u/Gingerbredmum

I’ve been at this for 7 weeks and in the first 5 weeks I steadily lost about 2lbs per week. But these last 2 weeks I haven’t lost an ounce, literally. I’ve been stuck at 168.3. For context I’m 36, 5 months postpartum, and I’m tracking everything, using a food scale, calories are always 1250-1350 per day, exercising 5 days a week, and I meet my protein, fat, and fiber goals. I cook everything and rarely eat processed foods. I’m not doing anything different than I was when I was losing. On paper I should be losing. What’s going on? I’m trying to get down to 140 so it’s pretty discouraging this early on to stall out.

I’m a sahm of 4 young boys and I’m 4 months postpartum. I just don’t have the time or energy to make dinner for everyone but me and then make myself the modified version. The baby is still feeding every 3 hours so I need dinner ideas I can feed my whole family and aren’t too much prep work. My kids generally aren’t fans of crock pot meals which I know would make this so much easier but I’d still welcome any suggestions you all have!

I’m 3 months postpartum with my 4th and I’m only now realizing how in danger my life was and how much strain I have put on my body with each pregnancy. I’ve had 4 c-sections, 4x postpartum preeclampsia and 2 miscarriages where I had high blood pressure after the baby passed, and 2x severe anemia where I lost consciousness and was too weak to walk for days. I was reflecting on some things that the nurses told me while I was in the hospital this last time and I remembered them saying they were shocked I didn’t have an iron transfusion because my hemoglobin was at a 6 when I was starting to feel better. How low must it have been when I was passing out?? Plus my blood pressure was high at the same time. It always goes back to normal after 3 weeks even with the miscarriages but what is the long term damage pregnancy is doing to my heart?? Isn’t it prudent to not try to get pregnant again so I can be here for my husband and children?

I know many women here avoid pregnancy for health reasons but I’m having such a hard time not being angry with God for the rules around marital intimacy. I am at the point where I’m terrified to get pregnant again and it’s affecting me and my marriage. I feel terrible that I’m turning down my husband even though he’s completely understanding. When we had our first 2 kids I was not living the Catholic faith fully and became convicted before our 3rd. We avoided after our 3rd because I had these same feelings around pregnancy then too but that’s when I learned what a cross avoiding is to bear. Our marriage was SO much better when we didn’t know we weren’t supposed to use contraception. My husband works a very demanding job so I really only get to spend time with him on Sundays so not being able to be spontaneous with sex makes it almost impossible for it to happen now. And of course I keep seeing stupid Catholic social media posts about wives denying their husbands sex and how awful they are for it. What can I do to make this situation better for my marriage? How do I get past the anger? I won’t stray from the church or her teachings because I am fully convinced of the truth of it but I’m having such a hard time reconciling how good and happy my marriage was before avoiding with NFP and how much the lack of intimacy puts a strain on our marriage. Totally open to this being a me problem and people giving me the harsh truth. I just need to see that others need to indefinitely avoid and what they do about it to keep their marriage happy.

4th time formula feeding mom but first time using kendamil. My lo is 9 weeks old and we just weaned from bf and he’s doing well on kendamil so far. I’ve been mixing the formula in bottles cause I thought it was like all the other powder formula but the bubbles annoy me so I figured I’d do the pitcher method. *Now* I know it says to boil water to sterilize the formula for the pitcher method but I did the pitcher method with my other 3 (using similac and Enfamil) without boiling the water and I don’t remember the can saying you needed to so I just poured distilled water in the pitcher, mixed in the formula, and put it in the fridge for 24 hours. I thought no powder formula is sterile, so is kendamil at a more increased risk for bacteria over the US brands? Does anyone just use distilled water and no boiling for the pitcher method? I’m confused how you can heat up the formula with the boiled water for sterilizing and then refrigerate it for the day and then reheating that same formula in a warmer for bottles without it introducing more bacteria. 10 years ago when I had my first my pediatrician said I didn’t need to sterilize anything after the first 8 weeks. Someone please explain it to me 😫