I love you so much for this. I've been obsessively trying to find long term studies on preemies of various ages, making myself nuts. Today we got everything set up, just in case.

I’m not on bed rest, but I’m supposed to avoid physical activities. Of course, the blood pressure meds make me super groggy so that’s helping me stay quiet. I got another borderline reading this morning, but I’m not too worried yet. They can triple this dosage before I have to talk about IV meds and by then hopefully…

I'm 31 weeks now, and 34 is our goal. But man, if I could get this kid into mid-late June that would be spectacular. This is my third, but the first with this father, which apparently makes a difference. The other two, no issues. This kid, ALL the problems.

We always say thank you. Even regular chores, we say thank you. I don't know if it makes a difference for long term, but I like being thanked for stuff. :)

I dream of that day in my own life. Way to go, you!

Not entirely on my own merits, but after two weeks of flirting with hospital admission for preeclampsia, the doctor put me on blood pressure meds and they started working today. 117/77! We’re looking to make it to June, and this gives us a fighting chance.

Exactly. Lazy storytelling, lazy writing. Work harder.

Indeed, although the goal is always to encourage analytical thinking if possible. :)

These aren't hard discussions. I've had these conversations with my kids, and the little one is 8. She seems to mostly get it. People who whine about this are either not having ANY substantive discussions with their kids or (more likely) are using that argument as a way to justify keeping their kids in a bubble of…

I’ve managed it a couple of times. :)

We really have to stop comparing things that aren't genocide to genocide. This is a terrible argument, and it's insulting to everyone involved. Exercising your right to bodily autonomy does not make you a participant in genicide. Also, I think even the nazis would be like, cmon.

The problem is I live in a southern state and to ship in the summer I have to pay for the ice pack shipping, which always feels excessive and then I talk myself out of it. Like...do you really need this? Is there no candy locally available you can substitute for it?

That’s my reading on it as well. Also it made me want See’s which is not available in my state. Curses!

I really hate that feeling, though, of impotent rage without even a plan. I’m interested in seeing how this plays out in Ferguson. At the least, maybe we’ll get some data points on things that helped and things that failed. It's not much, but it's better than nothing.

Yeah. I got involved with the guy I’m married to now. I mostly didn’t go looking for dates, because time and energy were at a premium, but I told myself not to ignore the possibility if it came. When he asked me out, I was dubious because he was not like any other guy I’d dated but given that my marriage was terrible,…

What’s your idea for a solution? This issue with the cops is so pervasive and overwhelming. I haven’t heard anyone with a plan to fix it. I’ve got nothing. It’s so frustrating to me, because all the protests and analysis is only addressing the first stage of the problem, right? People have to see the problem,…

Yep, that's my take. He's good at bland words. But only a truly dumb or delusional person wouldn't realize how big of a mess he's facing, and he doesn't seem to be either. I'm going to go with cautious optimism on this.

I don’t know how any of this works. They still lose the funding while the lawsuit is ongoing, right? Otherwise, I’m not seeing where the pressure point is.

I was a single mom for about three years. I’ve had a hard life, but those were the hardest years I’ve ever had. Harder than my poverty/abusive childhood, harder than working my way through college, harder than the abusive marriage. I don't think there's any way for people who haven't done it to realize the amount of…

My first delivery was fairly easy, but the labor was crazy long. The second was both short and easy. It can be done.