Project Sibling

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The Universe has conspired to make me sit down and write.  It is O’s nap time.  The hinges I bought off of Amazon for the bathroom cabinets don’t fit properly….so there will be no replacing them instead of writing.  I was going to start to paint the walls of the master bath, but I now have to clean and paint the baseboard heating covers and don’t have the right high heat paint to tackle the task.  I can’t  just leave my sleeping angel in the house while I run to Lowes….so I’ll have to go later. Perfect window of time to write.  The fact is that I am faced with a blog that is due tomorrow, but I’d rather eat potato chips.  Or bacon cheese flavored popcorn.  Any yummy tasty savory item from the Trader Joes snack aisle will do.  I want to mindlessly crunch away like a teenager.  I find it a satisfying way to avoid the task at hand.  Maybe one more handful before I decide whether to spill or zip it.

Alas, I am writing the piece.  After two bowls of crunchy goodness (boy, that’s an oxymoron), I am hitting the keys.  I am tentative about sharing this week’s tidbit.  Part of me feels like if I share it that I am somehow accountable if things don’t work out.  But a bigger part of me knows that there are women just like me who are contemplating  the same thing.  Ok, ok, enough with the lead in…I’m talking about having another baby.  Everyone has there own opinion on the subject.  A lot of women my age are done after having one.  Why push it, right? I see their point.

It takes me back to when I was 39 weeks pregnant with O and I had an exam with an older male doctor I had never been seen by before.  This practice in Florida was odd.  You could request a specific Doctor for appointments, but when you actually went into labor, you got whoever was on call.  So they urged you to familiarize yourself with as many physicians in the practice as possible.  And there were a lot.  Oye! I digress.  Anyway, on this particular day I opted to see Dr. Collins a.k.a. Crabby Pants.  I remember him telling me while discussing the labor,”Well, at your age, you don’t want to mess this up….I mean, it’s one and done for you.”  I remember feeling like I was slapped in the face.  I told another physician what he had said and she just shook her head.  Tossed it up to him being ready to retire.  But it does make you think.  At least he made me think.

Well, after a bit of a touch and go medical issue, my doctor up here in New England told me there is no reason we shouldn’t try.  I’m fit and I’ve got the blood pressure of a teenager, hence the teenager snack attacks.  By all snack accounts I should be over weight, but as my luck would have it, I’m as slim as I was when I was a vegetarian and really watched everything I ate.  (Completely unfair, I know).  So according to my lovely Dr., we have the all clear to jump to it.  I would prefer to say like rabbits…but apparently it’s more of an every other day thing.  You don’t want to exhaust the sperm.  Who knew? I assumed the more sex the better.  There will be no hormones or fertility drugs involved.  It’s Au Naturale for us.

So, here’s to trying.  Really trying.  And if it doesn’t happen, then Frieda, my friend and psychic, was right.  It won’t be meant to be.  And in the mean time, me and my young husband can have a lot of fun.  Either way it will all turn out the way it is supposed to.  I have been so blessed already, it seems greedy of me to want another.  If you asked me a year ago if I would want another, my answer would not have been  the same.  I have evolved into a really good mom. I’m so happy to be right where I am.  So happy to share raising or child with my husband.  It’s more happiness than I ever knew was possible.   So I am making a promise to myself right here and now, in front of all of you.  I will not be upset if we don’t get pregnant.  I won’t let it shade the abundant sunshine we live in.  I truly believe in things happening the way they are supposed to.  My entire life is a testament to just that.  So we will give it a go.  Here’s to Project Sibling! Lol!

Until next time, keep fighting the good fight.  I know what I’ll be doing.  And remember, behind every great kid is a mom who is pretty sure she is messing it up.  Xo

 

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!