Pregnancy/Baby Wish List

I love nothing more than to get my way and have things go exactly the way I want them.  :-)

During my pregnancy with Cole, I made a mental wish list of how I wanted the pregnancy to be and preferred traits that Cole would have...and so far I've really gotten my way!  Above all I really just wanted a healthy baby, but here are some things that were on my "list"

Pregnancy/Birth:

Gain the "normal" amount of weight:  I ended up gaining 30 pounds.  Much better than the 50+ pounds I gained with Nate.

Experience spontaneous labor: Although I had a scheduled induction, my hope was to really experience the excitement of going into labor.  I didn't originally plan to have an induction, but when my due date was changed from Dec 18th to Dec 27th early in the pregnancy, I pushed for an induction so we could be sure to be home for Christmas.  A few nights before the induction I could not go to sleep and thought I was maybe starting up labor.  I ended up taking a bath to relax and that worked.  It may have ended up being early labor, since I was actually contracting (without knowing it) when we started the induction.

Not feel (and look) like I was ran over by a truck for weeks after labor: I always see these women who look and feel fantastic after labor and really hoped that could happen for me.  I guess the second time around you know a little more what to expect and how to take the time to brush your hair and put on makeup because you know it will make you feel a lot better.  Gaining less weight probably helped with this.  And knowing that a photographer was going to post pictures on the internet of me during/after labor. haha  I have really felt great since Cole has arrived and look forward to getting my body back for myself after the last 3 years (~2 years of being pregnant and a whole year of struggling to get back to normal after Nate's birth).

Have a great nurse during my labor/birth:  I was so happy with all of the nurses we had.  With Nate we just had one, since I was laboring for less than 12 hours and didn't labor over a shift change.  That nurse was an older Eastern European woman and while she was just fine, she wasn't someone I had much in common with.  Since I labored overnight this time I had a few nurses at night, and then a new nurse that started at 7am and was with me through Cole's birth.  You would have thought I handpicked her myself.  She was 29, sweet as could be, laughed at my jokes and new how to reassure me with a pat on the leg and great coaching during pushing.  And she hugged me and wished me luck when we moved to our postpartum room. 

Cole:


A "little" baby:  Nate was 8lb 7oz.  He never seemed like a little baby to me.  A few months ago a friend of mine had a little girl who was 7lb 7oz and I thought that was a perfect size, but definitely didn't think Cole would be that small...but he was 7lb 7oz!

A good eater:  I never could get Nate to nurse and ended up pumping for 3 months.  It was something I really wanted to experience and not have the added stress of pumping (cause I'm not sure I would be ok not being "fair" and just put Cole on formula.)  Thankfully we had a great lactation consultant and Cole is eating like a champ!

No jaundice issues:  We didn't escape this completely, but he only had 1 night in the bilibed and only 3 footpricks. 

A snuggler: I think Nate was/is your typical independent first born.  He always wanted to be sitting up, seeing what was going on.  He wasn't a snuggler and screamed when I tried to wear him in a sling.  Cole has been my little snuggle buddy and was happy as could be in the sling last night while we ate our New Year's Eve dinner.  I hope Cole won't be too much of a momma's boy, but I'm enjoying it for now!

A good sleeper:  Time will tell on this one, but for now Cole is doing two 4 hour stretches between feedings (roughly 3.25 hours of sleep) which I'm loving.  Nate didn't sleep through the night til 5 months, so I'm hoping to beat that!

I know this probably sounds like a huge list of how I want Cole to be "better" than Nate.  It is hard not to compare, but we love both of our boys so much.  We look forward to them growing up together and enjoying their similarities and differences!