I have read 2 blogs lately:
1 being "10 things I wish I knew before I had my first baby" and the other being "10 things I'm glad no one told me".
Reading these blogs I see how rare my experience actually was.
I didn't have to deal with most of these 'issues'.
I am going to do 5 things i knew and decided NOT to do before i had my baby and then 5 things that didn't happen to me that are 'common' with other mothers.
1. People say to read read read. I read a few books until I was 16 weeks pregnant and I decided "I know all of this" or "I'm going to wing it and see what happens". To me it made things more exciting. Every 'new' thing was an adventure!
2. I knew I could have continued to work out and stay slightly 'trim' while pregnant. But because it was my first time being pregnant I had NO idea how my body would react and what better way then to see? I didn't work out the whole 9 months! I'm lucky I didn't gain a crazy amount of weight and the weight I did gain was just in my stomach and not everywhere else!
3. Interview Pediatricians. YEAH RIGHT! Who has time for that?! Juggling tour, husband AND being pregnant that was the last thing on my mind! I just went with whoever my Midwife suggested!
4. Baby shower. Baby showers seem like fun when you have friends/family to throw them for you. Fortunately I was blessed with boxes and boxes of hand me downs from friends. Clothes, toys, diapers, diaper bags, changing pads, burp cloths, blankets...EVERYTHING! So we skipped the baby shower and had a bunch of people over a few weeks after he was born to meet him.
5. Ultra Sounds Ultra Sounds Ultra Sounds. My Midwife only does sound sonograms. So when it came to finding out the sex of the baby I went elsewhere (BIG MISTAKE) I went to this 'nice' looking place and they totally ripped me off. Having one every once in awhile is good but I PERSONALLY think they probably aren't the best for your baby!
Things I DIDN'T have to go through.
1. Morning Sickness HALLELUJAH! The Lord spared me from such curse. In my whole 9 months of carrying I threw up ONCE and it was because I took my vitamins before I ate (big mistake). By the time I went into labor I was 2 weeks late so technically I was 10 months+ pregnant and I threw up in Transition labor. (doesn't count)
2. Heartburn I never had to deal with this little monster and til this day have never had heartburn. Interesting.
3. Drooling. This to me is just weird. I guess it's called ptyalism and thank GOD I didn't have to go through this because it's just gross.
4. Issues with your Spouse. Throughout my whole pregnancy my Husband was so sensitive to everything. If I was tired, achy, or just in a bad mood He was there for me. I hear a lot of people get in crazy huge fights with their Husbands and I am privileged to not have that issue. I was overly emotional, fat, and miserable and He loved me through it all.
Last but certainly not least. This is the biggest testimony of all
5. The excruciating pain. I went into labor at 4am, thinking it was just mild contractions. I probably would've ended up having my Baby at home if I didn't see blood and throw up. Because of that I called my Midwife and insisted that she see me at 6am and by the time I arrived at her center I was 8cm dilated. An hour of relaxing in the tub through my contractions, 15 minutes of breathing through the urge of pushing and 30 minutes of pushing: Julien arrived. My labor all in all was 4 hours long, the only way to explain how I felt was pressure. No real hard pain. Just..pressure. God is good!
I will never forget my first pregnancy experience and I can't wait to have more!!
