Jen

how old was your baby when you stopped having them take naps in the same room you are in or sleeping in your room at night?

I had a second c-section last monday and am having a harder time recovering than I did the first time. I felt better faster this time and wasn't sick from the spinal but I am not getting around as well as I did last time due to a constant and painful burning in the left side from the internal incision. The doc says it is because I wasn't doing enough and I've tried to do more but it's really painful. I'm taking vicoden but that only seems to last about 2 hours and advil is not helping. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, how long was your recovery and was there anything else you did to help yourself heal faster?

We have a Graco Quattro travel system with an infant car seat we bought in 2005 for our first child. At the time I had a trailblazer and no other children so the infant car seat went in the middle of the backseat with no issues. We now have a 4 year old in a booster seat and a 2007 Chrysler Sebring touring and we never thought to check to make sure the old car seat would fit. It does... as long as the person in the passenger seat doesn't mind sitting basically on the dashboard. I'm only 5'6 and my knees hit the dashboard because of the carseat. We can't put the infant seat in the middle because then my oldest's booster seat can barely be latched in with the seat belt. We can't get a new car... we just bought this one used. Does anyone else have this issue? What car seat do you use if you have a small car? Do you know what the safety rating is for your seat?

We got our dog almost 6 years ago from a rescue program and have worked hard to show her love and patience but she is still skittish if anyone speaks loudly or moves too quickly. When I was pregnant with my first child she got more jumpy towards the end of my pregnancy but we figured her world was changing so we gave her time to adjust and she calmed down until the baby started getting mobile. We gave her time to adjust and kept the baby away from her as much as possible and never left them alone. Once she adjusted she was fine again. Now I'm at the end of my second pregnancy and the dog just keeps getting more jumpy and acting out the further along I get. All of a sudden I can't keep her off the couch when we leave the room (she won't do it when we are in the room), she won't stay out of my oldest child's bedroom (which she never went into unless we were all there) and she runs from you and cowers like she's been beaten (which she hasn't). I don't know that I can deal with a preschool child, a newborn and a dog that has worsening anxiety issues. She's making me crazy with the way she's been acting lately. This dog is a part of our family and I don't want to find a new home for her this late in her life but I am worried that she is just going to continue getting worse and I worry that she'll turn on my preschooler or the newborn. Short of always keeping my preschoolers door shut, how do I get the dog to stop going in there all the time? We have a gate at the top of the stairs and I've tried leaving her downstairs all the time but she freaks out at night and it seems to make her wiggy for the next few days. I don't want her to just get her way and let her do what she wants. Any ideas on getting her more comfortable or what we should do to keep her from the bedroom, off the couch and stop running from us and cowering like she's been beat?

I'm 7 months pregnant, 5 feet 7 inches tall and wore a size 16 before I got pregnant. I've done good with not gaining a ton of weight. I'm so frustrated because I can't find maternity clothes that actually fit. All the tops end up not covering my belly and I HATE having my belly show when I'm out and about or even just at home. I can't seem to find tops that are long enough to cover anything. Old Navy, Target, Motherhood Maternity all have decent clothes but the tops just aren't long. Where do you buy maternity clothes or how do you deal with covering your last trimester, plus size belly?? Help...

I am 25 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I suffer from fibromyalgia which cause joint and muscle pain and weakness, depression, anxiety and loss of sleep. As my pregnancy has progressed, I am finding myself miserable and unable to do things at work (which is upsetting my boss) and am only sleeping 1-4 hours a night and not all at once. I'm in intense pain. Whenever I have tried to talk to my doctor about it, she just seems to act like it's no big deal. I also have asthma and am now having trouble breathing (which when not pregnant is very mild). Work is not accomodating the pregnancy at all and I find myself falling into a depression because of stress, pain and lack of sleep. I've started suffering from hot flashes and panic attacks.

How do I get my doctor to listen to me and realize that fibromyalgia is a real disease and I am not able to work a full day or at all. They tell me I need to nap during the day, but I work, I can't nap. How do I discuss disability with her and get her to understand my pain? Any ideas?

I am 25 weeks pregnant and feel like my doctor turns a deaf ear to my comments and concerns. She delivered my oldest when she was born and has been my female doctor before and after that. As a gynecologist or an OB for someone without any issues or problems, she is great. But I suffer from fibromyalgia and can't take any meds to help with that while pregnant. Since I have been pregnant I sleep anywhere from 1-4 hours a night and not all at once due to extreme pain from the fibro. I'm having severe siatic nerve pain in my lower back and can't seem to do anything without it causing pain. I have started suffering from hot flashes and panic attacks about a month ago and I have a boss who is ticked she hired a pregnant woman without knowing it and is determined to make the last few months of my pregnancy miserable and not be remotely helpful with letting me flex my schedule a bit to allow me to sleep. The docs office tells me to talk to my family doc since things are't "pregnancy related" but the pregnancy is making the fibro worse. The fam doc won't do anything about it since I'm pregnant. But the OB tells me to ask them for ambien and vicoden to help with sleeping and pain. WTF?? Those are both class C narcotics! The fam doc thinks she's nuts. It's late in the pregnancy to search for another doctor and there aren't many in my area not in the OB's practice. I have my next appt Monday and really could use some advice on what to say to her to get her to understand I can't handle the pain and no sleep and work a full time job and care for my oldest at night while husband is at work. Has anyone else gone through this? Do I ask for them to reduce my hours at work or bedrest?

Please, no rude comments or answers.

How long does it take for you to go through one canister of formula? We are trying to stockpile baby things for our second child and we've got lots of diapers, wipes, butt paste, lotions, etc... but I cannot for the life of me remember how long it took us to go through formula. We aren't going to buy it now (in case we need to make a change in formula like we did with our first), just want to set aside enough money to get us through maternity leave and no salary coming in for me during it. I want to make sure I've set aside enough to cover formula for the full maternity leave. Thanks!!

PS - please no rude comments on breastfeeding... I realize it's better but I wasn't able to last time so want to be prepared for formula this time and save money.

Does anyone have fibromyalgia and is or has been pregnant? If so, how do you deal with the pain? There aren't any medications deemed safe enough to take during pregnancy and tylenol is absolutely no help. Some days are worse than others but on the days that are really bad I just sit there and cry. I can't sleep well due to the pain in my joints from only sleeping on my sides (I end up waking up every hour to flip to my other side to relieve the pain a little). I am an admins so I sit all day which on the really bad days just makes it so much worse. My OB isn't understanding of the issue and tells me to see my family doctor for it since it isn't a pregnancy issue and my family doctor doesn't want to treat me or can't because I'm pregnant. Any advice would be appreciated. I'm 19 weeks and the next 21 are going to be really long and painful without any relief. I don't see how I'm going to continue to work but my doctor isn't intersted in putting me on disability.

Please, only serious responses.

We are supposed to find out soon if our baby is a boy or a girl... We've picked the following names and I'd like to get some opinions if they flow well. If you don't like them, just say so. Please don't be mean. :o)

Girl - Emily Paige

Boy - Bryce Allen (Allen is hubby's middle name so it has to be this for the middle)

My child has turned 3 and we are kind of desperate to get her potty trained. Up until now we have not pushed it as we figured she would do it at her own pace. For the last year she has shown interest and will occasionally tell us she has to go pee-pee and will go and get tons of praise. Up until a week ago she wouldn't poo in the toilet at all. She has done this once and has no desire to repeat it even though she got tons of praise and a prize. While I understand that this is a long drawn out process with accidents and things, we are getting really frustrated. My child will go to the bottom step and stand there whenever she has to go to the bathroom. Doesn't matter if she's wearing panties or a diaper. The steps are right next to the bathroom. She always goes there when she has to potty. Last night she went to the steps and peed and pooped. She got it all over herself, the floor, the steps, etc. To me, this isn't an accident. She knew she had to go and instead of going to the bathroom she went to the steps. What do we do to help her start going all the time in the bathroom?? We've tried rewards when she goes, we've tried praise, we've tried everything we can think of but she still goes to the steps. She wanted to wear panties again today but I wouldn't let her. She NEVER tells you she has to go. We ask every hour and she'll say no. We try to get her to sit on the toilet and at least try and she won't. She throws a fit. MInd you... she was the one who insisted on wearing panties. Now we are getting to the point where she comes to us when she has panties on and says she needs a diaper and refuses to go sit on the toilet. As soon as you put a diaper on her, she goes. So it isn't that she doesn't know when she has to go. Please help... we could really use some advice. No rude comments please.

I finished my second round of clomid earlier in the month and am confused. For the last two months my periods have been wonky. Usually I start between cycle day 30-32. Since being on clomid I start getting cramps and brown discharge with a little spotting up to 4-5 days before I'm supposed to start. I tested on cycle day 27 this month and it came up not pregnant right away. I've got a call into my RE but I'm hoping someone else might offer some insight. If you took clomid, did your periods change? About a week after I ovulated I felt a little dizzy and sick to my stomach on and off and my breasts were a little sensitive but that all stopped. I've been super emotional but I don't know if that is period or clomid induced stuff. Yesterday I was perfectly fine in the am but from 3-8:30 I didn't feel good and swore I had to be coming down with something. After 8:30 I wasn't dizzy or sick to my stomach much anymore and today I feel fine, just super tired. I would have sworn I was pregnant but the test said no. Any ideas?

I'm not asking if you think I might be pregnant. I'll wait a week to find out. I have been taking clomid and had a trigger shot to bring on ovulation. We BD'd when we were supposed too. It's a week later now and I'm getting a little dizzy and feeling sick but it's not all the time. For the last 2-3 days I've felt it. At first I thought I was getting sick but it never got worse and like I said, it's coming and going. I don't know how soon pregnancy sickness rears its head. With my daughter I had it from about 6 weeks until the beginning of the 2nd trimester but I know each can be different. Just wasn't sure how soon you can be subjected to the symptoms. Any ideas? And again... I'm not asking if you think I'm pregnant, just how soon symptoms typically show. Thanks!

Our 5 year anniversary is Saturday and I'm not sure what to do. The hotel we stayed at on our wedding night is to pricy now and I don't want just dinner and a movie? Any ideas?

My neighbors have a 4/5 year old autistic boy who is outside the majority of the time unsupervised. During this time he normally has no clothes on and touches himself and moans. They will let him outside in the am and shut the screen door and he is unattended for up to an hour at a time. They will then come out and look at him, maybe sit there for a few minutes and put his pants on but then go back inside. I don't see much interaction with him. Due to the boy being naked all the time and touching himself, I can't be outside or leave my windows open or my screen door open and I can't let my 3 year old play on her swingset because he stands there watching us with no clothes on while touching himself. The mother was just diagnosed with cancer (this all has happened long before the diagnosis) so everything has gotten worse and I feel terrible saying something. The father makes me nervous because I've seen him beat their dog and I'm afraid to say something and my husband not be home to help if there is a confrontation. I'm not sure what to do or how to handle this. I hate to call CPS but they aren't helping this boy by leaving him unattended for hours at a time and only checking on him every once in a while. I can't imagine how difficult their lives are but I hate not feeling comfortable in my own home and scared of the father.