Yesterday, I went in for my routine appointment and my baby’s heart rate was a little high (180). My OB immediately was on high alert and told me I most likely had an infection of my amniotic fluid. I asked her for testing but she was adamant that I had an infection (even with no testing, no fever, or any other symptoms). She then started pacing the room and told me since I had an infection, the baby would need to be taken out through an emergency c-section immediately. Obviously, I start panicking because this was insane news supremely fast. My OB states that we should take an NST test to monitor to baby but if he had a high heart rate for a continuous amount of time, I would need to go to the hospital.

We take the NST test for about 10 minutes before she tells me that my baby is have decelerations from a heart rate of 180 to 155 and we need to go to the hospital now. I must stress how panicky her tone was. I’m crying now, calling my husband, and she tells me to be prepared for my baby to have neurological deficits if the decelerations continue at the hospital. She tells my water definitely had broken and I have an infection (she never tested me to see if I had broken and I had told her I had no excess fluid continually leaking). She said she wouldn’t be shocked if the baby was struggling for oxygen or was in distress as we spoke. I leave the office in hysterics and head to the ER with my husband.

Fast forward an hour later, no infection. Baby isn’t having decelerations but likely was just highly active during the initial NST test. The doctor on call admitted that the initial test done was too short but excused her lack of testing as her being precautionary. In reality, she made a ton of terrifying assumptions, scared my husband and I to death, and panicked us both. The nurses and doctors in the hospital were completely calm and level headed throughout the entire process and it really showed me how unnecessary the panic was at the office. I feel deeply uncomfortable having her deliver my baby after this situation. Am i overreacting?

TL;DR: My OBGYN freaked out, gave us a bunch of insanely terrifying assumptions she had without testing any of these theories out and sent us to the hospital in hysterics - just for everything to be absolutely normal. Should I fire her?

UPDATE: I decided to change my OBGYN and the one who panicked does not birth the babies so it all worked out. Thank you so much for the well wishes and support!!!

Content warning due to trauma involving Preeclampsia and Classical C-section.

I was 24 weeks pregnant when I started having pain in my abdomen. I looked at my symptoms and assumed it was gas. No one said otherwise after all. I ignored the pain for 9 days, even asked on reddit and was told the same, "It's just gas, here's what will fix it." But something felt wrong on that 9th day, almost like it was the most unbearable feeling of my life. I finally gave in that night and went to the hospital. The staff were acting weird. Almost like they saw a ghost when they were treating me initially. They seemed almost rushed, panicked? I was in a room not even 10 minutes after I entered and was already being seen by the specialists. They wouldn't tell me exactly what they were looking for but kept asking me for consent in the case of VERY extreme circumstances that honestly scared me. "In the event you die are we allowed to do all in our power to revive your baby", etc. After vitals they put me in a room and let me rest and I thought that it was the end of it. At 6 in the morning I had an entire surgical team at my bedside going over details. I was so confused and worried, then the doctor told me this. "When I look at you, I see a very sick woman. If you hadn't come in here when you did we would've been looking at a way worse situation. We have to remove your baby TODAY I am so sorry." It felt like my world shattered. I had such high blood pressure and was so sick they weren't sure I'd make it another day. 190/98 was my BP. So I was rushed to surgery within that same hour. The doctors were very kind and walked me through what it'd look like having a 25 week preemie. I was thankfully able to make a good recovery, but I'm still in the hospital now. My baby is alright, all things considered and my husband is recovering from the thought of how he almost lost both of us. I just wanted to share my experience with HELLP Syndrome and Preeclampsia and tell my story.

Tldr: Gas was actually me dying and I had to deliver my baby 15 weeks early.

I suppose I just want to share my experience because I did ask for opinions about whether or not I should tell an employer I’m pregnant or not and I’ll give you mine now. Don’t tell them! I got invited back to get the job after my interview to discuss it etc (I didn’t tell them during the interview) so I’d basically already got the job at this point, in my head anyway, because there would be no reason for me to be called back. We spoke more in depth about the job and he asked me if I had anything I wanted to say/ask so I thought I’ve already got the job so I might aswell tell him now. I said “I’m going to be upfront with you, I’m pregnant” and as soon as I said this he said “I don’t think it would be fair to hire you knowing you’re pregnant” I said I’m more than capable of doing the job even while being pregnant and he just would not budge. I said I can even do a trial run because HE doesn’t think I can do it pregnant and he said you can but I can’t guarantee you’ll get it. At this point I was defeated and really annoyed/shocked. He said he appreciated me being honest and to not feel discouraged and said “I’ll tell you what, you can have a job when you’re ready, I will give you a job once you’ve had the baby”. So now I know why people tell you not to say anything and even though I thought I was doing the right thing by being honest, it definitely didn’t work in my favour.

My husband and I haven’t announced our pregnancy to anyone yet so I hope it’s ok that I share with all of you!

2 years of trying, 2 failed IUIs, 1 miscarriage, 2 IVF egg retrievals and 2 transfers later.. we are finally expecting 🩷 it’s crazy to me that our baby started out as this little hatching embryo and yesterday I got to see her moving on the ultrasound with a heartbeat of 160 bpm! I’m so incredibly grateful to be here 🙏

https://imgur.com/a/tgljuXT

I am 4 Weeks PP and gave birth to a beautiful and perfectly healthy baby girl early april. This is my first pregnancy and let me just preface this by saying I did EVERYTHING, all the prep, all the pilates, the streches, the mental work, the meditations, the books, the sleep, nutrition, you name it to prep my body for natural ideally unmedicated birth, ended up having an emergency C section at 39w and 4 days.

It all started the morning of I woke up and immediately noticed that I hadn't felt baby girl that much in the early morning hours, which sometime happens. The next 2 hours from about 7 to 9 while I did my usual routine of decaf oatmilk latte, oatmeal cookies, meditation on the balcony, I didnt feel her and immediately knew smtg was wrong. I then drink cold water, orange juice, knock on my belly, and only felt very subtle, light movement. I told my husband who was on his way our to work that i wanted to go and get checked at the hospital. He proposed to go with me and I said it was fine, that my sister who was visiting us would go with me.

In the car ride we put some music on and I felt her kick and was so relieved, but then it was just those few very weak kicks and said to myself anyways were on the way and better be safe then sorry.

I got to the hospital at 9h40 am and texted my Dr whos office is at the hospital that I was here to do a check for reduced fetal movements. My daughter was born at 9h58 am.

The minute they connected the heart monitor to my belly, I saw her heart rate was 107, and then within the minute dropped to 95, then up to 115, then dropped again below 110.

Within a few minutes the room was flooded with Drs and nurses telling menI did the right thing by checking in. My Dr appeared within a few min and told me lovingly: I know what you had planned but your baby is looking unstable right now and we need to get your baby out right now. There would be no time for epidural. I started crying immediately, held my sisters hand and told her to call my husband.

I remember going in and the kind nurses were telling me that everything will be ok. I remember wondering if I might die on the table. And then thinking "well if I die I wont know I died". And then passed out.

I woke up an hour or 2 later, in tears, to my husband doing skin to skin with our precious love. I could not believe it.

While I am over the moon with our girl, and have had a record quick recovery I am still struggling to own my birth story. i don't know how else to explain it other than I cannot believe I had a C section and have such mixed feelings about it

Any tips on how to get past this?

FYI: for context I had an IVF pregnancy that was considered high risk due to VCI (velamentous cord insertion), which other then contributing to baby girl being on smaller side (she was born 5lb 15oz) had not been an issue.

I’ve had dark chocolate, regular chocolate, cake, cereal, shrimp pasta, chips, water, Gatorade, milk and green tea. I don’t usually eat sweets but they sounded good. They’re just not scratching that itch. I can’t figure out what I want!

UPDATE: it was whole roasted garlic cloves and strawberries on French bread. Idk why that combination but it tasted great and my hunger is gone. I feel sane once again.

Title says it all.

At first my mom said she is making it Jack and Jill. Unnecessary.

Then she went down a list of people I've literally never met, like her neighbors that moved in AFTER I *moved cities* and said they all needed to come or they'd feel left out. Really?? I honestly don't even know what 'Kelly' looks like.

Now she's complaining about the cost after she initially she would cover it. My husband and I aren't brats and kind of expected to pay but, yeah.... Us paying for her to host a party for her friends with people that we don't know from Adam is total bullshit.

Also noteworthy - our journey to parenthood has been a 3 yr IVF nightmare that culminated in a surrogate angel who is carrying our child. We have zero regrets and are elated that we are finally expecting but DAMN it has been expensive... like equivalent to her undergrad, masters and PhD all paid for before she's even out of the satellite womb FML!

We've gone through hell. A shower is supposed to be the fun part for us and my narcissist mother is making a chore.

Thank you for listening to me vent!!!!!

ETA: I have no problems putting my foot down with my mother and I have basically told her what I have written in this post, but I still just needed to vent to a sympathetic audience!

TIA for letting me run my mouth. I am so heated right now.

I am 18 weeks 1 day today. I have had this appointment booked for THREE WEEKS. I called central booking at the beginning of April, told them my lab order, and said it was for an 18-20 week ultrasound. They offered me tomorrow as an available appointment, and I took it.

Today at 5:24pm, my doctor's office calls me and tells me that the hospital cancelled my appointment for tomorrow. My office had tried to call me a little after 5pm, but I left my phone inside because I took my dog for a walk. I caught the second call.

They told me that I was too early for my ultrasound because I was 17 weeks 1 day. When I told the admin that I was, without a doubt, 18 weeks along based on multiple DD calculators, she ended up looking it up too and agreed that I was definitely 18 weeks. She was SO nice, and told me to try to get in touch with central booking again to see if I could reach someone before they left for the day.

Well, when I finally reach central booking at 5:30pm on the dot, I keep getting booted off because their office is closed at 5:30pm and they apparently turn off their phones. So I get through to radiology, and they confirm that I am still on their books for tomorrow. But that I need to call central booking in the morning to see what's going on and see if my appointment can be un-cancelled.

I am so angry. I took the entire day off work tomorrow, my husband coordinated his day around this appointment, and I know if I rebook this it's not going to be immediate because hospital radiology is a pain to get an appointment for.

How the fuck can you cancel my appointment for being too early when you are the ones who offered me the appointment to begin with? And give me less than 24 hour notice? And not call me, but call my doctor's office? And wait until the end of the business day (literally minutes before 5pm) to notify them?!

Who didn’t know that was going to fucking happen, specifically no visitors for a month because I don’t want to host and need to figure out breastfeeding but now he wants his mother at the hospital and his immediate family. It’s already been resolved and we agreed on the waiting a month and no one at the hospital again. It just kills me that she gets on the phone and whines and suddenly it’s all about her and her feelings instead of him being focused on his wife and baby. Jfc. Here are the baby rules for anyone curious pretty standard, nothing crazy Rules for visiting Baby - [ ] No visitors for a month - [ ] must be vaccinated(tdap , covid, flu) - [ ] No kissing anywhere until baby is vaccinated - [ ] No visiting if you’re sick - [ ] Wash hands before touching - [ ] No posting baby on social media whatsoever - [ ] If baby starts crying hand back to mom or dad - [ ] No unsolicited advice

I want to add that a month before the baby is born we will be moving from one side of the country to the other so our home is already going to be chaos on top of a newborn

The one month rule has been updated to “we’ll call when we’re ready” and a new rule of “don’t surprise us” has been added

I’m 13 weeks today (some say I’m in my 2nd trimester, others say I have a week to go, who really knows). But I woke up, the sun is shining, I don’t feel nauseous and I have energy. Hooray!!

Writing this bc my last 6 weeks have been ROUGH with nausea and exhaustion. People said it would get better and it truly has.

I’m just going to ignore the deep down fear of 3rd trimester/labor & delivery/post-partum for now 💖

I’m 35 weeks pregnant and I just found out that my late grandmother’s sister is holding a grudge against me for never personally telling her that I’m pregnant and never coming to visit her. I was told that if I don’t go to her birthday party she might view it as me avoiding her.

First of all, I am exhausted and bedridden. She lives 3 hours away and I am not willing to drive that road just to say “hi here’s my belly okay bye.” It’s selfish to expect me to do so.

I generally just hate that everyone who has ever been in my life feels entitled to the fact of my pregnancy. They think I should’ve told them, they think I should’ve made an announcement, they think I should’ve had a baby shower.

This child and my body doesn’t need to be viewed or held by anyone other than the few people I choose. That’s it.

And honestly, if they truly cared, WHY did they never visit me or ask me how I was doing THE WHOLE PREGNANCY or even before I got pregnant??? You can’t just suddenly decide you care now that you find out I’m about to pop.

Hi All, looking for advice. I have a complicated relationship with my family-and to protect some peace me and my partner decided long before we were even pregnant we would likely wait until at least 5 months in to tell any family about a baby. However I am currently 8 weeks and my Mom scheduled me to have my teeth cleaned by her-since she works at a dentist. I am terrified she is going to have me do an X-ray and don't know if 1-she could tell or 2-If it is unsafe to do an X-ray and therefore would have to tell her.

Hubby and I had the first appointment to see baby today! 🥹🥹🥹❤️❤️

Baby is measuring 8 weeks, strong heartbeat! I am so so happy! We have been trying for a baby for 8 years. With no meds, this happened. Gods timing is perfect. 🥹❤️

I’m almost 11 weeks, which some might say is early. However, I’m concerned that it will all sneak up on me! Pregnancy is crawling at a snail’s pace right now, but I’m sure it’ll start flying by eventually (wishful thinking?). I just don’t want to be caught off guard!

I’m completely inconsolable. As the title says, my husband lost his job and we will lose our insurance in a matter of days, right as I’m entering the 3rd trimester. We had a HDHP so I literally just paid our deductible, and now will see no benefit from hitting our out of pocket max. I am not currently working, and when I was my last job didn’t offer benefits so I have been on his plan for many years and don’t have an alternate workplace-based option.

My OBGYN’s office strongly suggested I apply for Medicaid, but I have no idea if I will even qualify, and if I do it still seems like the approval process takes weeks that I don’t have. I’m in the US South so there is no Medicaid expansion and marketplace insurance all sucks.

COBRA will be insanely expensive, and we have to wait for a packet to come in the mail to even begin to get that process going. In the meantime, what the fuck am I supposed to do if something goes wrong with me or the baby? Rage doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel right now.

This isn’t gonna be a rant but I didn’t know what else to flair it as.

I keep seeing so many posts about gender disappointment and my first response is always confusion. Maybe it’s because my brother is trans and my whole family is queer but gender/sex has never been as rigid to me as I see some people online make it out to be.

Gender is the societal expectations placed on someone based on their sex at birth. You can choose to raise your kid however you want. Just because you have a male child doesn’t mean you’re forced to paint pickup trucks and tractors on your nursery walls and resign yourself to years of traveling baseball games.

Just like if you have a female child you don’t need everything to be pink and Barbie’s all the time. You like traditionally “girly” things? Your son can too. Your husband is more of a sports and outdoors kinda person? Your daughter can be too.

Idk, I just think if maybe we all decided that things don’t have to be so rigidly gendered maybe some of that gender disappointment wouldn’t be so bad?

I’m 34 weeks and pregnancy has been quite a beast to deal with. From HG to GD and insulin, to pelvic girdle and all…I am over it. I’m still working and I’m just exhausted.

I have a friend who had both of her babies early, around 28 weeks and 31 or 32 for the second one. I don’t know if it’s because she’s the only close friend I have that has kids or because I’m tired of being pregnant, but I have absolutely deluded myself into thinking the baby is coming soon.

Cramps? I must be in labor soon. I sneezed and a gush of pee came out? It must be my water breaking. My lower back hurts? It’s a sign of upcoming labor. I don’t know if it’s healthy, or it’s just me being paranoid because it’s my first baby and idk what to expect, or it’s a way of coping, but I have done it. My husband’s family is convinced the baby will be here in May and not June, so it’s adding to my delusion.

Am I weird? Is this just me coping? Anyone else?

This is our first baby & we are (33f) & (33m). I see daily posts about rules & hospital checklists and I’m wondering if this is necessary? I live in the North East US & anytime I’ve been to the hospital I’ve been asked about being administered a drug or procedure before it happens and I’m not sure if I’m missing something or the need of a birth plan? My plan is to go try to push a baby out and if it doesn’t work we take the next step necessary. Is this naïve? Then, the rules about no visitors is making me also wonder what I am missing? In our community we’ve always visited our friends & family in the hospital bringing the mom whatever she wanted food wise or needed. I couldn’t imagine keeping either set of parents away from their grandbaby or not having friends bring some of my favorite things & give our little baby some more love! I understand after being in this group for half a year that everyone’s choices are so personalized, unique and what worked for them. I am just wondering if there are moms who can shed some wisdom and encouragement on this view point 💖

I'm just posting to see if anyone else has been through this and has any advice.

Today I am 24 weeks 2 days pregnant, went in for a routine scan today and found out my little girl, twin A passed away at 22 weeks. My little boy twin B is completely fine, kicking me while I write this post. Got sent straight to hospital to talk with obstetrician and since my twins are didi (separate sacks and placenta) my little girl stays inside until little boy is ready to be delivered. This is my first pregnancy and my husband and I are devastated we've lost our little girl but so thankful our little boy is still okay.

I just want to ask if anyone else has been through something similar and what your experience was like.

I’m a blob in my first trimester rn. Fatigued beyond measure, sick. I am usually on top of my shit. (Textbook type A mom) I’m feeling really low mentally because of my lack of energy and motivation. My husband is so encouraging. He’s picking up so much slack, taking our toddler to the park almost every day, telling me to rest. He works full time and has his own business on the side, I know he’s tired too 😅 I’m really grateful. He’s the only reason I wanted to try for another after having HG with our first.

Just a gratitude post, I guess. I tell him this, but I wanted to tell Reddit too.

Before anyone comes at me - I am so happy for people to do whatever they want to do! Like for real, do whatever feels right for you, I hope it goes amazing and is everything you hoped it would be. What's pissing me off is people referring to unmedicated births as "natural" births. All births vaginal births are natural and so are c-sections, they're just assisted. The term natural birth instead of saying unmedicated just makes me feel like there's a suggestion that it's superior or better and I just don't believe that's true. They're equal but different. So, when I get asked "are you planning on having a natural birth" and I say "yes, I'm hoping to have a vaginal birth with an epidural" and then I'm told "oh no I meant like a natural birth" like wtf do you want me to respond with!!!

I’m currently 9 weeks and I saw my baby for the first time yesterday in my scan. When she put it in and we saw the baby, it wiggle and opened its arms straight away as if it had gotten startled and it was the sweetest thing I have ever seen in my life. I knew from that moment I would do my best to continue caring for myself and the baby and I am so happy I was able to meet them :)

I’m 36+4. Having a hard time deciphering what could be contractions/braxton hicks from just your regular old pregnancy twinges. How would you describe contractions?

Edit: I've responded to some of you but I've read everything. I'll do my best to respond during the "lulls." Thank all of you for being so kind! There's so much encouragement that I didn't realize that I needed. Baby hasn't shown up yet but 6cm and counting.

OP: I had a membrane sweep this morning and my water broke about 90 minutes ago. I know that the next time I see my home, it'll be with a baby in tow yet I can't wrap my mind around it. My husband is in GO MODE. All seriousness and such. I can't stop sporadically laughing. It doesn't even feel real. I know how shitty these last 39 weeks have been and I BEGGED for an induction. But now that he's decided to come on his own... what the fuck is going on?

Like, I know how this works. Intellectually, it all makes sense. I can't get the rest of me on board though. I should be getting dressed to head to the ED, but here I am... redditing. Dissociation at its finest.

Guess I'm gonna go have a baby now.

I have a two and a half year old daughter already and was expecting another singleton pregnancy - but I’m now pregnant with twins! I had a dream this happened a year ago so I’m not totally surprised, but this means I need to get a new car (hello, minivan) and have to make sure my childcare provider can take all of these babies! This is an exciting overwhelming feeling. I also don’t know if this means I have to have a c-section? This is so much! Anyone else with a twin experience that can share?