u/kittyk1313

TLDR; in seek of tips for living in a small space with a new baby.

Hi all! FTM here.

My husband and I live in a 989sqf house…3 bedrooms, 1 tiny bathroom. It was never meant to be a long term home (I bought it myself before I met him) but life and finances had other plans! We like our house and our neighborhood, and have added on outdoor space, but the lack of inside space has me nervous for when baby comes.

My primary concerns:

\- our closets are TINY. One of our bedrooms serves as our closet/dressing room w/ a vanity table right now, and that’s the one that needs to be a nursery. We bought a bed frame for our bedroom that has drawers underneath, and I plan to purge a lot of my clothes, but still worried about fitting all of our things somewhere else. Our bathroom is not an option for makeup/hair tools/etc - the vanity is too small.
\- additional context: the third bedroom is my office (I WFH) and our bedroom does not have enough room to have a dresser in it + a bassinet.

\- our kitchen is a galley kitchen, and all our cabinets are in use. I’m worried about how much space we’ll need for baby accessories there as well.

I guess I’m looking for tips; what is needed for baby, what could be cut? Anyone living in a small space with tips on how to declutter/organize ahead of a new baby? Our basement is unfinished but we are currently working on cleaning it up for storage purposes. I know people say you don’t need a nursery right away since baby will be sleeping in our room, but I still want a dresser for him with a changing pad & rocker and stuff, if I can.

Thanks in advance!

TLDR; in seek of tips for living in a small space with a new baby.

Hi all! FTM here.

My husband and I live in a 989sqf house…3 bedrooms, 1 tiny bathroom. It was never meant to be a long term home (I bought it myself before I met him) but life and finances had other plans! We like our house and our neighborhood, and have added on outdoor space, but the lack of inside space has me nervous for when baby comes.

My primary concerns:

- our closets are TINY. One of our bedrooms serves as our closet/dressing room w/ a vanity table right now, and that’s the one that needs to be a nursery. We bought a bed frame for our bedroom that has drawers underneath, and I plan to purge a lot of my clothes, but still worried about fitting all of our things somewhere else. Our bathroom is not an option for makeup/hair tools/etc - the vanity is too small.
- additional context: the third bedroom is my office (I WFH) and our bedroom does not have enough room to have a dresser in it + a bassinet.

- our kitchen is a galley kitchen, and all our cabinets are in use. I’m worried about how much space we’ll need for baby accessories there as well.

I guess I’m looking for tips; what is needed for baby, what could be cut? Anyone living in a small space with tips on how to declutter/organize ahead of a new baby? Our basement is unfinished but we are currently working on cleaning it up for storage purposes. I know people say you don’t need a nursery right away since baby will be sleeping in our room, but I still want a dresser for him & changing table & rocker and stuff, if I can.

Thanks in advance!

I’m supposed to be able to do the NIPT draw at 11 weeks (I’m 9+6 today), but don’t have another OB appt until 12+2. My doctor doesn’t do the NT, so the only reassurance I’ll get at that appt is the doppler. I had a good scan at 7+5 and a quick check with a strong heartbeat on 8+4.

Is it bad that i almost want to wait until after that appt in case it’s bad news, then I don’t have to pay for a pointless NIPT? How do we know/trust that everything is okay? I’m so scared of a MMC…just struggling today.

Has anyone taken trazodone in prior pregnancies (or taking it now)? My doctor recommended that I stop, but I've taken it for years for insomnia and when I stopped, I didn't sleep more than a few hours a night, which obviously isn't ideal.

Unisom doesn't work for me because I have restless leg syndrome BEFORE pregnancy, and that class of meds seriously aggravates it. She said that she's had patients take trazodone before and I'd just have to weigh the cost/benefits and sent me some research - none of which seemed particularly concerning, just mostly that there's a lack of data but no data that points to harmful effects. Any thoughts or experiences with it?

Hi everyone. I feel like I say this anytime I comment here but I'm so grateful this sub exists, though I'm sorry we all need this type of community!

I have a long story and not sure that it serves anyone else a purpose, but I honestly just want to share because so few people in my life know that I'm pregnant!

I'm in my 2nd pregnancy (first was a MC in January at 7 weeks) technically 5W6D based on LMP, but I know I ovulated around April 21st, so closer to 5W2Dish. A few days ago I started to notice some burning when I urinated, and feeling like my bladder was never emptied fully. Called the OB office, they couldn't get me in and said to go to Urgent Care to get tested - I do, they note a UTI and prescribe cephalexin. Was having some left sided flank pain that banded across to the front - I've never had a UTI hurt like that before and was concerned, but the doc at Urgent Care said it was normal! My OB's office agreed and just said if it gets worse or changes to go to the ER to rule out a kidney infection or ectopic, since the pain was technically one-sided.

I take a couple doses of antibiotic and the left side pain goes away completely. I'm buoyant, happy as a clam. Later in the day, I start to get some right side flank pain that intensifies QUICK. Far worse than the left side hurt the day before, sharper, stabby pain....I panic. Does my shoulder hurt? Am I nauseous? Am I nauseous because I'm pregnant or because I'm bleeding internally?

I start googling (mistake). I become convinced it's either ectopic or the infection was resistant to the antibiotics and it's traveled to my kidneys and I'm going septic. I didn't have a fever, but I had taken some tylenol for the intense pain, so I didn't trust it. My OB says to go to the ER, so I reluctantly head that way at 7pm last night.

We went to a free-standing ER that's part of the hospital network in town because their wait times are usually shorter, and the last time we had to go to the ER we had a great experience there with an awesome doctor and short visit time. They're slammed. I get triaged and then it's 2.5 hours until we're seen. The PA says they'd want to rule out the two things I was most worried about, but that the ultrasound techs left at 4 so no one there can do an ultrasound, and they might want to send me to the main campus hospital to get one done quick. It takes them 1.5 additional hours to determine that yes, I should go there right away. They've called ahead and they will be waiting for us there. (Spoiler alert: they were not).

It's now 11pm and I've had no tests or anything done and the pain is getting worse. I described it like someone inserted a taser wrapped in cactus leaves into my lower back, and then lasso'd me with electrified barbed wire all over my pelvis and vaginal area. Not pleasant.

We go to the main hospital and wait another 2 hours to get to a bed. Another hour for the doctor (who the PA allegedly called to discuss the plan) to come in, and had no knowledge of who I was or why I was there. Did not want to do any sort of kidney ultrasound until I begged. Orders a renal ultrasound as well as a TV one to rule out an ectopic pregnancy, and blood work. Blood is drawn, 1.5 hours goes by, New nurse comes in at 3:15, says she has to re-draw my blood because something happened to the first sample and they can't run it. The ultrasound ETA is 4:15 because they have to call techs in at that time of night and there was only one available.

They come in and do both ultrasounds. She says it'll be about an hour before they're read. It was 6:15, have heard nothing from anyone, and a nurse walks in and says "okay, I'm here to get you out of here!"

I said.....could I have some results, please? What's going on? Is there an infection?

She gets sassy and says "look, I don't know you, I just got a notification to discharge so here I am. I'm not sending you to surgery or with different antibiotics, so *shrug*."

I am tired and crying and frustrated. I ask to speak to a doctor, she storms out, comes back in 10 min later and says "she can see you, but it'll be awhile." I choose not to wait and get dressed. The doctor comes in 10 minutes later and apologizes, she thought the first doctor I spoke with had come back in to give me my results.

Pregnancy is in the uterus, gestational sac and yolk sac seen, but no fetal pole (which I expected given I'm an early 5 weeks). Renal ultrasound looked good too...so essentially they attributed ALL that pain to just the UTI and said to finish the original course of antibiotics and follow up with my OB, and PCP if symptoms of the UTI don't go away. They also did an HCG draw and said it was a little low, but I disagree based on the others I had drawn with my OB's office last week/Monday.

5/5/26 - 495 14DPO

5/7/26 - 1,246 16 DPO

5/11/26 - 5,295 20 DPO

5/14/25 - 9,473 23 DPO (hospital)

TL:DR, UTI's are evidently a b*t*h, some doctors/nurses really stink, and I'm trying to remain positive after a loss and intense anxiety.

Thanks for reading, if you did - just felt like I needed to get it off my chest. Would love to hear anyone else's success stories with kicking a horrible UTI, because the evil electrified-barbed-wire feeling is still going strong and I'm not hopeful this antibiotic will be enough!

Hi all! This sub has been so helpful; thank you all for existing! I had a miscarriage at 7W in January, so this pregnancy is filled with a lot of uncertainty and I'm hoping for some advice.

I am currently 4W6D based on LMP (April 4th), but probably closer to 4W2D based on ovulation (tracked with LH strips and BBT).

I had HCG measured on 5/5 at 495, and 5/7 at 1,237. I know those are reassuring signs - my doctor has put in an order for me to test again next week; she said I didn't have to go, but wanted to give me the opportunity to continue to monitor for peace of mind.

I asked about progesterone testing, and she said that she doesn't typically test; if I start to spot, then she'd prescribe it. My doctor's office does testing through Quest Diagnostics (in the US) so I could purchase my own test for around $80. Given my HCG levels, do you think that's necessary or recommended? Just looking for advice or recommendations, if anyone has had low progesterone and average/high HCG.

Thanks in advance <3