My husband had his last month. When I laid out the risks, downtime, and invasiveness between both, it was a no-brainer for him. It took 15 minutes in the office and he said recovery was straightforward. Now he tries to educate men who try to push the responsibility to their wives. I don’t think a lot of men realize how invasive it is for us vs them. Ours is a major surgery. Theirs is a 15 minute outpatient procedure.

My husband and I are cracking up, this looks just like my handwriting and this is exactly how my post its look.

Check out TheBelleMethod on Instagram!

I like the Bloom daily planner. It has monthly and weekly spreads with to-do lists and habit tracking in the weekly pages.

I’ve used a Bloom planner for going on seven years! I love them and find it’s the only one I’ll consistently use.

90% of people I have told about my dairy allergy immediately follow up with "Oh so no milk no eggs?" & the other 10% ask about eggs at a later date.

Dairy allergy mom here, the amount of times I’ve had to explain that eggs aren’t dairy is shocking. Also how argumentative people can be about it.

My 18mo groans anytime they have to reach for something or are doing something physically challenging…we call them struggle noises and my parents think it’s hilarious. Definitely came from us.

I pumped for four months before I decided to wean. That being said, my company offers a designated lactation space with a chair, side table, fridge, sink, and microwave. Starting out, I’d pump when I got there, during lunch, and once again in the afternoon. My boss was also very supportive which was a massive relief as I was a brand new employee. Four months is definitely doable, but I realize not everyone gets the same support.

I was just diagnosed and started medication last month. I still only want one, but I don’t believe anything would change our decision on that front.

I’m not sure if this applies everywhere, but I just got diagnosed and my doctor said I’ll need a check-in appointment after one month, then I’ll come every three months. In order to get a refill I have to call and tell them every 30 days to send it to the pharmacy since it’s a controlled substance.

Do you mean a general anesthetic?

Ah, I should have specified. Just a local anesthetic.

I would think most GYN doctors will try to make it as pain free as possible?

You’d think, but I asked and mine flat-out refused.

My MiL special-made our son one that said “I’m proof daddy doesn’t -always- play video games” Needless to say, he never wore it.

I try to do crockpot meals that I can prep for in advance. Like I’ll buy the groceries, prep/put ingredients in ziplocs, and dump them in the morning before I head out. It’s ready when I get home. I also buy the bags of precooked rice that you just microwave to go with cans of chili or a crockpot protein. Tonight I made spaghetti with jar sauce and frozen microwaveable meatballs, it took twenty minutes total. If you cook the noodles in advance you could shave that even more.

I actually just got myself up and made spaghetti! The encouragement was that I’ve had the meat in my fridge for a couple nights and I’d hate for it to go back before I use it. I hate wasting food. Maybe if I buy the ingredients ahead to prep idk help me.

I’m glad you got some motivation! It’s so hard sometimes. The easiest meal I have is a pack of chicken breasts, half a bottle of Italian or some other vinaigrette-type salad dressing in the crockpot on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over a pack of microwave rice, add some frozen broccoli and drizzle a bit more dressing over it and boom, easy rice bowl. You can freeze leftover chicken in single serve portions for later and even try different dressing and veggie combos to switch it up.

I don’t have any specific advice except keep at it! My baby could not latch at all in the beginning without a shield and we are 4.5 months strong and nursing without it now.

I was terrified I’d never be able to after internet searching before I had my baby! It IS possible! I used a manual everter and nipple shields for the first 3 weeks. After that the attachments loosened enough for baby to pull them out himself. Now we’re four months in and it’s no big deal. Definitely make an appointment with a lactation consultant after birth if you’re able!

Thank you for this. We’ve also done all the things to try and make it “painless”, but nothing worked until he got bigger and figured it out. Ten weeks old and this is our first week not supplementing with pumped milk. Still not 100% pain-free, but it’s already improved so much. Sometimes it just takes a while and that is okay! Good luck going forward!

Thank you, everyone! I’m still going to be cautious for now, but y’all have all made me feel so much better about everything! I truly appreciate it!

Yeah! You SURE you’re only 15 DPO? This line could go for a week off, too, like 22DPO

That’s what my chart on FF says, I can’t see a prior ovulation dip. I’m so afraid it won’t stick.

Hi fellow houstonian!

Thank you! We never really thought we’d be here, it’s all so overwhelming. I guess Houston is a great place to be in our situation, but it also makes it very hard to narrow down options.

Hello, long time lurker here. I’m 27, Houston native, married for four years. Currently been TTC for almost two. We wanted to buy our own home before bringing a baby into the mix and started trying immediately once we moved in. Finally got hubs on board with next steps after trying everything we could think of ourselves, so we’re looking at options now. I’m a pretty private person and hubs is the only person I am 100% comfortable with, so to say it’s been lonely is an understatement. I hope I can find some support here.