Dave and I had a rough time when Siddhartha was first born, but after about three or four weeks we finally started to feel the panic fade. By that time we had an idea of when he was hungry or tired, and he had started to spend some time awake and happy each day.

Weeks went by with minor ups and downs before I realized that I dreaded naptime. When Sidd was eating, I’d worry about when he’d get tired; when he was playing, I’d worry about when he’d get tired; when he was sleeping, I was worried about when he’d wake up and then eventually get tired.

It was fairly easy by then to play with him and by about eight weeks it was easier to feed him, but naptime was no fun. Even if I tried to get him to nap as soon as he was the tiniest bit sleepy, he’d fuss and cry unless I bounced, jiggled and shushed him like a sweaty dancing lunatic. I was briefly able to get him to sleep without a fight by giving him a pacifier, but then we decided to wean him off of it before he got too dependent.

Last week, during mid-bounce, I lost it. I could bounce no more! I had even been using the giant exercise ball our friends got for us at a garage sale and telling myself that bouncing him down was my workout, but my back was killing me and I was done. Luckily, Dave was home and able to shoo me away to a yoga class and get the kid down on his own. I decided something had to change.

Lots of experts give tips on how to make naptime easier and some say to just accept that it might not be easy. I realize that I wrote a post recently stating that I am working on accepting that naps may not happen as I want them to or may not happen at all, but I also am trying to work on them and I’m working on accepting that what I work on may not work. Got it? What I mean is, although desire leads to suffering, we can still work towards what we desire, but also accept that we may not get it.

Ask Moxie says to pick one thing about naptime that’s bugging you and work on it. What was bugging me was having to put so much physical effort into getting Siddhartha to sleep. Bouncing and shushing until I was sweating and ready to pass out. It was self-defeating, at times, because I would get so worked up I think I was making it harder for him to sleep.

Ever since he got night and day sorted out, it had been a lot easier to get him to sleep at night. Of course, I usually nurse him to sleep before bedtime. So I thought, “well gosh, I usually sleep better on a full stomach” and decided to try nursing closer to naptime.

For the past few days I have switched up Sidd’s routine a bit. He used to wake up, eat, play, and then sleep. Now, he’ll wake up, play, eat, and then sleep. If he’s had a long nap (we’re amongst the lucky parents who usually get a 2-3 hours nap during the day), I may need to nurse him soon after waking, play, and then nurse him again before the next nap. Not only does nursing fill up his tummy that empties so fast, but it’s also comforting and warm, cuddly time with Mommy that’s calming.

So far it has been a success! He will fall asleep at the breast, but usually wakes up as I transport him to his swing and then falls back to sleep either there or in my arms on the way. For that reason, I’m not terribly concerned about him nursing to sleep. He is still pretty good at getting himself back to sleep if he wakes up at the end of a sleep cycle. In fact, Saturday and Sunday night (not last night) we got at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep! I know that things may change (like they did last night!) when we hit the next milestone, growth spurt, or…just because, but for now this is working for me and it seems to be working for Sidd so we’re gonna flow with it.

Do you have any naptime tricks to share?

I had heard from a lot of people that breastfeeding is not easy, but it’s hard to really understand how difficult it is until you’re doing it and having problems. The toughest part is that you can’t take a break. Once you’ve decided you can’t handle it and feel like you need to give up, you can’t go back (although I have heard vague references to re-lactation). I would have loved to take a break to let my sore left nipple heal, for example, but there was always a helpless little baby with a sad face begging me for food every few hours. If I didn’t share with him, my milk supply would dwindle. In fact, the answer to most problems that can arise (plugged duct, plugged nipple, mastitis) is “keep nursing!”. If you stop, things just get worse.

Our first difficulty began on day two. Siddhartha latched on great from the beginning and was sleepy and fairly calm the first day. I had no idea that day two was going to be an all-out non-stop colostrum buffet. Apparently, babies spend their second day in life eating as much as possible to stimulate momma’s milk production. This wouldn’t be so bad if:

1. there were a decent amount of colostrum so I didn’t feel guilty every time he tried to eat

2. the nurse hadn’t scared the piss out of me by overracting to his weight loss (10% is normal to lose. 10% of Sidd’s weight was ~6 pounds 7 ounces. He was down to 6 pounds 6 ounces. Big woop!) and

3. if I hadn’t been on my third night with almost no sleep while trying to recover from surgery.

After reaching a point of desperation, we gave in and supplemented with formula. It’s difficult to remember the course of events because of the fog that saturated my mental state at the time, but I know that within the first couple days of Sidd’s life we had already given up on most of our plan regarding breastfeeding. Besides supplementing with formula, we had also introduced a pacifier, and sent him to the nursery. I am glad that those options were available to us so that we were able to draw ourselves back from teetering on the edge of sanity, but I also think we could have avoided some of it if we had had better information and support at the hospital.

A quick conversation with a nurse or a simple flyer from the lactation consultants about baby’s second night would have been enough to get us through it. If you know anyone having a baby, the article about baby’s second night is essential. Please share it with them. I wish someone had done that for us.

Nevertheless, I was able to keep my milk supply up by pumping every two hours and we were able to do away with the formula after a day or two. We went home on day four thinking the breastfeeding was going great.

Sadly, within an hour of getting home, Sidd refused one breast and then the other. He did accept one again briefly and I wrote a victorious blog post before later realizing that our problems were only just beginning. Due to poor advice at the hospital, Sidd had gotten used to the bottle and it would take intense effort to get him back to the nipple. More about that later.

How were your first few days breastfeeding? Did you have to supplement? Did you receive any very helpful advice you’d like to pass on?

I love how making food turns into making other food which then morphs into yet another dish. Let me explain.

We’ve gotten a couple rotisserie chickens in the past few days and since I discovered how easy it is to make homemade chicken stock I have been saving the carcasses for that purpose.

Last night I started the stock in the slow cooker around 7pm. This morning at 8am while straining it I felt an urge to use it right away for some chicken noodle soup. But wait, I didn’t have any chicken except the meat I has just sapped of its flavor for the broth. What to do? How about ground turkey meat? Yes!

As always, I found a recipe online that I could loosely follow to be sure I didn’t miss any essential steps or ingredients. I love cooking up what I’ve got on hand rather than having to make a special trip to the store. Especially, if I can use up leftover ingredients that would otherwise just sit there unused.

Recently, Dave made a pasta salad and accidentally dumped in an entire package of rigatoni rather than the small amount he needed. So right there in the fridge I had pre-boiled noodles that we had saved in hopes that we’d figure out what to do with them. The celery and parsley I had left over from the ingredients needed to make the broth. Cilantro I have just decided to keep on hand since I love it and use it whenever I can. Along with other things I always keep around, like onions and garlic, I was able to get quite a soup on! Here’s what I did:

• 2T Olive Oil
• 3/4 C chopped onion
• 1/2 C Sliced celery
• 1/2 container ground turkey (~3/4 pound)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2t minced garlic
• 6 C chicken broth (preferably homemade)
• 3/4 C sliced carrots
• Rigatoni, 2C cooked
• 1t dried basil
• 1t dried oregano
• 2T fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1T fresh parsley, chopped

1) In a 3 quart stockpot (Larger would be better. Mine was ready to overflow.) heat oil on medium and add celery and onion. Stir fry for a few minutes until tender.

2) Add turkey and cook until brown. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic.

3) Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for a good 15-20 minutes or until the carrots are tender and the flavors have blended.

4) Give it a taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

I was amazed that it turned out so chunky and flavorful! Now, you can follow this recipe or use it as a starting point to dumping your leftovers in a pot and calling it dinner (or breakfast)!

How do you re-make leftovers?

I had started a post months back relating the things that I would not miss about being pregnant. I wasn’t able to finish the second half by the time Sidd was born and afterwards…well, for a while there I was lucky to find the time to eat and shower, not to mention sleep. Now that things have calmed down a bit (Sidd is two months old already!) I have bits of time here and there during which I can reflect on how great it is to be un-pregnant.

• Restricted sleep positions – I can now sleep in any position I want! Well, maybe not standing on my head or even sitting in a chair, for that matter, but I no longer have to avoid my back or belly.


• Puking in my mouth while sleeping – You know what’s gross? Puking in your mouth. You know what’s worse? Being woken from a deep restful sleep because you puked in your mouth. It’s pretty startling when you’re awake, but when you wake up in a dark room, unsure of where you are, to find yourself with the taste of bile on your tongue and a burning in your throat, it can be downright shocking.
  
  Think you’re gonna fall asleep soon after that? Good luck. If you’re like me, you’ll lie awake terrified that if you fall asleep you’ll be awoken again by a giant gulp of burning vomit. Waking up can often make me crabby in itself, but to be catapulted instantly from dreamland to the hell of nasty tasting acid burning my throat on the way up and then back down again is a traumatic experience that left me afraid to sleep again.


• The pregnant waddle – For those of you who live in cold climates, this is very similar to the winter waddle that is required while walking on slippery surfaces. That is, if you don’t want to end up on your butt. Actually, the waddle didn’t really bother me all that much. It was the pain that encouraged me to waddle that was annoying.
  
  On either side of the uterus are round ligaments that help to keep the belly in place. Unfortunately, these ligaments are only accustomed to holding the weight of your belly before you were pregnant and they don’t strengthen as fast as your baby likes to grow.
  
  Imagine getting a tongue piercing with a weight on the end. Say, like the weight of a golf ball. Now, hang your tongue out of your mouth and wiggle your head back and forth. Does that feel nice? No? Hmmm…maybe you wouldn’t like being pregnant.


• Food restrictions – I already think about food too much. Am I getting enough of each vitamin and mineral? Am I getting too much of something? Which of these ingredients that I can’t pronounce is going to give me cancer or diabetes? While pregnant, that responsibility to do what’s right for our bodies now becomes a responsibility for a whole ‘nother human who can’t make those decisions. Considering all of the conflicting information out there and the potential of life-threatening diseases, it’s too much pressure!


• Being pregnant made me smug – See video above.

There you have it. It’s nice not to be pregnant anymore. But then again, sometimes when Sidd won’t stop crying, I think maybe it would be nice again. Just for a little while.

I hear children teach adults many wise life lessons. Less than two months old and Siddhartha has already taught me (inadvertently, I think) a huge one. I will be much happier if I simply accept that things will not always go according to plan. Not yet able to speak and he has already demonstrated for me the basic tenets of Buddhism. The difference between the way things are and the way we want things to be causes suffering. If we want to end suffering, we must eliminate our desires and accept things as they are.

Simple as it sounds, it is a complex philosophy. How do we end our desires when they are often the very things that motivate us? Does this mean we shouldn’t try to better ourselves and our world? What kind of life is one without desires and subsequent fulfillment?

I could go on and attempt to hash out the many questions and difficulties associated with Buddhism, but to do so would take a lifetime. Instead of striving for complete understanding and perfection, as much as I desire them both, I am better served in realistic small steps in my every day life.

This is where my kid comes in. Although it has been said that babies don’t come with an instruction book, it is not hard to find books, forums, DVDs, etc that instruct on the subject. Recently, I was concerned about Siddhartha’s nap-time. It’s usually difficult to get him to take a nap and I found myself feeling guilty if I didn’t put all the effort I could into getting him to sleep. Not surprising considering I have heard that babies at his age should not be awake more than 2 hours at a time, they should be sleeping 12-16 hours/day, if they get over-tired they’ll be cranky and have even more trouble getting to sleep and they grow when they’re sleeping. Plus, Sidd’s nap-time is my time to do dishes, laundry, write and generally have time to myself. Who could blame me for wanting him to nap, for hours, frequently?

I mentioned my frustration to Dave and he sent me an article about a woman who wants to go back to work because of her frustration over nap-time. The advice was simple. It is normal for babies to be finicky nappers. Don’t give it too much thought.

Huh. That’s it. Just don’t worry about it. He may not nap much one day or he may take short cat naps and wake easily. He’s not going to turn into an ax murderer because he didn’t nap 2-3 times during the day or for longer than 50 minute stretches. I may not get the dishes done or get a chance to write, but eventually he will sleep and it really doesn’t matter if the dishes pile up once in a while or I don’t write every day.

Enjoying my time with him and being happy with things as they are is better for my mental health than getting things done. And if I really need a feeling of accomplishment, I can revel in the fact that I made a person. Not only that, but that I made a person who is pretty darn happy and healthy, largely because of the effort I’ve put in.

So Sidd, when you’re reading this ten or twenty years from now, thanks buddy. Going to the temple, participating in discussion groups, and reading books couldn’t teach me as much about the eight fold path and its applications in my every day life as you have already.

What lessons have your kids taught you?

It’s taking me forever to compose a post in the bits and pieces of time I have available. Therefore, you get a photo. Sidd was a little over a week old when this one was taken. That was about a month ago. What?! I can’t believe a month has passed since then. Time is definitely going faster now that we’re settling into a little bit of a routine. The routine usually consists of: eat, alert playtime, cranky time, sleep, and repeat. Usually. Newborns aren’t much for schedules and predictability.

The good news is that since this photo was taken we’ve gotten him to return to breastfeeding by way of a nipple shield, thanks to the lactation consultants at Good Samaritan Hospital. He’s starting sleeping a little longer at night. For a couple of nights it was six hours straight, but now it’s down to four or five, which is still decent at this point. We’re not sure if his fussiness and crying has gotten better or if we’ve just figured out what he needs to feel calm. We are now family-free and so far managing to do it on our own! Yay! We’ll probably still ask friends for help here and there, but it’s nice to be able to handle most things on our own and to have more quiet time with Sidd, and each other.

Sidd has made tremendous progress as well. His skin is no longer peeling off like a nasty full-body sunburn. He’s growing like those toy sponges you stick in water to watch them expand. His neck control, which was surprisingly strong from the beginning, continues to improve so he is now able to lift his head and face it in the opposite direction while laying on his belly without acting really cranky about it. Best of all, he’s smiling! I was sure it was just gas at first, but they’re really starting to seem deliberate and mostly unrelated to activity in the bowels.

I’m hoping to get some of the craziness of the first couple weeks posted so I can be well informed if we ever decide to do this again. It probably wouldn’t hurt for my readers to have an honest account of what life with a newborn is really like either.

How long did it take for you to feel less panicked after your first child was born?

We got home from the hospital yesterday with baby Siddhartha and sure enough, just hours after leaving he rejected one breast and then the other. In the hospital we had a lactation consultant who was available most of the day. I just had to push a call button for a nurse and request a consult. There are no call buttons at home and no nurses waiting on us.

Dave looked up info online and emailed one of the lactation consultations who we had met at the hospital. I tried to read up on some info from The Nursing Mother’s Companion as fast as I could. Seems like there are a lot of reasons a baby may reject the breast, but not many of them really seemed to fit. The first one he rejected (the left) kinda made sense because the nipple cracked early on and has not healed yet. I suspect there may be an infection and he can smell or taste that something is off. The rejection of the other breast (the right) confused me and left me feeling helpless.

I read that, now that my milk is finally in, the engorged breast may be rejected. So at the next feeding, I pumped first and then offered Sidd the breast. Nope. He screamed and we ended up doing our best with what I had previously pumped and a little bit of formula. At the next feeding I realized that I had been using hand lotion, something I had mostly stopped doing while at the hospital. I thought maybe he didn’t like the smell as my hand is holding up the breast as he drinks. Nope. Same result.

I was feeling rejected and not only considering giving up on offering the breast (ie, move to pumping and bottle feeding), but giving up on breastfeeding altogether. I felt like a failure and like I could not do what was best for him. I completely understand now why some women give up on breastfeeding so easily. He has been a great latcher from the beginning so I thought we would be fine, but there are so many problems that can develop.

Keep in mind, each time we’re trying again is only about three hours after the previous time and the time in between has been spent dealing with a very fussy baby and only about an hour of rest/sleep. It’s hard to imagine how excruciating the experience is until you’ve been through it.

Finally, this morning I noticed his reaction when he’d attempt to take my right breast. He would latch on fine, maybe even suck a little, and then pull back and cry inconsolably. Something didn’t taste right, I concluded. The lactation consultant had suggested that I start using a cortisone cream and Miconazole (anti-fungal cream) on my nipples to help with the cracking on the left and a bit of scabbing on the right (the scabbing is now gone). She assured me it was ok for the baby in the tiny amounts I’d be using.

Well, this last time I decided to wash the whole nipple and areola of that breast before attempting to feed him and it seemed to work! He finally took my right breast again! I cannot describe how overjoyed I am. Of course, at the same time I’m trying not to be too excited because I don’t know if he’ll take it again next time.

So, lesson learned. The creams might technically be “safe” for him to ingest, but he clearly does not like them. Who can blame him? I’d never put that crap in my food. And therein lies one of the biggest problems with breastfeeding. You will get lots of advice, but you have to somehow figure out what actually works for you and your baby. When running on very little sleep and high stress, it can feel like an impossible task.

Please share your breastfeeding difficulties and your solutions! Some of them may be things I still have yet to deal with and would love ideas.

Today is our “due date”! Woo! I put it in quotes because no one is really expected to take it seriously. Obviously, it’s just a suggested birth date, but since my body and my baby are colluding and leaving me out of their plans, I have no way of knowing when the birth will actually happen.

A few weeks ago I wrote a list of 10 Things I’ll Miss About Being Pregnant. Now that the end of the pregnancy is imminent I felt I should come up with a list of things I won’t miss in order to mentally prepare myself. So, to the items on this list I say, “good riddance!”….soon.

1. Peeing in a cup – I mentioned this in my last post, but didn’t go into detail. Peeing in a cup is required at every doctor’s appointment. At first I just accepted it, but back then I had appointments once every four weeks. Now, I have the joy of attempting to pee into a tiny container that I can’t see, as I hold it blindly under my engorged belly, with the few drops of urine available in my squirshed bladder…every…single…week. Nice.

2. Headbutts to the cervix – Toward the end of the pregnancy babies tend to hang out facing head down. This is a good thing as I hear breach babies are no fun to birth. The downside is this, skulls are hard and cervixes are sensitive. If I didn’t believe that it was helping to get the darn thing dilated I’d be one mad momma.

3. Pooping a lot – It’s not that I really mind pooping, but four times a day? I mean, c’mon! I might have to start scheduling time for it. Everyone talks about how pregnant women have to pee a lot so I was prepared. Peeing frequently I can deal with as long as there’s a bathroom nearby. But no one likes to talk about poo. It wasn’t until one of my doulas brought it up the other day (doulas are great at bringing up things that other people won’t!) that I knew it was normal. I figured my body was making more space or flushing (ha ha, get it?) itself out in preparation, but having extra reassurance that things are working as they should be was great. Hearing that the things you’re experiencing are normal is very helpful when pregnant.

4. Being asked the same questions repeatedly – I know y’all are just being nice and it really is sweet that you care, but if I’m asked “how are you feeling?” one more time I’m gonna lose my shit (what’s left of it. Ha!). I’m not sure exactly why it’s so frustrating, besides the fact that repetitive things tend to grate on my nerves. Maybe it’s because the only thing I can ever think of to say in response is, “good”. I know you want me to elaborate, but do you really want to hear, “well, I’m pooping about four times a day, my kid keeps headbutting my cervix, and I’m getting really tired of peeing in a cup once a week. Seriously, sometimes it gets on my hand. That sucks. So, how are you?” Yeah, I didn’t think so.

5. Baby feet wedged in my rib cage – Baby feet are cute, I know. And I agree that it can be comforting to wiggle toes into snug little places. But they don’t feel good in my rib cage, baby! It’s like someone stuck a lever under the right side of my ribs and is slowly trying to pry the bones right out of my chest. Oh no! Did that gross you out? Try feeling it! Besides, you just read about poop. If you had a low threshold for ick, you would have stopped reading by now.

I can only manage half the list now because I’m tired. I would have added “being tired” to the list, but from what I hear I won’t be missing that, it will only get worse.

If a couple more days pass and I’ve still got a belly full of baby, you’ll likely see the second half of this list. If the floodgates open soon…well, who knows when you’ll hear from me again. Thanks for being flexible readers. Feel free to tell me about what you don’t miss about being pregnant. Who knows? I might steal some for the second half of my list.

Remember that movie Awakenings? Do you remember how Robin Williams’s character, the doctor, had a theory that these unmoving people were actually moving so much that they became frozen and that’s when he decided to try the medicine used for Parkinson’s? I haven’t seen the movie in a while, but it was something like that, right?

That’s how I feel sometimes. Frenetic to the point of paralysis. It’s like rush hour traffic is surging through my brain. So many little travelers in the form of ideas, tasks, stressors, that they clog up neural pathways and none of them get through. (Not really trying to be scientific here, you get the idea, I hope.)

Recently, I took the initiative to get a neighborhood watch group started at our condo complex because of incidences of vandalism. There was a lot of talk about getting it started, but I know from past experience that it often takes one person to step up and actually get things going.

My intention was to get the meeting set up and let the wave of democracy take over from there. In my head I was thinking that everyone in attendance would take an equal part in leading the meeting. Then it started to sink in that things rarely work out that way with a large group of people. There often needs to be a leader or two, even temporarily, to keep things on task.

The baby is “due” in two weeks and I’m leading a neighborhood watch meeting tonight. Am I insane?! What is it about me that makes me think I’m worthless if I’m anything less than superwoman?

Maybe I’m exaggerating. I don’t really think I’d be worthless if I didn’t plan this meeting. I just couldn’t stand the stagnant feeling of hearing so many people say, “yeah, we should get on that” and I knew what needed to be done to get on that. I was excited about it. Now I’m scared. I like getting things started, but not necessarily seeing them through to the end. (A man my friend Andrea and I met at a coffee shop recently told us this is because I’m an ENFP, but that’s a story for another time.)

I did get smart after starting the planning process and clarified with everyone that I might not be able to take a very active role in the watch once the baby comes and, in fact, might not even be able to attend the meeting (although the kid seems to be holding tight so far). <—-But check out that language that I just used. “I might not be able to take a very active role…” What?! Realistically, I should plan on disappearing altogether for at least month or so, right?

[Deep Breath]

I’m learning. I’ll get through the meeting tonight, despite the stage fright, and then I’ll hand off the leadership role to someone else. And here’s the important part, I’ll trust that everything will be fine without me.

I didn’t really intend to write just about the meeting tonight. I guess that must be the most urgent traveler clogging up the brain at the moment. I also have a meeting of my writing critique group tomorrow night for which I’m totally not prepared (they’ll understand, though!) and there is a writing contest deadline coming up fast (there will always be more contests!).

Then there’s all the baby stuff left to be done: pack a bag for the hospital, finish the music playlist, yell at the insurance company for not paying for an ultrasound, pick up the dresser/changing table, the final draft of the birth plan, practice relaxation techniques for the birth.

I think I’ll start with that last one.

Now that we’re at 37 weeks we’re nearing the end of the pregnancy. Little Cupcake could come any time in the next month, but I’m expecting him to be on the later end. We’ll see if he starts out by living up to my expectations. I have mixed emotions about the end of this stage. Many people ask me if I’m ready for it to be over. At this point I’m not, but I’m also excited for the birth. Since I know the end of the pregnancy is inevitable, I made a list of things that I’ll miss about it. Maybe I can use this list to motivate me if I decide to do this again.

1. Long finger nails – Apparently, pregnancy hormones can increase growth in your nails. Nice! My nails are so flimsy that they break easily and then I have short boyish nails for a while. They still break a lot, but now they grow back so fast I only have short or uneven nails for a couple days. Of course, I don’t enjoy the extra maintenance involved in trimming my toenails, especially since it’s tough to reach them, but it’s worth it if I finally get to have girly hands.

2. Hair – Again, thank you pregnancy hormones. I can’t really say for sure that my hair is fuller, but man does it look pretty. So either it really is fuller and healthier or the hormones actually have the effect of making me delusional. Either way, I’m happy.

3. Feeling less guilty about taking care of myself – This one probably shouldn’t be on this list. I should never feel guilty about taking care of myself, but I do. I also know that if I continue to take care of myself after the birth, I’ll be creating a healthier environment for our baby and I’ll be better able to attend to others’ needs when I’m needed. Therefore, I’ll miss having an obvious physical reason for taking care of myself, but I’m also going to work every day to remember that I don’t need an excuse to address my own needs.

4. People being nice and offering help – When I was at Costco the other day a woman saw me filling my car’s tires with air and asked if I wanted her to do it for me because I had a bundle up front. I didn’t need help at the moment since I was using it as an opportunity to practice squatting, but it was so nice of her to offer. Sometimes it can be a little embarrassing when people offer to help, but it’s so heart-warming and builds my faith in random strangers.

5. Ultrasounds – It’s like we get to spy on the baby when he thinks we’re not looking. That’s right, little dude, we saw your hand on your diddle. You didn’t know you were being filmed, huh? We even have video that we can use to embarrass you at your wedding. We’re gonna be great parents.

6. Always knowing where my kid is – Right now, I have a decent amount of control over his safety. I know where he is at all times, he can’t run out into traffic, and I can step into the other room without worrying what he’ll get into because he has to come with me. Thinking about trying to keep track of a toddler is scary.

7. No crying or fussing – Sure, sometimes he can get pretty squirmy, but I’m still able to sleep through it. It’s easy to provide for his needs when the umbilical cord takes care of most of them automatically. Learning to decipher his cries could be tricky. Good thing Dante has been helping me practice for years by bombarding me with inscrutable meows.

8. Being told I’m a superhero for doing the most basic things – My yoga instructor told me last week that I’m a trooper for being there during week 36. I felt awesome even though I didn’t really feel like it required that much effort on my part. I get the general sense that people think it’s great that I’m up walking around. Maybe there are too many horror stories floating around that imply being pregnant equals months of pain and misery. I do feel lucky that I’m not on bed rest and that my many aches are manageable.

9. The anticipation – He’s been hanging out with me for months, but I have very little idea what he looks like and almost no clue as to his personality. I’ll be happy to find out, but I’ll miss that excitement that comes before opening the present.

10. Having a cute belly that makes people smile – See above photo.

And as a bonus…. 1 thing I won’t miss:

• Peeing in a cup before every doctor’s appointment – There are a lot of them!

What would you add to this list?