Seven Quick Takes: Things We Won't Do With Baby #3

Now that I'm in the second trimester, it's starting to sink in that in less than six months, we will be a family of five! As I start to get into baby prep mode all over again, I've started thinking about all the things we won't be doing with baby number three.

We won't find out the gender.

We have never found out the gender of our babies, and though it is driving some of our family members crazy, we won't be finding out this time either. A few people have told me that they think we should find out since we have 2 girls, and we don't have any boy stuff, but since we never find out, we have an entirely gender neutral newborn wardrobe. I know that finding out the gender is a surprise no matter when it happens, but I love that moment in the delivery room when the nurse tells me what we have. Even Miss Muffet has jumped on the bandwagon with us. I've asked her a couple of times what she thinks it is, and she just says, "I have to wait until the baby comes to find that out, Mama."

We (well, I) won't breastfeed.

It surprises people when they find out we exclusively formula feed our kids. This is probably because we homeschool and don't have a TV and make our own baby food and use cloth diapers. We sound like a family that would breastfeed. We just don't. This used to make me feel guilty, even though I know it's the right decision for our family, because there are lots of articles and blog posts out there that claim that not breastfeeding by choice is a sin - not to mention the ugly comments in every Internet post on the subject. But while the church teaches that you have to feed your baby (obviously!), it does not teach that you must do so using any particular method. So now I mostly don't think about it much, except when I see cool gadgets like this and when nosy old ladies question me about my parenting. (This is my third baby, little old ladies. Bring it on.)

We (hopefully) won't wait too long to go to the hospital.

When I was expecting Miss Muffet my grandmother told me the story of when she almost didn't make it the hospital to have her second child (my aunt). Miss Muffet's labor was 18 hours so I thought I'd have some leeway with Bo Peep, but that did not turn out to be the case. By the time contractions were in a regular pattern of any kind, they were only about 2 minutes apart. This time, I keep joking that I'm going to camp out in the hospital parking lot. It's only 5 minutes from home, but I want to be there in plenty of time in case #3 is even quicker than his/her big sister.

We (again, mostly I) won't plan on an epidural.

I have always planned to have an epidural and have yet to have one that worked. With Miss Muffet, the epidural failed and I felt everything anyway. With Bo Peep, the anesthesiologist was on his way, but by the time he would have gotten there, she had already been born. Having done it naturally twice now, and with the second labor being so short, I've decided to just go in with the assumption that there will be no pain relief. This does not mean I won't ask for it if the opportunity arises, but I'm done trying to make it happen.

We won't worry about what to do with our big kids.

When Bo Peep was born, I was completely stressed out about what to do with Miss Muffet, and we didn't have a clear plan until 37 weeks. This time, I'm planning to line up a couple of family members to come and stay with us - one before the due date, and one after, if the first person needs to be relieved before the baby comes, and I also have a couple of friends who have said they would help us if we need it.

We won't buy newborn clothes.

I think Miss Muffet wore more newborn clothes than Bo Peep did, but they both mostly skipped right onto 3 months pretty quickly. I think what we have is still in pretty good shape, and no matter how cute the clothes are, there is no sense in buying an outfit that a child can only wear for a week. I think we'll save our budget for a new swing (our Mamaroo died when Bo Peep was still an infant) and boy clothes if it turns out we need them.

We won't bring a lot of stuff to the hospital.

When Miss Muffet was born, I brought a ton of stuff with me, and used absolutely none of it. Last time, I was a lot better about only bringing what we'd use, but I feel like I could go even more minimalist. I looked at this list the other day and laughed a little bit because at this point, I really think I could walk in there with my insurance card, my toothbrush, and my phone and be set until it's time to go home.