Looking Back

Preparing for this baby has caused me to reminisce about the preparations for the birth of my other two children.  To help jog my memory, I decided to go back and look at my blog posts surrounding those events.  After all, I started this blog just before Audrey’s birth to keep friends and family updated.   In reviewing my previous posts, here are some of my observations.

• The more children I have, the less attention I pay to the due date.  With Audrey, I knew exactly how many days it was until my due date.  With Barrett, I knew how many weeks.  With this baby, I had to check how many weeks I was twice within the past two weeks.
• With Audrey, I was convinced I’d go past my due date.  I did by two days.  With Barrett, I was convinced he’d come early, and he came 10 days early.  This time, I am also convinced he will come early.  I am just hoping it’s not 10 days again, because that is Audrey’s birthday.
• Life was a lot calmer when we were preparing for Audrey’s birth.  All of my posts are about my feelings, our preparations, or the dogs.  The months leading up to Barrett’s birth were pure chaos.  We sold our downtown condo.  We moved. Audrey turned 3. With everything going on, my posts were more of just status updates than introspective reflections.  It wasn’t until almost exactly a month before Barrett was born that I finally wrote a post that was about him and the preparations for his arrival.  With Baby #3, I would say we’re somewhere in between the tranquil progression toward Audrey’s arrival and the crazy amounts of change that lead up to Barrett’s.  Things will never be as peaceful in our family as they were before Audrey’s arrival, but I wouldn’t want it that way anyway. 
• I had things much more together after Barrett was born than I was with Audrey.  Case in point – I did two blog posts while I was still in the hospital!  There are a variety of factors that contributed to this including delivering without pain medication, knowing more of what to expect, and having him in the morning so I got two full days in the hospital.  Now that I’ve had a crazy hectic birth and a super laid-back and smooth birth, I am really curious what will transpire this third time around.  I’d definitely prefer the latter, but I guess we’ll have to see what Baby #3 has in store for us.  The one thing I am pretty sure of is that when he does come, he is going to come fast. 
• I noticed that I referred to Audrey by name in even my earliest posts almost 4 months before her birth.  With Barrett, he was just baby boy until he was born, because we honestly had not picked out a name.  This time around, we have a name, but we aren’t sharing it.  I guess we’ve taken pretty much every approach in the book as far as the timing of choosing/sharing our children’s names. 
• I am pretty sure that all I thought about when we got close to Audrey’s arrival was being pregnant and having a baby.  With Barrett, I clearly had other things on my mind, because many of my posts don’t even mention him.  This time around, based on my posts, I seem very focused on getting things done to prepare for baby’s arrival. That does include how the kids feel about his arrival, but I am definitely more focused on baby this time around than I was with Barrett.  Poor Barrett!  I guess he is a true middle child. 
• With both of my other pregnancies, and I would say this time around too, I had to put my tendency to want to control the situation aside and trust wholly in God’s plan.  You’d think it would be easier by now, but with more logistics to work through (who’s going to come stay with the kids so Audrey can still go to school?), it is still a struggle.  I guess some things never change.  Fortunately for all of us, the foremost of those things that remains unwavering is God’s faithfulness.  I know His timing will be perfect, but it doesn't make waiting any easier.
• I just couldn't resist posting some of the first photos we took with Audrey and Barrett after they were born...I can't wait to meet this new little guy and start taking pictures of him!