Pregnancy Tips

No, no, I'm not pregnant again... promise.  But a good friend is!  Congrats sweet Sarah!

I'm remember waiting, waiting, waiting, till finally one weekend, I was crazy tired. But we were traveling, so maybe that was it. But I was suppose to 'start' that weekend, and I didn't. Hmmm.... could it be? But this has happened before, and the pregnancy test was negative then, so this could be the same. But it kept on, me being tired, plus, we'd tried one round of a fertility med, so who's to say it didn't work?

Labor Day 2010, we trekked to Wal-greens and purchased a pregnancy test. And then the car wouldn't start. And I didn't have my keys (Hubby's key was a copy, and it just didn't work). So we called a friend to pick us up, take us home, grab my keys and take one of us back to get the car. While he was coming to get us, the car finally started.

Tuesday morning I did the test. And waited.... and wondered... would this be it? YES! I called to Hubby, "come look! It's positive!". Oh, the joy! So it was a crazy day of keeping a secret we didn't want to keep, but knew we needed to tell family first. And so started a week of trying to discrete, after all, what if I miscarried?  And so started the nine months, or 40 weeks, of waiting and learning and preparing.

Tips for the newly pregnant:
1. Sleep as often as you can. Choice between reading that crazy interesting novel and sleeping? Sleep. Choice between TV and sleep? Sleep. Your body is working hard, building a new little human from scratch, and that's hard work.

2. Check out visembryo.com for growth facts. Yes, yes, what to expect is fun, but this site gives you the good stuff. Note that, at first, it count's from conception, not the normal counting from start of last period.

3. Eat what sounds good. Even if its weird.  Just make sure you are eating.

4. Drink water. Yes, you are already peeing like there is not tomorrow, but the water will do your body good.

5. A cup of coffee a day is not as bad as it sounds. Two cups a day is as bad as it sounds. or so I've read. I, on the other hand, went cold turkey on the coffee.

6. Get a pregnancy pillow. I got one when I was about 5 month's pregnant and it really helped me sleep. By the last month, I NEEDED it to be comfortable. It helped me get comfortable after having a c-section. At about 4 weeks postpartum, I put it away because it wasn't helping any more. Originally, I had a body pillow and added pillows along my back till I comfortable. Thus I knew I needed something with pillow along my front and along my back. King size beds are nice for this, but we both still fit in the queen size bed, even with my air-craft carrier of a pillow.

7. If you want to make stuff for the baby, start soon-ish. When you read 12 weeks is soon enough, but don't put it off thinking "I've got months!" Those months slide by so quickly. And though you will have some down time when baby is born, you don't have that much. Plus, its hard to get much done when you are sleep deprived.

8. The adjustment period for breastfeeding is so worth it. It took me a good 5 or 6 weeks to really get comfortable, but, dude, it is so easy now! No bottles to sterilize, no nipples to wash, nothing to mix up, nothing to warm up. Its all just ready to go.  Its worth getting a book on breastfeeding to get a good bit of head knowledge going, and ask for the lactation consultant to come help you while you are in the hospital.  I got Breastfeeding Made Simple; I loved reading it, and I still consult it occasionally. I've heard that The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is also quite good.

I promise more thoughts on baby gear!