miscellaneous

1-Some people really don't know how to talk to pregnant women. Latest offense: clerk at a grocery store asked how far along we were. Robbin said 6 mos (It's really 7)...her response, "Wow, you're gonna be huge. Huge." I did not respond, just took my bags.

2- I love hearing the contradictory advice from all my friends. Really, I'm not being sarcastic. They all are doing a great job raising their kids. Combined they have all of opinions possible about products, methods, etc about giving birth or the first few months afterward. Some always crouch their advice with "this is what worked for me" others start with, "you must..." Either way, it's informative and entertaining at the same time.

Biggest contradictions so far:

Birthing Class vs No Instruction vs Doula

Rooming in at Hospital vs Having baby brought to you to eat

Baby sleeping in room with you at home vs sleeping in own bed on night one.

Then there are little things....."biggest waste of money was the swing; never used it" vs. "make sure you get a swing that sways side to side and back and forth; it's the only way we got through the first few months." And people who don't use cloth diapers are generally certain that we will switch to disposables after a month; while those who use cloth can't believe they ever even considered disposables.

It's very clear there is no right answer and it's good to hear the whys behind the opinions so we have a better idea of what will work for us.

3- Just at Christmas, I was admiring how cute my pregnant belly looked after I got out of the shower and how it's pretty neat that all my weight gain is right there. I'm no wider at all, still have chicken legs, the same size chest, etc. Just a big belly. Then, the next day I stepped out of the shower expecting again to smile and my adorable belly...and it had the tiniest, less than half an inch, purple stretch mark. Dammit

4 -Birthing class at the hospital is good so far. We took one last night and have 3 more to go. (each is 2 1/2 hours long). There are only 4 couples in the class; the instructor said her Tuesday night class at 14 couples and the Thursday night class has 11 couples. I kind of we were in a larger class so we'd meet more people; but I like that our sessions must go faster since their are less participants.

5- It seems as though most baby registry items/ must haves are items to hold the baby: the carrier, the bouncer, the swing, the car seat, the highchair, the Bumbo, the stroller, the tub. I'm going to get a little frustrated if it turns out I never remove Gus from the car seat. Babies R Us could really learn a few things from Bed Bath and Beyond about registries. There is too much of a difference in what is offered online vs the stores. And then from store to store, it also varies too much. I understand that not all stores will carry the same products but the variation is just too high. It's high enough that at both the store in Augusta and Chicago they seemed to think that it would be almost impossible for me to register for items in the store and expect those same items to be in the stores in other city. Hmph. Buy Buy Baby (owned by Bed Bath and Beyond) seems to have a selection that almost matches their website and while their selection isn't as large, it seems to be of a higher quality. I registered for a few items there for my Augusta shower and I really wish they had a larger presence in Chicagoland. Not for my shower, but for all my friends who live there and have to keep going back to BRU.