Aubrey and Drew's Mama

My daughter turned 3 a month ago. She had been going potty on either the potty chair or the toilet (with a Dora padded seat) for over 6 months. She refused to go #2 on a toilet. She will only use her potty chair for that. She also refuses to use any toilet except the one in our main bathroom. She will not go to any public bathrooms either. If we go anywhere, she has to wear a diaper or she wets herself. If we go on a road trip, we have to bring her potty chair. About a month ago, she started having accidents. She never wore pull-ups. We had gone straight from diapers to underwear. She was wetting herself 4-5 times per day. She would pee a little and then would say she had to go to the bathroom and would finish in the toilet. She refuses to pull her pants and underwear down by herself. She always has to go with someone. Any ideas as to what we need to do? I feel like we're starting over. I don't know what to do anymore. I want to put her in preschool in September and she has to be potty-trained. My friend's son was going to the bathroom completely on his own (washing his hands and all) when he was 2. What am I doing wrong?! We try to reward her when she doesn't wet in her pull-ups (which is what we had to put her in now due to all of the accidents). I think she gets distracted or doesn't want to miss out on whatever she is doing at that moment.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

My husband's employer recently decided to buy everyone in the office iPhones. My husband no longer needs the phone number that is on our account. If we were to cancel his number right now, it would cost $270. His plan is up for renewal in December of 2013. When he called Verizon, the guy told him that he could simply transfer the number to someone and then he wouldn't have to pay a cancellation fee. The guy told him that there 'are websites out there' to do this. Has anyone ever heard of this? Do you know where I should start looking? I've done a few google searches but haven't come across anything like this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I am going to try to make this shorter than my last question where I got one response... and thanks to the person who did respond! I was prescribed Metronidazole and Fluconazole on 9/8 for what my doctor thought was a bacterial infection. Bacterial infections can cause yeast infections, which is why I was prescribed Fluconazole. My period was due on 9/9. It is now 9/13 and I have not seen any signs of my period coming. I thought, as did my only answerer to my other question, that antibiotics can possibly delay your period. My doctor knew it was due 9/9 and all she said was that I couldn't wear tampons. Nothing about a delay. I am TTC baby #2 so, if I'm pregnant that's great. I tested this morning and it was negative. I took my last of the pills this morning. Do you think the meds messed with my test result or do you think my period was just delayed? Should I test again in a few days when all the meds are out of my system?

Sorry if this gets to be a long story:

I had a beautiful baby girl in December. My husband and I know we want 2 kids and want them close together, so we started trying for baby #2 in July. With the first baby, I went off birth control in January 2009, after being on it for 11 years. I waited until I got 3 regular cycles and then my husband and I started TTC. We got pregnant the first try! 9 months later my little angel came along. I nursed for 1 month but never went back on an oral contraceptive. I got my first period on 2/14. I have used a website to track my cycles. From February to August my average cycle length has been 26 days. I had one long cycle that was 30 days. The past few cycles have been in the mid 20s (24-27 days in length). My last period started August 14th. I was on a trip where we went swimming in a lake that I didn't realize was gross until I got out and the inside of my swimsuit was green. Minor algae problem apparently. Sorry if TMI, but on September 1st, the external area around my vagina became swollen and started to hurt. This lasted 2 days. Then I noticed a foul smell and a lot of slimy discharge. Sorry I know it's gross! Then I had one day where it was cottage cheese-like. My first thought: yeast infection. I've had one in my life and it was at least 4 years ago. On Tuesday September 7th, I used the one day Monistat treatment. It was the ovule that you insert. I also used some gel that came with it. Well, that didn't work. I got about 3 hours of sleep that night because I felt like my vagina was going to burst into flames. I went to the doctor the next afternoon. (yes, I know I should have gone a week earlier.) Since I took the Monistat, they couldn't do an internal exam so they gave me 2 prescriptions: 10 pills of Metronidazole and 2 pills of Fluconazole. The 10 pills are to be taken twice a day, 12 hours apart and are for a bacterial infection, which is what the doctor thought I had. The other 2 pills were to be taken with the first of the 10 and the last of the 10 and are to prevent a yeast infection from forming because apparently bacterial infections can cause yeast infections. Well, I took my last pills this morning. I haven't felt any burning since the first day of pills. Discharge has been hit or miss. Here's the kicker: according to my website my period was due on Thursday September 9th. It has now been 30 days. I haven't had a 30 day cycle since March. I told the doctor my period was due the next day and she never said anything about the medication affecting it. All she said was I couldn't wear tampons because it could cause pain until my pills are done. Has this ever happened to anyone or has anyone ever heard of this? I've done a little research and it looks like people have had similar issues with the Metronidazole and having a delayed period. I haven't had any symptoms of my period coming on. After I had a baby, my boobs get a little sore and I start to cramp and get headaches off and on. I've had nothing. My boobs and nipples have hurt like crazy since Friday and that's it. They don't hurt today though. I tested this morning and it was negative, no questions asked. Should I wait a few days until the antibiotics are out of my system to see if it comes? Or could I be pregnant and maybe the antibiotics screwed up the test results? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Sorry this is a novel in length. :-)

My husband and I recently had a baby and are planning on having another within the next year and a half. We just build our second house and have been living here for about 6 months. We both have good, full time jobs and neither of us are planning on leaving those anytime soon. My husband has a 2006 Ford F-150 and I have a 2007 Dodge Charger. I bought the Charger a little over a year before we got pregnant. I'm not sure what we still owe on the truck but we plan on keeping that for a while. Our monthly payment is about $255 for the truck. We owe less than $4000 on the car and have about 22 payments left on that. My husband has a work van that he drives every day. I drive the car all year except in the winter (we live in ND). My car is RWD so I don't feel comfortable driving it in snow and on ice so in the winters I drive his truck. I'm thinking it is about time we get an SUV. It makes more sense to me to have an SUV and trade in the car. The question is... when should we do this? My husband wants to wait until after next winter. We'd probably have less than a year left of payments by then and would owe less than $2000. Would it make more sense to wait a year and trade in the car and get an SUV?? Or should we do it sooner rather than later before the value of my car goes down even more. Right now it's worth a little over $12000. We're looking to spend around $20000 on an SUV. We would end up having to pay about $4k for the car and if we actually got $12k for the car, that would mean we'd have about $8k left to put towards the SUV. Or, if we wait a year, we'd have about $2k to pay on the car, but the car wouldn't be worth as much. So... sorry to drag this out so long, but what makes more sense?? Anyone have any thoughts or been in this kind of situation before?? Thanks for all of your help!

I had a baby in December. Her head was too large to come out on its own so I had to have an episiotomy. It took a few weeks to recover from that. My husband and I didn't have sex for 5 1/2 weeks after she was born. The first time we used a lot of lube, but it still hurt pretty bad. We've had sex maybe 8-10 times since my daughter was born, each time with a lot of lube. It still really hurts. I thought if we did it more often I would 'loosen' up a bit but that doesn't seem to be the case. I know we haven't done it a lot since December, however, I don't even want to do it anymore because it hurts. I don't see much of a point in bringing this up to my doctor because, well, what is she going to do about it? Has anyone else had this happen and does it get any better? Does anyone have any good suggestions?? I'm feeling this is starting to make a strain on our marriage and I really don't need that! Thanks for any advice you can give, ladies.

Thanks for all of your input ladies from my original post, however, I am looking more for answers than lectures though... which is what I seem to be getting so I am going to re-phrase this whole question. Yes, I know that breastmilk is better than formula, but I am just tired of the nursing and pumping and am ready to switch my baby to formula. She ate it without any issues today for the first time. If you read my original post, I am wondering what is the best way to go about transitioning from pumping to not pumping and what other people have done... such as pumping less often until the milk supply diminishes or what to do about engorgement or how long it took until your supply was gone?? Thanks!

My daughter is 1 month old today. I had been nursing for about 2 1/2 weeks and for about 1 1/2 weeks now I have been pumping and bottle-feeding. I can't keep up with her demand and pumping and nursing are not comfortable for me. I bought formula today and tried that for the first time and my daughter had no issues taking that. She drank it as fast as she would with the breast-milk. My question is... should I just stop breast-feeding and pumping and go straight to formula? Or should I continue pumping off and on and give her those bottles until my milk supply runs out? I guess I don't know how all of this works. Is it easier to just quit pumping and go straight to formula? What all happens when you stop pumping/nursing? I haven't pumped in 7 hours and my boobs are killing me. I'm wondering if I should pump now or is it OK to just be done with pumping and nursing? Are my boobs going to hurt for several days and leak or what all happens? This is my first baby and I have no idea what to expect! Thanks for any help you can give ladies!

I started my weekly appointments this morning. I got the Strep B test done, which hurt. And my doc checked me for the first time. She said I'm 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. She said the head was already 'right there.' Today is 12/1... I'm not due until 12/27. I'll be full term this coming Sunday, December 6th. My doc said there is no way I'm going to make it until Christmas and if she didn't see me at the hospital first then she'd see me at my appointment next Tuesday. She also said that most women aren't this progressed during their 36th week. Of course, I'm super excited now and very anxious and nervous and can't concentrate at work.... etc etc. Well, I told my coworker about this. She has the same doctor and she had a baby boy last November and was induced a week early. She said the doc pretty much said the same thing to her and she was 2 cm dilated and 100% effaced for about 2 weeks so she thinks I could still make it another 3 weeks or so. Have any of you gals been in my position and ended up going pretty early? If so, how early?? I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I'd rather be full term so I need to make it to Sunday. I have a feeling I'll still be around at work next week, but I need to be prepared. I wish there was some test you could take to find out what day you're having a baby! Thanks for all of your help ladies! :-)

Hello ladies. I have a question for all of you ladies who have been pregnant or are pregnant. It may be a weird and dumb question, but I just have to ask. The past 2 days, I have been feeling a weird sensation around my pelvic area. This is my first pregnancy, by the way, so sorry if it's a dumb question. Off and on for the past couple days I keep feeling this sensation, almost like a vibrating feeling, at the front and bottom of my pelvis. If I touch the area I don't feel anything. It's almost as if I'm sitting in my chair and there is a cell phone vibrating near me. It's really weird. I can feel it when I'm standing, sitting or walking. It's not constant. It comes and goes and I haven't noticed anything weird so I'm really confused as to what it may be... maybe increased blood flow?? Any ideas? I'm not worried about it but it's just weird. Thanks for any help!!

In my 29th week, I was told I had Bacterial Vaginosis (BV). I read on babycenter.com that 1 in 5 pregnant women end up with this and no one really knows the cause, but it can be treated. I had no symptoms of it and that is very common as well. I took the prescription for the recommended 5 days and felt better about the situation. However, the site also mentioned how some women will get the infection back, even if it was treated before and that BV can cause preterm birth. I'm starting to get worried about that. I've been having BH contractions since I was 28 weeks. Sometimes my tummy gets so tight it hurts but then it goes away within 30 seconds and feels fine. I figured that is normal so haven't thought much about it. On Friday, when I got back to work after lunch I had a really bad stomach ache kind of feeling, then my back started to hurt so I went home. The same thing happened today after lunch and I had diarrhea (sorry, TMI). I'm hoping it's just a mild stomach bug. Has anyone ever experienced BV and ended up having preterm birth? I'm really scared now after reading that it was one of the most common causes. I will be talking to my doctor about it at my appt next Wednesday but I'm just a little weirded out by the situation!

I am due on December 27th. My husband and I decided to not find out what we're having. I bought a book with about 100,000 baby names in it and made a list so I had 3 boys and 3 girls on it. My husband and I narrowed it down from there but I feel like I'm having second thoughts now. My husband picked the girl name and I picked the boy name.

Boy: Elijah

Girl: Aubrey

I wanted to incorporate my Dad into the boy's name so I was thinking Elijah Dwight (my dad's first name) or Elijah Douglas (my Dad's middle name). What do you think??

Also, I'm up in the air on a middle name for the girl. I wanted to do something for my mom's side of the family. She was adopted when she was little. Her 'mom' whom I've always thought of as my true grandma, will be 97 on New Year's Day. Her name is Niona. My mom's birth mother's name was Amelia and she died this past summer. I thought it would be neat to combine the names. My mom doesn't know about this and I think my grandma would feel honored. The best way I could think to combine the 2 names, Amelia and Niona was Amena... is that weird or does anyone have other suggestions?? I need help! :-)

Thanks for all of your input and sorry if this got to be a little long!!

I had my glucose test done yesterday. I had to drink the icky drink, had my regular appt where the doctor said everything looked and sounded fine, then I went and sat in the waiting room at the lab for almost an hour, then got my blood drawn on they took a urine sample.

I received a call today on my way to lunch from the hospital saying my results didn't look too good. My glucose level is 154 and it should be under 140. I have to go back to the hospital within 1 week to do the longer glucose test that consists of sitting there for 3 hours instead of 1 hour and getting my blood drawn once an hour and I have to drink that gross drink again. I have to fast for 12 hours prior to the test so I"m going to do it on Monday morning and not eat after 7pm on Sunday night. My urine test also showed epithelials in my urine. The nurse that called asked if I had a bladder infection and I said no everything seemed fine to me so they're going to run more tests on that. The nurse also said I 'looked dry' and need to drink more water. I basically have a 20oz water bottle attached to me all day and drink at least 60oz of water a day...what more am I supposed to do???

Has anyone else ever had these things happen and what was the outcome? This is my first pregnancy and I'm scared to death about all of this. :-(

Thanks everyone for your help! I'm so worried!

For the past 3 weeks or so my ribs (right under my boobs) have been hurting. It's been getting worse. I know it's not my bra that is causing the problem... is there anything I can do or maybe a certain position I could sit or lay in to ease the pain? I know this is only going to get worse in the next 12 weeks... so I'm just trying to get some suggestions from those of you who have gone through this. I feel like right under my boobs in the center of my stomach/chest area that my ribs are broken. I can't even tough the ribs without them hurting. I have a doctor's appt/glucose test on Wednesday so I was going to talk to my doctor but if you ladies could offer any advice I would really appreciate it and my ribs will thank you!! :-)

Here's the situation:

I am in my 27th week right now. I am due the 27th of December. My husband's family is planning a big family trip to Florida in May where we will be staying in a 4 bedroom beach house for 6 nights. The baby will be just shy of 5 months old when we go on the trip. My husband doesn't want to bring the baby. I wanted to at first until I realized that I would have a baby on a plane between North Dakota, Minneapolis and Tampa.... and again on the way back. I would also have the baby the entire week and everyone in the house will have to put up with the baby waking up at night, even though it will be in our room. Not to mention, going out to restaurants or laying on the beach for hours and having to bring bottles and pumps. My boss mentioned to me that he would not bring his baby, who is now 5 months old, on an airplane if the baby isn't old enough to tell you that something is wrong. I got a horrible ear infection when I flew to Florida when I was little and ended up going to the ER when we landed.

So... the dilemma is... my husband, myself and my mother are against bringing the baby on the trip. My mother in law and sister in law won't quit bugging me about how the beach house is baby friendly and my sister in law is going to be moving to Iowa in a few months with her husband and this way she'll be able to spend an entire week with the baby. My mother in law thinks I need to expose the baby to the 'outside world' by bringing it on a plane.

I don't know what to think anymore and I'm getting tired of arguing.

Anyone else been in my shoes?? I need some advice.

And sorry this is so long!

A good friend of mine went off of her birth control in the middle of May. She got her AF the following week. She got it again June 16th. She didn't get her AF in July... no spotting whatsoever. I told her to test around the middle to end of July and her tests kept coming back negative. I told her if she didn't get her AF by August 1st to call and make an appt with her doc to see if maybe the tests aren't picking up the pregnancy hormones and maybe it could be detected with a blood test or maybe something else was wrong. Needless to say, she made an appt but the weekend before the appt (Aug. 1st and 2nd) she started to get spotting. She thought that might be AF but got a heavy flow Aug. 16-19. Now she's getting a period-like flow and color as of yesterday and it has only been 3 weeks since the last. Any ideas? I thought maybe her body was still trying to adjust to not being on the pill anymore. I don't know what else to tell her besides to talk to her doctor. I went off the pill in January, got 3 regular cycles and then we started TTC and got pregnant right away so I can't relate to what she's dealing with. If any of you gals have had this happen, can you give me some input? Thanks!! sorry this is so drawn out!!