No Cover-Up For Me

The human body is an amazing piece of work. I am always amazed to discover the many different ways that we are perfectly designed and wonderfully put together. Our bodies were made to endure and conquer amazing feats. The most astonishing thing that I have ever accomplished in my life was growing, protecting and birthing my son. I can’t really even say that I did it all, I was just along for the ride, God had that whole process taken care of.

Now I get to witness another miracle of God great design. Our bodies weren’t designed to just carry a baby and give birth to them, but to also nourish and sustain their life through the production of breast milk. If you stop and think about it, it is truly an awe inspiring privilege for someone to be able to do be able to naturally produce food for another person with lifting a finger or exhausting your resources. It saddens me to know that some women are unfortunate to not be able to participate in this amazing blessing. For those of us that are lucky and have experienced it, we should be thankful and appreciate the time that we have bonding with our little ones.

I have such respect and admiration for this process that I feel to try and hide it or cover it up only dismisses its power. While I do not feel it is appropriate to expose my body to any other man but my husband, I have no problem with feeding my son in public and unashamed of its beauty.While some well meaning friends and family offer a cover or to relocate while I am feeding my almost toddler aged son, I always decline and say I am not concerned about what people think or feel about my feeding my son in public … I AM PROUD!!!

Preparing for Pregnancy

While my husband and I have discussed it several time and we both agreed that we would prefer not to have another child for at least two more years, I have begun to preparing myself mind body and soul for the next one. I learned a lot about myself, my body and my limitations during my first pregnancy. There are several things that I would love to repeat and a lot of things that I do not want to have to go through again.

I guess some where along the line I didn’t take it to seriously when the instructed me to start preparing my body 3 months before pregnancy the first time. I took for granted a lot of stuff that I did, ate and thought about and prepared for. While there are some things that are out of my control and very likely inevitable to happen again, i.e. my cervix being weak and dilated way to early causing me to be on bed rest for most part of my pregnancy, there are some things that I can start to prepare for an eventually avoid completely if done right.

Weight Gain

The biggest thing that I would like a better handle on for the next pregnancy is my weight gain. By charts standards and certainly my own personal opinion I gained far too much weight during my first pregnancy. I went up a total of forty five pounds from conception to delivery. That is ten plus pounds more then I should have. I am sure that it didn’t help that for the last 16 weeks of the pregnancy I was confined to a bed, that was no excuse. I know what I ate and what I didn’t eat and I did not make the wisest dietary decisions.

Perineum Tearing

So they say that once it happens, it is bone to repeat but I want to prove them wrong. My husband and I did start some of the recommendations for stretching and preparing the area for delivery but I don’t think we started early enough. Plan of action for baby number two, start from the first day that I pee on a stick and it smiles back at me.

Labor Plan

I know no birth experience will ever go 100% the way that you plan or hope but it is far better to enter with a plan than to wing it as things go. My husband and I did have some what of a birth plan made up about a month before delivery but I don’t think we did as good of a job expressing the plan to our delivery staff.

Emotional Roller Coaster

While it is literally impossible to be completely prepared for all the emotional changes that come with baby, a little forethought goes a long way. My life dynamic and living situation is going to be completely different for the next baby as it was for my first. While life is ever changing and evolving I will have to be in a constant state of preparation and looking ahead to how the timing of the pregnancy, whenever it happens, will effect what life circumstances I am facing and quickly adjust. My personal readiness, how the new baby will impact our family, my marriage, and work are the overwhelming factors to consider in advance.

Sibling Rivalry

Tied in with the potential emotional roller ahead is the fact that not only do my husband and I have to prepare each other for the welcoming of a new person into our family but we will have to educate and prepare our son also. I have to consider what age they will be when the newborn comes home. I am hoping that he will be old enough to understand and accept the family change. But that may not be a realistic expectation because each child is different. I do know for myself that I do not feel I am capable handling two young children that are at very close in age. I can barely handle the one right now.

Work Related

The last time I was pregnant I had the benefit of staying home throughout the entire pregnancy and for the first five months of his life I was a stay at home mother to my son. However that has all changed now. I can’t predict the future but I feel pretty secure in my current job and do not foresee be being a stay at home mom any time soon. So when we are expecting our second child we will have to look at and reconsider how the work force dynamic will change how we prepare and plan to bring a child into the world.

These areas of life are the different concerns on my heart right now. As time goes on this list may change but I think it is a good start. How did you prepare for your first or second child? Did you do more or less preparation with a second child? Would love to know what others did differently.

Where is Waldo

I have some good news and some bad news to share which will explain where my online presence has been for the past three weeks.

Good news: I received a promotion at work.
Bad news: I received a promotion at work.

I love my job and the daily challenges that it brings. The people I work for and with are pronominal and I thank God every day for the blessing and priveldge of working here.

However, with any promotion, greater power comes greater responsibility. The daily tasks that I encounter and problems I solve are not held to a higher standard and expectation. I now have people that report to me and look to me to be a shield of protection from being over worked and called on beyond their capabilities. I haven’t held a managerial position in some time and not in this capacity so it is all new to me.

But I love it. I enjoy the new role and like the challenges that it brings daily. It has just been so demandinng that when I get home the last thing I want to see is a computer. I can’t make that an excuse though. I have a set for myself a goal to stick up this blog through thick and thin and I plan on doing that.

I have been missing from the social media and blogging world but I am returning, slow but surely.