Must remember to leave a good review for the IVF place in Baden. Over the summer I worried I was going to get FOMO over only having one kid. Got checked out by one place, they said I was too bad a pregnancy bet for them to take my money. So I made an appointment in Baden.

Got the date wrong, turned up a week early, then sat at the bus stop and decided that actually I'm fine with my family as it is. Cancelled appointment. Got rid of a lot of baby stuff.

...anyway six months later I am pregnant.

This is a joke but I actually am about 13 weeks pregnant and you would not believe how difficult I have found it to not make horrible jokes the whole time.

@solar_chase @BjoernHolzhauer congrats!

@solar_chase @BjoernHolzhauer v happy for you two (three)- congrats!

Also, there's a strong social convention that you don't tell people you're having a baby before 12 weeks, because you may well end up actually having a miscarriage or abortion.

This quickly becomes a farce if you stick to it and end up having to be weirdly noncommittal about summer plans.

(I had to tell my dentist "er, the drugs for tooth grinding you're about to prescribe me... I think I'm pregnant..."

"You THINK?"

"Well I was going to buy a test after this appointment...")

@solar_chase @BjoernHolzhauer congrats! our last was also at the same age. went just fine. best wishes & greetings from geneva.

@solar_chase @BjoernHolzhauer That's very exciting! 🐣

(We have four, so I well up instantly)

@solar_chase not sure if that helps at all, but my mother had me around the same age, and she had a lot of fun being by far the most chill mother at every single parent-teacher conference

Also everyone's like "oh, do you feel nauseous in the mornings" and I'm like "not really! I am homicidal in the afternoons though!"

(I have been mostly avoiding social contact for this reason. Actually after the first trimester the hormones do apparently stabilise a bit and I feel much less likely to kill everyone else and then myself.)

@solar_chase I never heard the reason given that if you do it, you WILL have a miscarriage (that'd just be superstitious nonsense, IMO); rather, I heard -- and all the women I know subscribe to it -- that the *chances* of miscarrying are higher during the first 12 weeks, so if you tell people you're pregnant before then, and you end up miscarrying, it'll be awkward to have to tell them all about the loss. So, these women reason, rather wait until you know "for sure", so to speak.

I doubt that includes your dentist, though. They're a medical professional, so they need to know these things. And strangers as well: you can tell a relative stranger. Just not close friends or family or... anyone whom you actually care about and who cares about you, I guess. 🤷‍♂️

@GrahamDowns yes, I know.

I've had to explain lost pregnancies four times now. It's best just to save everyone else the sympathy.

Anyway I think mammalian evolution was a mistake and we should have stuck with laying eggs.

@solar_chase congratulations! My mum was 40 having me, very late in those days and rather frowned upon, but its quite normal now

@solar_chase OK this is very funny. And, uh, heartfelt congratulations to the lot of you!

@solar_chase next step in evolution: unzip and put baby in the fishtank for overnight. Also congrats :-)

@solar_chase Congratulations!

@solar_chase Congratulations! And all the best for you and your (not always so) loved ones the next couple of months.

@solar_chase A+ thread, would read again.

I hope the pregnancy proceeds smoothly!