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Does The Unexpected cover molar pregnancy? Currently on the long road to recovery from this difficult but rare pregnancy complication.

I’m curious about the research behind the claim “In the data, there are a couple of school-level inputs, or characteristics, that do seem to be causally linked to student learning. One is student-teacher ratio: fewer students per teacher has been shown to increase learning (it’s true that richer districts have a smaller number of students per teacher, but other analyses that are able to isolate causality also show this).”

As someone who works in school leadership, I’ve heard a lot of different claims on this topic – and I expect there is some nuance (what age ranges causality is most impactful, at what number a smaller student:teacher ratio is no longer casaully impactful, etc.) and I’d love to be directed to some studies you think highly of to better inform my decision making.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4361157/#:~:text=A%20recent%20study%20utilized%20a,per%20100%2C000%20live%20births%2C%20respectively.

When discussing maternal mortality rates, I believe it’s imperative to look at the data related to suicide and homicide as a result of intimate partner violence (IPV). These numbers will rise as we continue to resitrict women from having access to to supports and services, particularly in lower socio-economic areas. It really needs to be a part of the conversation. IPV is often swept under the rug. https://www.facs.org/for-medical-professionals/news-publications/news-and-articles/press-releases/2024/pregnant-women-living-in-states-with-limited-access-to-abortion-face-higher-levels-of-intimate-partner-homicide/#:~:text=Between%202018%2D2020%2C%20nearly%20500,partner%20during%20their%20peripartum%20period.

I highly recommend the book “How Toddlers Thrive”. It made sense of the toddler nonsense for me and gave many practical ways to think about these years.

I’ll echo a lot of what people have said: be firm with your boundaries. And also, remember that you’re working towards long-term skills — dealing with frustration and disappointment, regulating emotions — that even adults have a hard time with. I’ve found that drawing a line (“I can’t let you throw food. I’m going to put your snack away”) and then taking actions to help your toddler when they are unable to regulate themselves is the most helpful tool that I’ve used with my kids (3.5 and 1.5). I use a neutral tone and don’t make it punitive. I see it as me helping them maintain a boundary, often one they need to maintain in order to make sure everyone is safe. I find Dr Becky helpful with these kinds of scripts. Also, redirect their energy: “we don’t throw food. If you want to throw, we can throw a ball.” Throwing food is so annoying and frustrating and burdensome…but it is also so normal. It’s a phase, and it will pass, but it is a long phase for sure.

I also found the How to talk so little kids will listen book extremely helpful. My instinct is always to explain what I’m doing or why something has to be a certain way, and that just does not work when emotions are running high. Those feelings have to be felt and acknowledged before anything else can happen. What amazed me was how quickly my kid picked up on the vocabulary of acknowledging feelings and started talking about his feelings by himself, almost as soon as he could string two words together. I think this gave us a really strong base to build on with all sorts of difficulties (he’s now 8). Another successful strategy from the book that we still use is coming up with solutions to problems together. I agree with others in that discipline is not really appropriate at this age. If course if you need to remove an item or take the kid out of the situation because something bad is happening then you can do that but it doesn’t have to be framed as a punishment.

Weird thought specifically about the asthma and phone part: Would watching on/casting to a TV, if you have one, help with the desire to always have your phone? Love, fellow nebulizer mom.

Two thoughts:
1. We started 1-2-3 Magic around two with our kids, not with timeouts, but with consequences (I.e., count for throwing food and then the meal is over, count for throwing toys and then the toy goes away until tomorrow).
2. Two is young. I started to worry about discipline when my oldest was two, and it’s a whole different ballgame at 2 vs. 2.5 vs. 3 vs. 3.5, etc. So some waiting and seeing is also fine!

Mother of four here. I actually love this age in so many ways — it’s a period of intense growth and change and you’re getting to see flashes of the older child you’ll have one day! Strongly suggest you set yourself up to be able to provide small, constant corrections vs bigger ones. For example – if your kid throws food? Put one piece of food on their tray at a time. Then if they throw it, you can gently correct by saying “we don’t throw food,” and just waiting a few minutes. Get them to say “please” with sign language and they’ll be invested in getting each piece. This is much better than wrathfully picking up a whole bunch of food off the floor!! Other helpful technique is ignoring behavior you don’t like (if you have a dog, this will be familiar, same thing 😉 — if your kid tends to, say, start crying and throw themself at the floor, don’t react! Just walk away calmly and do something else. Doesn’t have to be kid friendly, just go back to emptying the dishwasher or whatever. You may have to wait a bit longer at first, but I’ve found this pretty much extinguishes behavior we don’t want. … for biting, put them down and walk away. Etc. toddlerhood is a challenge but it can be so fun as well. Good luck!!

Comment re: CDC Maternal Mortality Data.

Is there any way to access data on Severe Maternal Morbidity (SMM) and how it has been trending over time in the U.S.? SMM is defined as “health-impacting and life-threatening events that occur during hospitalization for childbirth.”

Is there a way to access this data by hospital system?

I ask because during my first healthy, normal pregnancy at 36, I had a bad outcome classified as SMM. Hospital says this is “rare” and a “freak thing” but the more I read about this, the less rare it seems (36 hours of induced labor, 4 hours of pushing, urgent but NOT emergent c section, doctor tore artery, didn’t realize it, sewed me up, 6L hemorrhage, Hysterectomy).

It seems that there are many near-misses with lifelong health implications like mine that are not being reported. It has been very hard for me to get answers about this and find data.

Curious if anyone has any tips on how to get these answers? I have yet another meeting with the hospital in May. Thank you!

Thanks!

❤️❤️❤️ we have been suuuuper lucky and privileged in so many ways (flexible work, enough money, a very easy second kid). Wouldn’t have gone for three otherwise. So our “three” might be someone else’s “two” if that makes sense…

What is this “personal hygiene” of which you speak 😂😂😂😂😂

Love this!! Thank you!

I very much feel like this as well. Also 35 and stay at home mom to a 4 and 2 year old. It’s hard.