Babys First Year Blog
Introducing Abby Normal
Nice to meet you! I’
ll be blogging the first year of my baby’s life. If you want to hear a mom in her 40s dealing with a newborn and a toddler, well, friend, you’ve just hit paydirt.
Surprise! After having a hell of a time getting pregnant the first time… and even though I was still breastfeeding … and despite my advance maternal age (I’m 43), I turned to my husband toward the end of last January and asked, “Do you remember when my last period was?”
He gave me the fisheye. I mean, come on. Do I know when Tottenham last played Man United? No. There are certain things, despite our liberated status, that we just keep to ourselves about.
I did a frantic accounting of my tampons, brainstormed about what we were doing when, and discovered that I had missed two periods. Two. Periods. Remember those college days, when the waving of your scarlet “not-pregnant” flag took on almost holy significance? Guess what: when you have a lively, rambunctious 15-month-old, these things drop by the wayside. A test confirmed that my husband has a magic penis, and no, you can’t borrow it. And about eight bloated, waddling, nervous months later, out popped this gorgeous little girl – on August 3rd, at 5:17 pm.
It took a couple more days for it to hit me: I had two babies. Two. Two kids. I had another kid. If Penny was taking her nap, I still had to deal with Abby. You get the picture. I’m a slow learner.
It also occurred to me that I remembered next to nothing about newborns. Actually? I knew next to nothing about newborns, since my older kid, Penelope, showed up 10 weeks early and spent 6 weeks in the NICU at our local teaching hospital. I was great at opening a plastic isolette, gathering up the wires that attached my four-pound baby to several different monitors, and chatting casually with doctors who threw around words like “meningitis” and “bradycardia.” Crisis, I could deal with. But a normal seven-and-a-half pounder who just needed me to … uh … know how to take care of her … normal needs? I don’t freakin’ know! Ack, that diaper rash is gross! Holy crap, this poop is yellow! Oh man, I’m TIRED! All new. Fresh and new and windswept.
So here I am, a second-time-mom with first-time-problems. I’ll blog as often as my kids will let me, which is to say… well, we’ll see how it goes. I make no promises except that I’ll entertain you with my middle-aged-newborn rants and musings. Okay, I don’t guarantee that either, but I hope it’s true. See you next time.
Go Back To Babys First Year Blog
5 Comments
dara commented on Sep 21 10 at 4:50 pmWelcome Amy…and Abby and Penny! :)
Deb commented on Sep 21 10 at 11:05 pmI have a similar story and am currently pregnant with my what, huh, when was my last period? baby. It appears that sometimes infertility is reversible since the last baby required IVF and this one was a complete surprise (also while nursing – don’t believe everything you read) and I am of advanced maternal age. Very much looking forward to reading this and congrats/nice to meet you!
PlumbLucky commented on Sep 28 10 at 3:27 pmLOL – our second babe is not only a “when was my last period” baby but more of a “so when do you think my periods are going to restart now that the babe is weened” baby. And likewise, though we never had any diagnosed IF, it sure took a looooong time to make baby no. 1.
My thought is this: whoever tells you to sleep when the baby does, doesn’t have a toddler, doesn’t need a shower, and doesn’t need to eat or use the bathroom!
Cinema Halls commented on Sep 29 10 at 2:54 amCongratulations!
Redevelopment Project Management Consultants commented on Aug 21 11 at 4:04 amCongratulations !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Add your take:
Note: Babble is a supportive, diverse community. We encourage a range of opinions,
but any unduly hostile comments will be removed.
Comments are delayed up to 15 minutes
Lauren Hartmann 
Arianne Segerman 
Emily Elling 
Crissy Page 
Ali Smith 
Meredith Carroll 
Emily Malone 
Danielle Elwood 
Molly Thornberg 
Selena Burgess 
Melissa Jordan 
Casey Mullins 
Roni Noone 
Madeline Petersen 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
5