5 Reasons to shop at Thrift Stores

As a kid my mom will always got to thrift stores, me and my sisters loved it. We knew as soon as she told us we were going we will get something. She will always gives us a price we cant pass. For example no more that 10$ each. Sometimes we will end up with 3 to 4 different things. Of course this was like 12 years ago or so so 10 can get you a lot.What i learned when shopping at thrift stores, if you really look you will find good quality things even some treasures. So here are 5 reasons to get your shopping on!

1. Save Money! This is the most obvious and perhaps the main reason why many people go to a thrift store to begin with. It's ridiculously cheap. You will find thing bran new but will be more than half the price if in a regular store. Also if something is 8 bucks on other days might be 4$. The beautiful thing about thrift stores is that they always discount their discount, and who doesn't love discounted things.
2. Helps the community most are tied to some kind of charity, so shopping there helps to support people in need. The Salvation Army's stores fully fund  adult rehabilitation program, including a work rehab program that operates in conjunction with the thrift shops. Even the more reason to buy stuff.
3. Good Furniture The great thing about the stores the big stuff are not as expensive, although dining tables and vanities ect might have dents or scratches. They are still very very cheap. How is this good? well do what my mom and step dad do fix them! find look for the real wood and fix them. The end product bran new furniture for a low price. Hey you can even re sell them for a higher price and make a profit, many make this as a hobby.
   
   
   
   
4. Creativity If you are like my sister always decorating and re decorating her home. Then you will love thrifts stores. They are the perfect places to look for cute home decor. They have many vintage items that can make your house welcoming.
   
   
   
   
5.  Children toys & clothes This is for all the mamas. Kids grow fast in a blink of an eye the first years. So why not get clothes there. I have found a lot of baby cloths for my daughter and most of them still with their tags. I rather spend 1.50 than 5 or more on other stores for pants and shirts. Of course always wash them first.
   

Postpartum Depression

  We see picture of a new mom cradling her baby, and she’s looking down and smiling and the baby is looking up at her lovingly, and the husband has his arm around the mom. The honest truth is that that dose not always happen.

  Ive always heard about Postpartum Depression and how they can be very bad. Of course everyone is different and is effected differently. Me and my partner took us a little over a year and 2 miscarriages. you can imagine how worried and happy we where when we finally had a healthy pregnancy.

  My partners cousin told me how bad she had it with her daughter. she said she could not stand looking at her baby and would have horrible thoughts. Her family had to always be with her to keep an eye out in case she actually harms her baby. At this point i didn't know what to say, i had a blank face. She kept telling me that little by little it went away and hated her self for even thinking those thing. It really opened my eyes, but told my self that its not going to happen to me.

  When i had Emma i just remember just not having any emotions. During my delivery i tore in 3 different placed and lost a lot of blood. They closed me up so fast that i ended up with a hematoma. As soon as they sat me up i passed out because i was given triple the magnesium for my blood pressure that was borderline toxic and dropped my blood pressure super low. If that wasn't enough the hematoma kept getting bigger so the next day i had surgery to drain it and a blood transfusion. so yeah a lot has happened.

  I started to hate my self. Why? i could do anything. I wanted to change her. Bathe her. Feeding her was a struggle. Evey time i was alone i would just hold her and cry. Useless! i know things happens and it out of my hands. but i will feel nothing towards her. I hated my self even more for knowing that. When i left i had an appointment for her. big story short i had to take her to the hospital the next day because her jaundice was very high. Back to the hospital for another 3 days for her. Of course i cried all those days just over thinking things.

  When all that passed i was back home and would visit my mom. Moms know best i always say. Every time she will ask me if i was ok and i will always say yes. she kept telling me im always talking and im not. I did open up to her but not to the fullest. she told me it was ok to feel like that but if i feel it getting worse to go see someone. I thought about it and i ended not going, in time i felt better. Once i recovered i felt i can do anything.

  I love my daughter i wish things could of happened differently but that's how it went and there's nothing i can do about it. Now im enjoying every dirty dipper, sleepless night with her. she is the light of my life. I couldn't of ask for better help and that's my mom my boyfriend and sister without them i don't know what i would of done.

  If you feel just a bit different
tell someone, let it all out. Know that you are not the only one.

Baby Hospital Bag

You can never pack enough, especially women. I watched many many videos of " whats in my baby's hospital bag". And let me tell you i over did it! by  a lot, but hey i don't feel bad. So let me tell you what i packed and what i did and did not end up using.

• Baby cloths (duh) I got one outfit in every size. NB,0-3m, 3m. 
• Baby hats, gloves, socks.
• Blankets at least 2. A thick one and a thin one to wrap baby in.
• New Born size diapers. However i did not use them they provided me with them and gave me 2 packs to go take home.
• Baby wipes. I was also provided with wipes, so i ended up saving mine.
• burping cloths.
• Cell phone charger 
• Bottlers if you are not breast feeding.

• If breast feeding you will need breastfeeding pads. Lots of pads! 

That's about it my bag if full but i was ready for everything. you can never be to prepared. Hope this helps for the first time moms.

Birth story

  On the last weeks of my pregnancy i prepared my self mentally that my delivery  might not go the way i wanted. And yuuup that's what happened. On August 17th 2017 i woke up with a small headache. I felt overall weird, not bad. Had a gut feeling something wrong. So what do i do? i call my mom. Mommy knows best! I tell her what im feeling and she takes me to Wal-Mart to get my blood pressure checked. I checked it tree times to see if its consistent and yes i had it really high. so off to the hospital me go.

  Checking in and telling the nurses what i feel and have. They gave me a look of  i don't believe you and your crazy. We get a room where they hook me up to everything and check my blood pressure. It was still a bit high but not to be a concern. Thirty minutes later they check my blood pressure again 140/99 The machine started to go crazy and alerting them. they started to check me every 15 min and it just kept going up. I in the other hand felt OK, again just a small headache that's it. The nurse said she will be back, but never came back. Instead of a nurse an Dr came in and her first words that came out were "you are going to induce you today". Just like that plain and simple. I was speechless. she kept going the reason why but i did not hear anything and just repeated back what i did hear.

  At this point they are treating me for preeclampsia. Now i have my own privet room where they started IV and low dosage of magnesium for blood pressure and gave me something to soften my cervix. 12 hours later i started to have bad contractions and i was at 2 cm. My contractions where allover the place so i asked for Epidural. I was in heaven after than. Now its a waiting game with no pain.
  My progress was from 2 cm to 5cm and 9cm in just a couple of hours. Then the time to push came. i pushed for about 1 hour, and she came out. i was so excited, happy , tired. When the placed her on me i can feel the doctor working down there. Lots of tugs and pressure nothing bad. All of the sudden i noticed the room got a bit quiet especially my mom, i just ignored it. Well it turned out i ripped in 3 different places and she couldn't stop the bleeding. She managed to stop it and let me be.
 When they cleaned her up and wrapped her they sat me up to hold her not a minute later i started yelling to my boyfriend to grab the baby because i was about to pass out. I lost all strength while baby in my arms, boyfriend got her in time. Nurses rushed in and saw that my blood pressure dropped dramatically. They started the IV in overdrive and oxygen. The reason my blood pressure was because they were giving me double the magnesium, which was borderline poisoning me. The doctor was angry at the nurses and that was the end of that.

  Remember i still don't feel my lady parts. I ended up getting a hemetoma down there. Its rare but i got it yay me. They usually go away by themselves, but not mine. At night i felt like it was getting bigger do few hours later im going to surgery to get it drained and a blood transfusion.
  Recovery was awful i couldn't stand or sit. Like i said before nothing goes to plan. I am so grateful to have a healthy baby. it took more than 6 weeks to some what feel better, now i just enjoying my little girl.

My pregnancy

 The journey to mother hood is the most amazing, scary and empowering period in a womens life. Although i don't think these words can really describe it to the fullest. It opens your eyes to how bad asses women are. Think about it.
WE GROW HUMANS INSIDE US!You would have to go through it to really grasp the idea.
Evey pregnancy is different. Every women deals with it differently. I will tell you mine.
So lets start the day i found out i was going to be a mom. This would be my third pregnancy, but with no births till now. I remember being scared to test because i took one a day before and was negative.
buuuut...Boom! I dose not matter how many times i have a positive test its always a emotional moment and tears lots of happy tears.

 Went to the doctors to confirm what i already know by peeing in a cup (1 of 1000000000). At this point im in full symptom spotting. I will not even feel pregnant, so of course i started to get scared. For my peace of mind i bought a Doppler to hear baby's heart once in a while. I would recommend one if you are worried or just because, its the most amazing sound you will ever hear. Doppler surprisingly are not that expensive. My first ultrasound was soooooo scary for me. I asked my self many questions. What if nothing is there. What if there is no heart beat. would i be able to handle it the third time?

 I announced not till i was 12 week or more.I wanted to make sure everything was going well for both of us and it did. At this point i already know what i was having, at around 14 weeks you have another one. Luckily at my second ultrasound they where able to tell me, and that almost never happens. At around 20 weeks i shared the sex of my baby. I was over the moon. Daddy not so much but was excited to have another girl.(first baby for me second for him)

After having my last ultrasound i was going crazy! i wanted to see her again. I did! but not the way i wanted. The last ultrasound they saw something wrong. They said i had Marginal umbilical cord. In simple words the umbilical cord is not in the center of the placenta and baby was at risk of not getting enough nutrition. This was a very low chance. The risk was that she stops growing and they would have to induce me early. I was told over and over not to worry, so i didn't. Until my 38th weeks they send me to get another one because i was measuring small, but did not make it to the appointment.My mom later on took me to have a 3D ultrasound.

At this point (picture above) im 30 weeks. I was enjoying every moment of it. Even when sleeping was a struggle every night. She would be waking me up at 2 in the morning kicking and getting hiccups. The not so fun part was involuntary noises when moving, rolling to my side or standing up.

Now its the time of my baby shower. The one thing that every women wants but wont admit. Who can blame us. we want attention and we get it. Even though everything is for baby. My mom and sister arranged everything. I loved every moment of if. Just knowing that my little girl was already loved so much filled my heart.

Now lets talk about cravings. I just have one word. EVERYTHING!! I was like a bottomless pit!!I would eat and 30 min later i was hungry again. I gained over 40 lb but later on found out it was mostly water i retained. I did lose all of baby weight, maybe 3 lb where left behind.

Lets not forget belly shots!!

At 38 weeks i was over being pregnant. yes its wonderful? beautiful feeling and seeing baby kick and move. Women will not admit it but the last 2 to 3 months suuuuck. Your huge, hungry, angry at everyone. Especially the father! why you ask.  while hes dead asleep and snoring , you in the other had are not sleeping. baby is kicking and in the way. suddenly you are hungry, so you sneak in the kitchen to stuff your face in anything you can find. Now you go to bed find an amazing position and what happens next? you got to freaking PEEEEEEE!
 Little did i know a week later im getting induced because of high blood pressure( preeclampsia). I finally got to see my rainbow baby. My delivery well was very crazy but that is another post alone. so now some baby pictures of my Emma Andrea Rosales.

my firtility struggle

My fertility struggle

I think the best way to start this blog is telling everyone my fertility struggle. Also what i learned and mistakes i did. My goal it to let more people be more aware about infertility. The struggles you might have and how to help you be more informed about it.

Being a first time mom and thinking back to when i was in high school. Nobody told me how hard its going to be to get pregnant. They will just tell you" IF YOU HAVE SEX YOU WILL GET PREGNANT OR GET AN STD". that's it! well that what i interpreted sex ED class. Little did i know at that time it will take me one year and 2 miscarriages to finally have my baby.
I started trying around October 2016 got my positive test in march 2016.

i was around 10 weeks when i miscarried. it was very painful, and ill tell you why. not painful that i was in pain even though i was having contractions. it was painful because i could not do anything to prevent it. i called my doctor and was told the same thing. there is nothing they can do at so early in the pregnancy to help. At that point is just waiting to see when the bleeding will stop. i fainted twice the second time on the toilet. my sister say i was out and noticed i was not breathing. she started to do CPR and slapping me to react but nothing. when i was gaining conciseness i can hear her talking to 911 operator. and my poor nephew calling my name. a min later i hear my boyfriend running in to the room. then was taken to the hospital the ride there was not fun and hospital did get checked they said their sorry s and sent me home. never didn't get the chance to see baby because the my first ultrasound was 2 days later. i cried in the room when i went, they told me to go anyways because they wanted to make sure everything was out.

At the doctors they told me to wait 3 cycles (periods) to try again. the uterus needs to recover and that how long it takes. so i did, well a bit more than that.
In July i got another positive test but before confirming it with the doctors i started bleeding in other words i got my period at this point i was 1 week late and 5 positive tests. i felt like crap. again i waited 3 months, even though i was early in this one i still wanted to make sure my lady parts recover.
After that i was scared to get pregnant. month after month i tried different ways to conceive.

• Sex positions
• lifting my legs for 20 every time we ( he finished).
• eating pineapple
• sex everyday
• checking my discharge everyday to see if i was close or ovulating..

but nothing, till i found a method called EMS (Egg meets sperm)
So here the deal with this. the method is to have sex every other day and everyday on you most fertile week and keep going at if every other day. the goal here is to have sperm already in your tubes waiting for the sperm.

What i did was i had sex every other day for that  entire cycle, i also tracked my discharge.
Like a crazy person i peed on a stick almost everyday up to two times a day. At last i got a positive on December 2016. My baby girl was born August 18th 2017 5lb 7oz

1in 7 women have problems conceiving. scary i know!
What affects Fertility-

1. Age- 25% in your 20ies the age of 27 it starts declining, Age 35 dramatically drops to 15% chance.
2. How you eat-Eating healthy gives you the vitamins you need. Even some foods boosts your chances.
3. Emotional stress- i know its hard but it drops your chances and/or you will harm baby when pregnant.
4. Weight is a big one too or if you are under weight. 

How to boost fertility-

1. Water Water Water. i hate water an i struggled. For those who are just like me, its ok you can do it. if i did you can.
2. fruit especially pineapples. its known that pineapple cores help to boost fertility.
3. Know your discharge and listen to your body. It sounds gross but check it every day. Look up the different stages of it and track it. it help me a lot.
4. Apps many give you a  window, but always know they might be of by two day or three off. either you ovulate late or early.

The mistakes i make what i did not track my discharge (mucus). I also was very stressed for many reasons, although i know its hard to not be stressed it did effect me in a big way.

So there you go that's my story and little tips. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. there's a lot i know that i did not mention.