cahn | (no subject)

Well! So now I can finally talk about why I disappeared from life for a couple of months there. We are going to have a baby! Next March! As far as ultrasounds and cell-free DNA tests (which are kind of awesomely cool, by the way) can tell, he is healthy! And also with a Y chromosome! I… had not realized how much I was steeling myself for this baby not to be healthy until it turned out he was. I feel like I can finally actually be excited about it!

First-trimester nausea really, really sucked this time around (hence the disappearing from life... er... if you asked for a beta in those months, I want to repeat that I am really really sorry for disappearing!). It is possible that there was a psychological component there, stemming from being so done with the first trimester after going through it two times in a year, but man, life is so much better now that that's over with.

I am sort of panicked about having a boy and all the baggage that comes with being a boy. I told D that we'll have to buy some baby dolls for him now (E never got any dolls, although she has a bunch of stuffed animals). One person, whom I very very much like but who definitely has a plethora of unexamined gender assumptions, said to me, "Oh, buying toys for boys is really fun — you can buy them Legos and Lincoln Logs and —" "Um, we… already have all those…" I feel like I have a better handle on girl baggage?

On one hand, E is old enough to do things for herself, which will make things just about infinitely easier with a new baby. On the other hand, it means that I am no longer at all used to not sleeping through the night, changing diapers, teaching a kid how to feed himself and put on his own clothes and… oh man, it's making me tired just thinking about it. What were we thinking again? Oh, right, that E is the cutest thing in possibly the entire universe and that in time maybe, hopefully, if all goes well, we could have a second incredibly cute four-year-old. I hope!

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Congratulations!

Thank you!

Congratulations on the impending addition to your family!

Thanks! :)

Yay! I was very much hoping, but didn't want to ask.

Also, yowza, the thought of doing the first tri again within a year makes me want to curl up and cry.

:) And I was kind of not really saying anything until we had the anatomy scan because... well, you know why. A combination of not wanting to deal with backtracking if it didn't turn out well, and probably some magical thinking thrown in, oh brain.

I hate first trimester so much!

Congratulations yay!

Felicitations, and yay for healthy embryo! I hope that everything continues to go well.

Does it have to be dolls? Some boys get unnecessary crap for stuffed animals.... (Am reminded because Reason explained things we passed this morning to a small stuffed moose, which is new from my mother and thus filling the baby role.) Perhaps also nearer for treating both children equally, since E may want a doll if her little brother gets one!

Thank you!

It wouldn't have to be a doll, and we certainly have a plethora of stuffed animals, which E loves. I wouldn't mind getting E a doll, for that matter (she actually has some play baby bottles, though she mostly uses them to show "look mommy, when you turn them upside down they look like they're empty!") but she's never shown any interest in them whatsoever... she's just started doing imaginative play with her Lego figurines. (Apparently all of them are having a drunken frat party on the roof of her Lego house, which is... a little disturbing).

Congratulations! And ugh, the first trimester, I'm glad you're through that, and hurrah for a healthy baby!

Also, my boy is toddling around holding a doll at this very moment :-).

Thank you!

Awwwww, that sounds so adorable!

Congratulations! :D

Thank you! :)

congratulations!!!

Congratulations. Glad you've got that weight off your mind - and now can start worrying about other things, like How To Raise a Boy. :-) (Hopefully D. will have some pointers!)

Hee, yes :) Well, D has rather more experience than I do, being a guy himself and having a brother...

May all things go well and on time!

Thank you! I certainly hope so too! :)

Omigosh! Congratulations! Very very happy for you!

Having 2 boys, let me give you my very important Raising A Boy advice. I am completely serious. Knowing this makes all the difference:

1) Make sure the penis points down into the diaper because if you diaper him with the penis pointing up he'll pee right up out of the diaper and soak his clothes.

2) You can toilet train boys to pee sitting down just like girls and it really cuts down on the bathroom cleanup while they get the hang of it.

There you go, the big gender issues that we've had to deal with, up till age almost 3.5.

OKAY THIS IS SUPER USEFUL. Thank you so much! I knew that spraying was a thing with penis diaper changing but not what you were supposed to do about it (umm, seems stupid, but I'm not used to manhandling peeing penises, okay? THIS IS WHAT I MEAN, I HAVE NO IDEA) and I didn't know about the toilet training at all, this sounds like a Very Good Thing to know.

What did you do about circumcision? I guess people are not doing it these days? argh!

Some people are definitely doing it these days.

/nothelpful