Pregnant and How We're Preparing

    So I've got some news I've been wanting to share for the last little while and although I haven't been all that secretive about it, I also haven't come and out and properly said that we are pregnant with baby #2!!! Eli was just 5 months old when I found out that I was pregnant again and it was definitely a shock at first. We have always planned on having more than one and having our kids close together, but if I'm being realistic I was thinking we might start thinking about getting pregnant again February of this year (2019). Obviously fate had different plans.

     That initial shock lasted maybe an entire weekend, and let's be clear that Chad has been over the moon about it since I told him. It just took some getting used to for me. But we are both thrilled at this point, and despite what I'm sure is going to be a tough period in our lives having two babies (they will 15 months apart), I'm so stoked to see our kids grow up this close in age. Currently, I am 22 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good all around. Both pregnancies thus far have been relatively easy on me especially when I think of the experiences of others. I may discuss how this pregnancy has been more in depth in another post, but for now it makes sense to chat a bit about how we are preparing for baby #2 in this current season of our lives.

#1 Staying Active

     In my pregnancy with Eli I got into a really great habit of doing yoga 4x/week in my second trimester, and then daily in my third. At the time I was really scared of childbirth and wanted to be in the right physical shape for the delivery. To me this felt like it would be helpful to practice focused breathing on a regular basis, while improving my strength and flexibility where it counts. I honestly believe that the daily yoga, especially in the third trimester, was the key to the positive labour and delivery I had with Eli. I'm convinced that my body did what it did because it was prepared.

#2 Spending Time with Other Parents

     We are very lucky in that we have an amazing group of friends who are active and have little ones all within 5 years in age. These people have taught us so much and been our number 1 support while living out in Kitimat. They have made the flaming entry into parenthood so much softer then it could've been. I'm especially paying attention now to our friends with two little ones. Mostly, focusing on how they are doing their day-to-day with two kiddos, and trying to imagine fitting a second baby into our current day-to-day. Questions constantly swirl through my head: "What will grocery shopping look like?" "If we take them both out for a x-country ski, what will the whole getting ready and execution of the activity look like?" "Will two car seats fit in our truck?!" So many questions and I'm definitely getting a good look at the picture from our friends. They make it look easy.

#3 Finding a Midwife 

     My biggest worry with this second pregnancy is who would be delivering this baby since we'll be living in a different community for the birth. Right away I started researching and contacting midwives in our new community. I was told to expect some major wait lists, but luckily after a week or two a midwife clinic told me they had space for us. Such a huge relief to have the medical end of things sorted out. It will also be my first experience with a midwife so I'm interested to see how the process is similar or different. There are no midwives in Kitimat, but we've been very lucky with our family doctor who delivered Eli.

#4 Finding Alternatives to 'Nesting'

    

      I really enjoyed the whole compulsive nesting process while I was pregnant with Eli, but with our current season being that we are in the middle of a move and living somewhere temporarily, nesting isn't really practical right now. However, the compulsive feeling to set things in order is still totally there. In dealing with this I've found some alternatives to the traditional nesting that is typical.

     As much as moving can be sad and hard since it is a change, I also love it for the whole going through every item you own while packing. I've been a little crazy about it this time around with reading Marie Kondo's book on the tidying up and seriously going through all of my things. I have come away feeling much more content with what we have packed into our life.

    Another way that I think I've been 'nesting' is in the kitchen. I have been baking and cooking a lot. I like to bake and cook normally, but not as much as I am currently. I'm hoping this one sticks since the outcomes are often sweet.

     I've also been nesting in regards to getting all my ducks in a row at our house, so to speak. I've pretty well looked at almost every system in our home (i.e. meals, mail, dishes, organization of items, schedules, calendars, planning, etc) and tried to find a way to make it work better. I've found myself very focused on all those daily hassles at home that we walk past a hundred times and think to ourselves ''ooohhh I gotta deal with that" and started seriously dealing with them. The outcome....a lot more lists that are actually getting crossed off. I've also found ways to make my huge lists less overwhelming and more achievable. I'll talk more about that though in a future post on bullet journaling.

#5 Working on Projects 

     One of my big worries with having another baby is that I won't have time with two kids to do the things that I love and make me who I am. Crafting is a huge part of my day-to-day. I've found it calming to continue to plan and work on different projects that I would've started if I wasn't pregnant. It's helping me not lose sight of myself, and maintain excitement for the things I love. Granted, I am aware that I may have to take a break from this part of my life at times, but having unfinished projects I hope will give me something to continue to work away at in those quiet moments (however few and far between they may be). The current project is a english paper pieced hexie crib quilt to celebrate the new baby. 

I'm finding that although I'm not able to set up a nursery (and probably won't be able to be until long after this baby is born) or set up our home to be baby ready, I've been able to clear my mind through several of these 'nesting' preparations I've been doing.

     This clearer mind and less stress in general has snowballed into having more time to love and appreciate Eli in what little time we have him all to ourselves. Because that's totally the reason we all have kids right?! 

- Katie