First, in an unrelated note... This is the slogan on my Cracker Barrel fudge box: "Plow into pleasure." Does anyone else find this to be an odd wording or have I just been spending too much time with the Smart Bitches?
Second, my husband and I are starting to seriously consider attempting to start the process for having another baby sometime in the very near future. This has me completely thrilled and terrified at the same time. I had such horrible morning sickness with Charlie and I had assumed that I would just take the medicine this time if I had trouble but all the meds are incompatible with breast feeding. I hadn't really planned on breastfeeding indefinitely and I think I should be able to make my 1 year goal irrespective of anything else but it does make life so much easier with Charlie. He has so much trouble winding down for sleep (and, yes, that is starting to improve- more later) that a little booby time is the simplest solution. We've worked hard to keep him from only knowing how to go to sleep through nursing but, especially when my husband is out of town, it is sometimes the one thing keeping us mildly sane. Also, Charlie loves the booby. We've dropped most of the easy feedings at this point and the rest will be a real wrench. I still don't find it a transcendental experience but there is something very "motherly" about it and it is such an easy way for mommy to make it better. Weaning will be harder on me than I expected.
The whole out of town thing is quite worrisome as well. My husband tends to travel at least several days every month. We're able to get some sitters and my mom sometimes comes down or we go up to them for the longer trips but I am often at the edge of endurance by the time he gets home if I'm solo now. I can only imagine what it will be like when I'm hormonal and exhausted or when we have 2.
At the same time, Charlie is an intensely social fellow and I think he'll be thrilled at having a sibling. We both think it would be nice to swoop through the intense, babyhood time instead of stretching it. We think we would like to have several children and I would like to be done with pregnancy by 35 or so and I'm 30 now. That isn't a huge time crunch but it does make you aware of where you are. The idea of being pregnant while Charlie is still taking naps is also a big thing. I know he won't hold on to them for too long so, sooner is better than later from that regard. It also seems like it would be nice if we had the next one before Charlie really got used to the single life. And, we're sort of going at it with the assumption that, saving some sort of major medical problem, it would be hard to have a more difficult baby. Charlie has many, many good points but he is, by far, the most difficult sleeper I have ever heard of, save Patrick. My husband commented that at least with colic we would know it would be done in 3 months or so and I have to agree. And, even if we have a child as difficult as Charlie, we have at least gotten 1 to practice on and now have at least 7 sleep books under our belt and I have that whole master's degree that covered everything about babies except sleep so... Of course, we could have a good sleeper who is exceedingly cranky and not nearly so cute and then I would, perhaps, second guess my assumptions, but at least I would be well rested and, as Dr. Sears says, you can handle just about anything during the day if you can just get some sleep at night. Finally, we've noticed that most everyone seems quite pleased with how they spaced their babies with the occasional exception of people who really, really weren't planning to have a baby just then. So, it seems that no matter what we decide, we will likely think we were completely correct in hindsight.
Also, we had said that we would approach this with a not preventing sort of mindset. So, there will be no "command performances." At the same time, I'm temperature charting for a couple of rather unrelated reasons. First, I like to know what's going on with my body. Second, you usually have a milk production dip around the time of ovulation and it's useful to know that's going on. However, with the charting, you rather lose the whole mystery of which days might be optimal so, it feels like we're doing rather more than just not preventing pregnancy but rather less than "trying to conceive" which is leaving me a bit flustered. I'm a bit of a planner and I was ok with the whole "let's see what happens" but I have way too much information to really pretend I don't know if this is a "just for fun" evening or not. Now that you know much more than you ever wanted about my life...
Does anyone have any input?
3 comments:
Here's a couple of thoughts-
1. My girlies are 17 months apart. It wasn't planned that way, but I am *SO GLAD* they are close together. The first six months were rough. I didn't leave the house by myself unless I had to. (It was just more trouble than it was worth.)
But after that, life was a breeze. Hermione did a good job of entertaining Ginny if I was making dinner, going to the bathroom, etc. They liked playing together, and as they got older, they entertained each other. Ginny walked and talked pretty fast, and I think it was because she had an older sister always talking to her.
So, yeah, it was a good thing for our family.
2. I had horrible morning sickness with both pregnancy. I was still nursing Hermione when I found out I was pregnant, and the doctor had me take Phenergan. Same thing with my sister-in-law. (Different doctors, even.) If I were you I would talk to your doctor again.
3. If you are still nursing when you get pregnant, there's a good chance Charlie will wean himself. That's what Hermione did (I was about 4 months along), and a lot of my friends have had a similar experience. The pregnancy hormones change the flavor of the milk, or so the common thinking goes.
One upside I found was that I didn't have sore nipple or engorgement problems when Ginny was born. My body was producing the milk all throughout my pregnancy, so I never had that HUGE influx like I did with Hermione. My nipples were sore for a day or so, but that was it. Nothing like the two weeks of agony with Hermione! ;)
I think if y'all are up for it, you should do it.
Good Luck!
Divinemum
um...it is hell. especially when Shan is gone all day leaving me alone with them, but it is do-able. You just give up a lot of me time but, well, it is worth it. I highly reccommend more than one child. My girls are almost exactly 2 years apart, all down the line.
I see only positives in terms of the children and the relationship they will have with each other.
If you and your husband are ready for another baby go for it.
Me....we are currently using 3 forms of BC. I feel like at 9 months I am just starting to get it all together.
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