The (NOT SO) Skinny Girl

 So the title of this post is a little misleading if you don't have some background info. 3 MILLENIAL WOMEN, in very different places in their lives- both literally and figuratively- walk into a bar... sort of.  This past week, despite Covid-19 still looming, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with two of my best friends. All in our 30s, all living in different states, all leading very different lifestyles. The two  East Coast gals rode together to the very start of the 'Mid West' to re-unite with the 3rd... it had probably been years since the 3 of us were together like this.  Just a little background info on the 3 women, to set the scene J1- 33, lives in NJ with her husband, daughter (2), baby #2 on the way, and dog. Has a bachelor's degree, owns her own business and works for herself, joint owns a house and car with her immigrant hubby who does white collar work in the budding cannabis industry (pun intended). J2- 32, lives in Mass. Never married, has 2...

When you are pregnant, everyone realizes- KNOWS- that you are giving up your body for another. Your body will change. You will probably gain weight, lose bone density, gain longer more luxurious locks, and lose your abs.Your whole shape may change, with wider hips and bigger (often saggier) boobs. But post birth, your body doesn't just snap back. It takes weeks, months, YEARS. Not just for your tummy, but your hips area, your boob area, your back, your ankles. Immediately, I felt the pain of the epidural. It's 10.5 months down the road, and sometimes I still do. It's getting much better. It was pretty bad for the first 6 months. My back hurt all the time as I hunched over, breastfeeding. As I bent to lift the carrier or a sock off the ground.  After 2 months, my scar was healed, but it was far from gone. It was(is) still slightly red, a glaring reminder that they cut me to save my baby. I could still feel it up until probably 6 months.  My feet were swollen for 3 wee...

I didn't used to be proud to say I was a Girl Scout- not while I was in middle or high school, at least. When you were in kindergarten, everyone joined up, did it until maybe 3rd grade. Then you started weeding out the sports people because practice and games got in the way. . . because sports earn big scholarships. Mind you, I was able to do Girl Scouts AND play sports, but that's just me. I missed a year somewhere, I want to say 8th grade when I went to a different school? So I fell behind in my scouting. But I joined back up in high school in the hopes of earning an award. I succeeded in earning a Silver Award, the second highest honor the Girl scouts had. I was unable to cram 2 years worth of work into one senior year of high school, so I opted not to go for the Gold Award. However, the Silver Award padded my college applications well enough. While in college, I worked for the local Girl Scout Council at a summer camp as a counselor, making a difference in young girl...

Preface- I work for a Vet hospital that has been opened for 30 years, and owned by my current boss for about 9. The current "team" has been around for about a year. The doctor told me if I have concerns I should speak up. HERE WE GO: TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK Our hospital is not a well-oiled machine that runs smoothly, but it can be. Years of experience in offices and managing facilities leaves me to be very frustrated with the willy nilly way this establishment operates, and I can see that Doc is frustrated too. Currently, we consistently let things fall through the cracks and do not think outside the box for the betterment of the practice or ourselves as individuals.   I’ve found some things that I think need to be addressed: Communication -           We have shift change sheets, use them. Put too much info if you feel inclined. Do not be afraid to put something (if you truly are afraid/worried, provide a detailed reaso...

I'm online shopping right now, and I know that it's a normal thing to see a few outrageous designs or fashion choices. But today, all of a sudden, I realize one of my favorite stores is subliminally messaging me through fashion, through clothing. Clothing- which is a necessity to humans, that necessity- has now become the platform for political statements. I can't help but roll my eyes and say "Nope, would never buy that" or "who buys this stupid shit?" or "REALLY?". Like, why are clothing stores making a political agenda into "fashion"? The stuff isn't even that fashionable, but then again some dimwit (Connie Briton) at some "Hollywood Night Out" event wore a 'Poverty is Sexist' sweater that cost $380... totally nailed her point. The sad part is, some of this politically charged 'fashion' is very divisive. It's lifting up one to put down another. Let me show you some of the dumb shit. I choose t...

So, as you can tell from my blog there is a theme lately. Infertility.  1 in 8 couples (or 12% of married women) have trouble getting pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy, per the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth by the CDC. 7.4 million women, or 11.9% of women, have ever received any infertility services in their lifetime. Couples ages 29-33 with normal functioning reproductive systems have only a 20-25% chance of conceiving in any given month, per the National Women’s Health Resource Center. After six months of trying, 60% of couples will conceive without medical assistance- that number is from 1997. 20 years later, even that statistic is out of range- #1 being that people are all waiting longer to start having children (thus they are older) and are having more issues and more time spent trying before conception. Case in point, my husband and I are 31 and 32 respectively... we started 'trying' at 28 and 29. Currently at the 2.5 YEARS mark of TRYING. When I was not...

My Intro to NaPro Technology... the bioLOGICAL path for those struggling to concieve. A few weeks ago I randomly met a woman who may potentially change the course of my 'trying to conceive' journey. After I got done working at the farm, I decided to go to the MedExpress because I hadn't been feeling good all day. I checked in and waited for an eternity to be called back. Finally a smiling and friendly nurse called me back to begin my exam. She asked me about my symptoms and took my vitals. She was intrigued when I told her I was having pain that was either my kidney or my ovary. She asked me why I thought it was that. I told her I have many instances of either kidney stones, kidney infections, or ovarian cysts rupturing. She started to ask me about my cycle to see if she could rule that out. I showed her my ovulation tracking app, and she asked me how long I had been tracking. I told her 2.5 years of tracking and TTC, so thus my cycles are pretty regular and I'm kind...

I use the "Glow Fertility- ovulation/period tracker" app, I have been a 'member' of the Glow community for about 2 years now. I have learned that there is something called the 2WW (not to be confused with WW2)- the two week wait. So, the way I understand it is- women who are trying to conceive should wait 2 weeks after projected or confirmed ovulation to take a pregnancy test. 2 weeks. Assuming that 14 days post ovulation is time enough to see if you've gotten the deed done and if the oven's got the bun. So this month I decided to look at my "ovulation date"- which was confirmed by a very painful ovulation- and calculate the exact # of days from that day to the day my period was due to arrive. 15 days projected, it arrived in 16 days. All of the ladies who are looking for support during the 2WW say things like "When is it too early to test, I just can't wait the 14 days I want to know now". Multiply that by like, 100 people. Oooor, ...

Honestly, I get so much 'feels' from internet trolls. They really feed this blog. Here we go: Actress Jessica Chastain has a few thoughts on how the world creates harmful boundaries for young women (via Channel 4 News). "Society trains women to be quiet and grateful, and we need to push away from that brainwashing. In our society, women are raised to think they can't be politicians, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, filmmakers. We are born as little girls thinking we can do whatever we want and society teaches us and shows us otherwise by eliminating examples of women in the media." "It was shocking to me that after the first debate... people were critiquing Hillary Clinton saying she was overprepared for the debate. Men have never been called over prepared. I would like the leader of the nation to be over prepared for the job... I think it really dives into how confronting it is for some people to see a woman who is over prepared- let's just say prepared ...