u/Kind_Avocado_7219

My husband took our 5-day old to his first pediatrician visit today and they said a dimple with hair were two markers for concern. He has an ultrasound scheduled for next week. I’ve of course spent the day googling and crying because I wasn’t diligent with my pre-Natals nor folic acid this pregnancy and feel like this could have been avoided.

My question is, is it almost always a sign of spina bifida occulta or a tethered cord? Are there times where it’s actually truly nothing or is having both markers pretty much a done deal? Nothing was caught in pregnancy sonograms so I’m extra caught off guard but yeah, sorry, just rambling now.

My husband took our 5-day old to his first pediatrician visit today and they said a dimple with hair were two markers for concern. He has an ultrasound scheduled for next week. I’ve of course spent the day googling and crying because I wasn’t diligent with my pre-Natals nor folic acid this pregnancy and feel like this could have been avoided.

My question is, is it almost always a sign of spina bifida occulta or a tethered cord? Are there times where it’s actually truly nothing or is having both markers pretty much a done deal? Nothing was caught in pregnancy sonograms so I’m extra caught off guard but yeah, sorry, just rambling now.

Just put our 3 year old to bed and the water works began. The “I’m gonna die and leave my baby without a mom” intrusive thoughts began and ugh, I hate how ridiculous I’m being. I want to be excited instead of scared. We’re finally completing our little family and we finally get to meet our second baby boy, but it’s like I only have this on my mind and idk how to stop.

I found a lovely Montessori micro-school for my 3 year old. At first, the fact that it was a small class (10 kids I believe) was part of the appeal but while doing some research I’ve seen Montessori parents and teachers say bigger classes are better for this particular type of schooling. We do have another school nearby that has about 20-25 kids per class (it’s a small town, we don’t have many options for schools).

I guess my question is, does the general consensus for Montessori education agree with the more classmates the better?

My parents don’t either. Is it just older generation parenting amnesia like with so many other things? I’m having a newborn in August and also thinking of starting my 3 year old in a part-time micro school. We’ve decided to pay for his spot but we’re waiting on him actually starting until our newborn is out of the “if he catches a fever he needs a lumbar puncture” phase.

But while doing my so-called research on Reddit lol (of other mommies debating pre-school with a newborn), I saw so many HFM posts and how inevitable it is to catch that. Probably several times a year. And I’m just like, I obviously don’t remember my childhood well but I don’t recall ever hearing about me or my siblings catching something similar and my parents swear we never did. It absolutely was a thing though, right? It’s just one of those things people don’t hear about much until they have their own kids?

I have a cousin who is a housewife and thinking of trying for a baby soon. We’ve talked about how hard the first few months transitioning to being a SAHM were for me. In theory I was really excited about quitting my job when our first was born, but the reality was tougher than I had imagined. Took me a while to find my groove.

I feel like I might have scared her though? And I’m wondering if it was a harder transition for me since I wasn’t used to being home so much. Now I’m like, maybe for her it’ll be easier because she really enjoys being a housewife. I guess I’m just wondering (and hoping so that she doesn’t struggle as much as I did) if it is a bit less of a whiplash to add a baby to the equation when you’re a housewife already vs adding a baby to another pretty big life change like quitting a job recently and having less adults to socialize with from one day to the next.

I have a cousin who is a housewife and thinking of trying for a baby soon. We’ve talked about how hard the first few months transitioning to being a SAHM were for me. In theory I was really excited about quitting my job when our first was born, but the reality was tougher than I had imagined. Took me a while to find my groove.

I feel like I might have scared her though? And I’m wondering if it was a harder transition for me since I wasn’t used to being home so much. Now I’m like, maybe for her it’ll be easier because she really enjoys being a housewife. I guess I’m just wondering (and hoping so that she doesn’t struggle as much as I did) if it is a bit less of a whiplash to add a baby to the equation when you’re a housewife already vs adding a baby to another pretty big life change like quitting a job recently and having less adults to socialize with from one day to the next.

Little background: I’m a SAHM to a toddler who just turned 3 and our second is due in August. Recently our toddler has shown a lot more interest in socializing. I do have play dates 2-3 times a week for him, visit libraries, and try to do other events or parks when the sun goes down (we live in daily 90 degree weather) when I can. He also does gymnastics once a week but those classes are less than an hour.

We don’t plan on doing “proper” pre-k because I’m not fond of the idea of my city not having half-day options, but I just found the loveliest Montessori/nature school that offers a 4 hours a day 3x’s a week option. Thing is, school year for it begins the day of my scheduled c-section and I really would love to be there for his first day. So question number one is, would you reschedule your c-section date to be able to be there for this? I was thinking maybe I’d push it back one day?

Second question is, how is the pre-k/daycare/socializing aspect when it comes to possibly bringing home illnesses to a newborn? Is it something that is better to wait on until baby’s first vaccines? I have a call with the school on Thursday so I’m debating asking if he can start mid-year, but I’ve also heard something like this is a good break for moms in the thick of the newborn phase.

TLDR: Mainly 2 questions..

Would you push back a scheduled c-section date to be there for your toddler’s first school day?

&

How much weight do you put on potential school/daycare illnesses when you have a newborn at home?

Sorry if there’s any typos.

I wasn’t able to breastfeed our first. He’s doing great. He’s strong, smart, seems like he has a good immune system. I’m considering not even trying to breastfeed our second since I’m prioritizing sleep so I can be a better mom for both our toddler and our newborn. I just know myself and know I won’t be able to function otherwise. I also see no negative side effects to having strictly formula fed our first so I think that’s giving me extra reassurance.

Here’s the thing. I haven’t necessarily gotten pushback over it. Everyone is really supportive of my choice both in real life and over the choice in general from what I see online. However, most people I know who didn’t breastfeed it wasn’t a choice per-se or they at least pump/ed. Even online, as supportive as it is, I see comments being like “fed is best momma, you do you” but they’re usually from really well-meaning and lovely breastfeeding mommies. I’m just wondering if it’s the overwhelming norm. To breastfeed or pump or both and going straight to formula is not what most moms resort to. And if that’s the case, am I just giving up too easily? Should I at least give it a go since so many moms can more than handle it and actively choose to?

I just made a similar comment on another post but felt like I was hijacking OP’s post so..

Last week I took my toddler to a speech eval. He turns 3 in July. I was (am?) pretty sure he’s behind on speech, but they told us he didn’t qualify and that he was actually ahead and at a 3.5 year old language level. I’m at a loss as to how. He has a lot of words, sure, but he doesn’t speak even short sentences nor carry basic convos. I guess I’m wondering if I should seek another evaluation or if they’re expecting him to have almost no words or something similar for him to qualify for services.

I will of course be calling my gyno’s office tomorrow but he wasn’t available today and the nurses kept saying it was fine today, so I’ll have to try tomorrow. Just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience.

Here they draw blood twice for the 1-hour test. They took my first draw, I chugged my juice, headed to the waiting room, and felt great for like the first half hour. I was so excited to get this test over with. Then all of a sudden around the 40 minute mark, everything hit me like a brick. Started getting hot flashes, really needed water, felt like I was going to faint, and as soon as I opened the door to call a nurse, I threw up all over the waiting room floor. The nurses came over to give me water and sent me to the main waiting area. Then they just told me they would use my first blood draw to check my levels and when I asked (a few times) if my test would be rescheduled they kept saying not to worry about it, the original blood draw would do. That just doesn’t sound right to me though.

So I received all 3 books last week. Read book 1. Solid. Then I started book 2 and was a bit confused, but figured since Evangeline had no memories, I was being thrown into her confusion right along with her and that I’d slowly start understanding/filling in the gaps just as she would. Turns out.. I read book 3, not 2 🥹 I legitimately skipped an entire book in the series and I don’t know if I should laugh or cry because wtf @ me!!