Let's be honest, aside from 10 minute convos with your doctor during the prenatal period, you're mostly dealing with nurses until the show's about to start.

Are you sure about that? Maybe I've got my terms mixed up and you're referring to something else, but I'm pretty sure you have to be a medical professional to practice midwifery legally in the US.

As much as I support midwifery and "natural" birth (seriously, such a stupid term for it...)... I'm even more in favor of women doing what they choose to do. Right on!

My birth experience was complicated because my kid decided to bail out 3 months early (no worries, she's a happy and healthy and incredible toddler now).

Even if you're insured, you will likely have to pay for something. My situation was special because my daughter came 3 months early, but the actual birth part itself came out to under $1000 after insurance. The total bill for her NICU care (2 months, only 1 "complication") & everything was around $450,000, which came…

People that I'm on friendly terms with tend to use my nickname. People using my full name either don't know me at all, or are very, very intimate with me (and by intimate, I mean either they are immediate family or they're one of 2-3 friends of mine that may as well be family).

You're not alone. I like to think that I'm a decent enough person that I don't judge people cruelly and refuse to change my opinion of them as I get to know them better - but it's really hard not to roll my eyes when I hear that someone has named their child after their favorite brand of whiskey or if they…

That's a very good point - "cute" names are great... but eventually it's going to belong to an adult! I think my daughter's name translates very well to adulthood and old age.

Haha, yeah, you really can't win. :) I've been lucky so far with my daughter's name, I guess. Haven't heard of anyone who chose the same - but we're not in school, yet! I've been seeing lots of Olivias, Sophia/es, Avas, and beer/booze related names like Jameson, Stella, etc.

Well, mine was born in 2013 and her name isn't showing any signs of trending, yet. Her name hit its peak popularity in the 50s (still not in a top 10-0 for popularity) and has been kind of on the decline. There was a spike in popularity around 10 years ago, but not a big one. It's actually kind of surprising now that…

Baby name picking can be tough. My baby came super early, and I was really thankful that I'd pestered my husband (who was like, We can wait until we're a month away! *snort*) into picking some options with me early.

I'm certainly not disagreeing with you - but I can personally say that I had neighbors that gloated openly about their abuse of multiple systems (food aid, disability, etc.). I know you have no reason to trust that I'm being honest and objective, but I will point out anyway that I have heard them joking and laughing…

My age is hard to peg because I look quite young, but I don't act my age, apparently. When I'm out with my in-laws, people typically assume that my husband, kids, and me are all HER children - mostly because she's in fantastic shape and also because I look like a teenager at first glance.

My closest friend is named Sarah Elizabeth and I wanted to name my daughter for her... but she strongly opposed it because she said she hates her name! I tended to agree with you that it doesn't strike me as being super popular now, but I wasn't going to disrespect her wishes!

Oh, I'm sure that's true. I have an "old" name, but I always liked it... and it's not like a name that sounds "right" for an elderly person - like I associate names like "Agnes" and "Edith" with elderly people...

I feel like 99% of the time, it's all about tone of voice. But mine does recognize certain words/phrases no matter how I say it.

The thing is, my dog isn't really stupid. She picks up tricks fairly well and can be downright devious in the pursuit of food... but she looks very, very stupid and she has moments (like running into walls, eating a razor blade, etc.) that just make me stare at her like, "how did evolution produce this?"

Not gonna lie, I purposely avoid "popular" names because I always felt bad for the Sarahs and Kaylas and Lindseys.

I was on the phone with a friend describing my dog and sadly murmured, "she's as dumb as a tree stump!"

I bought my wedding dress for $30 off the rack at a department-ish store. I was looking for a swimsuit coverup, and saw the white peeking out from the clearance section. Though I'm usually a size 2, this dress ran particularly small and it fit me beautifully. I bought it that day and my mother's response was, "Oh,…