Week 11! Almost out of the first trimester, and with the combinations of B12 injections, managing what & when I eat very carefully, and hormonal changes, I am almost done with the puke stage. Yay! Seriously, I've got it down to nausea 1/2 time. While that may sound completely miserable, it's a miracle to me.

According to my phone app baby-countdown, I should be thinking about buying a family-sized car, picking out a crib, and choosing a theme for my nursery. Let's see... I think between the mini-van and the 15-passenger van that we are in the process of purchasing, we have that part handled. I had a crib once (when Corbin was born), and found it very useful for holding all of the clean laundry that I didn't have time to fold, but I think I will stick to laundry baskets this time around. And nurseries around here consist of mamas arms in the family bed, and I don't really feel the need to 'theme' my bedroom. So check, check, and check on the to-do items....

I sweet friend sent over 4 bags of little girl clothes, so now I am really hoping this baby is a girl so she gets a chance to wear it all :). I said when Athan was born that we had dodged a budgetary bullet - I'm so NOT a girly girl, but OMG I see those sweet little baby girl dresses and I just melt. Oh, and I may have made one or two already as well... I did refrain from buying every girlie pattern of baby-legs at the Steals network warehouse sale the other day, and stuck with 2 neutral and one semi-feminine pair (a real bummer, as they were $3 each, usually $15-20 and I LOVE baby legs). I also bought 2 cloth diapers, one blue and one purple. I passed on the hot pink ;)

OK, and a quick rant for the week, also from my phone app: The day 74 'tip' starts out like this: "To Breastfeed of Not To Breastfeed: If you are capable of breastfeeding your newborn child..." EXCUSE ME???? What's the implication here? You may not be capable of breastfeeding. OK fine, in a few cases, this is actually a concern. It's estimated that less than 2% of mothers are physically unable to breastfeed their children. It has also been stated that if the percentage of women who have been told they 'can't' breastfeed was a reality, we would have died out as a species a loooong time ago. 'Inability' to breastfeed is usually caused by lack of information and/or support, and occasionally by dietary issues such as dehydration, or the consumption of herbs that limit or prohibit milk supply. True issues that limit or prohibit breastfeeding include prior surgeries, necessary medications that stop milk supply or should not be passed on to baby, and issues on the part of the infant such as premature birth or oral deformation.

So with all of that in mind, why on Earth should that 'tip' begin by inferring that you may not be able to breastfeed? Miscarriage in the first 6 weeks of pregnancy is extremely common (one study estimated that 25% of pregnancies end before women even know that they started)... and none of the tips in the early days start out by saying, "If you are lucky enough to still be pregnant today..." I mentioned a few weeks back that I would be contacting the developer of this app to discuss altering the birth plan section to reflect real choices for women. I'm seeing a need to re-write a whole lot more. In fact, if they turn down my proposal, I now plan to talk to other companies with similar apps to see if someone has the balls to create an app for AP-type parents, or at least have their app reflect the range of choices & reality that truly exists in pregnancy and childbirth.