A Baby Blog

Because you all have nothing better to do than read two of my blog posts in one day. Or something.

I'm almost 17 weeks pregnant, which is crazy, because I seriously felt like I *just* wrote the blog announcing my pregnancy, like, yesterday. This pregnancy has been so different than it was with Rhi. First, the morning sickness...shocker there as I was almost never ill with Rhi. I think I was nauseated the first week or so with Rhi. Never strongly. Just mild queasiness. Then there was the food. OMG, you're supposed to eat a lot in your second trimester, but, in my first, I could out eat...well, everyone, I think. Lol. It was the only thing that could possibly quell my never-ending vomitousness. And the bleeding from my placenta...yeah, that was a fun adventure. Except the opposite.

But in a lot of ways, I'm more prepared for this pregnancy and this baby. For instance, I'm in way better physical shape. And despite the restrictions I do have on exercise...and I am operating under several still...I'm still keeping moderately active. I feel more prepared for labor, even though it terrifies me a little. Not the pain of it, not the contractions or the pushing, but the fact that I had a c-section on my last kid and there is a slight, but real, possibility of complications. I wonder sometimes if I should just get a second c-section. Because I know what to expect there, and everyone knows the unknown is scarier. But my c-section with Rhi was a very disappointing experience, and since I don't want more children after this, I feel like I'm cheating myself to not try.

But I'm still scared, lol.

I'm more prepared for nursing, too. I know that my milk won't come in instantly. I know how to latch the baby on in various ways now. I know where I can go for help, and the people who are best and worst at supporting me. I know that the Boppy is my best friend ever, lol. I know about Fenugreek, and mother's milk teas, and where to get them. I know a beer or two can help aid milk production. And I know that there will be several exhausting growth spurts where I will feel like I have a baby constantly attached to me, but that they will end, and I will be able to handle it. And I know how to supplement and still go back to nursing. I have more confidence in breastfeeding in general. Luckily, as with Rhi, I have a partner who is utterly supportive of nursing, too, which I know from experience can be the make or break of your nursing relationship.

I'm doing a few things differently, though, based upon knowledge I've gleaned since my first child. First of all, we're cloth diapering. It's something I wanted to do with Rhi, but a bunch of factors contributed to it just not panning out. So this time, I'm doing it. I'm excited and a little nervous about it, because, seriously, it's pretty different than disposables. But I am really lucky to have a fantastic support network of CDing moms that I know I can ask for help. Secondly, if this is a boy, I'm not circumcising him. It was something I totally would have done if Rhi had been a boy, but I don't really see a necessity for anymore. It's so purely cosmetic that I'm just not interested. If my kid doesn't want a foreskin later, he's welcome to have it removed. I just don't feel like I need to make that choice for him. If it's a him. And, third, I'm pretty sure I'm saying screw the crib and just getting a co-sleeper. I'm not totally comfortable with an actual family bed...I'm a paranoid freak, and even now, if Rhi sleeps with me, I sleep way less soundly because I'm worried I'll accidentally smother her or something. So I can't see ever having a decent night's sleep in a family bed. But when Rhi was tiny, it was such a pain in the ass to have her in a bassinet across the room. It was soooo much easier when the crib was right next to my bed, highest level, with the side down. I'd pull her over, nurse her back to sleep, put her back, and drift back off. A co-sleeper would allow the new baby its own space and still have the convenience of the crib set up. More, actually. And since I still have Rhiannon's old crib, when the baby gets bigger, it can graduate to that if need be.

We find out in just a few weeks, by the way, what this baby is. So yay to that! We have a couple of names, but they're still tentative because Shane won't fully confirm or deny them. He has this notion that the baby will pop out looking like a certain name. I keep telling him that that's silly, that babies all look like semi-ugly (but gorgeous to those who love them) boiled chickens/grumpy old men. He has a hard time believing me though, lol.