Getting personal about Pregnancy

Both Heather and I were asked via Marijke at Womb Within to answer some pregnancy questions. Let me tell you, I can talk about pregnancy and birth for HOURS. I’m not even joking. I love talking about it. So here we go!

1. How did you find out you were pregnant?
The first time we were actively trying and I was late. I’m never ever late so I knew something was up. I bought one of those drugstore tests and voila! The second time was a bit more of a surprise, we had intended to wait a little longer, but I knew because again, I was late. A test proved me right.

2. How did you tell your partner (if you have/had one)?
The first time he was here and I remember that my version of telling him was to come running out of the bathroom, waving the test over my head, and shrieking a little incoherently. The second time he was at work so I told him on the phone because I couldn’t wait for him to come home.

3. Did you secretly hope for a girl or a boy?
Not really. I may have leaned a bit more towards girls just because most of my babysitting had been for girls. The second time around I wasn’t hoping one way or the other but I had a very strong feeling that it was a boy so I was very surprised when the ultrasound revealed another girl.

4. Did you feel ready to have a child?
Yes. The first time, like I said, we were trying to start a family. And the second time, even though it was surprising timing, we were ready as well because it was only a matter of time, plus we knew what we were getting into.

5. What bit of advice did you get that you hated?
The worst bit of advice I ever got was from an elderly extended family member who had never even had children. It was Thanksgiving and my first born had fallen asleep on the way to the in-laws’ house so she had been sleeping in her carrier for an hour and a half in the living room. Shortly before dinner she woke up and she started to cry because she was hungry so I immediately picked her up. The “aunt” clucked her tongue and told me I had better not do that because she would learn to manipulate me and be very spoiled. Incredulous, I pointed out that she was only THREE WEEKS OLD and it was highly unlikely that she was making elaborate schemes in her newborn brain.

6. What bit of advice did you get that you appreciated?
To trust myself. To go ahead and read parenting websites and parenting books or magazines if I enjoyed them but to trust myself to figure out what would work best for me, for my baby, and for my overall family, that I didn’t have to fit into one cookie cutter category. It was simple advice but made sense and was much less stressful than trying to follow just one person’s advice for every last thing.

I’m supposed to tag five people but Heather already did a good job of tagging so instead I invite you to play too. If you have a blog, post your answers and leave us the URL. If you don’t have a blog, go ahead and tell us right in the comments. Because if there’s one thing I love just as much as talking about pregnancy, it’s reading about it!

(Photo taken by me, I was one month away from giving birth to my second daughter)