That said, this is COMPLETELY different the second time
around. For one thing, while I was pregnant with Ford, I could. not. stop.
thinking about my pregnancy. It seems like almost every brain cell was devoted
to planning a nursery, making a registry, researching the best baby gear,
pondering what kind of mother I wanted to be, reading up on breastfeeding, taking
pictures of my belly… and the list goes on. This time around, I’m doing really
good if I remember to take my prenatal vitamin at the end of the day. And
that’s my daily reminder that, “Oh yeah, I’m pregnant!” Yes, my belly is
growing – and at a more rapid pace than it did with Ford – but I have so much
to keep me wholly occupied during the day (FORD, my work, our church,
playdates/friends, having our house on the market – more on that later), and
I’m not stressing or obsessing about what to buy and how babies “work.”
Ford put us through the ringer as a newbie. He was totally
healthy, praise God (although wicked baby acne, cradle cap and a blocked tear
duct became minor inconveniences), but he started up with colic after only
three days out of the womb. Some days, if he wasn’t sleeping, he was crying.
And it didn’t stop until he was about 4.5 months old. He nursed every 1 – 2
hours, around the clock. He was a champion eater, which was an answer to
prayer, but oh boy if I didn’t just feel like a milk factory some days. Then
right around Christmas 2011, he became the happiest baby anyone has ever met!
He never met a stranger, had smiles and giggles for days, would sing and talk
to himself in just the cutest ways… I think we both just had to learn together
those first few months. Which bonded us. But it also made me realize that I can
handle a whole lot more than I thought I could.
This is a really roundabout way to say that I’m not too
worried about the tiny baby phase the second time around. My big prayer
requests for the birth and those first months remain the same as they did last
time: 1) no C-section and 2) an easy, healthy feeding relationship. But
overall, Brad and I both get to the end of the week and we turn to each other
and say, “Wow, where did that week go?” The days, weeks, months are flying,
whereas the first time around, they were dragging.
I still want to be mindful, though, about enjoying this
pregnancy as much as I enjoyed the first one. The Baby G Blog should be a good
way to keep me on top of things, so thanks for following along!
