More Awesome Than You!

Ok I thought this was quite cute and funny the first few times I saw it-but I am finding it very hard to keep my pregnant women alive! They are knackered and starving and they keep falling into their food...is there a hack planned that will stop this happening? I am currently using the maxmotives cheat to stop them dying, but I am not a fan of using cheats like that...I much prefer hacks  ;D

I've found that with pregnancy you can't wait until they're past the halfway mark to take care of their needs. For example, if their bladder is at half full, then is the time to use the potty, the reason being that they will most likely also become very hungry and tired soon. Don't wait until a need is in the yellow before taking care of it. If they're alone during the day, make sure they talk on the phone to get their social up, but only if they're well rested (I wish they could talk sitting down, like in RL ... oh well ...) Or, have someone over for a nice game of chess.

Treat pregnant women like the infants they are going to have, at least in terms of taking care of their needs. Make sure they take naps as soon as they're allowed to "sleep" instead of "rest." If they're not doing anything and everything's in the green, have them study or read a book, relax and daydream, meditate, stuff like that that isn't energy taxing. If they live alone get them a maid. If they can't afford it, invite someone over and influence them to clean, then let Mom go take a bubble bath. Make sure her enviroment stays nice and clean. Order out instead of making her cook, and always have gelatin at the ready for sudden snacking needs.

In other words, pamper the hell out of her.

That seems to work for me. Actually, it works in real life, too, speaking as someone who has given birth. Building a baby is hard work.

In households with lots of kids and teenagers and others running around it gets more hectic, but it's still doable. Pause the game. Assign each kid a chore while Mom takes a nap. Have the teenagers take care of the toddlers. Have someone else order a pizza or cook dinner for everyone.

I always tend to the most critical needs first, such as hunger, energy, and bladder.  The other ones aren't as critical.  I've never had a sim die of being stinky or not having fun, and if social gets too low, all that happens is the social bunny comes.  So if it comes to a choice between which needs to tend to, I always go for the ones that can have fatal consequences if they fail.  Even bladder isn't as important as hunger because if she pees in the floor, that may embarrass her and cause the environment and hygeine to plummet, but it still won't kill her.  Once the critical needs are satisfied, then you can tend to the not so critical.

I generally have sims meditate through pregnacy since they arent really good for much else during that time.

I have mine use the energizer a lot in their third trimester. I have Merola's Multi-painting, but I prefer not to use it unless I have to (save somebody on death's door or embarassment).

Two things make pregnancy a snap:

1) "Mommy's little helper", a/k/a the mysterious energizer.

2) Meditating for as much of the pregnancy as you can get away with. This is especially true if you're permaplat - just sitting there gathering dust is a good plan if you don't have anyone else to take care of.

I like to take full advantage of the time they have off from work when they're expecting so I really don't like to have them meditate.  The problem is, when they're meditating their aspiration meter goes way down, and while they're sleeping it doesn't.

Of course some sims are a lot worse than others based on personality.  If they're not real active they need a lot more sleep.  If they are real active they need a lot more to eat.  When I have a sim with a more extreme personality I'm much more prone to using the Eclectic Energizer to keep them going.  Most of my pregnant sims don't end up with critical needs because like Witches said I keep a close eye on them and make sure their hunger, bladder and sleep motives are taken care of first.  Also, if they're getting hungry and are fairly tired I'll have them drink a cup of espresso.  Sure, they're going to have to run to the toidy, but they're also going to get enough energy to be able to eat before they have to go to bed.

I also keep a close eye on them while they're sleeping and if it looks like their sleep isn't filling like it should I get them up and make them go back to bed.  Usually their sleep meter starts filling like it should.  Generally speaking my sims transition during the early morning hours, so once they're up I have them go eat and toidy, then go back to bed.

In their 'spare' time they either play chess or paint.  And one of the fastest ways in the game to bring up a fun meter is a good game or two of Red Hands with another sim.  And this has the added bonus of filling social as well.

Ahh! This is my problem! They can go to bed, and the sleep meter will never fill-I'll try what you suggested. Thanks! :)

Yep--I'm thinking this is supposed to be a simulation of having a hard time sleeping. ;)  Problem is, they'll be dead by the time their sleep meter's filled at that rate!

I just slap them on Power Idle and ignore them like everyone else. Macrotastics is quite aggressive about maintenance already.

I have never heard of the sleep meter not filling.  Of course, it seems like it isn't filling when you have the cheap beds.  They seem to fill slowly at first and then a little faster near the top, but I always buy my sims the best beds and scrimp on other things in the beginning.

Yes, I always try to buy them an expensive bed, too--it's well worth the money spent.  Even so, once in a while there will be a pregnant sim who's not getting the sleep meter filled.  It doesn't happen all the time but when it does it's a real pain in the wazoo.

Oh I forgot to say-she had twins too..like every other sim I have in my downtown neighbourhood who has got preggers.  >:(
Oh well-this will put an end to the 'How do u get twinz !!111!!' threads on the bbs ;D Good old maxis.

I like your advice, Witches.  I couldn't have said it better myself. :)

Actually, in my experience,"building" the baby was pretty easy. Now, "birthing" the baby was a pain in the ass. Literally. ;) Especially when the baby is over 9 lbs. I seriously begged my obstetritian for a c-section, no joke. My mom and husband overheard his phone call to another ob/gyn, and he was saying "I have a healthy mom and a healthy baby, and the mom is refusing to push! What should I do???". He was making arrangements for an emergency c-section, when I decided to go ahead and push. I've always been a bit stubborn.

I always have the husband or another sim in the household do all the cooking and cleaning for the pregnant sim, so all she has to do is whine continuously. When I got the game a year ago and had little experience in sim-pregnancy, my pregnant sim died because she was in a deadlock: too tired to eat, too hungry to sleep. I didn't have hacks installed in the game, yet, either, so it was frustrating. Never leave pregnant sims to take care of themselves!

I have had 4 kids-and with each birth I have decided enough was enough and got up to go home.... ;D I had to be pinned down by my husband and the midwife!

Funny how at the time it makes sense to just change your mind. "I'll just have this baby another time. I would like to go home, please."

It's that sneaky "relax" action.   >:(   I had a hell of a time with my first couple Sim pregnancies...I thought the mother was sleeping when she was "relaxing" on the bed, straight into orange...at the same time her hunger had plummeted dangerously and I needed her to eat and she was too tired to.

I'm not entirely sure if I had sent her to sleep and she'd woken up to "relax" when I wasn't paying attention, or if she'd relaxed on her own and I just thought she was sleeping.

Now I'm just paranoid and keep checking on the mother constantly to make sure she is really sleeping. 

I had a pregnant mother who had a cold and she died immediately after giving birth.  I was heartbroken because, of course, the entire family was watching the birth and suddenly they were all crying because she was lying on the ground.  At first, I didn't know what was going on, and when I couldn't click her and make her do anything, I realized she had died giving birth because of her illness.  (The husband failed the grim reaper's test also.) :-[

Oh, that's so sad!!!  :'( 

The game seemed determined to kill my favorite Sim (the one who was "relaxing" herself into orange).  On her last day of pregnancy, that happened, her husband came home with a cold (which I was terrified she'd get) and they had a big fire!

I'm sorry about your Sim! :(

That's why I do it at home in the first place Brynne ;-)   Everyone prefers to be there.

C

Really nowhere to escape to if you do it at home!

This never happened to me yet and I had 5 woman pregnant since I got Nightlife.

I normally make the husband "serve meal" before he goes to work so the pregnant mom won't have to cook.  If it is alone or the husband works late and it needs to eat fast I make it have an "instant meal" and then make it a normal meal.  Depending on how hungry it is I either make or serve a meal (cereal get wasted too fast so in the morning it is not the best one to "serve").

I buy a bed with at least 4 in comfort and 4 in energy which is the minimum for a pregnant Sim in my opinion.

Once she is up, I make it go to the bathroom, take a bath and then eat or eat 1st and then do the rest.  I always hire a maid which is not that expensive.  I make it watch tv, study in books or read a book and wathc tv.  I also make it write in the diary if it is a shy Sim so it will get comfort, fun and social while doing it.  Relaxing and "daydreaming" on the bed will do about the same for more outgoing Sims.  If the needs are high I make it call a friend and talk for not more than 1 Sim hour at a time.

As soon as 1 need get too the middle level, I make sure to fulfill it except for energy, I wait until it is 1/3 full and send the sim to bed.  So far this technique have worked for me.

LOL! My baby was 8.5 pounds so I can relate ... didn't mean to imply that birthing was a snap. I didn't use drugs, and I've never screamed so much in my life. Lamaze, in my experience, was a waste of time. You've got to breathe deep and scream through those contractions. It helps. Very satisfying. Panting, my ass. I think the "I want to go home now" is a very normal reaction. I think every mom thinks at some point, "what the hell have I gotten myself into?"  :o

Actually, I've had lots of single sim moms that lived by themselves get through pregnancy relatively easily. They just order pizza and sleep a lot. One trick I use if a lot of needs are heading toward orange is send them to bed until sleep is at least in the yellow, then get up, use the potty/eat something/take a shower before going back to bed again. Repeat as needed.

The energizer machine works too, of course, but they have to be at least in the gold, of course, or you could kill Mom and Baby.

I agree that a comfy bed is a plus. I always splurge, now, on at least a comfort 4, for everyone unless they're completely broke. Lazy sims, especially, wake up much more refreshed after a long shift at the hospital, for example.  :)

Sim moms want to eat more, sleep more and use the bathroom more (just like in real life), so those are the three things you really have to keep an eye on.  If they even start nearing the half-way point, get them taken care of right away and make hunger your first priority, unless, of course, she is going to wet herself or pass out.  I'm constantly feeding my sim mom - never letting her hunger get to the half-way point, because once it does, it seems to bottom out real fast from that point.  Just like Witches, if I have to wake her up to feed her and use the bathroom, I will, then send her back to bed.  She is my top priority Sim.

At first I thought you were still talking about real-life experiences, with the pizza-eating and sleeping. Not far from reality, either way.

I was drug-free as well and not by my own choice. I walked into that hospital backwards ready to impale myself on the epidural needle. It was the military hospital's choice that I remain epidural-free. My obstetrician told me that I seemed to be tolerating the pain well at 7 cm., and he said the rest should be a snap. That, and he'd sent the only anesthesiologist home, already. Notice I said "he"d sent the anesthesiologist home early, and "he" thought it would be a snap. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. They had me hooked up to the monitor improperly, and it wasn't registering all my contractions. The nurse finally told someone to please turn the monitor away from me, as I was fixated on letting everyone know (loudly) that the monitor was lying. My mom videotaped the Mad About You episode a few months later, where Helen Hunt's character was giving birth, as she was saying almost verbatim what I had said. Especially notable was when they told me the "window of opportunity had passed" to medicate me, and I cried "Well open the window back up, then!". I'm thinking sledgehammer over the head at this point; that's still considered "drug free". So when I was fully dialated and past the transitional period and the time came to push, I said no. Like I had the choice. I wanted the c-section. The obstetritian had never had a case like mine, where a mother was defying the biological urge to push, so he rushed off to make the phone call to the other doctor, medical manual in front of him. Then he called a meeting outside the room with my husband and mother to discuss the fact that he may very well have to give me the c-section. Jay wasn't out there long, though. They had left me alone in my agony, and my mom said that they heard this scream from my room "Jaaaaaaaay!", and he said "Welp, gotta go see the wifey!" My mom finally said the magic words: "If you push, the pain will end ". My husband was eating jelly beans. He was thrilled we got the suite with the tv. And Married with Children was on!

Okay, sorry about the off-topic chatter, there. Too much fun to relive those memories, and I couldn't pass it up.

The first two pregnancies I had after installing NL, the mothers died before they were even showing. I mean, they got out of bed, grabbed their throats and died before I even noticed their hunger was way down, though not in the red yet.  I was able to plead with the grim and get them back.  It seems that their needs deteriorate much faster since NL.

I had a sim that gave birth to twins the other pratically live in her plate the whole pregnancy.  She was too tired to eat..but close to starving to death.  She'd wake up..take a few bites then right down into the plate..repeat scenerio for about three sim days straight.

It is fun to relive your childbirth memories, isn't it Byrnne?  I have two children (10 and 12), and it seems like yesterday they were infants in my arms.  The years go by so fast.  And, they're the ones now asking about childbirth, as they're getting older and more curious about it, so we have some good conversations about their births.

Due to pregnancy problems, my first son was born 6-1/2 weeks early and was in the neonatal unit for 10 days.  He was only 4 lbs. 9 oz.  But you wouldn't know it - he's taller than I am.  My second son was 3 weeks early and nearly 8 lbs. (thank God he was early!)  He was a chunker.

OMG Brynne that doctor should be shot. My doctor let me call all the shots, and even though a lot of things went wrong he still listened to my wishes. I can't believe how arrogant some doctors are. I feel for you.

I don't have NL installed yet. Waiting to upgrade my computer first. My current PC can't handle it. I'll have to keep that in mind when I do load the game ... may have to eat my words about the easy pregnancies.  ;)

When my son was little, he thought you could buy babies at Walmart, because he'd always see babies in the grocery carts. I'm sticking to that story for now.

^^LOL! :D

At least until he asks what department and if he can go see them?  Then what?

I had a sim thats needs were all maxed  she went out to put suds in a font that her hubby craig midlock gave her while they were dating and she was at uni. fortunately Hubby was home and I  had sent him out to view the font with his wife all of a sudden the Icon cry softly appeared and of course the buy and build modes grayed out and here comes the grim reaper to take my sim for no reason! I had Craig plead for Allegra's Life he won and got to have his wife back. but her needs all plummeted instantly. 3 sim days later she gave birth to a son. I cant figure out why the grim reaper shows up to take young sims that are pregnant with all thei r needs maxed out ???

I've found the real-life pregnancy stories entertaining and interesting, so I don't mind the off-topic drift in the least.

I'm not really clear how players get in trouble with pregnant Sims.  I've had 40-50 Sim births with no problems to speak of, let alone deaths.  The worst I've ever had happen was a pregnant Sim passing out.  Pregnancy with a toddler or two in the house is kind of rough, since taking care of needs starts eating into the time for Teaching to Walk and Talk.

 - Gus

I usually don't have trouble with pregnant sims either, but some other non cheat suggestions for if you do I could make would be the buffet table (saves the time and trouble of having to prepare the food) and the vampire coffin. The coffin freezes needs without dropping the aspiration into the toilet, at least it does for vamps. I'm not certain if it freezes the needs for regular humans but I know they sure as hell can use the darned thing because the one house I have it in they all run to it even prefering it to the expensive university bed and I had to keep kicking their butts out.  >:( I know the vamps also will sleep through the day even if their energy is at max but I suspect that wouldn't be the case for humans. I'll have to give it a try. So far I've only had a vamp sim pregnant and use the coffin and it worked well for her.

It also wouldn't hurt to have a retired or unemployed elder relative or friend living with them to help with chores and cooking.

I'll tell you what, the only really useful thing I've found for the vampires is during pregnancy.  Pregnant vamps are a breeze!  Since they sleep all day in the coffin (no decay) and their needs don't drop hardly at all at night the only real tell-tale signs were the belly, the waddle and the morning sickness the first day. 

Nope, it doesn't freeze the needs of regular sims. Nor do they sleep all day regardless of energy fullness as the vampires will.

For regular sims the best way to deal with pregnancy is have them meditate.

Of course I seldom have trouble with pregnant sims, they eat a lot and sleep a lot but I can noramlly keep them from ending up in a mess. Sometimes though some sims just seem to handle it badly.

Sims don't handle pregnancy better or worse than other sims, but if you get things off on the WRONG foot, you can run into trouble with the all-consuming hunger-energy loop where your sim is too tired to eat and too hungry to sleep, and thus won't be able to do anything at all and probably dies without the energizer. As long as this trap is avoided by design or chance, it's always easy.

One way I've found to get off on the right foot is to get preggers right after a successful honeymoon. Mom is all in the green, and her pregnancy is usually a walk in the park.

Of course, that only works for baby #1 unless she wants to get married a lot.  ;D

My sim was all in the green as pregnancy occured just after  a blowout reception and successful honeymoon. Grim still showed up with the intention of taking my sim's life. it was aborted  only by the fact that her hubby was home and standing right next to her when the grim reaper showed up

Wasn't there a bug that would kill pregnant sims after another sim returned from a community lot? They would just up and die later for no good reason.  This sounds similar, only I've never had a sim die of honeymoonitis before.

Sims are all sims, but I find some sims cope with pregnancy better. Active sloppy sims guzzle their food, they don't need to waste time walking, and they don't moan about environment if I make them skip the chores and put their feet up.

don't active sims get hungrier faster though? Or am I misremembering.

I have a harder time with active sims. It seems like all I have them do is eat and sleep - their hunger needs drop so fast.

I had my first Sim fall asleep while eating tonight.  I thought he still had enough energy to finish eating and get to the bedroom.  But alas!

I called my son in to see it.  He asked if the guy was gaining hunger as well as energy.  I was wondering myself if his hygiene was going down.  It can't be too clean to have your face buried in chile con carne.

On the other hand, his pregnant wife was doing just fine.  Her energy was low, but everything else was green.  She just ignored him.  I wonder if my wife would ignore me...

Hook

It would depend on how durnk u were at the time of falling face first in your dinner.

If my husband buried his face in a plate, I'd point and laugh.

The first (and only) time I'd seen this, I thought it was so funny! Avatar-worthy, in fact.  :P I had temporarily turned free will off while some sims were *apparently* eating dinner and very tired. Negligence on my part. I was trying to do something with other sims on the lot who were not cooperating with free will on. By the time I went back to the rest of the household I found poor Giles (avatar boy) using his sandwich as a pillow, right across the table from his cousin, also snoozing in his food.

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y62/Brynne14/longday2.jpg)

Yes, that's the annoying thing about it, they will fall asleep in their food even though they have some energy left in their meter and really would have enough time to finish eating before the meter goes all the way down if they would stop falling alseep in their darned food. :p

Yeah, I had a sim that took like 3 hours to finish a bowl of mac and cheese because she kept falling asleep in it. It was amusing ONCE. But 4 times in the same meal is a bit much.

It might help if there were an option during meals to tell Sims "Shut Up And EAT!" I've had them start a meal with decent energy levels, only to yack-yack-yack so much that by the time they've satisfied their Hunger, they're dead tired and drop face into the empty plate.

It certainly doesn't help when calling Everyone to meals results in the Gardener and Maid joining in, and conversation stretching out lunch to four or five Sim-hours.  :-\ By the time they finish lunch, it's dinner time.

Crammyboy has devised a wonderful hack called Eat more Talk less.  It also modifies sims' overeating habits based on their active points.  Here is the link:

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=94886

Hey, that does look good! Thanks!! I'm off to try it out!