’t focus on two things at once. I’ve never given anything up for Lent before, but I think this is a really good thing to give up. I had been thinking about doing a social media break because I don’t like that I don’t know how to be bored anymore, I just consume rather than create. At least if I consume, it should be a book, not a stream of short instant gratification video clips. I also decided to do a program where I read the entire Bible in 90 days. I’ve never read it from cover to cover, and I’d like to change that. If I have time and/or energy, I may try to read it at double pace so I can finish it by Easter (so, in 45 days), but that would take a LOT of discipline.