My Mom's Experience

So I’ve been asking my mom a lot of questions about her pregnancies to get an idea of what I might expect, because I’ve been told that you have similar pregnancies and labor and delivery experiences as your mother. This is what I’ve learned.

• My mom had all of her children natural, no pain killers. She’s a rockstar, I don’t think I’ll be able to do that. My plan right now is to go as long as I can without anything… But “as long as I can” is very flexible… I mean, I might have one contraction and be like “forget this! Where’s the epidural?!” So yeah, I have a very flexible birth plan to say the least.

• My mom has short labors. I mean, it’s not unusual to be in labor for 16 hours. They say that 12-20 hours is normal for a first time mom. Well, my mom didn’t have anything close to that! When I was asking her about it she told me I was here in an hour after starting labor and the doctor barely got there in time to catch me. My siblings were not as anxious to get to the world as I was, but when she mentioned one of her birthing experiences lasting a long time I asked what that meant, “like 12 hours long?” She said, “oh no! Nothing like that!” So, I guess, I may have a short labor and delivery experience. Which would be nice… Unless I take too long to decide I want an epidural and then it’s too late… That would suck, but I’ll have to deal with that if it comes.

• My mom did not have gestational diabetes. I’m happy about that because you’re more likely to have it if your mom had it, so I’m feeling pretty good about my upcoming glucose tolerance screening.

• My mom got very little stretch marks. She said she only got them at the end of pregnancy, they were mostly just on her hips, and that they weren’t very bad. I’m ok with all of that. 27 weeks and so far so good! I put cocoa butter on my tummy and hips every night right when I get out of the shower, so I’m hoping that will help as well, it is definitely a lot less dry and itchy, so that’s already a benefit… And it smells good too :).

• My mom had most of her children past their due date. No preemies for her! This isn’t my favorite news because surely I’ll be dying to get my little one out by March 22^nd, I can’t imagine having to wait another week or two! From the sound of it I might have to though, and I guess that’s good, I’d rather have a late healthy baby than have her come early when she or I aren’t ready.

• My mom has big babies. I was 8 pounds 6 ounces and my siblings were likewise. I guess they're big, but not too big, at least they weren't like 10 or 12 pounders! Then I would be scared. 

• My mom had cute kids. Lets be honest, we're not a bad looking bunch! Ha ha, just joking. I just know I'm going to have a beautiful little girl though. She's going to have brown eyes and brown hair. I hope she gets David's lips, he has great lips. I guess this one doesn't have so much to do with my mom as it does me and David, but that's ok.

This is me as a baby, pretty cute huh?