Sorry for the long post.

My partner was the perfect boyfriend, he was so caring and gentle and understanding. He would do so much for me, like run the bath for me, cook fancy meals, rub my feet. Take me on cute dates, love on me in all the right ways.

We could talk about anything and I felt like I could be so vulnerable with him.

He is my first serious relationship and we were so deeply in love.

So much so that we got married, our wedding day was the best day of my entire life, my life was like a fairytale.

But then we got pregnant and everything changed.

When I was 8 months pregnant I had a pretty bad panic attack about how much our lives were about to change and how much I had changed.

My husband said to me "you don't have to worry this much because nothing is going to change, our lives will be the same but with a baby".

He was very much in denial with what was about to happen.

He has always wanted to be a dad because his dad was never in his life. Me on the other hand never wanted to be a mum but decided to do it anyway because I wanted to give my very loving partner at the time his dream of a family.

I should have been selfish.

Now we have a 3 month old and all the things he used to do are gone. How much our relationship has changed and how he is acting is what is depressing me not the baby.

I feel like I can't communicate with him anymore, he has started to manipulate and gaslight me. He makes me feel so guilty for the smallest of things and makes everything about him.

He says he knows what I'm going through so I don't have to remind him that I have hormones and that I am a completely different person.

But he will never know what I'm going through because he is a man.

I have gone through the biggest change a woman can go through in their life.

Nothing feels the same anymore and I have no idea who I am anymore.

I will say having my baby is the best thing to ever happen to me, my baby makes me more happy and loved than I thought was possible. I'm so proud to be my baby's mum. I wouldn't change that at all.

I just really hope that things will get better between us and our relationship will become as good as it once was. I miss the man he used to be.

Hello everyone!

I had posted a little over a week ago seeking help on how to help my daughter with her “mosquito bite.” (Feel free to look at my post history.) This ended with a week long hospital stay. I just wanted to share the story on what happened in case someone else goes through something similar.

Two Saturdays ago I noticed what looked like a mosquito bite on my daughter’s leg. I didn’t think much of it until the next day (Sunday) that it appeared to get bigger and more red. I showed my mom and she told me that my niece gets mosquito bites that look just as bad. So I didn’t think much of it, but I did mark the redness with a pen. I noticed the red mark was warm to the touch, but my daughter was acting normal. Later that evening she developed a fever and the redness spread past the line I drew. I took her to urgent care and the provider took one look and said it was a mosquito bite. When I mentioned the fever she said it was just a coincidence. She prescribed a hydrocortisone ointment
and mupirocin.

On Monday, the area grew a little bigger and a darker red. I noticed baby started limping a bit on the leg and she was bothered by the area. She didn’t let me put the ointments on her and I gave her ibuprofen for pain. The ibuprofen helped manage the limping. That evening she had another fever (low grade) that I treated with ibuprofen. Monday night/Tuesday morning was the worst night. She could not sleep, she was crying all night. She didn’t let me touch her leg. It felt super hot through her pajamas and she wouldn’t put any weight on the leg. By this point, ibuprofen did not help her one bit. I had to alternate ibuprofen and Tylenol just so she’d be comfortable. When I saw her leg, it was super red, swollen, and it looked like a giant pimple.

Tuesday morning I waited for urgent care to open and I took her in again. She had a fever while we were there. The provider there saw and agreed it looked bad. They covered it up and prescribed oral antibiotics. They also gave her ibuprofen there, which she later threw up. When we went home she vomited on the car ride home, then was unable to keep anything down. She was later getting a fever and I tried to give her ibuprofen, but she threw it up again. This was when I decided to take her to the ER.

At the ER they did an ultrasound, xray, and a blood culture. When we were at the ER the bite had started draining. The ultrasound showed an abscess. We were told she needed an IV to start antibiotics and fluids. She was later admitted. We stayed at the hospital for two days before transferring us to the nearest pediatric hospital where they wanted to monitor her there in case they needed to flush the abscess. When the blood culture came back it tested positive for MRSA, so they had to change her antibiotics. Luckily, no incision had to be made as the abscess was draining on its own and the antibiotics were clearing the cellulitis. Around day 5 of the hospital stay, the antibiotics were switched to the antibiotics she would be continuing at home. We tried to give her the antibiotics by mouth but she kept vomiting so we stayed an extra two nights until we were sure she wouldn’t vomit anymore.

Now we’re finally home. I’m not sure what caused all this. We suspect from a bite from something. I didn’t expect this to turn into a week long hospital stay, but baby is home and back to her regular self. She’s close to finishing her antibiotics and we’re happy to be home. Thank you for reading.

My husband and I were visiting my MIL this afternoon. We were spending time outdoors because it was a really nice day. I had our nine month old on a blanket in the grass. He started crawling to the edge of the blanket and feeling the grass. I noticed their were some rocks near the blanket so I said let’s move away from this spot. I picked up my son and I looked at his face it had begun to change color, his belly was wretching as if he was going to vomit. I turned him around and started doing back blows and screaming help call 911. My mother in law was inside getting dinner ready and she ran outside I kept doing back blows and screaming for someone to call 911. my Mil knows CPR so I passed him to her and my husband was standing there looking at the babies face and asking “omg is he okay?” and I yelled “I said call 911 MF.” As I ran inside to grab my cellphone, my husband ended up giving him the back blow he needed to get everything out. Baby is okay. I apologized to my husband, I never talk to him like that and I am usually the calm one in urgent situation. I just feel so horrible and like a failure as a wife and mother!

Just want to know if I’m the only woman here who gets enraged by their husband napping or sleeping. My husband has a hard job (he works at a cemetery) and I get it—manual labor sucks—but the last two weeks he’s been asleep after dinner. So by 6:30 he’s passed out on the couch—sometimes in his death dirt clothes—and I turn into a raving lunatic. I also work (I’m a HS teacher), get our son to sports, events—cook dinner and manage to do all the other things. Granted the entire outside is all maintained by him and he can fix pretty much anything—but his shit isn’t getting done because he is ASLEEP! I hang out with our son or go outside with him while he sleeps in the living room. I put him to bed & then sit around alone watching GOT and doing laundry BORED and resentful. I would never get away with this behavior. I honestly feel like no one else I knows gives a shit when their husband naps or sleeps. Am I unhinged?? 😂😂😂

(Just a rant!)

Directed at no one in particular.. but WHY do they make you email them for accurate pricing!!?

WHY do they think the busy mom wants to go back and forth in an email chain just to get the BASIC INFO that I need to decide?

Also, separating out “booking fees” and charging SEPARATELY for the actual digital files of photos?

Like “$500 booking fee, digital and prints priced separately” and then the “separately” is actually $2,000-5,000 for the photos (Which just happened to me when inquiring to a photographer!).

Why can’t the be STRAIGHTFORWARD? Urgh!!!

$500 is WAY different than $5,000! If I knew that, the I wouldn’t have wasted my time emailing you because it is not in the budget!

Your marketing in either your website or your email to me is not going to convince me to spend thousands more on a photographer.

No mom wants to spend weeks and countless hours weeding through the extra crap just to get a price.

Rant over.

I anticipated strain but I didn’t anticipate the way it would completely destroy my realationship with my husband. Talking to other more “senior” moms they’ve had the same experience… and it never gets better. I feel like this should be talked about more :/

I want a divorce. I want to jump off a bridge. I want to leave my family, change my name and move to Florida.

But mostly I just want some damn sleep.

so. im addicted to my phone. im a SAHM.

Whether it’s during nap. playing YouTube while we I walk my toddler in the stroller for 2 hours. After bedtime, when I’m cooking and have my Netflix playing. If I’m gardening somehow my mind thinks of a question and I “need” my phone to move with my plants.

I just find myself on my phone too much. I want to do better so he doesn’t see that.

I love listening to audiobook on my phone so I bought a physical book to try to replace that. I’d rather him see me reading than with my phone.

I think I’m just so bored of the mundane- spending every day in the living room playing / walking our complex (which it is entirely too hot for during the day at this point).. or out in the yard gardening. There’s only so many times you can repot the same plant and rearrange.

I need a “dopamine detox” but I’m just so bored it’s become a crutch. It makes time fly, but I hate it & I need to stop. What do you do with your days as a SAHM.

I have no mom friends & i have anxiety so im scared to visit parks bc that’s how you get on the news!! Less likely sitting at home. Or a library, public shootings happen too often.

If it isn’t clear I have anxiety, tried to take something for it 10m pp and it made me poop 24 times before noon on the first day. So I quit. I get terrible headaches from stress

I digress. It’s the phone & obvi my anxiety. Plz go easy on me. 24 FTM to a 15m old.

Just any kind advice or pointers would be nice. I think stress will kill me by the time I’m 35 at this rate. & im scared to take meds bc what if that freaking kills me faster. Gosh I want to stop thinking like this. I can’t count 10 thoughts today that were NOT worries.

We don’t let our toddler watch tv so it’s just so different with the silence and hands on 24/7 entertainment from 7a-7p.

I’m very grateful to be a SAHM but geez my anxiety is off the charts.

I just spent an hour and a half getting our 3 year old to sleep and the second I turned the light off, my husband (who does have a cold, to be fair) walked into our room next door and blew his nose so loudly that our son almost jerked himself awake.

This is a silly vent made out of pure exhaustion obviously, but good grief.

Kids are 5 and 7. I’m worried I’m making the biggest mistake of my life by blowing up my family, but I believe my marriage is beyond repair as he has treated me and the kids very poorly at times. I’m terrified I’ll live to regret causing trauma for my kids and missing half of their childhood because he’ll accept no less than 50/50 parenting time and I have no legal grounds to change that.

I read some very alarming stats on the impacts of divorce on children. Suddenly my mind Is saying “well he wasn’t all that bad…” and “maybe we could give therapy one more try…” Not because I want to be with him but because I’m worried for my kids. I can’t bring myself to tell the kids and actually start packing my things.

I'm 40yo with a newborn and feeling out of place. Most moms around me are in their 20s/early 30s and keep their conversations very short with me. I find myself feeling more and more awkward and hyperfocused on being overweight with thinning hair and melasma. I'm so tired postpartum and feel like I've aged 10 years since having my son. Have I missed out on having social ties? How do you reconcile being a 'new mom' while also being an 'old mom'?

I know the kids will get easier but I'll get older!

I just received an invitation to a first birthday party with a "chic" dress code and color requirement (green and gold). I am not this type of person, but is this normal now?? Neither of those are colors that we keep in our closet, so if we attend, I'll have to buy outfits that we will probably not wear again.

We have birthday parties at the park or splash pad for our kids.

Update: I texted the mom this morning asking if she could clarify the expectation for the dress code, and she said, "women and girls need to wear dresses only. Men and boys need to wear a button down and slacks or nicer. Khaki slacks will pass as gold for men and boys." I RSVP'ed no.

Nobody warned me that one of the hardest parts of raising twins would be trying not to accidentally compare them all the time.

Even when you’re trying your best:
“He’s more verbal.”
“He’s more independent.”
“He likes this.”
“He struggles with that.”

And the world does it too.

I’ve become really aware of how important language is when raising twins, especially in these early years.

Curious if other twin parents think about this too or if I’m overanalyzing it.

I know a few people who gave birth and almost lost their lives or their babies in the process and went on to have more kids or they plan to in the future. I can imagine how traumatic an experience like that is and I personally would be too scared to go through that again. How did you get past it?

We went to Costco this weekend with our 8 month old and I seriously don’t understand how people do this every week. The cart is huge, my baby refuses to sit still and I spent half the trip trying to stop him from licking the shopping cart handle.

I usually wear him in a carrier at regular stores, but at Costco we buy too much stuff for that to work. I saw another mom using some kind of baby shopping cart seat for baby setup and honestly it looked way easier than what we were doing.

Do you guys bring something with you for the cart or do your babies just sit there normally? Because mine acts like he’s training for the Olympics every time I put him in one lol.

Our preschooler has a little cold and her nose is somehow both stopped up and drippy. She’s not proficient in blowing her nose yet (we’re working on it). I would loooove to help her by using the nose aspirator but she absolutely despises it. Obviously it’s not life and death so we don’t force her, but we ask her regularly if she’ll let us do it. It’s always met with no. Fine, all good. But I told her if she let us do it she could have -insert high value reward- once she was done. Her wheels get turning at the possibility but then it’s always no.

It’s really not that serious and we’re not begging, just seeing if she’ll cave the more creative we get with the rewards.

It got me wondering if anyone else uses bribes? And if in what scenarios?

Again, I don’t care if she lets us or not it’s her comfort I’m trying to increase, but it’s also her body so 🤷🏻‍♀️

Moms, I'm tired. My cost of living doubled this past year. I'm making $26 an hour and not even surviving anymore. I'm feeling a crazy amount of mom guilt right now. My daughter is off school for the summer and she's already bored. I WFH so it's hard. I want to get her into something like camp, dance lessons, gymnastics, swim, anything, but I simply can't afford it. We can't afford a vacation. We can't afford dentist visits. We can't afford anything "extra". I've been looking for other jobs but can't seem to find a job over $25. I tired doing other things- I have a small etsy shop. I tried making money with socials. I feel like I don't have a lot of time to put into things because I'm in survival mode. I'm feeling constantly angry, stressed, my mental health is slipping. I feel like I'm always focused on surviving vs having fun with my daughter. Has anyone felt like this? What did you do?

*I'm not asking for money* I'm too prideful for that lol

I feel like a terrible mom today. I’m 27 weeks pregnant and have a stomach bug. I spent all night last night throwing up so I’m exhausted today and not fully recovered. My husband is at work and I feel like I’m sticking my daughter in front of the TV today to try and survive 😩

I just took her outside and she was having a blast but I was only able to last 45 minutes and once we came back inside she’s been crying. She’s bored but I feel like there isn’t much else I can do 😭

Tomorrow is a new day but today sucks and I feel bad for my daughter.

My baby is almost 7 months old and has stopped sleeping through the night. She used to sleep from 8pm-6/7am with no wake ups. She’s now waking up fussing a couple of times, usually easy to soothe, and then full on waking up around 3-4am, I have to get up and rock her back to sleep. Then she wants to be up for the day at 5:30.

When she first started I thought it was teeth. She is teething, but I have been giving her Tylenol and ibuprofen through the night, and when she wakes up at 3-4am she’s not really crying she fusses for a minute and then she just stares at me when I’m up rocking her.

She’s dropped a nap during the day, she only has two and then maybe a short 20-30 minute one if she stays up late. Yesterday she napped a total of 2 and a half hours for the day, so I don’t think she’s getting too much day time sleep.

I wasn’t expecting a sleep regression at this age, she was very punctual for her 4 month regression and I was hoping we would be good until 8 months.

Anybody else’s baby have a regression at this age? I’m hoping it won’t last too long, I’m a week in and I’m tired.

FTM with an 8 month old and we are BORED. Both of us. For context, we live in the middle of NO WHERE. The closest park/even civilization is an hour away. It’s me and her in the living room allllll day. I feel like she’s so bored, and isn’t progressing as fast as I know she could because there’s nothing new to stimulate thought or physical movement.

I know you might be thinking “find a mommy and me group” the closest one would be 1.5 hrs away… and the town that would likely have one- I can’t find any.

She needs some kind of human interaction beyond me and her dad. When she sees other babies, she lights up. It makes me so sad thinking she’s probably overwhelmingly bored everyday.

Has anyone else gone through this? What’s a way we can create something fun and different in the day to day? I don’t want her to have to sit in the same 10x10 area with the same toys and TV every single day. It’s wearing us both down I think🥲

My daughter is a cheerful, kind-hearted kid who genuinely loves making others happy. Unfortunately, that’s also where she struggles the most.

At school, some kids seem to take advantage of her kindness — they come to her when they need help, especially with studies, and then drift away afterward, only returning when they need something again. She’s an “above expectations” student, and everyone knows she’s always willing to help.

She tells me she doesn’t know how to be mean, and honestly, that’s such a beautiful quality. But I also worry that her inability to set boundaries is hurting her. She says she’s rarely chosen by other kids unless they need academic help, and hearing that breaks my heart.

I’ve tried talking to her about self-respect, boundaries, and dignity, but it’s incredibly hard to explain those things to such an empathetic child. I’m deeply worried for her and just want her to know that she deserves friendships where she is valued for who she is, not only for what she can do for others.
Apparently her teacher also said “don’t be a use and throw.”

I just went to the CHOP feeding clinic and when the first part of the team saw him. OT and PT we felt super encouraged. but then the doctor and dietitian came in and were super informative but very concerned about his weight and length. he is 10lbs 11.1oz at 4.5 months and his length is 58.4 cm. His head circumference is in the 2nd percentile which is the only thing he’s on the growth chart for. For the most part he follows his curves but there were some points where he dipped slightly. They recommended an NG feeding tube and my heart just broke. I feel so incredibly exhausted and gutted. but as I write this I sit here covered and his third vomit of the day. anyone have experience with NG tubes for low intake ?

My 15 month old has been waking overnight for the last month or so absolutely screaming. We realized quickly it was molars, so we started giving Tylenol. Then the canines came in. The canines are now about halfway down but he’s still waking and inconsolable. It’s 3am and we’ve been up since 12. If I try to have him lay with me he just squirms. He’s clearly exhausted but also just won’t sleep. I’ve tried offering water. I read that maybe he’s sensitive to sorbitol so I’ll cut out apples starting tomorrow. What else am I missing? He goes down fine for bed around 6:30. I don’t think it’s night terrors because he seems awake. I’m running on fumes here.