Nursing while pregnant

Madie is 19 months old today, and is still nursing frequently. No signs of weaning anytime soon. I was really dreading this, because my breasts were SO sore first trimester when I was pregnant with her. Interestingly enough, nursing seems to prevent the soreness. This has been a wonderful discovery :)

Because of changes in mother's milk during pregnancy she may end up weaning partway through the pregnancy, but I really doubt she will. So it looks like I'll get that pretty tandem nursing picture after all. Of course, then I'll be nursing two, so maybe once I get the picture I'll be sick of it...

Plans for my pregnancy and birth

It's so nice to start a pregnancy knowing so much more. I spent the first two months of my first pregnancy exhausted and queasy. I'm following the Brewer diet (www.blueribbonbaby.org) from the start this time (I learned about it around 4 months gestation with Maddie) and the difference is astounding! I'm still getting tired earlier, but have had almost no queasiness. If I feel a little icky, I eat something high in protein and feel a hundred times better right away.

I was pretty sure before I ever got pregnant which midwife I wanted to hire for my birth. I interviewed one other midwife I really liked a lot, but she just lives too far away. The other day I talked to Terri, the midwife I plan on hiring. I've attended two births with her now, and seen her in action. She is very hands-off, which is what I want. We'll be getting together in a couple of weeks to discuss the specifics.

This pregnancy, as long as things progress normally, I will never see an OB or a CNM. Terri is a lay midwife. I don't plan on having blood tests, gestational diabetes tests, group B strep tests, ultrasounds. I don't plan on checking my weight, checking my urine, checking my blood pressure obsessively. If something is wrong, we'll know, and change our plans accordingly. It takes all the stress away from pregnancy to know that I won't have to wait for an hour at a doctor's office, submit to tests I don't want, fend off inductions and cesareans, etc.

I'm so excited about having this baby in the comfort of my own home, with a midwife I know I can trust not to give me drugs I don't need "for my own good" and who will let me truly give birth the way I want to. I feel much safer already than I ever did during my pregnancy with Maddie, when we considered staying home and having her by ourselves because the midwife mentioned inducing at 41 weeks.

Anyway...those are my plans, so far. I'm using HypBirth (www.hypbirth.com) as a supplement to everything I've learned through the Bradley Method. Getting a chance to practice with a toddler running around is my primary challenge.

Changing his mind, the discovery, and more

I started bugging Chad about having another baby probably in October. My goal was to be pregnant by Christmas, so we could tell our families on Christmas morning. He said NO WAY, NO MORE BABIES! I bugged him and bugged him about it. Finally I gave up for the time being, and being a man, he immediately changed his mind. I'll have to remember that for next time.

Conception was around December 12 or 13. I wasn't charting but am pretty good at prediction ovulation, so it was at least close to then. For the first week or so, I really thought I was pregnant, just like with Maddie. I convinced myself then that I wasn't, so I wouldn't be too disappointed. I decided to wait until Christmas morning to take the test.

I got up at 5 am on Christmas and took a First Response test: positive! I realized when I saw the 2nd pink line that I had known it would be positive. I would've been very surprised and disappointed to see a negative. We wrote a letter from Maddie to Chad's parents, sister, and her fiance, and went over to their house. I called my family (except my dad, whom I wanted to tell in person since I thought I'd be seeing him soon, but I ended up telling him on the phone the next day anyway).