24 weeks down, 16 weeks to go! What YOU can expect while I'M expecting

So there are a million books out there about what I can expect each week/month of my pregnancy. Many are informative possible symptoms, size/development of the baby, tests available or suggested, eat this, don't eat that, sleep this way and so on and so forth. In some books they even tell husbands/partners what to expect while their wives/partners are growing their next generation. In this blog post I am going to tell you what to expect from me as someone who interacts with me from time to time.

1.) Baby Bump Pictures- you can expect me to NOT take or post any pictures showing you my growing belly. Don't get me wrong, these pictures are adorable...if you didn't spend most of your life already looking huge! Quite frankly I don't see baby bump when I look at myself from the side, I just see the same old overweight person I have always been. When I am standing I can see that my upper abdomen has puffed out and gotten firmer and when I lay on my back I can feel a large hard bump where my baby is growing. Perhaps, depending on what I look like by then, I will take a picture or two at the baby shower or the day I go into labor? Who knows, but just know, I am not secretly storing bump pictures, I am just not even taking them.

2.) Worrying- Something that may not seem too out of character for most pregnant women is constant worrying and you can expect me to follow the pack on that one. Can you blame me though? I have an amazing niece who was born with with CHD and spent a very long time fighting for her life when she was born, I personally was born too early that I spent months in the hospital as my lungs tried to develop not to mention all of the horror stories I have heard/read/witnessed with miscarriages, still-births and birth defects. So needless to say, I am going to worry all the time that something is going to go wrong. I was assured at about 11 weeks or so that we were doing great, the doctor heard a strong heartbeat which they were surprised at so early and said that chance of miscarriage goes down greatly once a strong heartbeat is heard. We also had our Anatomy Scan and got to hear how our little boy is developing perfectly, and all organs and such exist and look great. Still, I am going to worry. I try not to let the worrying weigh me down or cause me distress, I try to think positively like Dusty who reminds me constantly that we have no reason to think there is a problem, but it will always be at the back of my mind. And if all THAT worrying wasn't enough don't even get me started on the "which bottle will Oliver like" thought process. 12 different types of bottles and we have no way to know which he will end up using??

3.) Breast Feeding- You don't need to tell me the million and one reasons every woman in the world should breast feed. I've heard them all. I am still not going to do it. I have nothing against breast feeding as it is great for providing antibodies and nutrients FOR FREE for your child and a great opportunity for bonding, I am not opting out because I don't see these benefits, I am opting out because there are other factors I need to consider. First of all, I am on blood thinners due to my history of DVT and while no one will say that there isn't a danger to the child, studies DO show that the blood thinners can affect the time it takes for the baby's blood to clot and I do not want to put my baby at risk. Another reason I vote no is because I have anxiety issues and a history of depression and the medicine that will work best cannot be taken while breast feeding and even worse if I develop PPD I will be less likely to ask for help if I am holding myself responsible to provide my child's food. I have been depression free for quite a while but I have struggled with my anxiety for a while and having to be medication free during this pregnancy has been hard. I can only imagine how bad my anxiety will be as I am adjusting to life with a baby. So whether you agree or approve I don't care. This is what I feel is best and that is what matters.

4.) Nerd Baby- Haaaaave you met me and my husband? If you have then you can understand that our child will have Superhero themed stuff, lots of books, onsies referencing comic books, Harry Potter, StarWars, etc. Thanks to sites like Cafe Press and Etsy these things are more attainable than ever which is good because something else you should know is I hate all that baby boy stuff with mustaches on them or with camo or with really inappropriate things that while are funny for a second they are not appropriate for a baby's onesies.

5.) Baby Bottle Gift Cards- As stated earlier registering for bottles is a major source of stress. Overall I think we are aiming for Ollie to like Avent or Dr. Brown's bottles but I can't just CHOOSE one because Ollie may not like them and cause us to have to return lots of them. I am thankful that my sister in law is giving us some Dr. Browns, Mam's, and Tommie Tippie to try out if we need to and we registered for one small pack of Avent and one of the Nuk orthopedic ones. Long story short if you are wanting to contribute to our bottle or even paci needs a great idea is to get just ONE bottle and a gift card that we will use on our first family outing to get the choice bottle of Oliver Haynes.

I am sure there will be a whole lot more that I (we) encounter during this exciting time but this is all I can think of right now.