Recipe For A Baby At 43

If this is your first time reading my blog, welcome! I thought I would take a week to reintroduce myself to some people who started to read my blog only recently.  The archives only go back so far, so I wanted to give you my back story.  I try to be very truthful, very real…and FUNNY.  Hope you enjoy! Here is my very first post….throwin it back!

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So many friends ask me straight out “So HOW did you get pregnant?” Followed by, “You give me hope!”  LOL.  Oh my gosh, it was embarrassingly easy, which I KNOW is NOT the case for many women over the age of 35, let alone over 40!  This I know from having many friends, who like me, because of their career or other personal things, decided to wait to have children.  Many found themselves unable to conceive.  I suppose I had made peace with the fact that I might not have a child.  My life, I thought, was so great already, that it was truly okay if I was unable to conceive.  Even choosing to marry my husband, who was 11 years my junior, came with the possibility that we might remain childless.  And he married me anyway. Good guy 🙂  But once we decided to actually “try” to get pregnant, it was crazy quick.  Here is my recipe for a baby.  Lots of sex….like everyday (seriously)…with a younger husband.  The first month we tried, we were pregnant.  Now, I was very healthy.  I had no reproductive issues.  I do not want anyone to think I am being flip about how easy it was.  My heart breaks for anyone who can’t conceive who really wants to.  Especially now, as I know what I would be missing.  I always kept it in my head, that if was meant to be, then it would be.  So I guess I was really relaxed about it happening or not happening.

“lots of sex….like everyday (seriously)”

The first three months were fine, except I had really bad “morning” sickness ALL DAY LONG.  I carried oyster crackers around with me like it was my job.  And then the four month mark came around and I was miraculously better.  To say the next three months were the best of the pregnancy, is an understatement.  Even with the severe carpal tunnel I had in my left hand, and the placenta previa,  which was stressful (but wound up being fine), the second trimester was a vacation compared to the last one.  I even did a show up until I was 5 months.

6 months prego

6 months prego

 

7 months

7 months

The last trimester was lots of fun. Just ask my husband. (insert sarcasm)  Lots of ice cream and foot rubs.  My hands started swelling and the carpal was now in my right hand as well.  My skin on my legs got severely dry and I started having Braxton Hicks contractions every few nights.  When I asked my doctor (who was almost 20 years my Junior with a valley girl accent…I’m rolling my eyes) about the carpal, she said, “Huh???  I never really heard of that.”  I did want to slap her, but refrained.  I mean I just had to go online to find the eons of women who had dealt with it in their pregnancies.  The joy of being an advanced maternal aged mom….even the doctors are younger than you.  Oye! Perhaps the thing that struck me most was how tired I was.  Tired like I had never known.  Now I don’t know for sure, but seeing how hard the delivery was on my body, I think it had everything to do with my age…oh pardon, my advanced maternal age.  🙂

8 months

8 months

The beginning of 9 months! With the handsome hubby!

The beginning of 9 months! With the handsome hubby!

You don’t realize it….at least I didn’t…but you hit the 9 month mark…and you still have 4 more weeks to go!!  It’s like a slap in the face!  You go along thinking…I’m almost done!! But you’re not…its a cruel mathematical joke.  You go quickly from walking to waddling.  The swelling increases (and mine wasn’t as bad as some women can get. )  And the GAS!!!  Holy Moly! My husband was never supposed to hear those sounds coming from me.  NEVER!!  Well that ship has sailed.  Did I tell you we met on the Love Boat?  No really, we did.  Princess Cruises.  I was a guest entertainer singing and he was my audio engineer….I am digressing.  Anything to avoid the GAS.

A day or two before delivery.

A day or two before delivery.

To make me really savor the experience, Oliver decided to wait an extra week to arrive.  So I was officially overdue…like a turkey who’s timer has popped (see photo).  Because of my advanced maternal age, the doctor in the practice who I really liked (obviously NOT the gyno-girl), scheduled us for an induction.  See, when you are young, they like to make you wait for the baby to be good and ready, but when your parts are older, they don’t want to take any chances.  So one week overdue was plenty.  Whew!

The Baby Equation for us was this…..

43 year old female + 32 year old male + LOTS of sex (literally everyday)!!!! = Beautiful Baby Boy!