Hello! I’m 9.5 months postpartum and usually only pump a few times a week at work if I’m not at home to directly nurse my baby.

Today if had to pump 3 times at work since I would be gone for a full 8 hour day.

I was really looking forward to pumping actually Because I had just replaced the parts on my Rudy wearables, so new duckbills and new diaphragms.

First pump I did with the spectra and it was lower than I thought, but no big deal, I usually get better output on the eufys.

Threw them on for my next two pumps and I’m so pissed. I think I got a total of 2 ounces from both breasts and both pumps. TOTAL.

I got these parts directly from Eufy so I don’t know what’s going on. I noticed the duckbills were different than the last time I ordered them. (My original and first box of replacements were all clear, and this set of replacements was like an opaque pink color) I’ll need to go home and see the diaphragms too, because these new ones don’t look like they properly fill out the space they are supposed to.

Has this happened to anyone else? I already get a pretty bad supply dip on my period but this is something else? Any parts that actually work?

(The spectra having a lower output than expected makes sense. I switched from legendairy to maymoms duckbills to save a few bucks and I will no longer be using these. They do not work for me at all)

I think the dynamic of their female friends was such a good change in the show, however, I would love to see some more fics that explore the potential of how negative those relationships could become. There are soo many fics exploring the jealousy of Rose by Ilya but not so much with Shane and Svetlana.

I would love to see some more animosity, ultimatums, and hardship around keeping or having a relationship with Svetlana. Maybe even Ilya needed to choose Shane over her.

Also interested in the opposite for Rose.

I would like to avoid fics where the resolution has everyone being fine and dandy and friends and just kind of glosses over everything.

*disclaimer: I know men and women can be friends, sleep together, be attracted to eachother, and it all be platonic and play nice with future partners. I just don’t want that in a fic at this moment. I want messy

Here are some I’ve read before:

What Remains Chosen by wolfsbanex

Ballad of the bisexual terminator by pressuretoparty

Girl best friend by snuckinthroughthegardengate

We are a two working parent household, one baby (breastfed, so no increase cost for formula or anything there). Our net income already has health insurance, retirement, and funding for HSA accounts for both parents and child.

We used to consistently be putting away $1500 a month before having a baby, and now we are pulling from savings and quick depleting it. I realized our budget was so out of date and we have written what we have below. I am sure there are ways we can save more.

For context, we were not planning on using daycare, so that expense is new. We were also playing on keeping both our paid off cars well into our thirties but....well mine decided it wanted a brand new engine and it was cheaper to buy a new car.

Our current savings account now has about $18,000. However, it seems so low because in the middle to end 2024 we used a significant portion on our saving for the downpayment of our house, put a large downpayment for our car earlier this year, and have had a few needed home improvement things (asbestos removal, renovating a room for a nursery, frozen pipe bursting and flooding the mud room, etc, etc).

Line by line going through our credit card statement, where we can identify is that we are 100% going way over our food budget. It is very easy to eat out with a young baby, and I didn't realize how often we were doing it. We also had 3 very large expenses between mothers day, fathers day, and anniversary and realizing we overspent on gifts and food for those, and its caused two months of having to pull money from savings to cover those expenses.

Below is what I have written up for our current budget with up to date amounts and hopeful spending. A few things that were taken out from previous budget is I cancelled all our subscription services (Hulu, Netflix, kindle unlimited, totaling $52 a month) because we rarely have time to use them with a baby.

Once a year, my husband also has a yearly playstation subscription (160$, but I wasn't sure how to add that because its billed yearly)

My Budget

💰 Income

Income 1 (net, 24 yearly payments): $3361

Income 2 (net, 26 yearly payments): $4401.04

Total Income: $7762.04

💸 Expenses

Google phone storage : $2

Phone: $150

car insurance: $267

Amazon Prime: $15

Spotify: $19

Acorns: $3

Daycare: $625

Nonvariable Utilities: $45

Gas (variable): $35

Electric (variable): $275

Food: $600

Household Expenses (meat/costco/household items): $900

Gas: $150

Mortgage: $2226.73

Personal Loan- No interest: $230

Student Loans-Private: $225

Student Loans-Federal : $343

Car payment : $358

Total Expenses: $6468.73

💳 Debt Information (Informational)

Personal loan- no interest : $230/month (Balance: $8280)

Student loans-Private: $225/month (Balance: $2300, 9% APR)

Student Loans-Federal : $343/month (Balance: $23000, 3% APR)

Car payment : $358/month (Balance: $18300, 3.3% APR)

Mortgage: $2226.73/month (Balance: $239000, 6.5% APR)

Total Monthly Debt Payments: $3382.73

📊 Summary

Total Income: $7762.04

Total Expenses: $6468.73

Net Savings: $1293.31

Created with sharemybudget.com

Edit to add: we also have a weekly recurring savings transfer of 350$. I didn’t realize I forgot that

Editing a second time: thank you to the commenter that included the thing about baby related items. I pulled out our shopping accounts and realize we are spending about 3-500$ a month on baby related items.

So between the savings account and the extra amounts I forgot to add in 500 in monthly expenses, and 350 debited to our saving account every week, that I feel like we regularly flip a few hundred over. Hope that makes sense!

Or something like that. I didn’t actually read it yet and AO3 doesn’t accurately record my history.

But in the description, there was something about Ilya getting a concussion and marlow texting Jane and ruined Shane’s life in one text. Sound familiar??

I hate it here. I had such a good solid supply, even managed through dips during my period since I got it back at 8 weeks pp. I’m 7 months post partum so it should be well established

Husband asked me to get rid of a ton of milk because “you just keep pumping and we’re not going through it”. Welllp not even a month later and I had the most severe supply dip in my period ever, and then my supply went back to normal for maybe 2 days and it’s crashed again.

I *think* my baby is getting enough, but we used to feed one boob per feed and now we’re doing both. I used to be able to pump once after he goes to bed and a 30 minute pump session yields less than an ounce. I’m worried it’s just going to keep decreasing even farther and nothing will work. I’m terrified for my next period.

A morning pump after a feed I can get maaaybe 4 ounces if I power pump.

New parts, correct flanges, calcium and magnesium, oats, Oreos, power pumping, latching more, etc. nothing is working. And I do occasionally have to go into the office for work so I NEED a pump to work for me so I can supply his milk. He’s a preemie and I have such bad ppa around giving him formula 😭

I just want to bawl.

Hi!

My baby was premature and just hit 7 months actual age and almost 6 months adjusted. Previously our weight gain was sooo good. Early on, he was gaining about a pound a week, so it’s not a transfer issue, and I am pumping plenty when I’m away from him.

Born at just over 6 pounds, 13 pounds at 2 month apt, 16 lb 8 oz at 4 month apt, and 19 pounds at 6 month appointment.

4 weeks have went by, and our baby still only weight 19 pounds 3.8 oz. So basically from 6 months to 7 months actual age, he’s only gained 3.8 oz.

At that 6 month appointment, he pediatrician did mention he “fell alittle off his growth curve” so went from staying around 96-99 percentile to the 91st percentile. When I mentioned that to other people on his medical care team (PT, OT, lactation, etc) they just laugh and said they were surprised at the concern?

He doesn’t take a bottle very well at all while I’m at work, but will take some, so I try to just stay at home and nurse him every 2-3 hours (never longer than that unless he’s asleep) and he still wakes up multiple times overnight, I couldn’t tell you if he’s eating or just comfort nursing, but I nurse him every time anyway

He’s not crawling yet, but he’s constantly moving around, wiggling, jumping on our laps and trying to be placed upright to stand etc etc

I guess I’m asking if this is normal? Anyone went through this? We’ve contacted his pediatrician just in case, but we understand that we obviously have difference scales and stuff so maybe that’s it?

I always have a bit of a dip the week before my period but NOTHING like this.

I can barely pump 2 ounces in 30 minutes now. My boobs feel deflated, I can’t hear LO swallowing for very long and he’s getting fussy.

It’s also started so early this time. It started yesterday and my period isn’t supposed to start until Saturday.

I usually directly nurse but I still have to go to work sometimes. I feel like a failure and I don’t know what to do.

I have all brand new pump parts, I’ve tried hand expressing, increasing water, I just took calcium and magnesium supplements last night, I am currently eating oats and coconut water.