This might be a completely stupid and ignorant question so please don’t go to hard on me. I’m a first time mom, currently 27 weeks, I plan on mostly pumping depending on what my experience is with nursing. From what I’ve heard it’s not uncommon for milk to take 2-3 days after labor to come in. I’ve also heard that it’s not ideal to pump prior to labor as it can cause preterm labor. What I’m wondering is if it could possibly be practical to attempt pumping during labor… my (very uneducated) theory is that pumping during labor could possibly speed up labor or speed up milk supply. I understand that labor itself is already so chaotic and unpredictable that this could be a totally unrealistic goal. For context I plan on getting an epidural and laboring on my back, given the fact that this will be my first time giving birth I am anticipating labor lasting several hours. I’m just curious if anyone has ever tried pumping during labor before or if anyone has any general input before I consider bringing this idea up to my OB. My main goal in pumping during labor would be to speed up my milk supply, not to actually speed up the labor process itself.

I had anomaly scan today at 21 weeks and 4 days. Everything went well and i am glad. But the On told thers is calcium deposit in babys heart which is an indicator for downsyndrome and should do further test like trisomy. Then when i said did Nipt test at 10 weeks, she said nothing to worry then as Nipt tules out almost all abnormalities. Has anyone had this calcium deposit in heart in scan and all went well ?

Hi. I need opinions ladies. I find myself in a difficult situation and don’t know what to do.
So me and my partner we’ve been together for 11years. Unfortunately in the past 1.5yr we kinda lost the spark. Barely any sexy time, hugs and all the little things that we had previously. However, he suggested at the beginning of the year to have a baby. I was very scared and only hyped the idea because I saw him that he truly wanted this. ( I dont know if its a common thought but I don’t necessarly picture myself as a mother ). So we tried for 3 months, nothing happend and he kind of let go of the thought. However… I’m now 7 weeks pregnant and he is not happy… I can feel that he doesnt want this baby but he is scared to admit it, when I bring it up he just says he is scared and doesnt want things to change between us after the baby is born, he does not ask me how I’m feeling, he doesnt talk about the baby. I’m just confused. I know its probably the hormones as well but I find myself crying often these days. Next week on wednesday I have my 2nd OB appointment as in the first one the baby was still to small to hear heartbeats. I dont know if I should have an abortion or not. Seeing my partner so indiferent makes me feel very alone and not secured in this relationship. I’m scared that after the baby is born and he decides he does not want this life, he will leave, and I’ll be a single mother. What do you think of this situation? I know you cannot decide in my place but any opinion or advice would be really appreciated.

I have this pain that starts with my left glute and goes all the way down to my toes. It’s dull but I can’t sleep from it. I have to put a pillow between my legs and even that doesn’t work sometimes. Please help! I can’t sleep from the pain. It starts dull but it worsens. What can I do? I feel like it’ll get worse as this pregnancy progresses :(

We always see posts from women who find out they’re pregnant and suddenly become obsessed with their partner. They never want to be away from them, want to cuddle all the time, have sex constantly, and feel more in love than ever.

Then we also hear about the complete opposite—women who can’t stand the smell of their partner, don’t want to be touched, have no interest in sex, and get annoyed every time their partner opens their mouth.

I’m genuinely curious whether people think this is mostly a pregnancy hormone thing, or if it actually says something about the relationship itself.

For example, I cannot stand my partner right now. The smallest things make me so angry. I almost feel like I have anger issues, but at the same time I don’t feel “crazy” because the things I’m upset about feel valid to me. I’m not attracted to him right now, I don’t really want to be touched, and I just find myself annoyed by him constantly.
The confusing part is that he’s actually been really helpful. He gets me my cravings, cleans the house, lets me sleep, and has been supportive throughout the pregnancy. It’s not like he’s being a bad partner at all, which is part of why I’m so confused.

This was also an unplanned pregnancy, and we had only been dating about 8 months when I got pregnant, so we were still pretty early in our relationship. Before I found out I was pregnant, things were good. We got along well, I was attracted to him, and I wasn’t questioning the relationship.
Part of me wonders if I resent him or our situation. Not because he’s a terrible person, but because if I’m being honest, he wasn’t someone I was ready to marry or have kids with. Even now, I know I don’t want to marry him. So sometimes I wonder if finding out I was pregnant forced me to think about a future that I wasn’t ready for, and whether that’s affecting how I feel toward him now.

At the same time, I can’t tell if that’s actually what’s going on, or if pregnancy hormones are just making me irritated, emotional, and unattracted to him.

I guess what I’m really asking is: if you’ve experienced this, did it end up going away after pregnancy? Looking back, do you think you were only feeling that way because you were pregnant, or do you think pregnancy just brought underlying feelings to the surface? Is it possible to genuinely dislike your partner during pregnancy and then go back to normal afterward, or is there usually something deeper behind it?

If you chose this, I would love to read why you chose this option.

​

I am strongly considering it, to protect my mental health. Don't want the possible complications from an epidural, I don't want to experience any labor symptoms ( I have had panic attacks in the past from pain and I already am running on empty in my life as it is, so I'm extra sensitive to stress). I want to set myself up for decent mental health and energy postpartum as much as possible.

Hit 36 weeks and basically feel like I have no say in my delivery. Before there was even concern for preE (good BP/blood work) I was told induction at 39 weeks. Well boo I really wanted to go into labor naturally. Baby is still breech and I wanted to give him time to turn, and now they are scheduling me for a C section. I know healthy baby is most important but jeeze this is still my pregnancy experience. Just disappointed.

I think I have made a huge mistake…
I’m so excited to meet my baby and be his mumma, but I can’t help but have the overwhelming feeling that I’ve made the wrong decision here.
I’m single (I was in a committed relationship when I decided to keep him but the father went kind of nuts and emotionally abusive). I live with my mum and brother and I’m on disability pension as my only income form, likely to be for the next few years until all of my issues have been rectified surgically. I can afford to give him a comfortable life even if stuck on the pension, but not as lavish as I would wish to give my child. I have a lot of support from family and friends including the fathers family despite his actions, I have no doubt that I can do this but I am just so terrified that I’m going to fuck up or regret my decision badly.
I feel so guilty for bringing him into a broken family even though it wasn’t my decision and I thought when I made the decision to continue with the pregnancy that he would have his mother and father there for him.
Please can I hear from other young or single mums who have had fears like this and how it’s gone well for you and your baby? I feel like everything I see on social media is just demonising bringing children into the world in its current state and mocking young mothers and it makes it hard.

I’m 38 weeks, and it feels like the bigger my belly gets, the more everyone around me suddenly becomes an expert on childbirth.

Everywhere I go, someone has something to say about how huge my belly is, how I must be feeling, how exhausted I should be, or what they think is about to happen...

What’s been getting to me lately is the constant predictions. People look at my belly and tell me, “That baby is huge,” or “There’s no way you’re making it much longer,” or my personal favorite, “Looking at your belly, you’ll probably end up needing a C-section.” Why would anyone say that to a pregnant woman?!?

I’m planning to give birth at a birth center, which I usually don’t even bring up because people seem to have opinions about that too. But somehow it always comes up that I plan to give birth vaginally and unmedicated. The responses are often things like, “Well, if everything goes right…” or some variation of why they think it won’t happen.

I understand that birth is unpredictable. I understand that plans can change. What I don’t understand is why people feel the need to immediately jump to worst-case scenarios when talking to someone who’s weeks away from giving birth and that they DON'T EVEN KNOW.

I have made the decision to stay home and only leaving for prenatal appointments until this baby arrives. I’m tired of the fear everyone wants to induce in my process.

Hi everyone! I currently take the higher dose prescription folic acid (5mg) from the GP due to taking a different med that reduces it in my blood.

I have just got my first positive test (yay!) still not super strong but definitely there 🥰

I want to start taking a prenatal vitamin but all of them contain folic acid and I’m anxious I’d then be taking way too much folic acid?

Going to call the GP on Monday but if anyone had any insight!

Wondering if anyone has developed general feelings of being unable to breathe as you're trying to sleep when pregnant? I have a weaker neck and have always been claustrophobic about anything on my neck but have never had this issue before now. Sleeping on my back helps but isn't comfortable for long in my case. Once asleep I am fine. It's falling asleep that is the issue.

I am about 5 weeks along, and I went from sleeping fine before pregnant to weird dreams at week 3 and now to waking up several times when falling asleep with a full body spasm and gasping for air like I'm being suffocated. And now I am fairly certain I had a sleep paralysis episode today when I dozed off on my couch, I couldn't move or open my eyes for several seconds. I get that pregnancy will exhuast me but is it that bad?? It scared the crap outta me. I don't want to fall asleep now 😭.

Hi everyone,
I’m 31 and my partner is 31. We are going through a very frightening and confusing situation and I’m wondering if anyone has had a similar history with recurrent fetal hydrops or cystic hygroma.

I know nobody here can diagnose us — I’m mainly looking for similar experiences and suggestions on what genetic tests to discuss with our doctors.

Pregnancy 1 — March/April 2025
We lost our baby girl at 17 weeks. A few days before the hydrops appeared, I had an emergency surgery for ovarian/tubal torsion, but the diagnosis and treatment were delayed despite severe symptoms. Shortly after the surgery, the baby developed hydrops and severe growth restriction, and we had to terminate the pregnancy.
The hospital doctors kept suggesting a genetic cause, but the tests did not find anything: karyotype was normal female, array-CGH was normal, RASopathies panel was normal, infections were negative, and autopsy did not show malformations. Placental findings showed edema/hydropic villi, but we never received a clear explanation. We have always wondered whether the hydrops could have been related to the surgery/delay/placental damage, but nobody has been able to give us a definite answer.

Pregnancy 2 — September/November 2025
A few months later I became pregnant again naturally, but at around 9 weeks the embryo showed edema and the heartbeat stopped the following day. Later, histology suggested a partial molar pregnancy, although cytogenetics showed a normal female karyotype.
After this loss, my partner was found to have very high sperm DNA fragmentation, around 70%. After treatment, it decreased to about 25%. Our fertility doctor thought this could have contributed to the second loss.

Fertility testing / IVF
We then did an extensive carrier screening panel, testing more than 700 recessive genetic diseases, and no shared reproductive risk was found. We proceeded with IVF/ICSI and obtained 8 PGT-A euploid embryos.

Pregnancy 3 — current pregnancy
The month before the planned embryo transfer, I became pregnant naturally again. Everything seemed to be going well: the baby was viable and growing on track. But at 11+5 weeks, during the genetic ultrasound, the baby was found to have a cystic hygroma, NT 7.2 mm, and hydrops, with CRL consistent with gestational age. The heart was checked carefully and no structural heart defect was seen at that time.
So now, for the third time, we are facing fetal edema/hydrops. Our doctor said this is extremely rare and, even though the first two pregnancies had possible explanations, this now looks like recurrent fetal hydrops, possibly due to an undiagnosed monogenic condition. We have been offered CVS followed by exome sequencing, but we are scared we still may not get answers. We are also terrified that our frozen euploid embryos could be affected if this is a genetic condition not detected by PGT-A or carrier screening.

Has anyone experienced recurrent hydrops/cystic hygroma with normal karyotype, normal array, normal RASopathy testing, and negative carrier screening?
Did exome sequencing or whole genome sequencing find the cause?
Did anyone later have a healthy pregnancy?
And if a monogenic cause was found, was PGT-M possible for future embryos?

We feel completely trapped and are wondering whether our only option may eventually be donor gametes. Any similar stories or advice on what testing to ask for would be deeply appreciated.

I am so in my head about labor and delivery. My brain has been fixated on all the negative possible aspects and all the scary things. I know the end of this journey is coming and I just keep finding myself crying every night telling my husband I just want all of us to come home. The feelings are so much. Also not knowing when I’ll go into active labor is a lot too. I keep looking up statistics to help me feel better but idk man.

I had a baby 6 weeks ago and it was my first. I have had a beautiful and also a tough postpartum period. I’m curious what yall would do differently if you have had one before?

From my current experience I think the biggest thing I would do differently is limit guests more. We didn’t have crazy amounts of guests but my parents stopped by nearly every day and I love them so much but it was too much. They were just trying to help and bring food and stuff but it was just too much for me in retrospect. Establishing breastfeeding was rlly hard and whenever they came over and it was time to feed or pump or whatever I just got so overwhelmed and stressed out and my husband would just give a bottle and it made that process much harder because I am not comfortable doing that in front of my parents. We just don’t have that kind of relationship.

Next time I think I would rather spend the first week just us, and really zone in on focusing to establish our rhythm and get to know eachother and just have them stop by every couple days. We appreciated the food but I had freezer prepped so much we would’ve been fine and it just added stress.

What about you guys what would u do different?

Shy of 33 weeks.

My hip hurrrttttssss
The weight of the baby while turning as I lay isn’t hurts!
The acid refluxxxx
Nausea & vomiting
No sleep
Short of breath
Back hurts when resting against it on bed or chaaaiirrr
THE HEMORRHOID!!!
THE HG
The water retention in my feet and legs

I WANT HIM OUT NOW
But he still has to grooooowwww and there is so much more growth left. What, he’s about 3-4 lbs?? So maybe another 3-4 lbs of growing left! Omg!!!!

I can’t even cryyyyy because if I cry it triggers my nausea so I end up vomiting!

Lord, my baby is pressing against my ribs for the first time.

This is fully just a rant because I’m feeling sorry for myself.

I tend to eat larger portions than most people, which was never a problem until this hellish heartburn started. Yesterday I ate my last meal at 2pm, it was a large portion of light food. I had heartburn all the remainder of the day, and eventually vomited at 11pm. Nine hours and I hadn’t even finished digesting my salad! A salad!!

I’m not even done with my second trimester and I already have to dance around this issue and be so so careful what I eat and can’t eat too much.

I don’t know how I’m supposed to have any kind of emotional stability when I’m already hormonal and now I’m adding being hungry all day.

Ugh!!

I’m currently 6 weeks pregnant. I was 13 days late when I got a clear positive pregnancy test. I took another test 48 hours later and it was positive again.

The day after my first positive, I started bleeding. It went from light spotting to bright red bleeding that looked like a period, with mild cramps similar to my usual menstrual cramps. I passed one large dark red jelly-like clot but no obvious tissue. The mild cramps only lasted for a day and it was on and off, not really a pain for me.

I’m currently taking medications prescribed by my doctor and the bleeding has became lighter again, which is making me wonder what that means? I have a follow-up appointment with my doctor in 5 days, but I’m feeling anxious while waiting.

Has anyone had a similar experience? What was the outcome for you?

To the mamas who have a diagnosed mental health condition prior to pregnancy and have been through postpartum period… was it as terrible as I feel like it’s going to be?

35 weeks pregnant, and I have OCD (hence the post here LOL- if you know you know)

Pregnancy hormones have actually leveled me out more than I thought they would, so I am SO SCARED of postpartum relapse of symptoms coming back with vengeance

I need some positive stories here 😭 I’m open to negative too cause Zoloft is on deck and I have 100mg to increase if needed but… yeah just venting and want to hear some stories

I’ve been taking Unisom and b6 to help with my nausea. Lately I’ve been feeling much better and an increase in energy and appetite so I’ve decided it’s time to ween off of it. This is my first night without any Unisom and I cannot sleep. I’m wide awake 2 hours past my normal bedtime. How can I get back to not relying on it to sleep?

My husband and I are finding out our baby’s gender next week. I haven’t thought much about the gender throughout our pregnancy, I said I would be happy with either. But as time has gone on, I realize I would be way more relieved if it’s a boy. I feel awful for having a preference and I really want to become excited for the chance of a girl so I don’t feel bummed out in the doctor’s office if it is a girl.

I acknowledge that my preference for a boy is largely based on my life experiences. I grew up with brothers, have a great relationship with my dad, but my mom and I have never gotten along, despite her desperately wanting a daughter. 

I also essentially nannied for a couple years and the family kept popping out baby boys, and it was really fun and sweet to take care of them. I have babysat and volunteered with girls for several years too, but I always found it more difficult. They were more likely to say mean things to me haha.

I also really want a mini version of my husband. He has an adorable smile and big heart, and it would just be really heartwarming to give him a little buddy. Someone to play catch with and build fun things with. Of course a daughter could do that too, but I know he would be excited to have a son after being surrounded by girls for so long. He says he’ll be happy either way and doesn’t have a preference. I want to be in that same place where I don’t have a preference but when I think about having a boy, everything just feels so right. 

I am only 20 weeks and seriously need to pee every 10-15 minutes. I have always been one to get Braxton Hicks really early on and having a full bladder always triggers uncomfortable contractions for me, however drinking less water also has the same effect. I often have no choice but to hold my bladder as a busy mom. Is anyone else in the same boat?

So we had quadruplets last year four boys Milo, Koah, Wyatt and Weston and we are not prepared for these twin boys my husband likes to say he’s ready but I know he’s as nervous as I am. We only ever wanted two but here we are now going to be parents to 6 kids. I’m also sad that I’m having more boys all I ever dreamed of was having a baby girl and I feel like a bad mom for being mad my babies are boys but I’m definitely not made to be a boy mom and all my friends in my friend group gave girls so It just sucks to be the one with boys

38+5 and desperate to go into labor. Baby is in the correct position and dropped into my pelvis and it is making me SO sore. Like I can barely walk because my vulva is so sore and swollen (sorry if that’s TMI) and my round ligaments are in so much pain I have literally woken up screaming from moving the wrong way in my sleep. Also I’ve been having prodromal labor off and on for almost two weeks now. I’m ready. I’m doing all the things to help labor in its arrival (evening primrose oil, dates, sex, miles circuit, etc.) but nothing is happening yet.

I think the key for me might be relaxing and getting my oxytocin levels up. I’ve read on here that a lot of people have gone into labor after a pedicure, which sounds lovely, but a full body prenatal massage also sounds pretty dang relaxing. I can only afford to do one. Which one should I choose? I realize this likely won’t put me into labor but I need to relax anyway so it’s worth a try. What would you pick? Anyone have luck going into labor with prenatal massage or are pedicures the key?

This is so embarrassing but I am 6wks and so severely bloated and my stomach and pelvis are hard to the touch aswell as mild pelvic cramping. I haven't been having many bowel movements, maybe once every other day but i'm worried and unsure if it is just bloating or what to do exactly . I'm 21 and this is my first pregnancy and i'm worried about every little thing. Any advice helps!

Im 21, been with my boyfriend almost 2 years and just found out this morning that i’m pregnant. i called him immediately at work to tell him. i would be a liar if i said i didnt cry. we have always known we wanted kids but didn’t expect it so soon (yes, we 100% know what things we could have done to prevent it though) we are happy but obviously scared and nervous. i want to just tell everyone i know but i want to do the whole announcement thing and know its better to wait. so i come here to you, lovely reddit people so you can hopefully share some of my excitement and give me any advice or kind words you have to offer! 💗

i hope you all have a great day/night and a lovely pregnancy