Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Stuff V - This Time, It's Personal

Yes, actually personal. It's really too early to talk about this, but it colors my life / our lives so much it's hard to avoid. We're expecting another baby in February, if all goes well.

My physical sense is that things are in fact going well so far, but at my age there is that 50/50 chance of miscarriage. Nevertheless, I believe that includes those really early miscarriages that people often don't even know they experienced. My mother and TheLimey's mother both had their last child at age 42, and it looks as though I will do that as well. All the baby stuff that I carefully saved and packed away from our first one? Still packed away, and in storage in Michigan. We won't be getting it out any time soon, either, so...crud.

We've had....discussions...about exactly what the expectation was when we packed all our things, with my understanding being that we would probably be getting it when we moved out of state, or maybe up to a year later (which would be now). His understanding was that we would never, ever get it back out. (Especially not my VHS tapes and cheap paperbacks collection.) Or at least not until we buy our own house, which could be several years. If I had thought it would be that long, there are a number of things I would definitely not have packed away. The cloth diapers and the Bebe Pod seat are the ones I most regret having to replace (although I also still feel pretty upset when I think of the only copy of my band's one video [on VHS, of course] weathering several broiling hot summers and freezing winters in an outdoor storage bin. Urrgh!)
Anyway!

TheLimey visits a hairdresser down the block who is American and also has an English husband, with a couple of young children. Yesterday he told her our news and it turns out that they are also expecting, maybe a month before us. So I will have someone to commiserate with this time. She has a very outgoing personality, which is completely different from mine, but nonetheless. Commiserate.

At any rate, TheLimey will be taking the husband to see Crystal Palace play a local team next month. I must find some mini Union Jacks for them to wave, or some such.
Meanwhile, now that I am done with that demanding postdoc, I am trying to get all my edits/graduation/licensure exam/licensure hours stuff done...hopefully before the baby comes out. 'Cause it sure ain't happenin' afterwards!

I expect that next year will be another year in which my focus is pretty much baby oriented. I've discovered that this is not because new parents have some sort of hormonal shift or stupid selfishness activation to only think about baby things, but because infant care is so intense and relentless, there isn't time or energy to even think about anything else. Anything!

4 comments:

Mimi said...

Congrats! I know it's frightening enough being up the duff, but the thought of miscarriage can weigh heavily. I had 2 miscarriages in between my boys... needless to say I was an emotional wreck my whole pregnancy with Sam! Add on top of that Gestational Diabetes, complete with insulin shots, a 6 week visit by the inlaws AND a broken foot -- all in the last trimester and I was NOT fun to be around!

Hopefully you'll escape all those joys and have an easy pregnancy!

Congrats!

liz said...

Good grief. I won't complain about anything from now on.

HA!

Okay, I will complain--a lot. But still, I'm glad you got through all that with your sanity (apparently) intact.

Anonymous said...

I have an insane amount of baby clothes thanks to the generosity of friends. I don't know if you're the "finding out the sex of the baby" type but I have lots of boy clothes, girl clothes, and gender non-specific. Would be happy to send them to you as Eiley will have outgrown at least 6 months' worth by the time your baby comes.

We use cloth diapers, too, and I would be happy to pass some along except that we don't have our own laundry (#^%$ apartment living!) so I can't always follow the recommended washing instructions.

Congratulations!

maddie said...

Liz, I am so excited to see this! I am so happy for you! I can't wait to read your posts as you progress. Congratulations!

Maddie