u/OrdinarySecretary673

I guess I just need to rant and also am looking for some advice. I gave birth almost a year ago and am currently pregnant again. We made the mistake of getting a dog while I was unknowingly pregnant, thinking we were waiting another year to have kids. The same week we got her, I found out I was pregnant just a few days after we brought her home.

The shelter told us she was “mostly potty trained”. Turns out that meant not potty trained at all! I spent the majority of my first trimester picking up shit and piss while dealing with morning sickness, and oh my God the smell. I immediately began to feel resentment for this dog but assumed it would go away after pregnancy.

I developed severe postpartum pet aversion. Everything this damn dog does annoys me. She has reoccurring hemorrhoids so what used to be an enjoyable walk around the block everyday now turns into my dog abruptly stopping 100 times before she actually takes a dump. I don’t even want to take her on walks anymore. I find myself slowly giving her more and more of the bare minimum. She’s overall a well mannered dog but when she growled and bared her teeth at my baby for standing near her bed it invoked a hatred in me that I didn’t know I had! The smell sensitivity also never went away. I feel like giving birth made me a clean freak and now I’m constantly scrubbing and washing everything because I am afraid it all smells like dog! I don’t even pet her because the dog smell gets on my hands and makes me nauseous.

It also adds another layer of difficulty to parenting because I never want to leave my son alone with her for even a split second. So my pregnant ass is carting my 25 pound toddler up and down our 4 level split all day.

I am so grateful we got her as an 8 year old rescue. I am secretly longing for the day she crosses the rainbow bridge. My husband and son love her along with the nieces and nephews so I am glad she gets some attention from them. I feel horrible that I do feel this way. I wish it wasn’t happening. I miss being a dog lover but I simply never really want another dog again. I am also soo relieved that she doesn’t bark. If she did, I think I’d have gotten rid of her months ago because that would have been too much for me. Before having kids, I loved dogs and could tolerate everything they did. Now the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze if it makes sense.

I feel hesitant to rehome because she’s a 10 year old rescue with health issues. I don’t think she’ll get adopted by anyone else and I don’t think she will live more than another few years. A part of me respects her enough as an animal and a life to keep her here even though I don’t enjoy her presence much.

Every lactation consultant that I have ever met with has told me pumps aren’t an accurate way of gauging how much milk baby is getting because the baby pulls more milk than a pump…however with all sincerity what baby is pulling 12 ounces within the span of 20 minutes? I have always been confused on this statement and would like some clarification. If anything, my pump pulls MORE milk. I always have to pump after my morning feed because my breasts are still so full. I’ll get an additional 10 ounces after nursing. My baby can drink at most, 4 ounces a feed.

Before my first pregnancy I ate a lot of fish. I come from a Greek family and it was a staple in my diet. Around the mid point of pregnancy, I started developing tingly mosquito bite like marks on my lips every-time I ate salmon or cod.

I’m now a year postpartum and the fish allergy is so severe that just a little bit of salmon or cod will cause my throat to swell up and be tingly for hours. It’s not worth the risk of eating anymore because the reactions are getting closer and closer to an anaphylactic one. It’s been an emotionally hard allergy for me to deal with. I have had to give up so many of my favorite options. I am not a big fan of red meat so this allergy makes getting protein harder. Thank goodness for vegan fish fillets and the fact I can still tolerate most tuna. Not sure if this has happened to anyone else but it’s been the most interesting and one of the most frustrating pregnancy symptoms for me. I plan to get an allergy test at the doctor to see if there’s any other types of fish with a similar texture that I can still tolerate to get back some of what I miss.

We have a 4 level split home built in 1967 and it’s tough! I feel like it’s the worst house layout ever! Our kitchen and living room are on the top level, bathroom and our bedrooms on the middle level, hubby’s office/movie room and laundry on the 3rd level, then my office and utility room in the “very basement”.

My 14 month old is doing potty training and we cloth diaper. Mind you, I’m 6 months pregnant. I feel like the whole day I’m hauling my 30 pound toddler and pregnant ass up the stairs 70 times a day because I’m either washing a poopy diaper on the lower level, taking him to the toilet on the main floor, or doing our laundry. My office is on the very bottom level (I run an online business with part time hours) so I’m ALWAYS hauling my waddling self up the stairs because I forgot something in the basement or my arms can’t hold enough to bring my son down there and get all my supplies set up, or I’m going to the bathroom for the 15th time today. Every trip to the other room requires 2-3 trips up the stairs!

I realized the other day that I had DOMS just from doing a big laundry day. My butt has hurt the past 2 days! On the bright side, I almost always get my steps in without trying. How do you make it work? I’m worried when the baby gets here cause I’ll be going back and forth even more! Just existing in our home is work lol. However, we got a great deal on it for the area (bought right before the pandemic) and we probably won’t be able to move for the next several years so trying to make it worst the best we can. I YEARN for a villa style with only one level, lol!