The woman in the hospital next to me had a THREE-DAY pitocin-induced labor with no epidural because she wanted to keep it as natural as possible.c and eventually had to get a c-section anyways. Three days of pitocin and no epidural seems like it should be outlawed by the Geneva Conventions.

Yeah, it will hurt so much that you will not care about poop or anything else, but the pain is temporary. And when you hold your baby, you will forget all about what just happened. Otherwise, there would be no second children.

Thank you for this comment. No one in my friend group has teens, so it's hard for me to find points of view from that perspective. The pervasive social message is that teens are a disaster, so I'm glad to hear that you've had a good experience.

Thing is, you just never ever know. I was a teacher before I had kids and loooooved kids so much, but thought babies and toddlers were boring. Then I had babies and loved babies the most. And as they got older, I always thought they were the best age. Now they are teenagers and I still think that. So glad I don't have…

My ex and I split when our son is 4. We are very fortunate that we have an amicable relationship and a pretty fair custody schedule that allows our son to spend lots of time with both of us. So when it has been a particularly difficult week, you bet I'm like, "BYE! Love you, have fun with dad!!" and then I laugh…

I currently have a 9 month old baby who I love and wanted very badly. I did all of the readings, got slightly better about my diet, and prepared in every way possible. I was 110% ready for this kid, even the fact that she was arriving a full 3 weeks early didn't bother me. Still, I can't actually remember holding her…

My son was a pretty easy baby and honestly a pretty easy toddler. While I loved babyhood, the toddler years made me crazy. He was like a tiny little fascist saying words that made no sense. He was a total slave to his emotional whims, as all toddlers are, and I just found him to be a complete enigma. And then he…

"I love him with breathtaking fierceness" is the best description of what I've got for my little bitty. Thanks.

I've heard people say that there is never a 'right' time to have kids. There will always be something there that'll make you think "Hold up a second". But if you are able to support children and really want one, you should do it! Life will always throw you curve balls, with or without kids.

I went through hell to have my son. I love him with breathtaking fierceness. He is, without a doubt, my favorite person on this earth. And even with all that parenting is hard and confusing and exhausting. Because of my own childhood I have worked really hard to give my son a foundation of love, trust, and security.…

Truthfully I have always loved my son, but as he has grown I like him more and more. His toddler years were difficult for both of us and then he turned six, it was like a wonderful gift.

Idaho? Really? I'll just assume this car trip originated in Florida.

If you need to eat one bean per month to survive, yes, it's a great deal. If you have a normal human appetite, not so much. Also their bread tastes like fucking crusty cardboard.

If your 3-year old understood your explanation for the punishment, why don't you just tell her what she did is wrong without the spanking? Your argument seems to be that your child is smart enough to process the explanation for being punished like that but not smart enough to understand it without the punishing. You…

"Every once in a while, a spanking is necessary."

Shit, I don't beat my kids but I need all the advice I can get. Please do tell me how to raise my kids because the little fuckers didn't come with a user's manual.

I've started to notice the people that say "Don't tell me how to raise my kids!" are the exact people that need to be told how to raise their kids.