Timing is Everything

When do you know for sure you are ready to be a parent? Many people do not get the chance to answer this question. They or their significant other is pregnant and they must become ready in 9 or so months regardless. Here is what I think should tell you.

First, for me, was emotionally prepared. I want a baby, a child of my own and want to give it all the love in the world. It sounds simple, but its really not. You have to want a baby enough to be willing to go through LABOR to get one!

Secondly, and this is most important in my mind, is to be financially ready. Can you afford to be out of work for 6 weeks with your baby? Can you afford the next year buying diapers at a rapid rate? Can you afford adding your new child to your insurance? Do you have a safe vehicle and a safe house?
Can you without a doubt say "I can provide for this child!"

Third, Physically prepared. Are you overweight or underweight? Are you ready to endure 9 months of carrying another person and then pushing them out?

Lastly, is your partner as ready as you? This one is tricky to know. They may say they are ready, but they may not be. I thought this to be the case with my husband, which is partially why we have been happy to have our TTC date in May of 2012. (Other than the financial part which we are still working on.)

I thought that, at least, until last night. I have had the flu for several days now and have not been able to do much expect sit/sleep on the couch and walk a few feet to the computer. Last night, going to bed, my husband offered to read another chapter of our book to me. I was too tired, so I rejected. I was nearly half asleep at that point anyway. I tried very hard to stay awake and watch what my husband did next. He grabbed "so your going to be a dad" and started reading. I could not keep my eyes open, but I heard him laughing and today I looked to see he had read a whole chapter last night. That small act, when he thought I wasn't paying attention at all, shows me that he is more ready than I thought.

Boy or Girl?

In my "What to Expect Before Your Expecting" book, it discusses choosing the sex of your baby. I never really thought that this was possible. It mentions that these methods might just tip the scales in your preferred gender's direction. If you weren't in a hurry to get pregnant would you use it?
Here are the basics of this theory (the Shettles method)
Female Chromosome Sperm are:
1) Slower  2) Bigger and 3) Can live longer in the harsh conditions of the female anatomy.
 Male Chromosome Sperm then are opposite:
1) Faster  2) Smaller and 3) die faster in harsh conditions of the female anatomy.

So the idea goes:
If you want a girl, have intercourse 2 days prior to your ovulation date so that the majority of the Male Sperm die and there are only the female sperm left to fertilize your egg. (this also means that if you are off on your date, you wont get pregnant at all)
If you want a boy, have intercourse as close to your ovulation time as possible, so the fast male sperm fertilize the egg first.
More information here:
http://www.fertilityfriend.com/Faqs/Gender-Selection-The-Shettles-Method.html
It is interesting though. Once we start TTC, I may give this method a shot for the first few months and see how it goes...

When planning is too much

Since labor (of course) is the thing I am most afraid of when it comes to pregnancy, I've tried to educate myself the most on the subject. I figure the more knowledge the more power. I was not expecting there to be a vast difference in opinions on every matter regarding child birth. Home births, Water births, C-Sections, induced labor, all natural labor, epidurals and the list goes on and on. My mother always boasts that she had both me and my sister all natural, with no pain medication. She always laughs and says "well I took a Tylenol afterward." I really know people who have had every choice on the spectrum, so what do you choose?
I read an article this morning on the risks of induced labor. While I was not really in favor of this in the beginning, this article really solidified my decision.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110218111817.htm
 This article links induced labor with a higher rate of C-Sections needed, longer time spend in the hospital for both mother and baby, and longer healing time after labor.
While this is my opinion, I know people who have been induced and have had generally easy births (minus they were all a little lengthy). This article is directed at the first time parent, which is what I care about...

Wait on the Weight

I had always heard that about 35 pounds was the acceptable amount of weight to gain when pregnant. My husband was asking last night "where does that 35 pounds go, if only 8lbs or so is the baby." It was a good question and I had no idea. So I went searching and found out that 35 pounds is not always accurate.
According to this link:
http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/healthy-weight-gain
If you are overweight you could safely gain just 15 pounds during your pregnancy.
It is something to think about as you always hear about the woman who gained 50 pounds during her pregnancy. Since this amount is is never recommended (even to underweight woman it caps at 40lbs) I can only assume that she took advantage of all her "cravings" to really pig out...
I guess I don't blame her, but you gotta keep reminding yourself of the consequences.
Eat that whole bag of cookies and you could be pushing out a 13 pound baby... I'd rather have a salad.

New things are good!

I finally went out and bought our item for our Baby Bin today. This time I decided to get something for Dan to read during my pregnancy. This book has all the information he will need. It covers pregnancy, Delivery and the first few months at home with the new baby. The 2 best things about it, its not always serious and has some jokes in it and IT HAS PICTURES! This book has a shot at keeping my husbands attention for more than 5 seconds!

Prenatal vitamins

When should you start taking them, do you know? Well I attempted to find out online and that did not go over so well. Some websites say "start taking them 1 year before you plan to be pregnant" others say "6 months before is ideal" and yet still other websites claim " start taking them the month you plan to become pregnant." So which one is correct? Well luckily for me, I had my yearly feminine exam coming up (yay) and was able to get the scoop from my doctor. She just recently had a baby 6 months ago, so it was nice to be able to pick her brain a little.
She said  "I wish they would relabel those 'fertile years' vitamins" The correct time frame is 6 months prior. To allow your body to create stores of these essential vitamins, and you need to continue these vitamins while you are breast feeding and for a few months after you are done breast feeding to store those vitamins up again.

What about kinds of prenatal vitamins? There are so many different brands out there, how do you which one is best? Her simple answer was "compare the ingredients on the back, if they are the same there is no need to choose the pricey brands, generic is fine"

Well I'm glad that question was solved! I still need to get a baby item soon! Maybe I will have more time today to search!

Pay day is here!

So, we got paid yesterday! That means that we get to choose a new item for our baby bin! (once we finally deposit our checks...) I have not quite decided what this item should be... any ideas?? usually I just roam around the mall until something comes to me...

My husband and I went Bowling with our family on Wednesday. My two nephews came; they are 2 and 4.
It was so great to see my husband interact with them. He even was teaching my older nephew how to bowl. Later he told me he had a great time with the boys and that he was sure he could handle that age, but was not too sure how he would handle the baby stage. I think he is afraid he might drop our baby or something. At least this little outing gave him more confidence around children!

Ive gotta get ready for work now, I will post a photo of my baby bin purchase!

The Baby Bin

This project started a few months ago. The idea is simple: babies are expensive, so the more time you have to save up for one the better.
The first thing I did was go to the store and get a basic storage container (mine is pink because I am secretly hoping for a girl.) Every paycheck you put something baby related into the bin. Over the course of a year you will have put about 50 items into your bin!

Here is what is in my bin so far:
* Costco pack of diapers size 2
* Costco pack of wipes
* Basic white onesies
* The pregnancy Journal
* A pack of binkies
* A sleeping onesie
* A blanket
* A pack of little white socks

This little project does two things. 1) keeps me busy with what I'm going to buy next and 2) takes the expenses and draws them out over time.

Take a look at this calculator and see how much a baby will cost you.

http://www.teenageparent.org/english/costofbaby2B.html

Now this website includes everything you can think of,  it might open your eyes to the expenses you will face. On average you can expect to spend $10,000 on your baby in the first year and that doesn't include the money your not earning while staying at home...

It all starts here

Day: 1

So today is day one of my blog. I have started a blog because in my search for information, I have found many blogs following pregnancies, their babies first years and so on... I did not find any blogs about preparing for pregnancy. Now I know I cannot be the only one out there that likes to make lists, follow steps and instructions and be financially prepared before I jump into things! So here I am, sharing my thoughts on the matter.

I am still 15 months out from TTC (trying to conceive) and since my Baby Fever is getting worse by the minute, I have decided to do something to keep my mind off of that date that is so far far away.