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 Top
Ten Things I will Tell my Pregnant Friends
Recently
one of my closest friends in life, although not in
proximity, told me she is pregnant. I am so excited for
her. Our oldest children are one month apart, and now our
second children will be 11 months apart. I wondered if
there was any advice I could give her and decided that
instead of advice, I should remind her of the things I had
blocked out between baby one and baby two. I really
believe that if you remember early babyhood correctly you
wouldn’t have any more children. In homage to David
Letterman, here’s the top ten.
10. You
have forgotten how hard Labor was. It doesn’t matter how
you remember it, you don’t remember it right. Take the
refresher course, even though you think you don’t need it.
But it is easier the second time around.
9. Although I know you know
you will feel tired, it is impossible to describe how
tired baby two will make you. As soon as you get the
baby to sleep your oldest child will need
food/attention/drink or a myriad of other things. As soon
as you get done with that, the baby will wake up.
8. No
matter how much you think you remember about having a
newborn, you have forgotten most of it. How small they
are, how much they cry, how sweet they are.
7. You
are in for a boatload of guilt. You will feel terrible
that you aren’t giving your second child exactly what you
gave your first in the way of attention. But you have
given your second child something your oldest child will
never have – an older sibling.
6. All
the sterilizing and cleaning you did for baby one will not
happen for baby two. It is impossible to keep the
pacifier sterile when the three year old keeps popping it
into his mouth and then back into the baby’s mouth.
5. Baby
showers are necessary for second babies too. You have
forgotten how many diapers the little buggers go through.
Don’t register for anything, ask everybody for diapers of
different sizes – and make sure nobody gets the newborn
size because you will use four of them and then need Size
1.
4. You
need maternity clothes! Go invest about $100.00 in
Maternity clothes because you feel like crap when you are
pregnant and the only good parts of being pregnant is not
having to suck in your stomach, eating dessert without
guilt, and new clothes. Forget the maternity pantyhose.
Even if your employer requires them, nobody is going to
mess with a pregnant woman.
3. You
are going to put on weight. This is one of those truths
that we know intellectually but can’t accept emotionally.
You will probably gain more with your second baby than you
did with your first, but that is natural too. It will
come off after the baby is born. It takes nine months to
put the weight on, it will take at least that long to get
it off.
2. Your
cravings will be different than last time, your husband
will be indifferent and you will want to bop him on the
head. If for nothing else, because he doesn’t have a
little creature dancing on his bladder.
1. The most important thing
you have forgotten is how much you will love that little
baby. Maybe not right away. Don’t be surprised if you
feel a little bit apathetic right after you have the
baby. Soon though you will love this new baby as much as
you do you first baby. Give it time.
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