Seriously. Why does he need to talk about anyone’s gender or anatomy at work? It’s clearly taking up too much of his mental space.

That’s interesting, I hadn’t heard that before. My water broke first and then labor began. It was an extremely long day of contractions with an un-cushioned baby!

There are many medications that are safe to take while breastfeeding. I struggled with PPA and PPD, and was on meds for that while breastfeeding (under the guidance of a doctor, of course).

I’m in my 40s, I don’t think I could handle the heat or the rides at Magic Mountain now!

Totally! I clearly remember the first few weeks/months postpartum. I struggled with PPD/PPA like Morgan. I was exhausted and miserable.

Thankfully, I got professional help for the PPD/PPA and my husband/family provided a lot of support while I was recovering. I also decided not to have any more kids. I wish Morgan believed in getting help for her mental health, for the sake of her kids.

85 isn’t hot for California generally, but it feels a lot hotter in the park due to the blacktop, crowds, and lack of shade.

The sun is much more intense at Disneyland than in NorCal. We moved to Orange County from Sunnyvale, and the intensity of the sun in summer down here is shocking.

Also the amount of pavement, lack of shade, and crowds can make it feel much hotter than the measured temperature.

Yep, this is my go-to as well, it’s easy to carry several packets and add them to your water throughout the day. I like Liquid IV.

Magic Mountain in the summer is brutal! I went all the time as a teenager. It’s so hot and there’s so much asphalt.

My sister and I don’t look alike very much, but that didn’t stop my mom from mislabeling a ton of our baby photos 😂

My doctor asks her pregnant patients to make a decision about birth control before they give birth, so that the prescription can be filled when they’re in the hospital. If you’re getting an IUD, they can place it after delivery. She said it’s too hard for patients to make a decision about it right after they give birth, most will say they’ll decide later but then don’t (because they’re busy taking care of a baby!)

Pretty much the same situation for me - got diagnosed and medicated where I used to live by a psychiatrist that actually talked to me. Moved to a new area and had to go through the process again. This time, it was a computer test and questionnaires. No surprise, I focused well on the computer test because I mask well and I was medicated. The questionnaires were the ones they use to diagnose kids! They ignored all of my answers and focused on my mom’s answers. I was 40 at the time and my mom was 78.

Things they said when telling me I didn’t have ADHD: - you would have been diagnosed as a child - your mom would have noticed (she also has undiagnosed ADHD!) - people with undiagnosed ADHD don’t graduate from college - it’s trendy to get diagnosed with ADHD now - lots of people struggled during the pandemic, that’s what happened to you, too

My baby used to hide food in her diaper as a little game. The first time we found it, we were rather surprised.

Yeah, same. If I watch a TV show or podcast, I’ll often end up imitating the accents unintentionally. I’m more aware of it when I’m around other people and try to monitor myself to make sure I don’t do it out loud.

Thank you! I’m happy to hear that you appreciate your autistic friends and the ways our minds work.

I’m proud to be autistic - there’s nothing wrong with my brain, it just works a little differently. It makes me awesome at my job, which requires attention to detail, creativity, technical knowledge, and people skills.

And we all know vaccines don’t cause autism. But if they did, I’d much rather be autistic than be dead!

Yep! Our kid had croup in the winter, they recommended that we take her outside into the cold air to help with the cough.

RSV is scary because it’s so common and it makes some kids (and adults) so sick! The odds are that your kid will get it and you don’t know if it will be mild or serious.

Give me all the vaccines!

Yep, I also mask in indoor spaces (thanks, Long COVID) and will take all the vaccines they’ll give me.

I’m already autistic, maybe I’ll get more autistic? /s

That was my plan, but the sleep deprivation made my eyes super dry. I ended up wearing glasses all the time!

My mom and I watched a show on Flomarching last night. She didn’t believe me that the Scouts were the Scouts because there were women on the field. I was like “you’ve missed some changes in the past few years!”

Yep! I work at a research university and hospital. The lack of masks or any covid mitigation is shocking. There were a lot of efforts in the beginning because they knew an outbreak among the undergrad population would look extremely bad. But once the university returned to regular operations, most people acted like there was zero risk.

I’m lucky that I’ve been able to work remotely. On the rare occasions that I am on campus, I mask, but I’m usually the only one.

Yep, I’ve had biopsies of my cervix and uterus. Not fun, but absolutely better than forgoing the test and hoping for the best.

Oh yeah, my baby used to kick me in the face while she nursed. It started out as cute little taps, but she got strong.

I’m so sorry he told you that. He should have gone to a therapist to work through this situation and never told you about it. It should be his burden to bear, not yours.

I was with my college boyfriend for seven years. Everyone thought we would get married eventually. There were a few big life milestones where I thought he would propose, but instead he would ask for space and we’d take a break.

During one of those breaks, I met my now-husband and never looked back.