That you’re not smart if you don’t have a college degree. It’s ridiculous too that a big motto in college is “Cs get degrees” and cheating happens regularly and yet graduates often still look down on people without degrees. I have people in my family with and without degrees and it’s enraging to watch some of the ones with the degrees be so dismissive of anyone without a degree, especially when they are actually dumber than those without.

Acne with perimenopause/menopause. It makes sense when you think about it, but it’s not as talked about so I didn’t know. Becoming a hot sleeper. I can’t sleep with a blanket unless it’s really cold. And I’ll spend all day cold until it’s time to sleep and then I’m hot all night.

I didn’t have any food cravings, but I had a very strong food aversion that I still have a little bit of. Not surprising, but knowing heartburn was a possibility and then having it so bad I had trouble sleeping for the last few weeks until birth was awful. I also had a bone spur grow in my foot that’s causing pain and my doctor thinks pregnancy caused it.

Watching birth stories and taking a birthing class still can’t fully prepare you for giving birth the first time but I still strongly recommend it as it was really helpful to see a wide range of experiences. The next contraction can start before the first one ends. I was having 5 min long contractions and thought I was going insane because none of the classes mentioned it as a possibility. I wish I had asked my doula to come over then instead of suffering but it’s hard to make good decisions after a certain point.

wont talk to you or take you seriously

It still sucks when it’s not intentional. I haven’t founded a business, but I sometimes get left out of high level meetings on projects that I’m leading.

“Women are weak.” Women’s strength is dismissed and underestimated.

Loose leaf tea and dark chocolate. I drink tea every day and drinking something nice puts me in a good mood, so I’m definitely going to do myself that favor. And dark chocolate is a delicious way to prevent unhealthy dessert cravings.

I have kids. It always sounded fun and interesting to have kids. But I had non negotiable bucket list to complete before trying. I was able to accomplish what I wanted in my career, travel to a few places, be financially stable, and find a partner that I wanted to build a family with. It took a lot of work to do all those things. I didn’t do those things so I could have kids, I did them for me. But accomplishing it all lead me to feel stable enough to care for children.

I notice this sometimes on my underwear that is made from synthetic materials. I have more a problem with bits of the pad literally not coming off because it’s so stuck. But I don’t have any issues on my 100% cotton undies.

Yes

Add a third group: toddlers

I wish they had used the name Don instead of Gary