Southern Exposure

I don’t share certain things on Facebook or tumblr, like financial talk or if my husband and I have an argument.

I chose not to share my birth story. It wasn’t terrible but I know I didn’t like when people barraged me with horror stories of their child’s birth and everyone else they know who didn’t have a great birthing experience.

Most people know how healthy I was and how I did my best to try and have a natural, hypno waterbirth.
Well long story short I had a great labor, everything was perfect. Things changed at go time and I had an emergency c-section.

Part of the reason I had to have a c-section was the angle little man was trying to get down the birth canal.

So what am I getting at? At little man’s two month appointment the doctor noticed a slight head tilt. So we are to go to physical therapy and apparently it’s a quick thing to fix.

Now I didn’t get upset hearing the news because I know someone who’s two year old has a very fast acting terminal illness. So I see it as exercise and he’ll be even more perfect.

Now the thing that gets me is because I left my job and I carried the health insurance we are waiting on coverage that we buy. Of course what we can afford probably wouldn’t help much. So we wait for coverage and have to self pay for his physical therapy evaluation. I called to find out how much. It ranges from $600 to $1300.

I think that is an ouch for most people in this economy. So this means no going home for Christmas among other things.

We’ll figure it out and I’m so glad it’s nothing serious. It’s just money and he’s my beautiful son who’s worth more then any monetary amount.

Little man turned three weeks old last night. I cannot believe it’s been that long. He has changed so much already. He’s filled out and his face is much cuter and less alien like (I can say that because I am his mother).

We’ve been working on “good habits” like getting him to bed at 9pm and attempting to establish a schedule. It’s been going really well and I consider us very luck (for now). He wakes at 3 am and then again at 6 am. Little man and I do a long cuddle session after he eats at 6 am and part of me wonders if that co-nap on the couch is bad or good? We aren’t co-sleeping so I’ve begun to wonder if this instills similar patterns.

So what have I learned…some of this is little boy specific:

• Have yourself or the pumped bottle ready just before you think the little milk monster will awake. This way you catch him when he’s squirmy not screaming.
• No matter what, or how hard I prepare, I’ll get peed on a few times a week.
• Buy the big box of sensitive wipes. Even if you plan on being environmental, I thought it would be good to start with disposables till I can better understand the amount of poop and pee I’ll be dealing with.
• Little man is not as impressed by his swing as Grandma would of liked to think. He however loves his pram. We’ve been using the bassinet and I think he enjoys the rolling bed concept.
• I never thought I’d be so excited to see a healed penis (circumcision) and I never thought I’d tell my teeny tiny munchkin, “who has a beautiful penis?” Yep…
• Oddly we don’t talk to him in a “baby voice” but we do use sarcasm. Poor child.
• I’ve mastered eating with one hand, along with laundry, and walking an aggressive dog.
• There is never a good time to talk on the phone.

I am sure there is more but I don’t want to bore. This week I’ve managed to do my hair and my wonderful husband is going to watch little man tonight so I can do a super mega light workout. I let my gym membership expire right before little man was born but our condominium has a small gym so I’ll make due.

I guess the best thing I’ve learned is that every day is a learning experience. I don’t google much and I hardly call my mom for advice. I just do what comes naturally.

Oh and one more thing. Breast feeding is a wonderful thing but it’s hard. My entire day revolves around nursing or pumping. That’s just part of the hard part. However it has a huge payoff. My son is already reaping the benefits and I know it’s helped me drop quite a bit of weight. I don’t have a scale but all my pre-pregnancy clothes fit, including the skinny jeans. Whether or not they look good is another thing, but we’re getting there.

I think I’m a perpetual nester. I’ve been nesting since I found out I was pregnant as I cannot help but want to be prepared. I’ve had things ready for months, his room ready since end of April.

I can’t quite figure out if this is nesting or if it’s just me worried that our condo will be a mess while we are at the hospital and our friend who is walking our dogs will think we are slobs. I also have my parents arriving tomorrow so I’ve tried to keep the place as clean as possible and keep the dog hair at an all time low as my father has asthma and is allergic to dogs.

So I’ve vacuumed almost every day for a week and I’ve done laundry every other day. The kitchen gets cleaned most every morning. Yes we only have like an 800 square foot condo but it sure does smell pretty. I just can’t figure out if it’s me just being over prepared or my nesting instinct.

Now I need a snack :)

No news yet. Every night around 8:45pm we start contractions and then I go to bed and they vanish. I’m trying to be patient as my due date is this weekend, but I’ve run out chores since I went on maternity this week.

So today I am taking some time to prep for the grandparent’s arrival and do some fun stuff for myself.

Oddly I want to avoid most people because I am a little tired of hearing, “is he here yet?” or some other question regarding my status. Well look at me, does it look like he’s here yet? I am not smuggling watermelons under my dress. Of course I don’t say that, I smile. Most people are just excited and realize the average first time mom goes to 41 weeks.

Ugh, unfortunately next Wednesday if he isn’t here yet I have to go to my midwife then off to my hospital for some basic tests. I’m trying to tell myself he’ll come before then as I really don’t want to go to the hospital until it’s go time.

Ah so nothing new to report. Just spending quality time with my husband, my fur kids and my bump before everything changes.

How are you preparing for the baby?

Wow. How am I not preparing?

Since we started trying I’ve been reading, reading, reading. I’ve read books, magazines, websites, etc. We had talked about what we wanted as parents for our son so we had a great place to start.

I’ve been going to prenatal yoga twice a week if work allows. I’ve still been hitting the gym, eating great and taking my vitamins. Also I signed up for my waterbirth class, hypnobirthing class series and adult, child and infant CPR class.

So everyday I ask my mom a bunch of questions, anything from how to clean a baby’s gums to how much water should they drink? I ask every question even if it seems silly. If I knew the answer, I wouldn’t ask the question.

I registered early. I think I was just three months and boy am I glad I did. I often add and remove things based on ratings, suggestions and other things I’ve come across. I can say now I am confident with my first time mom registry.

We began taking care of some of the bigger things. First we cleaned up the condo and got rid of quite a few things. I bought a vintage armoire and a great changing table. Then my brother was nice enough to give me the crib from his kids (despite what many want to think not everyone has someone step up and buy them the expensive and very important stuff, self reliance is key as a soon to be parent).

I used my Christmas money to buy my very nice infant car seat since if he comes really early for any reason at least we have that all set up. My friend and I just installed the nifty little base in my car. Oh yes the car. We traded in our tiny hatch back for a much larger car that will allow us to make our road trips with room for baby and the fur children.

To celebrating finding out what we were having I bought some clothes from Carter’s when they were having a huge sale. I got 300$ of clothes for just a little over 100$.

I also received coupons for diapers or if you buy a box you get a 20$ gift card, so I’ve purchased one big box of diapers and two smaller boxes. Continuing along the savvy shopping I signed up on Zulily.com and Totsy.com for great sample sales and scored my dream cloth diapers in size small for $30 less then Babies R’ Us was charging. Don’t get me wrong it’s taking weeks for them to get there because of how the sample sale works but it saved us money.

Other then stuff, I’ve told work many months ago, so I am preparing for my maternity leave. We’ve been on the hunt for day care and are on a few waiting lists. We’ve also started to consider the fur children the few days we are in the hospital.

The best part is it’s just been us for how many years and since we’ve lived away from home now for three years we pretty much could do what we want and now we’ve both become so selfless. It’s not about when can I shop for new clothes or shoes for me or stuff. For my husband and I our focus is on setting everything up for little man. It’s a really awesome feeling.

I am pretty proud of us. We aren’t thinking about all the things we can do again after the baby gets here. I don’t have a list for that. I am just thinking about him.

How did you tell your parents the news? The baby’s dad’s parents?

This question makes me giggle a little. I’m married almost three years and both of us are in our 30’s. Well I am 29 but I’ll be 30 when Baby arrives. So needless to say telling them was definitely not this huge deal where I wasn’t sure how they would take it. My only concern however was how my mom would feel since we are 1,000 miles away and have no plans on moving home to NY.

So we knew we were pregnant in September and I wanted to be traditional and wait three months to make sure the little fella was meant to be. So that brought us to around Thanksgiving and we had just had our first sonogram November 1. 

So for my in laws because they are older, my husband called his father after our first sonogram on November 1st, also Dad in-laws 81st birthday and told him the good news but also told him to keep quiet since we weren’t tell my family for three more weeks. So I turned off my facebook to any posts from my husbands family and the few friends that new, one in particular who has a big mouth (hand, I guess if she’s typing). 

We went up for Thanksgiving after not being home for over a year. I picked up a cute “Baby’s First Thanksgiving” card where this cute turkey opens his wings and there is a message. Well I put a picture of our sonogram in there.

I gave the card to my mother a few days before Thanksgiving at a small dinner with my parents, one of my brothers and my husband. She opened the envelope and was super confused as to why I was giving her this card because apparently she bought the same card and mailed it to a family friend who just had a baby. Well then she got to the sonogram and was even more confused. “Who’s is this?” I said, “Mine.” Then the tears and hugs commenced and it was awesome. 

A few days later I told my other brother, my sister-in-law and my niece and nephew and the rest is history. 

(Playing catch up)

The baby shower: What do you plan for? Hope for?

Well my mother is planning it and she is in NY and I am in GA, however I’ll be flying at week 33 to enjoy my shower.

I am not expecting too much more then seeing lots of my family and my husband’s family. Enjoying that mostly and not worrying about what stuff I will and will not get. We’re pretty self sufficient so whatever will be will be.

I am going to be 30 in May so I my parents don’t spoil me any more and I have no grandparents. It’ll mostly be a little of my family and a lot of my husbands.

I’m excited, plus visiting New York is always a blast.

What sex did/do you hope for?

Well before even becoming pregnant I always said I wanted a boy. I can’t say there was real logic behind except most boys don’t wear those awful short shorts or want to wear sports bras as shirts. I also wanted a little version of my husband.

When we became pregnant I suddenly didn’t care and neither did my husband. We thought about how we would love to have one or the other. 

But statistics pulled through. My husband is one of six boys and I am the only girl as my parents had two boys and my first cousins were and are all boys.

We’re really excited to be adding another little man to our family. From the sonogram, he already appears to have my husband’s nose. 

What is your biggest food craving?

I have oddly not been craving anything. I have added a few things to my normal diet to make sure I am getting enough of the important stuff for Baby. After he’s here I’ll go back to my usual schtick.

I’ve been drinking maybe a cup of 2% milk a day, eating some cheese, drinking orange juice and eating whatever pasta I want. Normally I am dairy free, don’t drink juice (yuck sugar) and I limit my pasta intake since it really has no nutritional value.  

Got to keep the weight going for little man so he’s big and happy!