Falling face first into dinner!

[Brynne]

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!

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?" 

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.

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.

[shadow]

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.

[skandelouslala]

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.

[Vesca]

[Too much fun to relive those memories, and I couldn't pass it up.

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.

[Witches]

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. 

[Brynne]

[Too much fun to relive those memories, and I couldn't pass it up.

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.

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.

[skandelouslala]

^^LOL!

[ElviraGoth]

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.

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

[Bangelnuts]

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.

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

[Gus Smedstad]

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

[Motoki]

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.

[MistressBoleyn]

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. 

[Andygal]

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.  Angry

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.

[J. M. Pescado]

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.

[Witches]

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. 

[Bangelnuts]

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. 

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

[simposiast]

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.

[Andygal]

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

[simmiecal]

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.

[Hook]

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

[Meek_Monkey]

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.

[Brynne]

I wonder if my wife would ignore me...

Hook

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.  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.

[Motoki]

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!

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

[Andygal]

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.

[Hairfish]

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.