To Induce or not to induce...

I had a wonderful pregnancy with Hunter. It was textbook. No complications, normal and stress free. Until the very end of my pregnancy.

My due date with Hunter was July 2nd. I was soooo excited for this day to come. I couldn't wait to meet the baby inside of me. But I did understand that due dates are not always accurate and don't mean baby will be here on that date. In fact I always had this gut feeling that I wouldn't have the baby then..I always felt that I would be pregnant past my due date.

Thanks to my mother's intuition I was right! July 2nd came and went and no baby. I hadn't had contractions or anything! I remember going to my weekly dr appts and praying that there was progress in the dilation area. Each time...nothing. My Dr finally told me that she would induce me if I wanted, but it wouldn't be until I was at least a week late. When talking with her I got the impression that she really didn't want me to induce. She wanted me to wait until 42 weeks to induce. But I did not want to wait until I was 2 weeks late! I was ready for this baby! We scheduled an appt for the following week and she said I would make the induction decision then. I'm not going to lie...I was disappointed. I remember getting to my car, calling my husband and crying. I was a hot mess.

See the thing was my husband and I decided early on to put all our trust into my dr and whatever she said we would do. I needed it to be this way. I don't trust people in general, but my Dr. I do completely trust. She has been doing this for over 30 years and delivered my husband and brother in law. My mother-in-law had difficulty having children and it was until she saw Dr. R that she had her 2 children. She always says she has her sons because of Dr. R.

So I was torn. My gut was telling me to be induced but my head was telling me to not go against my doctor. I had no idea what to do...

5 months update

Dear Hunter,

Today you are 5 months old!

I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday I gave birth to you and we met for the 1st time. You have changed so much each month. This month we celebrated your first Thanksgiving. Sorry you didn't get to eat turkey...next year.

Stats: We had your 4 month dr appointment on November 30th. You are 14 lbs 11 oz and 26 1/4 inches.

Eating: You love to eat! You've always been like that. Now you are eating 6 oz every 3 to 3 1/2 hours! If your sleeping you can go 4 hrs. We still have to stick a paci in your mouth after you finish a bottle because you scream for more! lol

Sleep: You are a great sleeper. You have been sleeping through the night for a couple months now. Once and a while you have a bad night where you wake up early...or don't sleep well. But for the most part you sleep great! Daycare broke you of the swaddle about a month and half ago...so now it's all sleep sacks.

Mood: You are just such a happy baby! You are always smiling and laughing! Mommy and Daddy feel soo lucky to have such a happy baby! You only cry if you are hungry or tired!

Clothes: You officially started wearing 6 months clothes. You have been wearing 6 month sleepers for a while know because you are so long. But you still can wear most 3 months clothes as well, but they are getting smaller. Some 6 months clothes are big...like pants. Sorry kid you have no butt like your mom and dad. lol

Likes: Since you figured out how to roll from back to belly you do it all the time. Definitely a like! You also like your playmat and the musical sun on it. You like to swing and smile at daycare! Still like to suck and lick your hands. Sleeping on your side.

Dislikes: Being on your tummy too long. You like tummy time for as long as you are okay with it. When you've had enough you cry!

Why we didn't find out the gender of our baby

The biggest question I got during my pregnancy was...

What are you having?

And I would always respond with "a baby!" Then of course the person would say "Well yeah but is it a boy or girl?"

I would then say "We don't know because it's a surprise!"

When I said that I got several different responses from people...

Some people would say how they thought it was great that we were waiting to find out the gender while others were completely perplexed by this decision. They didn't understand why we would wait to find out when we could know now.

Honestly finding out the gender of your baby is a personal decision. But here are several reasons why my husband and I opted to wait...

1. Best surprise ever: I'll never forget hearing my Dr and nurses(who were my best friends during labor) yell out "It's a BOY!!". My husband and I looked at each other and grinned. When they placed that little boy on me I cried tears of joy!
2. You are already halfway there: By the time you can actually find out the gender you are already 20 weeks pregnant. That means that you have already waited 20 weeks without knowing. I didn't think waiting another 20 weeks would kill me.
3. Healthy baby: All that mattered to us was that our baby was healthy. Boy or girl...we didn't care.
4. Extra motivation: Labor is HARD! The hardest thing I've done in my life. The fact that I didn't know the gender of my baby made me that much more motivated to push him out! I was more focused and definitely think it's one of the main reasons I kept fighting when it got hard and didn't give up. I wanted to know if baby was a boy or girl!

Creating the registry

A couple weeks ago J and I decided to go ahead and start the registry for the baby. It was just a normal saturday and since we had nothing to do, and since my mother-in-law had been bugging me about starting a registry, I asked J if he wanted to head over to babies r us and create one. "Sure, he said.  So before we left I put out a post on facebook and asked some of my mommy friends for recommendations. Almost immediately I got plenty of responses. I was so excited and thankful for my helpful friends. However, one thing I didn't realize I was, was nieve! Oh My God, how stupid I was for thinking that registering would be easy peasy and quick! I was SO WRONG!!!! It was not easy, and definitely not quick! J and I were in babies r us for 3 HOURS!!!!! 

Now if you are a mom to be and haven't registered yet, don't let me scare you. It wasn't THAT bad...but it was bad only because I wasn't prepared. I thought that printing out a list from the internet and having the list they give you at babies r us would be enough! Well...I was wrong for so many reasons! 

Having those 2 lists were helpful for sure, but there was just a lot to find in the store. I honestly didn't realize how much stuff a baby needs.  Don't get me wrong, I wasn't that stupid and thought that I only needed like 2 things. I knew a baby required a lot, but I didn't know just how much. Plus there are just soo many choices for one object. For example, a baby carrier. There are like 10 different types and brands of baby carriers and if you go in blindly like me, you have no idea what to get and you beg your husband to read the boxes and make a decision. 

So if I had any tips for you moms to be who are going to create a registry:

• Do your research! 
• This is my biggest regret! If I had done by research, I wouldn't have felt so overwhelmed by all the different choices. I recommend narrowing each item you need down to a couple that you really want to see in store and then make your decision.

• Ask other mom friends!
• I can't tell you how helpful my facebook post was! If I had never posted my question and asked my friends who were moms for recommendations, I would have been up a creek! Seriously! They helped me tremendously, especially with strollers!

• Get comfy!
• I wore comfy clothes and toms and I was still dead tired by the end of 3 hours! I literally sat down in the middle of the aisle looking at swaddles and telling my husband which ones to scan! LOL it was a sad sight, but I was an exhausted pregnant woman and didn't care. But in all seriousness, wear comfy clothes and shoes. I don't know how I would have survived if I wore heels and a dress!

• Don't feel pressured to get it all done in one day!
• I honestly thought that I would get everything registered and done by the end of our times at babies r us. WRONG! Once I realized how long it was taking, I quickly talked myself into just getting the "big" things done. By "big", I mean things that I felt I needed to see in store such as stroller, car seat, high chair, pack and play, swing, etc. Smaller things like bibs and pacifiers can be picked out on the store's website.

• Do register at more than one place.
• If you told me that before I registered I would have told you no way! But the next day after the babies r us fiasco, I created another registry at Target. We didn't go to target, I just did it online. So much easier! But the reason I think people should register at more than one place is because of options. At babies r us for example, I didn't see many bibs I liked. But on target.com I saw a ton! So it's basically to have a variety!

Creating a registry can be a fun thing...I promise! I have since checked out and edited our registries several times since we created them. Plus think of all the fun things your friends and family will get you for the baby!