On What I Wish I Knew

I quickly learned this time around that there are so many things I wish I knew when cooking baby boy B. At different times I have "blamed" a lot of my mommy friends (sorry y'all) for not keeping it real with me about what goes on during this time. Now y'all know that if nothing else, I don't have a filter when it comes to telling it like it is, so I feel its only right that I compile this list of stuff I wish I knew...but as SDJL told me, it may be better that I keep this stuff to myself so that I don't discourage any of you or put a cloud on your mommyhood pursuits...so if you fall in that category, feel free to stop reading now and check back tomorrow :)...this is also my TMI alert, so the faint at heart (or stomach) need not read any further...

Now that that's out of the way, here are my musings on the stuff they didn't tell me:

-Pregnancy is not all fun, games and glowing...okay, so maybe it is for some women, but not for me...we are all prepared for the weight gain, constant bathroom breaks and general discomforts, but the migraines, frequent nosebleeds, gas, heartburn...need I go on? Bottom line--be prepared for your body to totally betray you. You will do things and hear sounds generated by your temple that you never thought possible.

-Its not all mushy all the time. I always watched the kleenex commercials with the moms totally overwhelmed by emotion with every doctor's visit, ultrasound appointment, baby kick, etc. Well, though I marvled at the creation growing within and was amazed at God's awesomeness in this whole process, I was rarely moved to mushiness. At the risk of thinking something was wrong with me, I conversed with my doc to realize that I was completely normal. It was cool and so was I :)

-Doctor's appointments are the most unpleasant times...up until delivery. Now, the early appointments exploring the wonders of pregnancy were great. But as the time clicked closer to d-day, so did the need for pain pills. What the heck was the doc reaching to find? My heartbeat from down there? Geez...throwing back the liquid for the glucose tolerance test was one thing, but loosing all your dignity every seven to ten days to see if your little ones head was emerging...all I can say (or scream) is OUCH! Okay, but once you get over the pain, its hospital time. And while these professionals do it every day, there's something about having your hospital gown ripped open, undies pulled down and privates bared publically that just does something to you. Having a baby? Leave your modesty at the door. I somehow thought that with a csection, I would escape some of the probing...not so.

And last thought for today (baby waking, so to be continued later...)

-In my words that I screamed on day 4 from home...HOLY BOOBS BATMAN! God bless you if you happen to suffer engorgement like I did. Let me tell you, its the worst pain I have experienced (and I have gone through some things and surgeries). Breastfeeding/pumping/expressing is not for the faint of heart. To sum it up, my pain pill popping was more for my breasts than my c-section...

That said, don't want to scare y'all, just keeping it real :)

Even with the experiences aforementioned, I wouldn't trade a minute of them to have B safely in the world!