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It goes something like this. I am having a baby. I am 40 and I am having a baby. I know it is the custom not to tell for a certain amount of time but I have always blogged my whole pregnancy. I did with Alia. With Neviyah. And again, I will with this one. Yes, the December 6th blog entry and a momentary lapse of judgement have to do with the plus sign that immediately presents itself each time I take a pregnancy test, and there have been many pregnancy tests in the past four weeks. Today was my first official OBGYN appointment. We saw the heartbeat. This is real. I *am* pregnant.
This is a new OBGYN which means that each of my children will have been born with the help of a different doctor. Dr. H. was wonderful at our appointment. He suggests that I take three Flintstones a day. If you followed my other pregnancies, then you know that traditional prenatal vitamins cause me to engage in vomitous activities I would rather avoid. He also suggested that I exercise 25 minutes of cardio a day. That is a new one. He is aware of my history of gestational diabetes, and we are diabetes testing in two weeks as well as at 26 weeks.
Dr. H. gave me a due date of September 1, 2010. This puts me at 6 weeks. This means that the nose, mouth, and ears are beginning to take shape. Baby’s heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as mine — and blood is beginning to course through Baby’s body. The intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to the lungs has appeared. The pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of Baby’s brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.
So, I am mentally prepared to journey down this path again. I really thought Neviyah was going to be my last; hence, the reason I was so broken up about her deciding to stop breastfeeding so early. Yes, 18-months is an early-quit in my book. I am having some of that guilt about having another one. Will I be selling Neviyah (and Alia and Chandler for that matter) short with attention because it will have to be divided? Is this how the middle child syndrome is created? We co-sleep and my kids have always been around 5 or 6 when we have transitioned them to their own beds. In order to be safe with co-sleeping with the new baby, we will have to transition Neviyah before the baby is born. That will make her just two.
On the vane side of things, I swear I am already starting to show. I am already almost out of my regular clothes. They are a tight fit. It doesn’t help that I just gave ALL of my maternity clothes away.
So, are you as shocked as me?!?
It goes something like this. I am having a baby. I am 40 and I am having a baby. I know it is the custom not to tell for a certain amount of time but I have always blogged my whole pregnancy. I did with Alia. With Neviyah. And again, I will with this one. Yes, the December 6th blog entry and a momentary lapse of judgement have to do with the plus sign that immediately presents itself each time I take a pregnancy test, and there have been many pregnancy tests in the past four weeks. Today was my first official OBGYN appointment. We saw the heartbeat. This is real. I *am* pregnant.
This is a new OBGYN which means that each of my children will have been born with the help of a different doctor. Dr. H. was wonderful at our appointment. He suggests that I take three Flintstones a day. If you followed my other pregnancies, then you know that traditional prenatal vitamins cause me to engage in vomitous activities I would rather avoid. He also suggested that I exercise 25 minutes of cardio a day. That is a new one. He is aware of my history of gestational diabetes, and we are diabetes testing in two weeks as well as at 26 weeks.
Dr. H. gave me a due date of September 1, 2010. This puts me at 6 weeks. This means that the nose, mouth, and ears are beginning to take shape. Baby’s heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as mine — and blood is beginning to course through Baby’s body. The intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to the lungs has appeared. The pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of Baby’s brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil bean.
So, I am mentally prepared to journey down this path again. I really thought Neviyah was going to be my last; hence, the reason I was so broken up about her deciding to stop breastfeeding so early. Yes, 18-months is an early-quit in my book. I am having some of that guilt about having another one. Will I be selling Neviyah (and Alia and Chandler for that matter) short with attention because it will have to be divided? Is this how the middle child syndrome is created? We co-sleep and my kids have always been around 5 or 6 when we have transitioned them to their own beds. In order to be safe with co-sleeping with the new baby, we will have to transition Neviyah before the baby is born. That will make her just two.
On the vane side of things, I swear I am already starting to show. I am already almost out of my regular clothes. They are a tight fit. It doesn’t help that I just gave ALL of my maternity clothes away.
So, are you as shocked as me?!?
Comments
First of all, mozel tov! Only G-d can open the womb and He has opened your womb so amen! Halleluyah for new life!
Secondly, weaning at 18-months being early in your book makes me want to high-five you. Family bedding makes me want to give you a hug. I will say that I was a baby at the time so my memories are a big fuzzy but it seems to me that my parents family bedded me when I was an infant with them and my three year old brother. I don't know your child's sleep habits - if she kicks and sleeps deep she very well might not be safe to sleep with a newborn - but both my brother and I lived. (Just asked my mother and yes, from the day I came home from the hospital.)
This may not be a solution for your family - my mother knew someone who, on moral principal, never let the children sleep between her and her husband so as to not let them come between them and keep some of the intimacy there. However, if that's not an issue with your husband and yourself, would sleeping with the new baby between you and Neviyah on the other side of one of you work?
Also, my mother says that for a while they had a twin bed - that was "his" bed - along side the big bed, pushed up against it, that he would go back and forth between.
Another suggestion my aunt and her partner used was this little baby hammock thing that goes in the middle at the head of the bed, between the two adult's pillows that kept baby slightly up and technically not in the bed. I would think this might provide some protection from a toddler in the bed as well but I don't know how you'd fit a toddler beside the hammock.
It's not the end of the world if she has to graduate to a big girl bed at the age of two but it seems that you desire to keep the family bed as long as you can and I'm offering a suggestion.
Be blessed and congratulations!