grayhare

Hey ladies (and gentlemen). I have the Mirena IUD, have had for almost a year. I am currently having light bleeding and had some strong cramping a few days ago, and I just had my period a little over two weeks ago, but I have always been really irregular so I wouldn't be surprised to be having my period again now.

However, for the past 4 days I have been puking every morning and evening, as well as having some diarrhea and feeling very fatigued. I used to smoke, and now the smell of cigs is very disgusting...I used to drink only water and now it makes me gag, as does brushing my teeth. I wanted to think it was food poisoning or a virus, but my son and partner have eaten all the same things I have and have been kissing me and drinking after me, and they are not vomiting or feeling bad at all.

I get nervous because I was on the pill, no skipping or anti-biotics or other no-nos, when I got pregnant with my son. And I also had a period my first month of pregnancy with him, and I began vomiting about 2 weeks before I got a positive on an "early result" test (doc confirmed I was 6 weeks pregnant at that time). I POAS yesterday and it was negative, but as you can probably tell I'm still nervous.

Any ideas?

I have long naturally medium-blonde hair, and I'd like to put some blue in it. I was planning on dyeing all of my hair a lighter blonde (but not quite platinum or anything) and adding blue to the longest bottom layer. Will it really be necessary to bleach it out, or would a lighter blonde all over prior to the blue suffice?

I was arrested for a misdemeanor and I was not read my rights. What are the legal implications of this?

I have been breastfeeding my baby boy since he was born (5.5 months). I have also been pumping and typically got 3-4oz per session. In the past week, I've gone from a few oz per session to a fraction of an ounce, and tonight I got NOTHING! When my son nurses, I still hear him swallowing and there is milk on his face and mouth when he is done, and if I squeeze my nipple milk comes out. But I am not responding to the pump!

The only things that have changed in the past week or so are that my son and I had thrush and were treated, and that I weaned him from the nipple shield. Actually, he weaned himself: just knocked it off and started nursing.

Has anyone ever dealt with this? At first I thought it was my supply, but now I highly doubt that. Could it be something wrong with my pump, or my reaction?

I was wondering if anyone could help me with this. I have a relative, who is now in high school, whose mother kept getting abonormal alphafeta protein levels on her blood tests. She had an amnio done to rule out the possibility of Down's, which it turned out the baby did not have. But I was wondering if it was possible this alpha feta test could have been indicating that something else besides Down's. The boy has had numerous health problems since he was born, including being blind in one eye, having only one kidney, having only one testicle, and having symptoms of mild autism, such as rocking, dislike of physical contact, and extreme pickiness when it comes to food (he has eaten the same flavor of pop tart every day for breakfast since he learned to talk, for ex.), although his mother has never taken him to a doctor about these things so there is no diagnosis.

My question is if a low alpha feta protein level could have pointed to these issues, or if it is related to Down's only?

Does anyone know if Febreeze Antimicrobial is actually disinfecting? It says it kills "99.9% of odor-causing bacteria"...but what about 99.9% of bacteria in general?

An unneutered GORGEOUS white male cat showed up at my house a few days ago, and by the fact that he's so friendly I assume he has (or had) an owner, but by the fact he's kinda skinny and is unneutered makes me think maybe he wasn't taken care of. Either way, I'm caring for him while trying to find his owner...and if he were mine, he'd be neutered, so don't tell me to just get him fixed. If no one resonds to an ad within 2 weeks he shall be chopped.

But my question is...and sorry if this is gross...is it normal for a male cat to get feces on his balls? Like I know it's all in the general vicinity, and maybe it's just more noticable because he's pure white, but it really seems like he frequently has poo on his balls (till he bathes again) and it's grossing me out. I'm pregnant so I can't touch cat feces in any way so I can't wipe him. I just want to know is this normal?

My partner and I are looking into getting a student loan for his spring semester...and "student loan" are two very scary words to us. But we are having a baby very soon, and therefore will have no spare money to go toward college, and the federal aid he receives is not enough to cover all costs. We feel like it would be better to be slightly less comfortable once he's graduated and has a job than to live in absolute poverty for the next 2 years. We were thinking of taking out about $4000 a year for 2 years, since he has 4 more semesters of college to go (he'll go this spring, then over summer, then fall, then next spring).

I was just wondering if anyone had a positive experience with a particular student loan company...you know, low interest...really did wait till after graduation to start paying back...also, how much was your total loan and how much was your monthly payment? Thanks for any advice.

I'm 33 weeks pregnant, and I went to my OB today and my blood pressure was up, my weight was up more than expected (5lbs in 2 weeks), and there was protein in my urine. So of course I'm going through the 24 hour urine test where I have to lug around a jug to pee in ALLLLLLLL day. Woo.

I asked my doctor if a recent tailbone injury might cause these problems as well, and he said the extra weight could be from lack of activity due to injury, and the high blood pressure could be from the pain, but there's still the protein issue. I just have to wait till tomorrow to finish the test and then wait for results. Ugh.

So I was just wanting to hear from women who have had protein in their urine during pregnancy, whether it always turned out to be pre-eclampsia, and what was done to treat the pre-eclampsia, if that was the case. Thanks for your experience!

I ordered some items from walmart.com a week ago, and yesterday I received an email stating that there was an order fulfillment dely, and they would continue trying to ship the order for 10 more days at which time it would be cancelled if not already sent. Since this sorta sounded like the items were out of stock and the website clearly said IN STOCK, I emailed walmart customer service and got a very illiterate response with poor grammar and spelling (the first sentence was actually "Thank you for emailing us at Walkman"...I kid you not).and a general idea that the person had no idea what was going on.

So I'm just wondering if anyone else's order fulfillment has been delayed from online shopping and if you did actually receive the package? Or do you know if order fulfillment just means they're busy and running slow or out of stock or what?

I'm 32 weeks pregnant and when i stand up, my stomach is round and hard and the skin almost painfully tight. But then when I sit down, my belly goes soft and smooshy and saggy, kind of like I imagine it would be after delivery. I did have some extra padding prepregnancy (I was 5'7" and 181), but I wasn't NEARLY this big...not this much tummy skin and flab at all! And I'm only up to 191, so it's safe to say most of my weight gain is baby and fluids and such. I don't really think it's anything to worry about as far as baby's health, so that's why I'm not just asking my doc straightaway, but it just seems like other pregnant women around this time have round, hard bellies in any position.

Has this happened to anyone else???

My partner has started a new job a month ago, and he is also working a part-time job for the next 6 months or so to supplement our savings. The thing is, his new job has asked him to work out of town (about 4 hours away) for the month fo August. They will pay him his regular hourly rate, plus plenty of overtime, plus pay for his hotel room and food and gas. Which is good thing, that they're giving him an opportunity in a bigger city so soon.

But there are two things that I see as problems. Number one, he will make more money for this one month but not as much extra as he would make working 6 months at the part-time job...which he would lose if he went away for a month. He thinks the part-time job would hire him back, though, but it's taking a risk that they wouldn't. The second problem is my due date is September 15th and I'm worried that if I go into labor early he will be hours away at work and unable to get home.

What would you do? Take those risks? Just looking for opinons!

Hey ladies! Well, I'm 32 weeks and I sat down a bit too fast yesterday and bruised my tailbone, it feels like. I'm just wondering if I should even bother calling my doctor, since they don't do anything for bruised/broken tailbones besides tell you to take Tylenol and not sit ont it! lol. Any of you ever have bruised tailbones? Anything help with the pain?

I was just wondering if there were any moms on here who have had both types of pregnancy. Did it feel any different to get that positive when you were trying to conceive vs. when it was unplanned, or is it still surprising? Were you more excited when it was planned, or were you just as nervous and doubtful? I'm just wondering because the baby I'm expecting was a surprise (I was on the pill and taking it properly!), and I was wondering if my emotions would differ during a pregnancy I actually TRIED for, vs. one that caught me off-gaurd. I know everyone is different, I just want to hear personal experiences.

Does anyone else think it's amusing when men (or more likely young boys, as men who've had pregnant wives often know a thing or three!) answer pregnancy questions with completely wrong information? Such as "no it's not possible to be pregnant and bleeding...duhhhh!" or "you cannot get pregnant from pre-come...I've had sex with my girl 4 times and she's not pregannt yet!" and "you should start feeling the baby move and start showing around 2 or 3 months". I mean it's bad enough when women are so misinformed...but what makes a young boy even THINK he knows the correct answer to questions about pregnancy, something he's only been through on the fetal side? Am I the only one who notices these answers and thinks it's odd?

Did it gradually get smaller and shallower before poking out, or did it just go from normal to poked out one morning when you woke up? And how far along were you when it poked out? I'm 32 weeks and my belly button seems much smaller in circumference, as well as about a quarter as deep as it once was.

I'm 32 weeks pregnant and not all that graceful anymore, and I just sat down on the floor kinda hard and I think I've bruised my tailbone. It aches when I sit, stand, walk, move...it's not unbearable, and it wasn't an extremely hard fall, so I don't think it's broken. I can't really know for sure because I don't want to harm my baby with an x-ray. I just want to know if you've bruised your tailbone, how can you manage the pain (drug-free, besides Tylenol...I'm pregnant!), and how long it took to stop hurting.

What happens to your belly immediately after you have the baby, like in the hospital? Is it still hard for a little while? Or does it go squishy?

One of my best friends whom I love very much and wouldn't want to offend has a certain parenting style...and I feel bad saying that I'm trying to do the exact OPPOSITE of her example.

She never read or sang to her daughter as a baby or toddler, or tried to teach her new words or activities (such as clapping or pointing things out). And I want to do these things with my son! But yet she is determined that her parenting style is wonderful because it made her daughter "independent" from a young age. From what I can see, the child is very independent alright...because she's used to always being alone to do do whatever unless she's crying or doing something she's not supposed to. I'm not saying she's neglected, as her basic needs are certainly met, and I'm not saying she's not loved...she's just not NURTURED.

Do you think it's important to read to, play with, and nurture your child? And how do I gently disagree with a friend who insists I don't need to do these things?

How long did it REALLY take for you to lose all your baby weight?

I know 9 months up, 9 months down is a good rule of thumb, but I know women who were back in bikinis within 6 weeks (lucky them!) and others who clung to an extra 15 pounds for life. So I just wanted some real peoples' real experience.

Were you overweight/underweight/average in the beginning?

How much did you gain?

How long did it take you to be back to your prepregnancy weight/size?

What did you do to lose weight (diet, exercise, breastfeeding)?

Thanks!