Pregnancy Notes

Lauren at 12 weeks

In October 2006, Nick and I decided to start our family. My Type A personality assumed that meant we’d have some good news by Christmas, January at the latest! By February 2007, I started assuming something was wrong. A friend recommended Toni Weschler’s Taking Charge of Your Fertility. I bought it, and immediately returned it once I realized it included making spreadsheets on a CD-ROM of “opportune times”. Then, knowing it would take at least six months, I threw myself into work, took a class, went through the requirements to become Catholic, and trained for a 5K.

In early May, a test turned positive, and on May 9, 2007, the doctor confirmed it, and Nick and I heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time.

Pregnancy in the workplace is always a funny thing. I sort of wanted to wait to tell people, but Nick said, “Let’s let everyone know!” I’ve read that our generation is quicker to tell co-workers than previous generations, which is either our confidence in modern medicine or our theory that you can balance your work and your personal life. After I told my boss and supervisor privately, I let everyone in the office know, and then consulted with women who had had babies within the last year. Call me naive – I didn’t know anything about FMLA (the Family Medical Leave Act) and was shocked to learn the United States is one of the few countries that does NOT require paid leave. (I knew I would be taking unpaid leave but thought I might get something). I arranged to use two weeks paid vacation and six weeks unpaid leave.

The pregnancy was pretty textbook. I felt sick to my stomach in the first trimester, started wearing maternity clothes in the second, and my ankles blew up during the third. I craved chocolate chip cookie dough (a no-no). I stopped running for exercise and started walking, and kept weight training. I found prenatal yoga boring and was happy I bought a $10 DVD instead of the $80 classes. Nick and I registered for baby stuff. We bypassed the $50 maternity body pillow at Target and found a regular body pillow on clearance for $6. In fall 2007, I took a new media class and huffed and puffed around campus, imagining that the undergraduates were staring. (They weren’t) AND…We signed up for birthing classes early, because with a January 1, 2008 due date, we didn’t want to spend the holidays in class. Little did we know we would NEED the information early…

Welcome to Parenthood!

Yes, Lauren will be 11-weeks-old tomorrow, so parenthood is not exactly brand-new. But every day will be a new adventure! This blog will track my new role as working mom. I’m hoping to create a forum for parenting advice and friendship.

A little about me: I’ve kept journals all my life, dating back to nine-years-old, where I would log the Christmas presents I got, and start entries with “I’m fine today.” A blog is a natural progression, since I can type much faster than handwriting! And even though I’m a semi-private person, I’ve gotten so much from reading parenting blogs that I’m anxious to start one of my own. I’ve been married for two years to my husband, Nick, and there’s no one else I’d want to start this new journey with.

A little about my work history: I attended college as an English major, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life until I took an editing and publishing course. Then the lightbulb came on: This is what I was supposed to do! I got a job as copyeditor at my college newspaper, and also wrote CD reviews. This lead to an internship at a classic car magazine, which I loved. After a move to a mid-size Midwestern city, I worked at at bookstore before landing a job at a women’s magazine with the triplicate roles of office manager, editorial assistant, and circulation assistant. I stayed two years and moved to another publishing firm, where I work solely as a circulation assistant, where I’m a part of a three-person team.

A little about Lauren: Of course, much more will follow! I consider myself very lucky because Lauren’s a very good-natured baby. She’s at the smiling stage now, which is a lot of fun, and she’s very healthy and strong, almost at the point where she can hold her head up independently. She sleeps for about six hours at a time at night, eats about seven times a day with four ounces each time (breastfed, but bottlefed during the day). She lights up my world. Now that I’m back at work, she’s attending an in-home daycare with four other little girls. Of course I feel mommy-guilt, but I’m so glad she’ll meet other kids, and her caregiver is phenomenal.

 I’ll try to write weekly, but you know how it goes with a little one! Thanks for reading.

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