Q & A

Here are some questions I have been getting, so here's a little Q & A with yours truly:

Do you have a name picked out?

I get asked this daily...and although I would love to say "Yes, it is..." I am married to a very difficult man...lol. First it was "wait until your pregnant then we'll talk about it", then it was "wait until your out of the first tri" then, "wait until we know what were having then we will discuss it", and can you guess what he is saying now??? "We can always wait until she's born and pick a name then". Umm NO, we cant! I came to him with a list of my favorites name and he vetoed all but one, and that one was not my fav. So no one is budging yet and she remains nameless! Pray for me, I just might strangle him.

What are your cravings?

Well for my regular readers, you all know I was a vegetarian until I became pregnant and then all hell broke loose. I threw it all away because of an intense craving for a Wendy's Cheeseburger that would not let up and ever since then beef is where its at. I'm not eating chicken, or pork..but beef is what for dinner around here these days! Each week it is different...first is was burgers, then hot dogs, the roast beef sandwiches, and this week its meatballs! I have never in my life ordered a roast beef sandwich or a meatball sub. Ever!But baby wants it, and what she wants, she shall receive! And yes, I plan on resuming my vegetarian ways after baby is born.

What stretch mark creams/oils are you using?

When I was pg with Kay, I used the Palmers Cocoa Butter every day/night on my tummy and didn't get one stretch mark. This time, I've tried using it and cant stand the way it feels...it makes me feel dirty and the smell bothers me too, so I have been using Mama Mio Tummy Rub Butter, and recently just purchased the Tummy Rub Oil. These products smell amazing and don't just sit on the top of your skin like other lotions/oils. It really soaks in and so far so good!

Do you like being pregnant?

I don't like being pregnant....I LOVE IT! If you had asked me that when I was pg with Kay, you might have gotten a different answer. But after all the struggles of infertility and realizing what an amazing gift pregnancy is that most people take for granted, I love it! I love it all...all the sickness, aches, pains, fatness, mood swings, runny/stuffy/sneezy nose that I have that wont go away, huge national geographic nipples, veins in places I didn't know I had veins, meat cravings, shitty sleep, heart burn, indigestion, having to pee every 5 min., feeling hot and it making me more bitchy, low back pain, being out of breath all the time, and swearing that I will be bald by the time I have this baby because of all the hair I lose on a daily basis. I really don't mind any of it..and take it all as a blessing.

Can you feel her move? Does she move a lot? etc.

Yes, I can feel her moving and now that she is bigger, I feel her a lot more often now too. I SAW her move from the outside for the first time the other day and that's always fun. She is always awake in the middle of the night and first thing in the am. Then after breakfast she takes a little snooze and starts kicking again around lunch time. She puts on an after dinner show, then its time to sleep again until 2am! We have a night owl on our hands. DH still has not felt her move, every time he puts his hand to my belly she stops...same for Kay. Hopefully soon though they'll catch her though.

Are you going to breastfeed?

This is a very personal topic but I will share in hopes that any of my readers that are "breast is best" wont judge me.

When I was pg with Kay, I fully planned on breast feeding. To the point where I didn't have any bottles, didn't even think about bottle feeding, etc. I was breast feeding, end of story. What I didn't know as a first time mom is that sometimes your baby may have other plans....When she was born she latched right on! Anytime I need help getting her to latch properly I would call the lactation consultant and she would come and help and everything was going fine. She had mentioned that I had a "barracuda baby" (a fierce sucker) and one that always wanted to eat, and boy was she not kidding! My milk came in a few days later and I had an abundant supply (in spite of having breast implants which may or may not interfere with milk production).

We went home and I continued my efforts despite her wanting to eat every 45 minutes for 35 minutes at a time. Think about that?!! That's all I was doing. Breast feeding. All day/night long. It got to the point where when she would latch on my whole body would tense up, I would literally shake from the pain of her latching on because my nipples were so raw from her constant sucking. I would cry as she nursed, in the worst pain, but I was breast feeding! 2 weeks later and there was no nipple cream, pad, shield or cover that could help me. My nipples were bleeding, pussing, cracked, and scabbed. They were in BAD shape! I went to the Dr. and I had developed a bad infection in both nipples. I HAD to stop. Yes, I could continue with pumping, but at that point I was done. I was really upset about it, cried about it many nights as I took of the binding wraps watching my milk drip on to the floor thinking what a waste is was, but I just couldn't even fathom the though of ANYTHING touching my nipples. The first time Kay had formula she smiled...and for the first time she was full.

Needless to say, it took 6 months for my nipples to return to normal and I was scarred from that whole experience. So, this time I do not plan to breast feed. I have struggled with this decision because I am an advocate of breast feeding. And yes, I know each baby is different and it may work out perfectly fine this time around, but I am pretty firm with my decision that now formula feeding from the start is whats best for me. I do feel guilty sometimes about not even wanting to try, about not giving this baby a chance, and I may change my mind, but for now this is where I stand.