The first one gets new bedding, the second gets experience

I am 23 or 24 weeks pregnant. I honestly can't remember. I guess I could look back through old blog posts or sit down with a calendar, but I'm content with "23 or 24 weeks". I imagine I'll find out for sure when I go for my next OB appointment. Which is in two weeks. I think...

With Jack I knew down to the DAY. When you sign up for every possible pregnancy update email you can't help but be extra informed. It was so aggravating when the nurse in my doctor's office started the due date wheel on the wrong date and wrote in my chart that I was a whole two days LESS PREGNANT. Is that the kind of thing a nauseous bloated pregnant woman wants to hear? NO, NO IT IS NOT.

I now suspect that I'm bigger at this point than I was with Jack. I hear that's normal for second pregnancies, what with all the previous stretching out, but normal doesn't make it easy to accept. Hoping to compare belly sizes I started combing through the picture files for a profile shot, except, oops! I haven't taken a belly shot yet! At 23 or 24 weeks with Jack I'd taken, oh, dozens?

Oh, poor New Baby and her mother who doesn't pay her any attention. It's not like I'm ignoring her (and that's not even possible - I do believe I've got a future kung fu star in there) but did I tell you my kid started walking? Like, for REAL walking? And he turned one! And he likes helping me water the plants! And he opens ALL the kitchen cabinets and ALL the drawers! And we bought him a little water table and he was splashing in it all weekend and it was JUST ADORABLE!

See? Somewhat preoccupied.

I was confessing this to someone yesterday and she said, "Yes, but you know more this time. You're not as anxious." I think this was a nice way of saying "You're not half as crazy and neurotic as you were with the first one!" which, I have to say, is totally true. And I see her point. I may not be documenting my second baby with belly shots and blog posts detailing my every uncomfortable twinge, but I'm also not spending my pregnancy insomnia time freaking out about a newborn.

Though I haven't done a lot, the preparations I've made for her are all about improving things I did with Jack. For example! Jack would fall asleep in the wrap, which was awesome, but what was not awesome was taking him out of the wrap to lay him down. In the interest of making sure New Baby stays sleeping, I ordered myself a [very pink and very girly] sling. And I just know how to DO things now. Swaddling? A breeze. Getting out of the house? No problem. Working a breast pump? I won't be enduring an embarrassing tutorial from the hospital nurses THIS time around, thank you very much.

Breastfeeding and sleep deprivation are still going to kick my butt, but I plan to be a little less melodramatic about the whole thing. I managed to survive the first one's infancy, right? Here's to hoping New Baby understands that what she lacks in new stuff and blog posts she's totally making up in the More Confident Mom department.

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