Just wanted to clarify! I admire you being open to learning about this stuff; so many people just jump to conclusions where these things are concerned.

There are hand pumps, but most people I know use the machine pumps. I rented one from the hospital and it was about 9 lbs and was, oh...maybe around the size of a small boombox? I can't think of a good size comparison unfortunately. But they do vary a lot, I think.

I wouldn't say they're necessarily extremely slow, it could be my boobs were extremely slow, lol. It took FOREVER to empty them of milk. It might be more like 5-10 minutes for some person with a more functional pair of breasts. Also Affordable Care Act requires insurance to cover breast pump rental now, so I think a…

Well pumping takes like 20-40 minutes (at least in my experience). So that's 20-40 minutes of precariously sitting atop a toilet lid if you're lucky and the office toilet has a lid. It's also a large, very expensive machine so you need some kind of stable, flat surface to place it on. So where exactly would this be…

Well vaccines aren't 100% effective for every single individual which is one of the many reasons that herd immunity is so important. So there very well could have been only a few unvaccinated folks incubating it and then spreading it to those who didn't have fully effective antibodies.

Vaccines are pretty widely available and frequently free/very cheap. Between local health departments and free vaccine clinics, they are very available. This is one issue we actually have covered pretty damn well in this country.

You're definitely gonna want the DTaP booster. They are recommending getting it every 5-10 years because unfortunately that's a vaccine that just doesn't last very long, and between people not vaccinating their kids and adults not getting the boosters, it's creating pertussis outbreaks in some areas. I'm not sure…

Depends - is the cat latched on with claws or teeth? But picking up the baby would definitely be my go-to option in all scenarios if it was possible. I love my cats and wouldn't want to harm them unnecessarily.

Yes, with some extra cute semi-professional photos and a very euphemistic description. "This big guy is very feisty and playful! He didn't always get along with children in his last home so we recommend a child-free home only."

I love my cats just slightly less than I love my own child, but if they were hurting my toddler, I would do whatever necessary to get it to stop. If one of them was harming the other I would do the same. If my kid was hurting the cats, well, I can just pick him up, and he doesn't have sharp claws and teeth, so…

I've worked many minimum wage jobs in my life and have been treated like garbage in those jobs more times than I care to count. My parents were working class and so always tipped well and kept their six kids in line in public, and I learned a lot from their example. The booth thing is really smart...when my kids are…

What the FUCK? That makes me so, so angry. One time one of my kid's grandparents put my toddler down and let him walk around for like two seconds and I just about took her head off. It was a very empty restaurant and he didn't get far, but I snapped, man! I cannot stand kids wandering around a restaurant. It's like…

I always tip 25% with my messy toddler and I haven't gotten any complaints. I'm also exceedingly nice and I pick up to the best of my ability (gathering dirty napkins, stacking plates where I can, picking up the big pieces of stuff off the floor). I don't want to make their lives harder.

Aside from all the obvious, huge problems with this shoot, can I just say that they all look totally fucking stupid?

Hahaha. I was just thinking of Barb while reading this. Poor Barb.

Yeah, I have strong features (the big, dark eyes, dark, thick brows, prominent nose, etc) and I grow into my looks a little more every year. My mom has many of the same features and now in her early 50s she looks freaking awesome.

Basically they make horrid clothes full of bedazzling and sequins, market it poorly, make it very hard to find, and then say "welp, no one is buying it, I guess plus-sized women don't care about shopping in a store and we just can't make any money!"

I loathe cigarette smoke and these things don't bother me one bit. This is complete bullshit and I'm sorry. :(

It's all been deleted from Facebook at this point, threads on Mothering about it have been deleted, the midwife who was actually overseeing all of it first denied it and deleted a lot of evidence about her responsibility...so yeah, I would say that it's at least an attempt at a coverup, because people in the future…

Yeah. I'm not 100% anti-homebirth (though it definitely wouldn't be my choice), but holy shit. That stuff is terrifying. A baby died breathing in its own shit in a dry amniotic sac so that some cocky midwife could prove that "babies don't have due dates like library books" makes me sick in my soul.