#Pros and Cons of Inducing Labor

[ceratosaurtalks]

While I'm working on my Honduran Milks bioactive, I did wanna take the time to talk about Links Bioactive. Link is my overweight[He's working on it! <3] Male Emergency re-home Ball Python. I typically avoid this species, but he's been a fantastic little Unicorn for me. So lets talk about Link's enclosure and how it works! Link is in a 4ft x 2ft x 2ft PVC Enclosure- this is the *minimum* size this species requires to thrive. His substrate is made up of a layer of perlite sitting at the bottom of his enclosure, this layer of perlite acts as a drainage layer. This drainage layer, which catches excess water that seeps through the substrate. It also helps with catching potentially bad bacteria, and helps with your plants roots! The rest of the substrate sitting ontop of that layer of perlite is a mix of Ecogro organic topsoil, Coco fiber, and Sphagnum moss. I cannot stress this enough, but if you choose to do a bio-active enclosure PLEASE be sure to choose a organic substrate!! Fertilized substrate can be toxic to your animal, this includes manure-based fertilizers. To promote healthy growth, I choose to use Coco fiber and Sphagnum Moss. The Coco fibe[Coco peat] Is a safer way to promote healthy soil for both your plant, and your animals, while the Sphagnum Moss is fantastic at holding water and Nutrients for your plants. The arguably biggest and most important part of this enclosure is the cleanup crew. Your cleanup crew will break down decaying plant matter and your animals feces and return it to the soil, as well as cleaning bacteria growth. Bio-actives cannot function in the long-run without a cleanup crew. The cleanup crew I chose consist of Dairy Cow isopods[Porcellio laevis], and Temperate Springtails[Collembola sp.]. You can Mix-and match your Isopods and Springtails as long as its a species that can tolerate the humidity and temps your animal requires, HOWEVER! Its important to note your Isopod species. I chose not to mix Isopods in this enclosure as Dairy cows are kinda known for being aggressive. For plants, ball Pythons are incredibly Bulldozery animals and will trample much of your flora. Needing hardy plants that could survive being trampled and occasionally uprooted was a must for him, and after thought and research, I ended up settling on these: Golden Pothos, Snake plants, and Jade Pothos. Some just overall incredibly hardy plants that, since having them, I've found fantastic success with surviving Links night-time pathing and assaults. I also have a Philodendron [Monstera adansonii,] in there, providing cover and clutter around and over his hot hide. I'm proud of this plant surviving so far, to say I added it with a specific reason would be a goddamn lie lmao I just loved how cool it looked. The fact it's survived and adapted for as long as it has is a miracle in of itself, and I wish great health amongst this trooper of a plant. I deep water once a week to keep my plants healthy and the soil moist enough for my isopods to thrive, with occasional spraying staggered through the week. Overall, this is how Links Bioactive tank is settup! Is this the only way to set up a Bioactive tank? Certainly not! There's plenty of ways you can setup a Bioactive. Does your animal absolutely NEED a bioactive enclosure? For a lot of animals that answers going to be no! It doesn't. Bio-active vs Non-bio-actives have their pros and cons that, maybe Ill ramble about in a later post. And probably talk on what a Bioactive even is and go into much more detail than I did here about how it works. But I chose Bioactive personally because the long-term upkeep is less costly and labor-inducing, and I just love the looks of them. AndICanHaveAsManyGoddamnIsopodsAsIWant<3

[1000sandwiches]

Tue, Feb 6, 2024

Lately I have become extremely nostalgic for the Web 1.0 era of the internet. It started with me looking at archived Usenet posts via Google Groups, but has turned into me spending hours on the Wayback Machine looking up sites I used to haunt back in the 90s and early 2000s. Stuff like The Gaming Intelligence Agency (which is still up somehow), Elfwood, Toriyama's World, or various rabbit holes from the Anime Web Turnpike. I really miss the days everyone had their own website (I had several if you're wondering. A Flame of Recca fan site, for example). I want to be one of the cool kids and join Neocities in hopes it'll give me a similar vibe, but I haven't done HTML in years and feel a bit intimidated by it. So for now maybe a Tumblr diary will do. So that's what this is, a rambling online diary like the kind I kept as a teenager. It seemed cheaper than therapy.

Rambling about being a new parent and venting about my in-laws below. It's not particularly interesting. Next time I'll just write about video games I'm playing, probably.

I became a dad in November 2023. My emotions and mental health have been sort of all over the place since the day we checked into the hospital. I had always wanted a family of my own, and my wife and I both felt we would regret not having at least one child. I have a lot of insecurities about being a first time father at my age. I'm 38 now, and I just keep thinking about how I'll be 43 when my son is 5, and worry I won't be able to keep up with him. But here we are.

My wife was induced and spent 30 hours in labor before the doctor finally gave us the option for a C-Section. She didn't even hesitate to say yes, honestly just relieved to get it over with. The operation went fine, but apparently I am a lightweight when it comes to gore. Seeing my partner's blood and guts all over the surgeons had my anxiety screaming. Also, no one will ever believe me, but during the surgery the anesthesiologist, Bob, was playing on his phone. All of a sudden an ad for homemade marinara started playing, and the whole room stopped to stare at him. Surgeons still covered in bloody bits. Bob just mumbled "bad timing" and turned the volume down. What an absolute legend. I love you, Bob!

The experience of holding our son for the first time was just as powerful as I had always heard. So many different feelings washed over me all at once. I'd never even held a baby before then. Seeing my son being held up against my significant other's head made me cry.

Unfortunately, I am a peon at a public library, and my wife works retail, so neither of us are great breadwinners. Oops. Sorry, baby! So now we have super fun medical bills while we also figure out a budget. Currently we are living with my in-laws. Having to adjust to both our newborn and their family routine has been a challenge for us both.

Some days are great. Others are hard. Especially in the first month, where some nights the baby would just scream his head off for hours. I knew I hated loud noises, but I never realized how triggering a baby's cry could be. I'm not suicidal, but I've spent several nights imagining a scenario where I'd jump into my car and driving off a cliff. This has gotten better recently as he now does fairly good job of sleeping through the night. It's a lot easier to be patient with his crying when we are not exhausted.

My wife had a few struggles with post-partum depression. The week after giving birth, her hormones were all over the place and she had frequent panic attacks. One morning she woke up, walked into the living room and saw our son, only to then throw up. She is over this now thankfully, and has put a lot of energy into figuring out how to be a mom. I'm very proud of her.

The In-laws are a huge help, but there are pros and cons to their assistance. There are times where my wife and I really need to learn how to deal with our son's tantrums by ourselves, but the grandparents will insist on taking him. I appreciate the help, but I worry about not being able to handle him myself. In fairness, I might struggle to get him down for an hour, but Grandma can get him to sleep on five minutes. It's like dark magic for grandparents, I swear.

I am also prone to feeling like a burden on the family. I notice a lot of little corrections. Stupid things like say I take some chips from the cupboard and I know I'll put them back in a moment. I might decide to leave the door open for a moment, but Grandma walks in and immediately shuts the cupboard. Other times I might leave a light on which Grandma turns off while I'm still using. I also feel like every interaction I have with my son is being judged. If he's crying and I set him down for a few minutes, someone feels the need to swoop in and take him from me. It's like leaving him be in his bassinet while he's awake his frowned upon.

My In-Laws also have a family culture where everyone hangs out in the living room together all day. This is completely new to me, and I'd rather be alone in my room most of the time. It doesn't help that they are a family that keeps their television on all day and I get very sick of hearing the news cycle repeat over and over. This recently had consequences when Grandpa came home from work sick, and apparently keeping the baby in another room, away from the sick guy, was never even considered.

As you might expect, our baby got sick. I was pissed. I just couldn't believe that I would come home from work to find grandpa coughing just a few feet away from him, and no one thought to keep them separated. Our son then passed his cold onto the rest of the household (not covid or flu, as several of us have tested negative).

So that brings us to now. A week after getting sick, I am still having issues with sinus drainage along with aches and pains. Our son is doing better, and you can't even tell my wife was ever sick. I'm very jealous. I should probably take a few moments to proof read all this, but I've already been typing on my phone for an hour and feel silly about posting this at all.

[nocturnal-jeon]

𝚍𝚊𝚍!𝚋𝚝𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 ➛ 𝚜/𝚘 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚋𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚑

barely proofread oops

Kim Namjoon

Namjoon, the research god, spent hours at his laptop ever since you told him that you were pregnant. He just needed to know everything about pregnancy and infants so that he was emotionally and factually prepared for whatever would arise during your pregnancy. 

He would visit medical centers to ask personalized questions and he would take notes. He was a team player, really. 

He studied all the different ways to give birth and when he came across the idea of a water birth. He was interested because he had never heard of it and he appreciated how it was seemingly one of the more natural ways to give birth. He wanted to know all there is to it before he presented the idea to you. 

And yes, he presented it. 

He created a slideshow and sat you in front of his laptop. He had pictures and quotes from doctors he visited and he explained all the pros and cons. Really, you were just amused to see Namjoon being so professional about this, but as he explained everything, you grew to love the idea. 

You went to run it by your mom to see what she thought. But since she was very old fashioned, she hated the idea and wanted you to just naturally push the baby out. You didn’t listen to your mom, though, because it wouldn’t be the first time that she disagreed with your lifestyle choices. Shit, every week your mom would call disappointed that Namjoon hadn’t proposed yet. 

But you were happy with where your life was at the moment. You felt that you didn’t need to get married to him to validate your love for him. Not that you didn’t want to get married with him, though. You would love to be married to Namjoon, but you were having a good time at the current spot in your relationship. 

You and Namjoon had been admitted to the hospital several hours ago since you felt your first contraction. Namjoon was out, but he met you at the hospital, tripping on his way into the room. 

With the help of the nurses and doctors, they lowered you into the tub, the warm water calming your aching body as the contractions kept coming. Namjoon wore swim shorts without a shirt as he sat in the tub with you, your back resting against his chest. You sad nestled in between his legs as his arms reached around your body and he rubbed your stomach. 

He placed soft kisses on your shoulder as your face contorted with each painful contraction. “You’re doing amazing, baby. Just keep breathing,” Namjoon whispered into your ear. Though the warm water was comforting, Namjoon was the best pain medication. 

You chose to not have any pain medicine, which seemed crazy to some, but you and Namjoon wanted to go the natural route. You leaned your head back and sniffled, the pain intensifying. “Hey,” Namjoon softly said turning to look at you. “I know it hurts. You can always get pain medicine and there’s nothing wrong about that,” he explained, rubbing your stomach. You nodded, but swallowed the pain. 

After you rode through the first stage of labor, Namjoon got out of the tub and watched as they prepared you for birth. Namjoon watched with proud eyes. He thought you were the strongest person ever.

You began to push, the nurses and doctors aiding you. Your screams echoed through the private room Namjoon paid hundreds of dollars for just so that you and his baby boy were comfortable. He rubbed your back as you screamed at the top of your lungs, the pain of childbirth taking a toll on your body. 

You pushed, screamed, and agonized for hours. But once your son came out, screaming and crying loudly, you fell back into the water and breathed heavily. The nurses placed your son on your chest and you rubbed his back, smiling. “Hi, darling,” you cooed. Namjoon scooted next to the tub and smiled. 

“He’s so beautiful,” Namjoon softly said. You turned to look at Namjoon. “We did that, Joon,” you said, tears brimming your eyes. “You know what I want to name him? I know I said I didn’t like this name, but I just didn’t want you to know you were right,” you admitted, causing Namjoon to chuckle. 

“What name is it, baby? I’ll let it pass since you just gave birth,” Namjoon said, smirking. “Ha-joon,” you whispered, turning to look at your little baby. “I knew you would love that one. But, yes, baby, I love it, too,” Namjoon joked, kissing your cheek. “I love you, y/n. You’re so strong, baby,” Namjoon lovingly said. “I love you too, darling. And little Ha-joon, too,” you mumbled, placing a soft kiss to your son’s head. 

Kim Seokjin

You were simply walking down the hallway, making your way to the bedroom to lay down when you felt wet liquid drip down your leg. At first you thought that you peed yourself, but when you felt a sharp pain in the side of your stomach, you knew your water had broke. 

“Jin,” you called out, hunching over and grabbing your stomach as the worst pain you’ve ever felt rocked your body. Jin emerged from the bedroom, confused, but at the sight of your body hunched over in such a way, a puddle at your feet, he had a feeling what was going on.

“I think you’re in labor, baby,” he said with a smile, excited that it was finally happening. You were amazed at how calm and collected Jin was, but then again, he had been imagining and planning this day for nine months. 

“Here. Let’s get you to the car,” Jin soothingly said as he helped walk you outside to the car. He helped you sit down and you smiled when you saw that all the bags and equipment was already in the car. Jin was so prepared. 

As he drove you to the hospital, he played Mozart through his phone. Jin, throughout your pregnancy, would play Mozart to your bump in hopes that it would seep through to the baby. The pain was at such a high level, though, that your hormones switched dramatically. 

After groaning loudly, you shouted, “Turn it off!” You were tired of hearing Mozart on repeat for so long. Jin respectively turned it off, not being offended at all by your tone. “Deep breaths,” Jin said in a relaxed voice, looking over at you for a split second before placing his eyes back on the road. 

Once the two of you arrived at the hospital, the nurses wheeled you inside as you groaned in agony. They brought you into a room and began monitoring you. Jin watched you with careful, supportive eyes. He held your and, his thumb rubbing the skin on the back of your hand. “You’ll be okay. Just think of the outcome,” Jin softly said, causing you to smile a bit. 

And once you started pushing, you kept Jin’s words in your mind. Think of the outcome. Think of the outcome. Think of the outcome. Jin rubbed your back as you pushed, screaming and groaning. It hurt Jin to see you in such a state, but he took his own advice. Think of the outcome. 

And when your son was resting on your chest, you realized the outcome was worth it. As Jin held him after you, he couldn’t help himself. “Yah! He’s so handsome,” Jin exclaimed, causing you to playfully roll your eyes. The boys walked into the room and gasped when they saw the little baby nestled in Jin’s arms. 

“He’s adorable, guys,” Namjoon whispered as he gazed down at the baby. “What’s his name?” Jungkook asked. “Jae-jin,” Jin announced, causing all the boys to smile and nod. “It fits him,” Hoseok explained. 

The boys spent around an hour and a half in the room, talking and interacting with the baby, but you couldn’t help but sigh playfully when he made the boys wash their hands, put sanitizer on, lotion, and then a face mask on when it was their turn to hold Jae-jin. 

And once the boys left, Jin scooted into the bed with you and held his son on his bare chest, wanting the skin to skin contact. 

“How did you remain so calm?” you asked, resting your head on his shoulder and looking down at Jae-jin. “I thought of the outcome. I really did. This is the best day of my life and I wanted to be calm enough to remember it,” Jin explained in a soft voice, careful of waking up the baby. You kissed his shoulder. 

“I hope he inherits that from you. I was losing my shit,” you joked. He smiled. “He inherited my worldwide looks, didn’t he?” Jin said, a smirk on his lips. “I set myself up for that, didn’t I?” you said. He nodded. “You really did,” he joked, causing you to giggle. 

Min Yoongi

This baby would not come. You were a week past your due date and this little girl would not come. 

You tried literally every home remedy to induce labor, but nothing would work. It was incredibly frustrating for you, but Yoongi just found it hilarious. He would find it funny when you went for a walk and came back completely fine or when you ate spicy food and all you got was a mouth on fire. 

“Yoongi,” you whined as you stood in the doorway of his studio. Your hand was placed on your lower back and your other hand was leaning against the doorframe. Taking off is headphones, Yoongi turned around and looked at you. The way he looked at you was different now. He loved you more, if that was even possible, ever since you got pregnant. 

“What are you doing up, baby? Come sit,” he lightly scolded as he stood up and guided you over to the couch and helped you sit down. Pulling up his chair, he sat down across from you and lifted your bare feet onto his thighs.  

His ringed fingers rubbed the soles of your feet as you threw your head back and let out a loud moan. Yoongi chuckled and pressed deeper into the sore skin. “What’s wrong, darling? Hm?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. You rubbed your massive stomach and looked at him, an adorable pout on your lips. 

“She won’t come and I don’t know what else to do,” you whined. Yoongi frowned. “My little baby is just as stubborn as me,” he joked, causing you to chuckle momentarily. “Yoongi, I’m serious. Can you call my doctor and ask her what to do?” you requested. 

“Of course,” he replied as he reached into his pocket to grab his phone. As he was searching for his contact, he looked down at your feet surprisingly when he felt your food poke him in the stomach. “I didn’t say you could stop rubbing,” you pointed out, causing him to let out a deep chuckle. “Give me a second and I’ll give you the best foot rub,” he said as he put the phone to his ear, waiting for it to stop ringing. 

“What, you haven’t been doing your best this whole time?” you asked, your raging hormones causing an immediate switch in your mood. Yoongi balanced the phone between his ear and his shoulder as he used both hands to rub your aching feet. 

You smiled and yet let out yet another moan of relief. 

Yoongi spoke to your doctor for a few minutes before thanking her and hanging up. 

“So, looks like we have to take a trip to the hospital just so they can figure out what’s stalling the labor,” he said, causing your eyes to widen. “Hey, don’t get nervous. We’re just taking a car ride, that’s it,” Yoongi said soothingly. You nodded and he drove to the hospital, his hand on your belly the entire time. 

As you sat in a hospital bed, the ugly gown on, the nurse came in to take basic information like temperature and stuff like that. Yoongi sat beside your bed and watched the nurse with hard eyes, his protection towards his daughter domineering his emotions. 

“I’ll be right back with the doctor,” the nurse said, shooting a smile towards both you and Yoongi, though Yoongi didn’t return even as much as a glance. His eyes were on you and your bump. 

“Yoongi, lighten up, babe,” you said, reaching over to hold his hand. He held it and brought it close to his mouth, placing a warm kiss. “Sorry, I’m just nervous,” he admitted, looking up at you. “What happened to, “it’s just a car ride?”” you teased. “Shut up,” Yoongi said, causing you to giggle. 

“Hello. Since nothing seems to get this little girl to move, we’re just going to induce labor,” the doctor said once she entered the room. You nodded and they did their thing. 

And after probably three hours of contractions, the worst pain you’ve ever felt, you had to endure even more pain to push your little girl out. Yoongi was there the entire time, holding back his own bouts of pain when you squeezed the life out of his hand. 

Your screams rang through Yoongi’s ears and he felt horrible that you had to put your body through intense pain for several hours while he got to just sit there. But as soon as you heard the wailing of your daughter, you knew each minute you lived in agony was worth it. 

As the nurses cleaned her and swaddled her, Yoongi grabbed a rag and wiped your forehead and your face to get rid of the sweat. “You’re so strong, baby. I’m so proud of you,” Yoongi murmured before kissing your forehead. “Here’s your little baby girl. Congratulations,” one of the nurses said as she carefully handed you your daughter. With the help of Yoongi, you sat up and held her securely in your arms. 

You looked down at her small face and smiled. “Hi, angel,” you whispered. Yoongi watched you with a massive amount of love in his eyes as he stared at the most important things in his life: his girls. 

“Yoongi, do you wanna hold her?” you asked, turning to look at Yoongi who was watching intently. He nodded and gently took her out of your arms, supporting her head as he leaned back in his chair. 

“Hey, baby girl. Welcome to our fucked up family,” he joked, causing you to gasp. “Min Yoongi, language,” you scolded, causing him to smirk. Yoongi stared at her face and admired everything about her. He loved how small everything was. Her nose was identical to yours, but so much tinier. 

“So, parents, have we decided on a name?” one of the nurses asked as she held her certificate. You and Yoongi looked at each other, having a conversation with your eyes.

But after about twenty seconds, you nodded and he did too, the cutest grin on his smile. 

“Min Min-ah,” you said, looking up at the nurse. She smiled and wrote it down before leaving the room. 

Yoongi held your daughter for an hour and placed her in her own little hospital crib before he hovered over your bed and kissed you softly. “Get some rest, baby. You deserve it,” he whispered. You nodded and tried to get as comfortable as you could and you quickly fell asleep. 

But that night, Yoongi didn’t sleep one wink. He kept his eyes on you and Min-ah, not risking the smallest thing. 

Jung Hoseok

You and Hoseok were relaxing in the house on a cold rainy day. It was his day off and the one thing that he wanted to do was spend some much needed time with you and the baby. At first, when he woke up, he made you breakfast in bed. 

He knew that you were having a rough time sleeping, so he wanted to give you a nice meal that would energize you. He made you a bowl of fruit with a few pancakes and freshly squeezed orange juice. While he wanted you to be full, he wanted you and the baby to be healthy. 

Slowly opening the door, he couldn’t help but smile at your sleeping figure on the bed. You were resting on your back, your legs sprawled out with your shirt exposing three quarters of your stomach. Seemingly nothing fit you these days.

“Good morning, darling,” he chirped happily as he spread the blinds open, letting in the bright light. You groaned on the bed and squinted, covering your eyes. “Why is it so bright?” you whined. Hoseok chuckled and helped you sit up in bed. “I made you and little sunshine in there some breakfast,” he explained as he placed the tray on your lap. You smiled and rubbed your eyes. 

“God, you are perfect,” you sighed happily before shoving a spoonful of fruit into your mouth. Your head dropped back as you chewed, a smile on your lips the whole time. 

Hoseok saw this as an example to clean some things up around the house. Firstly, he made his side of the bed and put all of the dirty clothes into the hamper. He then cleaned up the small mess he made in the kitchen and tidied up the living room. 

Meanwhile, you sat in bed and ate your food, beyond grateful for Hoseok. At first, you thought your baby was kicking you to let you know he liked the food. But the pain grew to be too much and you couldn’t help but groan. Since Hoseok was downstairs, he had his ears trained to listen for your voice. So he heard that groan. 

Dropping the pillow he was fluffing, he ran up the stairs, skipping three steps at a time. “What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly, rushing over and putting the tray of food on the floor so it didn’t spill. “I think I’m having contractions,” you mumbled, clutching at your stomach. Hoseok’s face lit up. “That means our baby is coming. My son is coming. Holy shit!” Hoseok exclaimed, his hands coming up to hold his face. Normally, you would watch him and smile, finding him absolutely adorable, but you were in so much pain that you just couldn’t admire him. 

“Hoseok!” you shouted, getting his attention. “I need you to get the bags and all the stuff we prepared and put it in the car,” you instructed through gritted teeth as you tried to manage the pain. He immediately lunged to get your hospital bag, but he looked up at you. “What about you? I shouldn’t leave you here,” he explained, more stressed than excited, at this point. 

“I’m fine on the bed it’s comfortable. But go put the stuff in the car,” you said. He nodded and sprinted to grab everything he knew you would need and he practically jumped down the stairs and ran to the car, putting everything inside. 

Just as fast, if not faster, Hoseok ran upstairs and carried you to the car. Yes, carried. He thought it would be better if you didn’t walk and he was just so excited that it motivated him and energized him. 

Once he arrived at the hospital, he excitedly called the boys to come to hospital as the nurses and doctors took care of you. 

And when push came to shove (see what i did there. PUSH hehehe), Hoseok was like a trainer in the delivery room. He was cheering you on, praising you every two minutes. He was like an overly enthusiastic parent on the sidelines of a soccer game. It annoyed you a little, to be honest, but you knew it was his way of masking how nervous he was. So you let him carry on. 

And after you pushed for the last time and your son came out, screaming as loud as Hoseok, you fell back and breathed heavily. Hoseok clapped. He clapped like he was at a concert. The nurses found his cheerleader-like actions adorable. “You did so well! I’m so proud of you!” he praised as he leaned down and kissed your head. 

They cleaned off your son and just as they were handing him to you, you shook your head. “I know his daddy is really excited to meet him,” you said, a sweet smile on your face. The nurse smiled back and turned to Hoseok, who sat up straight in his chair, his arms ready. And as the nurse instructed him on how to properly hold your baby, Hoseok fell silent. 

His eyes examined his son. His mini me. He had all of Hoseok’s features, but as soon as his little boy opened his eyes, he saw your eyes. His body grew warm as he smiled down at the best thing to ever happen to him. 

“Here, baby. You can hold him. You pushed him out, after all,” Hoseok gently said in a quiet voice as he stood up and carefully placed his baby in your arms. You looked down at him, feeling as though you were staring at a mirror imagine of Hoseok. 

“Hey, little guy,” you cooed, all the pain you went through worth it. 

“Baby. You know what name I really like for him?” Hoseok said, standing over you and watching with a smile, his hands in his pockets. “What is it?” you asked, not taking your eyes off of your son.

“Yun-seok,” he announced. You looked at your son and saw that the name fit him perfectly. “I love it, Hobi,” you whispered. Slowly, Hoseok placed a kiss on your head and kneeled down so that his face was closer to the baby. “Little Yun-seok,” he murmured, placing a delicate kiss on his forehead. 

 Park Jimin

You and Jimin were peacefully sleeping in bed. Well, Jimin was. You were laying on your side, a pillow under your stomach to cushion it, and you were trying your best to remain asleep for more than ten minutes before waking up. As you looked at the time, you sighed when you saw that it was only 3am.

Suddenly, you let out a heart-wrenching scream filled to the brim with pain. Jimin quickly rolled over and looked at you with worry written all over his face. “What’s wrong?” he asked, turning on the lamp beside him and sitting up. He helped you sit up, but you screamed out in pain, holding onto your stomach in pure agony.

“It hurts a lot. I don’t know why, Jimin,” you whined, a few stray tears pouring out of your eyes. “Let me bring you to the hospital, baby. “Do you think you can walk?” he asked, but your response was just another scream of agony. “I’ll just call an ambulance,” Jimin frantically said as he searched for his phone and called 911. 

Jimin watched you with wide eyes as he rubbed your stomach soothingly.  “What hurts, baby?” he asked, tears in his eyes as he watched you. “My stomach,” you whined. “It’s okay. They’re on their way,” Jimin said. 

On the way to the hospital in the ambulance, Jimin called the boys and told them to meet him at the hospital for support. They rushed you through the ER as your loud groans practically filled the hospital. Jimin watched with wide eyes the entire time. 

And as the doctor checked over you and the baby, Jimin nibbled on his nails nervously as he gave the medical professionals their space. They did an ultrasound and Jimin’s eyes smiled as he looked at his baby on the screen, but that smile disappeared quickly when he saw the look on the doctor’s face. 

“We have to rush her to the OR,” the doctor announced to the nurses in the room. Your eyes widened. “OR? As in operating room?” you asked worriedly, trying your best to sit up. “It’s a good thing we did the ultrasound. The umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby’s throat, which is constricting the flow of oxygen. So I’m going to perform an emergency c-section,” the doctor explained, already pushing the bed out of the room. 

Jimin jogged up to you and brought his face close to yours. “You’ll be okay. I’ll be right out here waiting for you,” Jimin said. But you didn’t respond since you were groaning painfully. 

When they took you where Jimin couldn’t go, a nurse led him to a waiting room. In the waiting room were the boys, who were all sitting or standing, worried, too. “Hey, what’s going on?” Namjoon asked when he saw Jimin. All the boys gathered. “She’s getting a c-section because the cord is around the baby’s throat and she can’t breathe,” Jimin spoke, looking at the floor. 

“I’m so sorry to hear that-” Jin began, but he stopped speaking when Jimin began sobbing uncontrollably. His knees weakened and Taehyung practically caught him. Jimin sobbed into Taehyung’s chest, a fear he didn’t even know he could have, making his heart rattle. 

“What if she’s not okay? What if my girls aren’t okay?” Jimin asked, tears streaming down his face. “She’ll be okay,” Jungkook said, rubbing Jimin’s back. “Both of them will be okay,” Hoseok said. Jimin was a hot mess for about twenty minutes. And then proceeded to wait with the boys for two and a half long hours. 

When the nurse came out, Jimin stood up immediately and speed walked over to her. “Mom and baby are both okay,” she said, causing Jimin to breathe out a loud sigh of relief. “I’ll take you to see them and then your company can come in a few minutes,” the nurse explained before she guided Jimin to your room. 

“Hey, Jimin,” you spoke, your small angel in your arms. “Hi, darling. How do you feel?” he asked as he slowly approached you, sparkling eyes. “Better now that she’s here,” you said, a small smile on your face as you looked down at your daughter. 

“Do you wanna hold her?” you asked. He nodded and gently held the baby, sitting down in a chair next to the bed you rested in. “Hi, ladybug,” Jimin cooed, using his thumb to softly stroke her head. “You gave me and mommy quite the scare,” he teased, causing you to giggle. “But you’re perfect. You’re beyond perfect, ladybug,” he whispered. Slowly, the boys filed in, first going to you to give you a hug and congratulate you. 

“Aww, look at that little angel,” Jin complimented as he kneeled down to look at her close up. “What’s her name?” Yoongi asked, looking between you and Jimin. “Ae-min,” you said, causing all the boys to ‘aww’. 

“Park Ae-min. It suits her beautifully,” Hoseok said. Jimin nodded. “Her name may be Ae-min, but she’s my little ladybug,” Jimin spoke, looking straight down at the best thing to have ever resulted from his relationship with you. 

Kim Taehyung 

You and Taehyung had a very distinct plan for the birth and you had all the preparations made. The car seats were in the car, your bag and a bag for the babies was in the trunk, and you always had your phone on. 

Taehyung always had his phone on, too. 

He had been really good about making time for you and balancing work at the same time. How ironic was it that the one time Taehyung wasn’t with you that you began to feel contractions? You weren’t expecting this at all. You were only at 33 weeks. 

At first, the pain didn’t even get to you because you were numb with fear. You felt that because it was so early, something was surely wrong. You reached for your phone beside you on the couch and you called Taehyung immediately, but since he was in a meeting, he had his phone turned off. 

Frantically, you called 911 and held your stomach as you rode through the contractions, waiting for either Taehyung to call you back or for the ambulance to come. As you were laying down on a gurney in the ambulance, you felt your phone vibrating in your pocket, so you asked one of the medics to get it for you since your range of motion was limited due to your massive stomach. 

“Y/n? What’s going on? I got your texts? You’re in labor? What are you doing right now? Are you in the ambulance?” he quickly asked, obviously a whole lot more worried than you. “Tae, breathe. I am in the ambulance,” you said, biting hard on your lip when you felt another sharp pain. “I’ll meet you there,” he quickly said before hanging up. 

Somehow, when you arrived in the ER, Taehyung was there before the ambulance. You didn’t even want to ask how fast he was driving to manage to do that, but that didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was that he was there. 

“Hi, baby, and my babies. How do you feel, y/n?” he asked as he sat with you in your hospital room. You could see the worry in his eyes. “It hurts,” you breathed as you tried to get through the passing contraction. He stroked your head soothingly. “You got this, darling, just breathe,” he softly instructed. Both your heads shot up, however, when the doctor came in. 

“Well, it seems that your twins want to come a little early,” the doctor began, but Taehyung stopped listening after that as he stared down at the floor. You listened to the doctor speak and nodded occasionally, and after she left, you looked over at Taehyung. 

“Hey, don’t cry,” you softly said, reaching over to put your hand on his knee. “She said it’s normal for multiples to come a little early. They’ll be okay, Taehyung,” you said, heartbroken at the sight of Taehyung crying. When one of the nurses came in to check the machines, Taehyung stood up and placed his head in the crook of your neck to hide his face, though it was obvious that he was crying. 

You rubbed his back and let him cry it out. “It’s going to be okay, Tae. I’ll be okay and the twins will be okay,” you said, kissing his shoulder blade. He nodded and brought his head back up, sniffling and wiping his eyes. 

It was hours before you were given the go-ahead to start pushing. And fuck, did it hurt. Taehyung watched with wide eyes, but he occasionally rubbed your back and kissed your head. You screamed bloody murder a good portion of birth, and as soon as the first baby was out, you collapsed back on the sea of pillows and breathed heavily. Taehyung watched as the nurses carried the little angel away to clean it. His eyes were filled with tears as he felt a whole different kind of love he had never felt before. 

“Alright, y/n, you gotta start pushing again,” the doctor instructed, and you pushed with all your might until the second baby came out, screaming just as loud as the other one. 

“You did so well, y/n. You did so well,” Taehyung complimented as he kissed your hands. “Who came out first?” you asked. “Your daughter,” the nurse said as she carried the small little infant over. She placed the tiny infant on your chest. You looked down at her and smiled, rubbing her back. “Hi,” you cooed. 

“Dad, would you like to hold your son?” the nurse asked, walking towards Taehyung with your son in her arms. Taehyung nodded excitedly, gently yet securely holding his son. 

“Why is he so small? Is this normal?” Taehyung asked, looking up worriedly at the nurse. “They’re premature, Mr. Kim. So after you two spend some time with them, I’d like to take them to the NICU,” the nurse said. 

Taehyung nodded and looked down at his son. His son. “My little prince,” he cooed, staring lovingly at the little baby in his arms. “They’re adorable,” you commented, placing the softest kiss ever on your daughter. Your daughter. 

“Can I hold my little princess?” Taehyung asked. You nodded and carefully, you exchanged babies. Taehyung’s heart melted as he set eyes on his little girl. His little girl. “I’ll protect you from everything, Taeyeon,” he mumbled, but you heard. “Taeyeon? You told me you hated that name,” you said, confused. 

“Yeah, but as I look at her, I realize how much it fits. Kim Taeyeon. Doesn’t she look like a Taeyeon?” he asked, causing you to giggle. “She does. And I think her brother looks like a Taeyong,” you said, holding your son closer to your chest. 

“Taeyeon and Taeyong. My little babies,” you said softly, a gentle smile on your face. “My prince and princess,” Taehyung whispered, placing a feather-like kiss on Taeyeon’s head. 

After an hour and a half of spending time with your babies, the nurse came to bring the twins to the NICU. Taehyung kissed your lips repeatedly. “They’ll be okay, right?” you asked, worried. “Hush, baby. Just sleep. Our little babies are going to be okay and so will you,” Taehyung whispered as he ran his fingers through your hair. 

You nodded and fell asleep to the sounds of Taehyung’s deep voice softly singing you to sleep. 

“Thank you for giving me the best gifts ever,” Taehyung whispered in your ear before he fell asleep. 

Jeon Jungkook

You sat in a comfortable chair in the corner of the dance practice room, your feet elevated on a stool. Your hand was rubbing your massive bump, a small smile on your face as you imagined how talented your son would be given how much skill and finesse Jungkook had. 

The song just ended and the boys stood in their ending poses, breathing heavily. Once they got the go-ahead to take a break, Jungkook walked right over to you. “How did I do?” Jungkook asked, kneeling beside you and placing his large hands on the sides of your protruding stomach. “Well, I thought you-” 

“Excuse me, but I was talking to my son,” Jungkook snarkily joked, causing you to gasp. “Rude,” you pouted. Jungkook immediately felt bad. “No, no. I was joking. I’m sorry, baby,” he muttered, reaching up to hold your face. Ever since you got pregnant, your hormones were out of control. Jungkook would give you a look that had no meaning, but you would think that he was mad at you and you would start crying.

It was a lot to handle. 

He placed a warm kiss to your forehead. “How do you feel?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as his thumbs stroked the skin on your cheek. “Just a little tired,” you admitted. “Maybe you should go home. I don’t you to get too tired,” Jungkook said, a slight frown on his lips. It was late at night, after all. “No, it’s okay. I have to finish this assignment anyway,” you said. You stood up and placed a kiss to his shoulder as you passed. 

You picked up your camera and began recording their dance practice, getting all the good angles and making sure the lighting was good. You slowly walked in front of the boys and got close ups of them as they sang their parts. 

But as you zoomed in on Taehyung, you felt a sharp pain in your stomach, causing you to drop the camera on the floor and hunch over. The boys stopped immediately and Taehyung looked at you worriedly. “Y/n?” he said. 

Jungkook jogged over to you and lowered himself so he could see your face. “What hurts? Is it the baby?” he asked, eyes wide. Suddenly, you felt something wet seep down your clothed legs and form a small puddle around you. “Did you just pee yourself?” Jungkook asked, a little disgusted, to be honest. 

“No, idiot, my water broke,” you groaned. Jungkook’s eyes got even wider. “Water? So like. Labor?” he asked, at a loss for words. Yes, he knew that you had to give birth at some point. But he didn’t know it would be right here in the practice room.

“Here, guys. I’ll drive. Neither of you is in any state to drive,” Taehyung said as he grabbed his keys. “We’ll meet you at the hospital!” Jimin shouted as Jungkook helped you walk outside to the car. The two of you sat in the backseat while Taehyung quickly yet safely drove the car to the hospital. 

Jungkook held onto your hand and watched sadly as your face contorted with each painful contraction. “You’ll be okay,” Jungkook soothingly said since he really didn’t know what else to say. 

He watched as the doctors loaded you onto a gurney and brought you to a room, making all the preparations for birth. And when the time came to push, Jungkook was beyond shocked at what was actually happening. His son was coming into the world. 

Jungkook made the mistake of peeking down to see what “crowning” meant. 

He regretted that decision immediately. He came back up with wide, scarred eyes as he allowed you to squeeze the life out of hands. And when his son came out and was placed on your chest, Jungkook’s eyes widened. 

“Hi, handsome boy,” you cooed as you rubbed his back. You nearly burst out laughing when you looked over at Jungkook’s face. “You’re a dad now, Kook,” you praised, causing him to smile a little.

Once the nurses cleaned him up and swaddled him, you sat up in bed with him in your arms. “Do you want to hold him?” you asked as you looked at your very scared fiancée. He looked up from his lap, do-eyed. “I-I don’t know how to,” he stuttered cutely. 

“Here, come sit next to me,” you said as you scooted over. Jungkook sat next to you on the hospital bed. “Hold out your arms,” you instructed. He did just that. You gently placed the baby in his arms. “Make sure you support his head,” you pointed out. Jungkook adjusted his arms so that he was comfortable and the baby was comfortable. Your heart warmed at the sight of your two babies bonding. 

Jungkook looked down at his face and immidiately fell in love. He looked just like Jungkook did when he was a baby. “Y/n,” he whispered, not wanting to disturb his son. “Yeah?”

“I want to name him Junghyun,” he muttered. You grinned. “I knew you would pick that one,” you said, chuckling to yourself. “I think it suits him,” you commented, using the pad of your thumb to gently rub the top of his head. 

“Y/n?” Jungkook said once again. 

“Yes, love?”

“Thank you. For this. Fatherhood,” he said, looking up at you. You smiled. “You’re going to be the best dad, Jungkook. I know it.”

[halictus-writer]

Remus’s Trip to the Grocery Store

notes: 3,582 words. originally posted to ao3 on august 22, 2020. 

non-magical, modern au. first meetings, fluff, humor.

told in 5 parts, the first two happen at the same time but are told from different POVs, same for the next two, then part 5 happens only once.

4:26pm – 4:36pm: Remus

Remus grabbed a red grocery cart and pushed it forwards. He didn’t have a lot of items to buy today, since he was really only stopping for tonight’s dinner and tomorrow morning’s coffee, but the choice between lugging around a basket that increased in weight over time or leaning heavily on a cart that helped maintain a personal space buffer was a no-brainer.

He grabbed his list from his back pocket. Once an envelope containing unsolicited credit card advertisements, it was now a neatly folded rectangle bearing thin but neat cursive lettering, with items such as “bread,” “premade salad,” and “fucking caffeine.” In the middle of deciding which items to grab first, Remus looked up and suddenly locked eyes with a worker at the cash register, immediately forgetting the pros and cons of his most-recently proposed efficient shopping route. The worker was strikingly handsome. Remus took in his medium-length dark hair, blue-gray eyes, and prominent facial structure, before also realizing that he himself was (1) staring, (2) caught in the act of staring, as well as (3) blocking other customers from utilizing the easiest navigational pathway between the frozen foods aisle and the produce section: a triple grocery store sin.

Shaking off his stare-induced stupor, Remus returned to the task at hand: buying groceries and going home before rush hour, eating a moderately-healthy dinner, getting into bed at a reasonable hour, and then reading until 3am. As he compared the price per ounce between two different boxes of granola bars, he couldn’t help but let his eyes wander back to the worker. They look to be about the same age, he could also be a student at the local university. Remus wonders what his major might be, and if he prefers to sit in the front or the back of lecture halls, or if he ever skips classes altogether. Before he can decide if grocery-store-cashier-boy is a pen-and-pencil note-taker or a laptop note-typer, a woman’s exasperated “excuse me” comes from his side. Realizing he was blocking the cereal section with his cart, Remus made a hasty apology, before mentally cursing his lack of grocery store etiquette. Normally a champion of the unspoken grocery store rules, Remus determines that it must be the boy’s fault for distracting him. Mentally, he cursed him too.

4:26pm – 4:36pm: Sirius

Sirius flicked the switch under the counter, turning off the light above his cash register. He gave a sorry smile to the woman who had been walking towards his lane, basket in hand, before realizing he was temporarily closing the register. Sirius pointed her to his left where Dorcas was finishing a transaction with a mom and two small children. The smaller of the two kept tugging on the mom’s hand, and asking if he could dye his hair all the colors of the rainbow, like Dorcas’s undercut.

“Sure,” the mom said, laughing, “but only once you’re older.”

“I dyed mine years ago, when I turned sixteen,” Dorcas told the little family. “My parents were furious.” She handed the receipt over to the mom with a dramatic flourish, and offered the kids a conspiratorial wink.

“Hey!” Sirius stage-whispered, “stop corrupting the kids with your lesbianism!”

“It’s not like you’re a saint, with your gay-ass rainbow pin!” Dorcas laughed.

“The day I take off this pin is the day I break Effie Potter’s heart,” Sirius declared. “She was so excited to give it to me the day after Planned Parenthood tabled at her work.” Sirius’s voice trailed off at the end when he heard Dorcas return to her customer service voice, asking her next shopper if she had any trouble finding her groceries today. The rainbow pin actually meant a lot to Sirius, as it represented the acceptance and love shown by his adoptive mother, in sharp contrast to the biological mother who threw him out for his “lifestyle choices.” An additional perk of wearing it at work was that he could scan the groceries of complete strangers and not get flirted with. Except for the occasional man who was encouraged by the pin, but Sirius handled those occurrences on more of a case-by-case basis.

Sirius was clocking out for his break on the computer, when he looked up and saw a customer pushing a cart, wearing the thickest sweater he had seen in use all summer, and carrying a real-life paper shopping list. Sirius couldn’t help the small smile that formed on his face at the sight-- the whole combination was too endearing. His eyebrows shot up when the stranger lifted his head and looked right at him: he was gorgeous. In a very sweater-wearing, paper-grocery-store-list-making, probably-falls-asleep-while-reading kind of way, but still, gorgeous. The shopping boy broke eye contact first.

“Break break break break break!” James’s voice crescendoed as he hopped over towards Sirius’s register, before grabbing Sirius and squeezing just under his ribs, making Sirius jump and swat his hands away. Sirius is not ticklish, except for that one spot, which James annoyingly exploits on a daily basis.

James leaned over Sirius to use the computer to clock out as well, officially making them both free of work duties for the next twenty minutes. There was a break room in the back, but James and Sirius preferred to take their breaks at a closed register line, in the middle of the action, so they could continue to distract all of their coworkers. Sirius silently noted that their oddly-extraverted break-taking location would allow for an excellent vantage point, should the sweater-wearing boy want to make any more eye contact.

“So,” James began, drawing out the word. “Are you going to tell me who it is?”

“What are you talking about, James?”

“Who it is.” He repeated. “You keep craning your neck like a tiny little baby giraffe, looking all around the store. It’s precious. It’s endearing. Who are you looking for?”

“What? No one. Also, I’m not short.”

“Sirius. You are a very abnormally short little giraffe. Who is also looking for someone.”

“Oh my god, you are the most annoying person.”

“But I’m also three inches taller than you.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes. “Dorcas, back me up here.”

Dorcas looked up from weighing a customer’s bag of apples, looked back down to her computer, and said “No.”

James cackled unnecessarily loudly. “It’s one of three options. Number one, you’ve done something wrong and are hiding from the authorities. Number two, there’s a shopper here who you don’t want to see. Number three, there’s a shopper here who you do want to see.”

Sirius tried to keep a sufficient poker face, steeling himself to ride out James’s upcoming monologue.

“Number one is the least possible option. As is common knowledge, Sirius Black is a trouble-maker, which I commend him for. However, he is also an excellent escape-artist. In recent events, Mr. Black has been known to assign the blame to others, even his own brother,” James paused for a dramatic gasp, “in order to avoid the responsibility of his actions. If there were an authoritative body present in this fine establishment, and Mr. Black was on his government-mandated twenty minute break per four hours of hard labor, which he is, then there would be no reason for him to remain in such a visible locale.” James paused theatrically.

Sirius bit his cheek to hold in his laughter; he didn’t want to give James the satisfaction. “Are you done yet?”

“No. Possibility number one has been refuted, but possibility number two is also dethroned by the logic of scenario numero uno. If you were avoiding a customer, you would go to the break room. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen…” James made a sweeping motion with his arms, looking in turn at Sirius, Dorcas, and Dorcas’s current customer, an elderly man who appeared to be either a wizard or quite unaware that Woodstock had ended and his hair had turned gray.

“I’m still not listening,” Dorcas added, although her customer evidently was, having now turned himself fully towards James.

“Possibility number three is the only answer. Mr. Sirius Black has his eyes on a customer!” James gasped and covered his hand with his mouth. The elderly/hippie/wizard customer gasped as well, though not as loud as James.

“James, there is no customer, I was literally just looking because I thought I saw a girl from class. But I don’t think it was her.” Sirius lied. He knew that James wouldn’t mind hearing about the gorgeous sweater-clad boy, and Sirius knew he would probably tell him all about their five seconds of eye contact once they were both at home later. But, Sirius also knew that given the opportunity, James would do his best to embarrass Sirius in front of someone Sirius found attractive. It was best to keep James away during first impressions.

“Liar!” James scrambled onto the table where groceries were bagged, and grabbed the handheld barcode scanner. Now apparently conducting an interview, he spoke into the barcode scanner as if it were a microphone. “Mr. Black, do tell us, who is the unlucky victim?”

Sirius realized that he wouldn’t be able to compete with James’s energy level today, so he decided to join him instead. Speaking into the faux-microphone with a deeper-than-usual voice, Sirius answered. “Well, Mr. Potter, it was a shopper, you see, who is simply adorable, and no further questions will be taken at this time.”

“A-ha!” James announced with glee, and flung the barcode scanner down. “So there is someone!”

Returning to his normal voice, Sirius laughed and offered, “yes, you were right, you are always right, and I saw a boy, but just don’t do anything and maybe I’ll invite you to our wedding eventually.”

“Wow, wedding bells already? Must be a rather dashing young lad.” James could read Sirius like a book, they were practically brothers, and he knew when Sirius was done with a joke. Hoping that he would get to witness an interaction between Sirius and the customer today, James mercifully changed the subject to their weekend movie plans.

4:37pm – 4:42pm: Remus

Ten minutes later finds Remus’s cart holding all of the items on his list-- with the addition of two non-list items: one bar of 80% cacao dark chocolate, and one small pack of green tea mints-- and en route to the cash registers.

Remus noticed that the boy is still at his register, but that he was now joking around with another worker-- a boy with equally dark but messier hair and glasses-- who appeared to be dodging erratic jabs of an uncapped sharpie marker and laughing. Remus momentarily considered avoiding them altogether, but since (1) they are the only register without a line, (2) Remus isn’t buying any weird groceries, and (3) is capable of casual grocery store chatter with someone attractive, Remus steered his cart towards them. Glasses Boy saw him first, and momentarily frowned before his eyebrows shot up into his curls. He poked Attractive Boy, who turned towards Remus and smiled, before turning back towards Glasses Boy to smack his arm. Remus is now close enough to read his name tag, which states Sirius, and is glad to be able to stop referring to him as “Attractive Boy” in his head. He also happily noticed the rainbow pin clipped under his name. The other worker’s name is James, but Remus wasn’t looking away from Sirius for very long.

“Did you find everything you were looking for today?” Sirius asked, as he quickly types something into the computer. His words may come from the same required script he uses for every customer, but Remus noticed that his tone sounded friendly.

“I did, thanks, how about you?” Remus returned, pleased at keeping his voice calm despite talking to the most attractive person he had ever seen. A beat of silence followed before he realized what he said, and immediately blushed. “I mean, wait, sorry–”

Sirius’s laugh is warm, and it feels like he is laughing with Remus instead of at him, somehow, before he leaned in conspiratorially and offered in a slightly lower volume, “You know, I think I did find what I was looking for.” His eyes remained on Remus’s shocked expression for another moment before he returned to scanning the groceries. Meanwhile, the other worker, James, groaned loudly and took a step backwards.

Now speechless, Remus felt his face get even warmer and was certain he was now the same shade of red as the cart. Could Sirius possibly be flirting with him? Remus knew he wasn’t unattractive, but he didn’t think someone like Sirius would show interest in him.

4:37pm – 4:42pm: Sirius

Now with only ten minutes left of their break, Sirius and James have covered all of the conversational topics available to them within the workplace-- they have updated each other on the happenings of their last two hours, exchanged weird customer stories, discussed the pros and cons of “double texting” the red-haired girl James met in his Anthropology class study group-- and have moved on to entertaining themselves by play-fighting. Naturally, it escalated in volume, and as their manager would say if he was actually on the floor, “obnoxiousness.”

James brandished the barcode scanner and waved it over Sirius’s forearm-- sleeve pulled up to display his constellation tattoos-- screeched a remarkably accurate “BEEP,” and proclaimed that Sirius was worth a total of ninety-five cents. In retaliation, Sirius uncapped a black sharpie marker, and began trying to draw on James. James laughed as he dodged the swipes.

Suddenly, James froze, and looked just beyond Sirius’s shoulder with a small frown. Sensing that their mayhem had finally become noticed by a manager or shift lead, Sirius capped the sharpie and began to draft the perfect story that would get himself out of trouble and throw James under the bus. He was pulled out of his lie-crafting when James poked him in the side, now looking mischievously excited.

Sirius turned around to see the cute boy from earlier, and smiled reflexively. The boy was pushing his shopping cart towards Sirius’s register, and Sirius realized that the boy must not know that his lane is currently closed.

“Oh, yes,” James whispered with glee.

Sirius smacked him and issued a simple warning grunt.

Sirius stole another look at the boy. Now that they are closer, he took in the warm hazel eyes and the few faint scars running between his freckles. Already ignoring the anticipated tormenting he will receive from James later, Sirius quickly logs back in to the computer to be able to ring up the boy’s purchases, despite still being on break.

Now that the boy is actually standing in front of him, Sirius is surprised to find that he is a little nervous. He’s always been a successful conversationalist, and a very effortless flirter. James always pointed out that roughly fifty percent of the annual Thanksgiving food bank donations come from Sirius’s customers. Looking for something to say, he blurted out the first thing he could think of.

“Did you find everything you were looking for today?” Sirius quickly cursed himself for sounding so boring.

“I did, thanks, how about you?” The boy answered, and Sirius immediately loved his voice. He had the timbre of an audiobook narrator. “I mean, wait, sorry–”

Sirius’s laughter interrupted him. Deciding to double-down on the flirting to make up for the fact that he opened with a line about groceries, he put the charm back on and leaned forward just a bit. “You know, I think I did find what I was looking for.”

James groaned loudly and took a step backwards from the grocery bags, but Sirius knew he was still listening intently.

4:43pm – 4:50pm: both

“Is your name actually Sirius?” Remus blurted out. Sirius looked surprised, but Remus spoke again before he could respond. “No, it’s a cool name, I really like it actually, but I work in a coffee shop on campus and sometimes I steal someone else’s name tag because my name is Remus which is kind of a weird name but I just realized that I’m rambling so I am now going to stop talking.”

Sirius smiled at him. “Nice to meet you, Remus. I like your name too.” Time paused as their eye contact held, and small smiles began forming. The moment ended when James started making gagging noises, empty grocery bags in hand.

“Bye James! Your grocery bagging skills are no longer required.” Sirius said, shoo-ing him away without looking away from Remus. “Good luck with that girl who won’t text you back!”

James smiled mischievously as he began to make his way towards the previously unused break room. “Good luck with your foot fungus, Sirius! Don’t forget to apply your poultice at the top of every hour!”

Sirius shook his head before returning to Remus’s groceries. “You said you work in a coffee shop on campus? Which one?”

“Oh, it’s the UCenter Caffeine House.” Remus is pleased to have successfully said one sentence to Sirius without butchering any social or conversational norms.

“Are you a student then?”

“Yeah, I’ll be a Junior this fall. Are you also a student there?” Remus hoped his question didn’t sound too excited.

Sirius beamed. “Yeah, I’m going into Junior year as well actually!”

“Oh cool, what are you studying?” Remus asked.

“Philosophy. But I’m thinking about adding an Education minor because I’ve been thinking about becoming a teacher.”

“That’s awesome! I’m studying Psychology, but minoring in Education because I want to work in elementary schools.” Remus thought briefly of his seventh grade guidance counselor, Ms. McGee. “I hope I can help people the way that I was helped.”

Sirius paused his scanning, holding the green tea mints in the air, and looked up at Remus again. “That is really powerful to hear. I owe a lot to the psychologists that worked in my schools while I was growing up.” Remus was pleased to hear that Sirius is appreciative of his path, but also that he seems to actually value therapy and social work. “These mints are so good by the way, I just eat them like candy.”

Remus took advantage of the available lighter conversation topic. “Oh good, they reminded me of one of my favorite drinks at work! It’s a blended matcha mint tea. Although I usually add some chocolate sauce to mine.”

Sirius laughed, now scanning the dark chocolate bar, “Sounds like it matches your shopping cart items. Maybe I’ll have to come try this matcha mint drink, when do you work next?”

Now it is Remus’s turn to smile. “I work a closing shift tomorrow! So I’ll be there starting at 4pm, but the baked goods are half-off after 5.”

“Sounds like I’ll see you at 5 then, Remus. Will you be wearing your own name tag?” Sirius asked innocently.

It took Remus a half second to realize that Sirius was referring to his earlier embarrassing ramblings about his name. Not one to be out-done, even by ridiculously attractive grocery store workers, he replied with his own faux-innocence. “Yep, and if you’re coming right at five o’clock will you need to apply your foot fungus poultice at the shop? We have a bathroom inside.”

They both laugh, and Sirius can’t help but feel warmer, as if somehow this boy walked into the store and ended up talking to Sirius for a reason. They maintain a comfortable eye contact, before Sirius decides he should complete the transaction, having long ago finished ringing up Remus’s groceries.

“Did you want a plastic or a paper bag for these? My bagger seems to have returned to his break.”

Remus pulled out the compact folded reusable bag from his pocket. “Oh, I brought my own actually.”

“Perfect,” Sirius said, and they both began placing Remus’s items inside.

“Wait,” Remus interrupted, “did you say return to his break? Are you on break right now?”

Sirius sheepishly pointed up to the box above his register. Compared to the other lanes with workers, it is not illuminated. “James and I usually take our breaks out here, um, because we like being, uh, a part of the action?”

Remus’s face fell. “I feel so bad for making you work during your break; I didn’t realize your lane was closed, but, you were too nice to say anything. Although the thought of you wanting to stay on the floor during your break makes my introverted soul shudder.”  

Sirius laughed, “No, don’t worry, I would have told you I was closed if I didn’t want you here.” Remus smiles in response. “But,” Sirius said, drawing out the vowel, “my break did end while we were talking and I should probably start ringing other customers up.”

“Oh, yes, of course, let me stop distracting you.” Remus picked up his bag of groceries, and took a step towards the exit. “It was nice to meet you, Sirius, and sorry again about interrupting your break.”

Sirius looked up from his station, and despite having already turned on the “Lane Open” sign, called out again. “Wait, Remus, um, your receipt!”

“Oh, I don’t need it, but thank you–” Remus was cut off by Sirius handing it to him, their fingers brushing for just a second.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at 5!”

“Yeah, see you!” Remus smiled as he walked out of the store. His smile grew even wider when he unfolded the receipt to see a phone number scribbled in black sharpie.

[nathfiset]

How to induce labor at 37 weeks fast

Everything you need to know about how to induce labor at 37 weeks fast and naturally

  How to induce labor at 37 weeks fast and naturally    Bringing a baby into the world is an exciting and overwhelming experience. There are many things to consider when preparing to give birth, such as when to induce labor. For most pregnancies, it is recommended to induce labor at 37 weeks. However, there are times when a baby may be ready to arrive sooner and parents may want to know how to induce labor at 37 weeks fast and naturally. In this blog post, we will discuss the different techniques that can be safely used to help induce labor at 37 weeks. We will discuss the pros and cons of each method and describe how to use them safely and effectively. Additionally, we will provide recommendations for when it is best to use each technique. By the end of the post, you will have a better understanding of how to induce labor at 37 weeks fast and naturally. What are the dangers of inducing labor at 37 weeks fast   Inducing labor at 37 weeks is not without its risks. Sudden preterm delivery can lead to complications for both mother and baby, including an increased risk of infection, breathing problems for the baby, and even death. In addition, the baby is more likely to need a stay in the neonatal intensive care unit, and may need to be given oxygen, antibiotics, and other medical interventions. Mothers who deliver early may experience higher rates of bleeding, anemia, and need for a cesarean delivery. Inducing labor should not be done without careful consideration of the risks involved and without consulting with a doctor.  

What are the pros and cons of inducing labor at 37 weeks?   Inducing labor at 37 weeks is a medical decision that should be carefully considered. It is important that the expectant mother, their partner, and their medical team discuss the pros and cons of this procedure thoroughly. On the plus side, inducing labor at 37 weeks may reduce the risk of maternal and/or fetal complications. It can also give women greater control over their own labor and delivery and help them plan for the arrival of their newborn. On the other hand, it can also increase the risk of infection, fetal distress, and the need for a cesarean section. It is also important to remember that inducing labor can be an emotionally and physically taxing experience for the mother. Ultimately, the decision to induce labor at 37 weeks should be made in consultation with the expectant mother’s medical team, taking into account the risks and benefits of the procedure.        

What are the tips ans tricks to induce labor at 37 weeks naturally   Inducing labor at 37 weeks naturally can be done through several means. The first and most important tip is to consult with a doctor. Labor should only be induced naturally if it is deemed medically safe by a healthcare professional. Additionally, one should consider participating in activities that may help to induce labor such as walking, taking a warm bath, or using a birthing ball. Home remedies such as eating spicy food, drinking castor oil, and nipple stimulation may also be considered, although their effectiveness is largely unknown. Lastly, acupuncture, acupressure, and reflexology may help to induce labor naturally and are worth exploring. All in all, it is important to remember to seek medical advice prior to attempting to induce labor naturally.      

    Read the full article

[ameducate]

What is affiliate marketing ? Everything you need to know

Affiliate marketing is one of the fastest-growing income streams on the web. Many people are using affiliate marketing to earn money online. And you’ll be able to use some platforms that guide you to create money online. And what’s affiliate marketing? How does it work? And what are the pros and cons of starting an affiliate marketing business? It’ll facilitate your answer to these questions during this article.

What is affiliate marketing ?

Affiliate marketing may be a business model where an internet site or blog promotes one or more products and receives a commission if a buying deal is formed. The commission is paid by the advertiser, not the buyer. Affiliate marketing is often a good way for tiny businesses to induce started. It may be how to get new leads and increase traffic to your website. It may be some way to make your online reputation and attract new customers

How it works ?

Pros and cons of affiliate marketing

Pros of affiliate marketing

Product/Service Marketing: As an affiliate marketer, you don’t must be sure about the process of fulfillment, inventory, and shipping issues. Your mission is to promote products and gets customers.

Affiliate Marketing is simple to start over the internet: Affiliate marketing doesn’t necessitate any additional technological knowledge. you’ll start in affiliate marketing with minimal money upfront. Any affiliate marketing skill could also be learned for free on the web through YouTube Channels, Blogs, Forums, and Free e-books.

Huge Potential for earning: there’s lots of cash to be made. When done correctly, affiliate marketing may usher in a considerable amount of cash.

Freedom and Individualism. you’ll be able to begin your affiliate marketing career on your own. you’ve got complete control over your working hours.

No Geographic Barrier. There are not any geographical limitations. you’ll start on the same day, unlike other traditional businesses.

Cons of affiliate marketing

Well, these don’t seem to be exactly cons but some essentials for affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Marketing is long-term => Results might vary from time to time. you’ll be able to expect endless income monthly supported by your 3–4 weeks of labor for years. you would like to air top of your game anytime to urge rewards meaning you wish to be innovative within the promotional strategy.

Affiliate Marketing isn’t a Get Rich Quick Scheme. many folks come up with this mindset, they’re going to run some offers using the money they saved and can earn 100% returns on their ad campaigns. this is often a completely wrong attitude. you would like to try and do proper Niche Research, Interact with people showing interest in your offering or affiliate offers. Affiliate Sales may be a very difficult and patient process.

Dependence on Big Networks for traffic. => regardless of what you are doing, you’ve got to stay adjusting your affiliate sites, and campaigns as per updates from Facebook, Google, Instagram, or other Social, search contextual networks.

Conclusion

Affiliate marketing may be a good side project you’ll start if you wish to urge some passive income. Remember one thing, Treat Affiliate Marketing as a correct Business and you may learn a lot about social media, consumer behavior, Viral marketing, Copywriting, and plenty more

[buytarpaulinuk]

Clear Tarps: Pros and Cons

Tarps have been used for many years to capture moisture from rainfall or still water, trap dust, cover goods that are being kept, produce shade from the sun, and shield harsh weather conditions. Clear Tarpaulins give further pest control in addition to shielding aircraft from the sun's damaging UV rays. Clear tarps keep mildew from growing on aircraft, extending the lifespan of hangar-stored aircraft. Dark-colored tarps make it difficult to spot issues with the aircraft below; something just as simple as tree sap may cause long-term damage if left ignored. Clear poly tarps allow the user to see through them, helping diagnose any rain damage. The best tarps for safeguarding cars while they are being repaired are clear ones because they allow the user to see what is being done, which makes it much easier to work on cars or around the house without having to take them off or move them. By allowing external illumination to remain on without allowing light to escape into the surrounding environment, clear tarps also aid in keeping places well-lit at night. Before buying, keep in mind that clear tarps have certain drawbacks in addition to their many benefits. To determine if a clear tarp is the appropriate choice for you, make sure to balance your requirements against the drawbacks. Before deciding to purchase a transparent tarp, consider your needs. To determine whether it's the best option for you, weigh the benefits and drawbacks.

The Pros of Clear Tarps:

When used as a greenhouse or to cover a storage area, a translucent tarp enables light to pass through, which is advantageous. Clear Tarpaulin is excellent for shielding your possessions from the elements. They'll offer shade on hot days and keep items dry during downpours. Clear tarps might be a smart choice if security is an issue, because they let you see what's inside. The best places for clear vinyl traps are those where there is a significant danger of chemical exposure or where large predators are already good at getting rid of insects. Tarps offer a more cost-effective barrier than tarpaulins alone; tarps prevent damage and labor expenses involved with touch-up and repair of color finishes induced by trapped dirt; and tarps have many uses besides trapping insects, such as moisture obstacles on roofs or windblown dust containment. Clear vinyl insect traps also dramatically reduce exposure to toxins. If you're utilizing a clear tarp as a temporary greenhouse or to cover a place for storage, it can let sunlight in, which is advantageous. Clear tarps are excellent for shielding your possessions from the elements. They'll offer shade on hot days and keep items dry during downpours. Clear tarps might be a smart alternative if safety is a concern, because they let you see what's inside.

Cons of Clear Tarps:

A clear tarp has the drawback of enhancing the sun's rays, which raises the temperature within the covered area more than it would with a regular tarp. Because they are thinner and have less reinforcing than standard tarps, clear tarpaulins are also more likely to break. Finally, transparent tarps may cost more than standard tarps.

[upcomingdigitalmarketer]

What is Screaming Frog SEO Spider ?

What's Screaming Frog? It’s an SEO spider. It’s a bot that crawls each over your point and looks for problems.In this Screaming Frog review, I ’ll go over the tool. I ’ll also list its pros and cons so you can decide if it’s right for your business. Screaming Frog is a hunt marketing agency grounded in the UK, utmost notable for its website straggler, SEOSpider. The Screaming Frog SEO Spider tool helps businesses with custom birth of meta data, crawl scheduling, XML sitemap generation, andreporting.SEO specialists use the Screaming Frog SEO Spider tool to examine broken links, concoct PPC juggernauts, dissect H1 label, title label, meta description, and so much more. Also, the tool integrates with Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Page Speed, and Link Metrics for fresh insights .Once you install Screaming Frog SEO Spider, all you ’ve to do is enter the website URL you want.The tool will crawl every runner, looking for any 4 Stylish Features Of Screaming Frog broken image, empty alt textbook, missing runner title, and anything amiss. Upon completing the bottleneck process, it generates the website inspection report detailing all the crimes you should fix to ameliorate your onsite SEO. In other words, Screaming Frog SEO Spider tool uses the custom birth process to take all the homemade labor off your plate, leaving no room for error. This way, you can 4 Stylish Features Of Screaming Frog

1. Spots Specialized SEO Issues Screaming Frog helps you conduct a comprehensive SEO inspection. This way, you can identify all the onsite SEO issues affecting your organic hunt results and ranking performance. With SEO Spider, you can identify garçon crimes, indistinguishable content, incorrect meta data, and more. You can indeed induce a sitemap and dissect the backlink profile of your website. Additionally, you can pinpoint XML sitemap issues. An XML sitemap lists all the important web runners within a given URL. Sitemaps can help search machine dawdlers dissect these pivotal runners with ease. Once the specialized SEO inspection is complete, your SEO platoon can gather perceptivity about where your strategy may be going wrong.This specialized SEO analysis can also help you find and fix critical SEO issues instantly or indeed avoid them altogether. This way, your website can keep performing like a well- waxed machine!

  2. Helps You Record Checkups You can record crawls ahead of time in Screaming Frog for an entire month or indeed a quarter. So, when your director or customer asks for the yearly inspection report, you can incontinently partake the bottleneck analysis data.This SEO Spider tool also can automatically export the bottleneck data to a Google Distance or any other position. Screaming Frog also offers a Bottleneck Overview Report that includes important data similar as the number of URLs plant, blocked, and all the response law encountered. You can indeed get perceptivity into the response law and content type.

  3. Integrates with Google Analytics The Screaming Frog SEO Spider tool fluently integrates with Google Analytics and Google Search Console. This helps you assess changes in your client guests as well as your content’s engagementl evel. You can also elect and view up to 30 criteria on the Screaming Frog SEO Spider tool, including brio rate, runner views per session, average session duration, conversion rate, and more. Google Analytics also helps you identify which social media platforms drive maximum business to your website. You can pierce Google Analytics perceptivity from the Analytics Tab on the SEO Spider tool. For this, all you ’ve to do is

Click on the dropdown arrow at the end of the tabs. Choose Analytics from the dropdown menu.

4. Assistances with Broken Link Structure Broken link analysis helps you identify links to 404 runners or error runners on your website and fix them by bedding a functional link (that may deflect to your website or others). The Screaming Frog SEO Spider lets you check for broken links on any given website. Free Interpretation 1. Overlook and point inspection up to 500 URLs 2. Find broken external links, crimes, and deflect chains .3. Dissect runner title, H1 label, title label, and meta description .4. Discover exact indistinguishable runners And further Donated interpretation ($ 173/ time) 1. Overlook unlimited number of URLs 2. Bottleneck configuration 3. Google Analytics integration 4. PageSpeed Perceptivity integration And further

[atikahabdul]

40 weeks (28/11/2020)

3rd December 2020 12:19

28/11/2020

Expected due date so my husband and I had to come in to get induced at 8.30am. Admission was a breeze and we opted for B2 wards since that was a subsidized plan for citizens. Any who, we went up to the labor induction monitoring unit and got ourselves ready. The nurse that attended to us was soooo cheerful and knowledgeable that I felt really positive that morning. She gave us a full orientation of what to expect of a contraction and an active labor and that was so helpful cos I truly had no idea. I’ve never had a contraction before.

At 10am she started to induce me with a medication on a shoe lace kind of string and inserted it in my down under to soften my cervix and hopefully dilate me. It wasn’t painful it just felt really uncomfortable. I managed to nap comfortably after that though, so that was good. After 2.5 hours I started to feel the contractions. The nurse said my contractions are so close apart but I couldn’t feel it until that moment around 12.30pm. Somehow after joking with my husband it felt quite painful that I needed a gas to help me, and the nurse checked my dilation. I was already at 3cm. Means, I needed to go down to the delivery suite to get my water bag burst (or so I thought).

Fast forward to the delivery suite, I managed to get there without wanting to scream so I guess that’s good. When I got settled on the bed, they gave me a gas to help calm down the contractions for a while. Mind you it’s only supposed to lessen the pain up to 20-30% but anything helps I guess. The only thing now is to wait for dilation to happen and everyone is pretty hopeful at this time.

2 hours later, doctor came in for a membrane sweep and it was SOOOOO FREAKING PAINFUL but it only came out at 4cm. God that doc really needs to be calmer and give me some warning before going in. It hurts like shit but whatever I just wanted to get the baby out by then. This timing too they told me they won’t be able to burst my bag and my baby is too big and they are scared that an infection will happen if they burst it too early. So I guess, another waiting game?

You’re right. 4 hours later. 6pm, and still no sign of dilation improving. I was still at 4cm and to be honest I was feeling quite exhausted. My husband has been with me and he too felt the exhaustion of seeing me in pain. They couldn’t let me eat just in case my water decided to burst and I could only have sips of water at a time. No more than 2 cups of water I drank that day, it was hard :( now the contractions are getting more and more tighter and closer to each other. Gets harder for me to breathe and talk. I can’t even move around to fasten the process of dilation cos they did strap baby monitoring on me. I can’t sleep cos the contractions are one minute apart. All I could do was listen to the Quran and some selawat and try to be as calm as possible.

8ish pm, not so calm anymore. I was trying my best to hold off the pain since we did come in with a birth plan: no epidural, only natural birth. But ofc the universe has other plans. The doctor told me after the crazy membrane sweep (PAIN AS HECK) that I needed epidural. She said I’ll be in this labor (w much more pain) for long, may even be until next day. And that scared the hell out of me. I broke down after she left and I was just so scared of having that needle in me and I’ve heard so many nightmare stories regarding it. I was so adamant about not having the epidural before the labor but now everyone kept pushing me to take it. Everyone meaning medical staffs. My husband was the only one by my side, all the way. I kept asking the pros and cons to every nurse and doctor that came our way and I kept breaking down every time. I honestly hate not getting things the way I planned. But I had to learn the hard way.

By 10pm, the pain got even worse and one particular nurse persuaded me to just take the epidural. She basically just repeated whatever everyone said regarding the pros of that medication but in a much gentler way. Made me feel calm afterwards and I finally took a decision to have it. Since one of the anesthetist was just in the next room, she could come over in about 15 mins to start on my medication. I was scared as heck but ofc I started to picture my baby and my husband and I’m just doing it for them. I want us to not have complications in the future.

The procedure took less than an hour, with the anesthetist being super gentle with me and reassured me multiple times about how it’s gonna be quick and smooth and how well I’m doing. It became such a breeze that I didn’t even realize we were done. After a while, I could feel the epidural in me and there was legit no pain. Not even when I waited for 15 mins. My husband cried in front of me for the first time cos he was so happy I wasn’t in pain anymore. I couldn’t believe it but I was so tired and so in relief. I honestly just wanted to pass out but they did have to do burst my bag. They didn’t want my baby to suffocate inside. I was ready to feel more pain but nope, no pain came and it was all the help of the epidural. And Allah ofc, He helped me with the entire process Alhamdulillah.

I slept like a baby. My husband told me I even snored throughout the night which seemed impossible to me few hours ago. I woke up at 6am to a tiny contraction and I just felt like if I didn’t take that epidural last night, I would’ve sworn.

[ladywithoutababy]

IVF Transfer #1: 41 weeks pregnant

Did you know you can be 10 months pregnant? How about 10 and a half? Because for first time babies, the average length of pregnancy is 41 weeks and 3 days. (We did not know this.)

Logically, I know how averages work, and that I should have been prepared to have my baby at 41 weeks and 3 days, or even later. Emotionally, I’ve been having a breakdown in slow motion since we passed our “due date” (absolute bs) a week ago.

Here’s what it’s like to be 41 weeks pregnant:

I’d always heard that people who go past their due date think the baby is never going to arrive, and didn’t understand why that would be your reaction. But now, as with so many fertility/pregnancy tropes, I get it. It’s not like a hyperbolic expression (”this baby’s never going to come out lol”) – I’ve literally been starting to fear that this is an indication that something is wrong, or that there never was a baby in there in the first place, and that after all this I won’t get to have a baby after all. I know this is irrational. I don’t know how to convince my brain that it’s irrational. I wonder if this is common for people who’ve gone through infertility. I feel totally insane.

I’m already two weeks into my maternity leave because I was terrified of not being ready in case the baby came early (ha). I'm anxious and bored because I can’t distract myself with work, and can’t stop thinking about the leave time that I’m “wasting”. Everyone keeps telling me it’s not a waste and I should enjoy this time and when the baby’s here I’ll wish I could go back in time to when I had nothing to do, but that’s like when you’re in college and grownups keep telling you to enjoy it because after college you have to be an adult – doesn’t really work in the moment, does it?

Speaking of everyone, a big hallmark of going past your due date is every person you’ve ever met texting you on a daily basis to ask incredulously if you’re still pregnant. I know they’re trying to help (and on some level, it does help my mental state to have people checking in), but it just adds to the feeling that there’s something wrong with me and that I owe everyone an explanation for why this is taking so long.

The pelvic pain. My god. I wish I had the words to describe this. Well, I guess it feels like a large baby head is resting on my pelvis at all times. It started as discomfort maybe a month ago and has progressed into constant pain. I can’t sit comfortably, especially for long periods of time. I can’t lay on my back because then my organs get crushed. Laying on my side feels ok but then is excruciating when I have to shift positions or sit up (because it moves all that weight right back on top of my poor pelvis). My pelvic bones now click when I sit up, apparently because ligaments are loosening and they’re just rattling around in there. I know, gross. I keep telling myself this is all part of my body getting ready – it’s a good thing if my ligaments are “loose” (ew) – but see bullet #1.

My fingers are swollen, like everyone said they would be, but they also hurt; I’m not sure if this is because I’m predisposed to arthritic joint pain or if this is a normal late pregnancy thing for everyone.

I’m so mad at my husband. Just all the time. He’s trying his best (and he’s been really an angel throughout this whole pregnancy), but there’s unfortunately not a whole lot he can do to make me more comfortable or less crazy, and I think we’re both just out of patience at this point. TEN MONTHS IS SUCH A LONG TIME. 

I’ve been going into the doctor weekly since 37 or 38 weeks, and at 39 weeks they started doing a weekly non-stress test (”NST”) where they make sure the baby’s heart rate accelerates when he moves, and an ultrasound to check his size and my amniotic fluid. I think normally you don’t start doing this until 40 or 41 weeks, but because I’m “advanced maternal age” (omg 35 so old 🙄) they started early. I have my 41 week appointment today, and will have to talk to them about scheduling an induction – they don’t like you to go past 42 weeks, especially if you’re over 35. Look ladies, I don’t like to go past 42 weeks either.

I had always thought of induction as a no-brainer, like an easy out once you get tired of being pregnant, but there really don’t seem to be any of those when it comes to fertility and pregnancy. Everything has risks, so you end up constantly weighing pros and cons and never knowing if you’re making the “right” decision. Apparently if you get induced, it can mean more pain, longer labor, higher risk of bleeding, higher risk of other interventions which each carry their own risks for you and the baby, etc etc. So, while the induction is tempting because it would give me a hard date to look forward to, I’m still hoping this baby decides to show up on his own.

Yes, there are also “natural” induction methods. (Wow, you can really tell how grouchy I am by how many quotes I use in a blog post, huh?) Most of them – eating dates, drinking raspberry leaf tea, acupuncture, suppositories – don’t seem to have any real evidence that they work. And the ones that do have some (low) rate of success are incredibly unappealing. Are you ready? They are:

A membrane sweep, where your doctor “separates the membrane that surrounds your baby from the lower part of your uterus down by your cervix“. It’s painful, can lead to non-constructive contractions that just make you uncomfortable and unable to sleep, can break your water in a way that requires emergency medical intervention, and doesn’t work the majority of the time.

Sex, which everyone recommends but then immediately follows up with the caveat that you probably don’t feel like having sex, and when they were pregnant they either couldn’t bring themselves to do it, or they did it and had a horrible time (everyone I know who’s managed to do it in their final weeks of pregnancy only did it once, which should give you an idea of how fun it is). Also, this doesn’t work the majority of the time.

Nipple stimulation. I swear to god, if one more person suggests this, I’m going to... I don’t know what. But I would really like people to stop suggesting it. First of all, stop talking about my nipples. Secondly, I can’t imagine anything less annoying right now than someone stimulating my nipples. Thirdly, this doesn’t work the majority of the time. Fourthly, when it does work, it’s after stimulating nipples for TWO HOURS PER DAY.

The whole thing is really kind of funny, isn’t it.

And that’s that. I’ve been pregnant forever. I’m not complaining. I still feel very grateful to be pregnant. But it’s weird how even at this point, the actual “baby” still seems hypothetical. I hope he becomes real soon.

[kashishipr]

The vast multiplication of lawsuits and the delay caused by courts has resulted in the sprouting-up of newer avenues to resolve disputes. Of these many avenues, the recourse to the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism can be counted as one of the preferred routes of conflict resolution when it comes to Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). The effectiveness of this mechanism is what will be dealt with, in detail here, when it comes to the resolution of the conflict in terms of Intellectual Property (IP) matters.

What is the Investor-State Dispute Settlement Mechanism (ISDS)?

ISDS mechanism is a procedural instrument that facilitates an investor from a foreign state, i.e., the ‘home state,’ investing in another country, i.e., the ‘host state,’ to resolve any dispute arising from the agreed transaction. Such disputes could emanate from any kind of investment, including corporeal investment as well as investment from IPRs. The ISDS is found to be inclusive within many international trade agreements like the bilateral investment treaties, the multilateral investment agreements, investment contracts, etc. These proceedings are essentially arbitral and can be brought up only if both parties to the agreement/treaty/contract agree to the terms of the ISDS. It usually helps to address the concerns, which arise after the host country violates the rights of the investor from the home country as per the public international law. The same saves the time and effort of both parties by confiding in a neutral arbitration proceeding without relying on the decision of the domestic court of the host state.

How is IP treated as a Part of Such Mechanisms?

Since the 1960s, IPRs and Investment have been construed as being chapters of the same book. Much lately, IPRs have been treated as an ‘investment,’ and the same can be found to be a part of many International Investment Agreements (IIAs). They might not directly address IPRs, but often mention ‘intangible’ or ‘immovable’ property as a part of the transaction, which implies IP covering both industrial property and copyright. Investors are inclined to include IP as a substantial element to a transaction for its multifarious abilities and the many ways it can be leveraged. Let us look at some major milestones when we talk of IP and ISDS together.

A) From Where it all Began: The first bilateral agreement that treated IP as an investment was that between Pakistan and West Germany in 1959, followed by the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Between States and Nationals of Other States in 1965.

B) The TPP Agreement: Much recently, IP has been found within the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, which pushes entities to pursue ISDS while resolving IP disputes “to the extent that the issuance, revocation, limitation, or creation of IP rights is consistent with the TRIPS Agreement” as stated in its Article 9. However, the TPP is drafted in such a way that, at the same time, it also suggests that IP shall not be governed under the scope of ISDS by excluding certain provisions like compulsory licensing from its ambit. Therefore, a little more clarity on the issue is warranted.

C) Eli Lilly’s Case: Resorting to ISDS mechanism was witnessed in a widely known patent case filed by Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical giant, against the government of Canada for invalidating its drug patents in accordance to the ‘promise doctrine,’ which was often used by courts to invalidate those patents that were inconsistent with the Canadian obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, and Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). It prevented the patentee from securing investment. However, Eli Lilly could not succeed in its claims, even though it successfully challenged the IP regime.

The Pros and Cons of the ISDS in the Light of Intellectual Property

A) Counting the Pros: The ISDS is being favored for many reasons. It is especially beneficial when the investor is investing in a country with limited judicial capacity or where the same is undeveloped due to socio-economic issues or due to its conflict-ridden atmosphere (armed/ political conflicts). It helps to stay away from unreasonable political risks and corruption.

It also has proven to be effective in cases where the public interest is at stake, for instance, issues concerning social equality, environmental protection, and today, even IP. Therefore, the scope is not limited to problems emanating from tangible and conventional properties.

Furthermore, when compared to domestic proceedings or dispute resolution offered by World Trade Organisation (WTO) or the protection under NAFTA, which do not allow private entities to sue national governments – ISDS is a good alternative to initiate such proceedings. ISDS is the only mechanism, which permits parties to litigate on internationally established IP rules and norms in the form of TRIPS Agreement or any other instrument.

B) Counting the Cons: Although it might tempt any investor’s nerves, it has become a point of debate amongst developed as well as developing nations because of the heavy burden imposed by the mechanism and its ability to regulate harmful conducts, including those committed by transnational corporations. Let us consider a few cons, which are mentioned as follows:

Exorbitant Cost for Arbitration: Eli Lilly lost to the Canadian Government at the cost of C$500 million, and Philip Morris lost against Uruguay at Rs. 6,500 crore. The average is somewhere around USD 8 million, with costs exceeding USD 30 million. Contrary to this, the cost of suing through the WTO mechanism is about y $300,000 to $400,000. Therefore, why not opt for WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB)?

Possible Partiality: The reason is that the arbitrator could be linked to investors or their immediate connections since they usually belong to law firms. The same could arbitrarily influence the verdict of such a proceeding.

Lack of Transparency: IP issues settled through a WTO process are usually transparent since the documents are made publicly available – the ISDS proceedings are generally kept private.

Lack of Precedents: There are no binding percents that arbitrators are obliged to follow, which induces an element of unpredictability as an added disadvantage.

Ignorance of TRIPS Standards: Arbitrators may overlook TRIPS safeguards, flexibilities, and limitations by extending TRIPS-Plus standards. The same could mean re-writing the TRIPS in favor of ‘home states.’

These are a few reasons why Indonesia and South Africa have begun to discontinue such agreements in toto. It also undermines the sovereignty of the host country by introducing a ‘chilling effect’ on regulatory laws to control harmful conducts, which may include crucial issues surrounding IP like public health, environment, labor, etc. As already witnessed in Eli Lilly’s case, the investor could challenge the foundation of Patent Law by questioning the patentability criteria of Canada. Public health measures regarding the reduction of smoking among young smokers by changing the packaging were also challenged in the case of Philip Morris vs. Uruguay, against the Australian Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill.

How can ISDS be Regulated to Ensure the Growth and Equitable Returns of IPRs

ISDS may have its benefits; however, it does not come without drawbacks when we talk about IP as an investment.

Let us look at some measures that could be adopted to align IP policies and investment at a horizontal plane to balance all kinds of interest:

A) There should be an alignment of public health measures, IP, and investment regulations. Public international law does not give supremacy to human rights over trade norms. However, there should be a fair balance among the three elements. As also seen in the Philip Morris case where the company filed for Arbitration under the auspices of Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) stating that the use of the trademark on tobacco packets, if limited, could substantially damage the value of the company’s investment in Uruguay (host country). The Australian law also introduced dark packaging of tobacco products to limit attention to such products, which was seen again as hampering trade investments. India, the UK, Norway, to name a few, have similar laws in place. These requirements should be harmoniously construed when it comes to IPRs and investment rights not to harm public health and safety.

B) The Investor-State Dispute Mechanism should be used to the benefit of both parties. Like the Advisory Center on Investor-State Dispute, Geneva provides developing and least-developed countries (like Bangladesh, Brazil, Chad, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam) with free advice and training on WTO’s DSB mechanism, the same should be given its due importance for comprehensible resolution of conflicts.

C) There should be a provision to initiate appellate proceedings. The same would enable fair resolution of disputes and negate any possibility of bias and influence in any judgment that may have been arrived upon.

D) Since ISDS does not differentiate between IP driven investments in developing and developed countries, the same should be introduced since, in the absence of such differentiation, the prior mentioned could be deprived of the same benefits as are provided to the developed countries under their IP system in the home country. Certain IPs should be protected by accrediting the nature of protection they warrant, like, traditional knowledge and Geographical Indications require rigorous protection. The investor owes it not to the State or the intermediary only but also to the indigenous population, which is the source of such traditional art/product.

Conclusive Remarks

There is limited literature on the interplay of IP and ISDS mechanism, and therefore, it stands to witness the test of time. Many unresolved issues are surfacing the subject-matter at hand, which would ultimately decide on the relevance of such discourse, either in its favor or disfavor. The same includes the question like, can ISDS challenge domestic court decisions dealing with IPRs and can home states challenge the host countries for non-compliance of international treaties like TRIPS, etc. Although the answer is most likely to be on the dissenting side since it would seriously undermine the sovereignty of either state, it still needs to be figured out. ✅ For more visit: https://www.kashishipr.com/

[thetuscangun]

Hard labor in Tuscany during the month of August. Pros, days are long and so much gets done. Cons, it’s damn real hot. Pros, I can eat all the carbs I want! Cons, beer makes you tired. Pros, I have a second refrigerator for the beer I need to keep working. Cons, almost every service and labor is about to shut down until the end of summer. Pros, pasta sauces that I used to make w canned tomatoes and so-so American pancetta, are now prepared with fresh ingredients from our vegetable gardens and I can finally find some real Guanciale for my Amatriciana. This full dish of fusilli just made my past few hours of hard physical labor totally worth the sweat! #tuscany #fiesole #supertuscan #thesupertuscans ➖➖➖ Traslocare in Agosto ha i suoi pro ed i suoi contro. Le giornate sono più lunghe e si compicciando più, ma che caldo infame. La birra anche se fresca dopo un po’ stanca ed induce allo sbadiglio, ma ho un frigorifero pieno di bottigliette diaccie, che continuamente urlano il mio nome, per cui continuò a bere. È una vera fatica ed il corpo accusa, ma almeno due piattate di pasta non mi fanno sentire colpevole. In America il sugo lo cucinavo con i pomodori in barattolo e la pancetta di laggiù (che fa totalmente caha’), adesso ho le verdure del l’orto ed un signor guanciale! Va tutto bene, anzi... va tutto alla grandissima!!! https://www.instagram.com/p/CDvwJ3VJbd1/?igshid=1rrotta56yxzt

[countvonroo]

Pros of my mom inducing my labor: I was born at 4:20 pm which explains everything about me ever

Cons of my mom inducing my labor: I would have most likely shared a birthday with Beyoncé

[nellie-elizabeth]

Grey's Anatomy: Go Big or Go Home (14x03)

I love how Grey's Anatomy will sometimes indulge in some dark comedy. I also love how even in its most sappy and dramatic moments, it still sometimes gets me unexpectedly emotional. This was a fairly standard episode of television, but I had fun with it!

Cons:

Every time I see one of Meredith's kids, or evidence of her being a mother, I kind of snicker, because that has really not been a thing at all in this show. At least with April and Jackson, we see the baby once in a while. This rare Zola sighting was not unwelcome in and of itself, but it just highlights a consistent balance flaw in this show.

One of the patients this week is a boy who ends up getting in a hot air balloon accident while trying to ask a girl out to homecoming in an elaborate way. This makes for some good laughs, but there was one moment that I found troubling. The girl didn't get a chance to answer because of the accident, and she confesses to April that she's not sure she's going to say yes. She's suddenly really popular because of what happened, and might get the chance to go to homecoming with one of the more popular kids in school. April makes this speech about how you have to go for the people who make grand gestures, not for the people that are popular. Now, I agree with April that you shouldn't base who you go out with on social status. But I definitely disagree with her that just because this boy went to great lengths, the girl should say yes. What if she doesn't like public displays? What if she genuinely only thinks of this kid as a friend? April made it seem like she owed him a yes, which I am super not okay with.

Oh, and one other small thing - the weekly Maggie-is-annoying segment. Amelia tells her that she has a brain tumor, and Maggie starts crying. When Amelia tells her to stop, she says "my mother died, I'm allowed to cry." Like. I'm not surprised, but are you seriously making this about you, Maggie? Again?

Pros:

I roll my eyes a lot at love triangles, and in many ways the whole Meredith/Nathan/Megan situation is eye-roll-inducing to the extreme. But I like how we used this bizarre soap opera scenario to acknowledge some of Meredith's psychological issues and her journey towards self improvement. We do this by reintroducing her therapist from earlier seasons. He is in the hospital with an issue of his own, but they spend some time working through Meredith's problems. She's angry at Nathan, and she realizes with her therapist's help that it's because Nathan is giving up on his dream to be with Megan. She tells him he needs to fight for her, because Meredith will never get that chance with Derek. I like this angle because it means there's no pining going on. Meredith has closed off whatever feelings she may have for Nathan because there are much more important things going on right now.

Amelia calls in a brain surgeon from Johns Hopkins to consult on her brain tumor. DeLuca is in on the secret, but nobody else knows. Amelia eventually tells Richard, who convinces her to share the truth with the people who matter to her. She tells Maggie, who is there for her when she breaks the news to Owen. Maggie also tells Meredith so that Amelia won't have to. I'm glad we're not protracting the secrecy angle on this one, and I like the fact that Amelia was worried about Meredith's reaction. Meredith and Amelia have always had a complicated relationship, and Meredith has always told Amelia that she's crazy. Amelia is upset because this tumor means she was kind of right. That's an interesting angle to explore.

There was one really funny element here, which is that DeLuca knows about Amelia but is being pressured not to say anything. He pulls Maggie into the room with all of the brain scans, and he starts talking about their past relationship, saying he hopes that they can ameliorate some of the tension and shepherd themselves to a better relationship. Maggie does not pick up on the puns, of course, but is just confused and then actually a little thankful that DeLuca has apologized for his behavior towards her. Later, after Maggie finds out, she runs in to DeLuca, and just looks back at the room and says "oh," and DeLuca just answers "yeah." So that was pretty great.

Another fun plot thread was that Arizona has a patient who is going through a hard labor, and Carina DeLuca has an unorthodox suggestion for how to help speed it along. Arizona is at first uncomfortable with it, but eventually the woman's husband helps her to orgasm in order to help bring along the labor - and it works. Carina is just a fun character. I like her comments about Americans being prudish. We probably should be more open about sex.

Jo and Alex! Not a ton going on here... we get a patented Grey's Anatomy elevator make-out scene, and then Jo asks Alex to move back home at the end of the episode. I'm sure Meredith will be relieved, what with all the extra people she has hanging around. Jo and Alex are cute when they're not being dramatic.

Finally, we have the sexist white dude plot thread. Harper Avery comes to the hospital, belittles his family (Jackson and Catherine) and Bailey as well. He says the hospital is losing too much money, and that this is what happens when you put women in charge. Bailey stands up for the hospital when Mr. Avery threatens to pull funding, which actually works... only, he decides he has to fire her. Bailey is upset, but when Catherine and Bailey go back inside the boardroom to argue their case, they find that Mr. Avery, a very old man, has died of a sudden heart attack. Jackson, Catherine, and Bailey make an awkward commemorative speech to the hospital staff, and Bailey is quietly reinstated as chief.

This is that dark comedy I'm talking about. They made Harper Avery as unpleasant a person as they possibly could. He's rude and dismissive to Jackson, and utterly sexist towards Catherine and Bailey. His death doesn't make me smile, exactly, but it's not like I'm at all broken up by it. The speech was really funny, as they tried to re-purpose what Mr. Avery had said about the hospital and make it sound positive: "he was astonished at the work we were doing." Very funny.

I think that's all I've got to say! This season is certainly less dour than the last one. I'm curious to see where things go with the Megan situation, since I imagine that actress isn't available to be a series regular. When all is said and done, I'm still interested in what's going on!

8.5/10

[franciscofapr959-blog]

The Pros And Cons Of Pressure Points In Your Feet To Induce Labor

On occasion the labor contractions simply don't start. Acupressure suggests induce labor might be used, when the pregnancy gets overdue alongside your physician really wishes to induce labour in the hospital.

Having sex may not immediately permit you to go into labour, but https://iacupressurepointsguide.com/how-to-use-acupressure-points-to-induce-labor-naturally it might help prepare your body for labour. After 39 or 40 weeks of pregnancy, plenty of women are prepared to induce labor and wish to learn to induce labor themselves. At this time, you could possibly be searching for methods to start labor naturally.

Please contact SLO Family Acupuncture in case you have any questions regarding using acupuncture to encourage your very own organic labour procedure or to talk about other all-natural methods to help in the labor procedure. Each time you walk, you're using one of those all-natural strategies to induce labour.

When doctors learn to induce labor it's often using drugs like those your body is currently making. Whenever your pregnancy goes past the two-week allowance following your due date, there's a tendency that your infant will increase larger, which makes it troublesome to send them through vaginal shipping.

Just as any other complementary medical therapy, it's a excellent idea to seek help from a doctor prior to receiving maternity acupressure therapy. Pregnancy may be a challenging experience, and acupressure is 1 strategy which lots of expectant mothers have utilized with success to guarantee a proper, nutritious delivery. In the example of pregnancy, acupressure can be done at various stages for various purposes.

What's wonderful in acupressure for labour is it may be used in your home. Maternity acupressure is straightforward to use and doesn't have any side effects. It may also be known as labor acupuncture or acupuncture for labour.

There are a couple of Common Acupressure Points that are extremely effective to begin labor naturally. There's some research to imply that pregnancy acupressure may be used instead of needing to resort to a Caesarean. If your primary purpose is to use acupressure to induce labor, they'll be able assist you.

If you're choosing acupressure, understand that it's a complementary therapy. Utilizing acupressure to induce labour is among the very best, and most agreeable, methods of pure labor induction.

During a maternity acupressure therapy, the body is split into several essential points. When deciding on an acupressure expert, an individual ought to make sure the patient has completed training.

At times, using acupressure could decrease the length of labor resulting in a speed shipping. The principle behind acupressure is relieving the energy that's trapped in the many regions of the body. Acupuncture is the conventional Chinese medical custom of sticking thin needles into regions of the body which are considered to control a particular organ or body part.