u/ApostrophePolice7

Hello! My husband and I got a ton of firewood off of FB marketplace. A LOT of it. We built this really cute fire pit and upgraded our grilling grate. We’re so excited to cook more on this fire but a problem has been occurring (even before the grate upgrade, ever since we got this fire wood). Our food gets a pretty nasty black coating on it. Like black smoke deposits. Food tastes fine but I’m not happy at the thought of eating it. We also had a fire with friends for hours one night where one girl had black deposits on her face from sitting too close for a long time. I’m not sure if all of this wood now is a no-go for cooking, or if there’s anything we can do to salvage it. We don’t have the wood covered which concerns me as it may never get fully dry (but we do live in Arizona where it’s very dry and rarely rains so we didn’t really worry at first).

One other major concern, we have a newborn baby. I don’t want to hang out by the fire with the baby if this is what’s happening to the inside of his lungs!!!

Is there such a thing as mild DMER? I would say I don’t have rage for the most part.. but I’ve definitely had feelings of rage and despair quite a few times. And most other times I’m just pissed off and trying not to be. Or crying. Very rarely am I happy pumping. I’m trying really hard to be calm and tell myself over and over this is for the baby. But I’m so F’ing mad that I literally cannot do squat while I’m pumping. I can’t hold the baby without him kicking my pump out of place, or burp him properly, or feed him enjoyably. Only if he’s sleeping do I feel like less of a failure. And even then I’m still super annoyed that he can’t be sleeping on my chest. This pumping thing just sucks all around. I’m 5 weeks pp and if I could watch a video of my pumps being smashed and thrown off a cliff over and over again, I’d maybe calm myself. Ugh… does it get better? I feel like it will only get worse because my baby will be more and more awake and in need of interaction as he gets older. I already feel a huge difference in his needs for interaction from 2 weeks to 5 weeks. How do I proceed? I feel like quitting for many reasons but that being the main one. I also just don’t want to be that kind of mom who is pissed all the time. Not at ALL how I was imagining this :(

Hello! I’m new to this. 4 weeks PP and mostly pumping as we are having trouble latching. Very low supply due to NICU and other birth complications. I’m leaving out the details as it isn’t relevant to this discussion. My problem is mostly timing (I think?) - I’m doing my best to pump as often as possible while feeding baby, burping baby, feeding self, trying to nap, all the things etc it’s haaard. Anyway as soon as I get the bay fed I make a run for the pump as I’m usually already worried about my timing interval running long and I swear the second I either look at the pump or start to touch my bra strap I get the nipple tingles (pins and needles, which I’ve learned is my let down). My supply is a real struggle so I’m trying to do the fascia release massage before pumping as instructed by my lactation consultant and other consultants. But I feel that as a result, I’m starting my pumping session several minutes to even 5 minutes after the nipple tingles and I’m totally missing out on my let down. I just have no idea what to do and or if I should be worried. When I don’t do the massage I do think my supply is worse (generally, not just the single session) and I get really engorged and breast tissue hardens (not reversible with pumping / emptying) which becomes an uphill battle and I have to go see the specialist again so she can do some serious fascia release that I cannot accomplish myself. What should I do? Should I just forget about the let down and do the massage completely (it should actually be much longer than a few minutes but I cut it short in fear I’m missing the window after the tingles) or should I try something different?