knee-deep in babies

[mamajoan]

Now that ladyvyola's nephew has made his appearance, you'd think that the number of pregnant friends or friends-of-friends in my life would be going DOWN. But noooooo. Another one popped out of the woodwork yesterday and then another one today, bringing me to a grand total of six: four sisters-of-friends, one wife-of-coworker, and one random acquaintance.

Of course, none of them are actually chicks I know very well, but still, it's like babies are popping up just all over the place. :) I'm mad at all six of those women, dammit!! How dare they steal my thunder!! ;)

But seriously folks, it's cool, and it's too bad that most of them actually live far enough away that we can't really form a support network or playgroups or whatever. Oh well.

Comments

[ladyvyola.livejournal.com]

Pop pop pop!

I know; babies and other pregnant ladies are just part of the background until you or someone close to you is expecting then wham! There they are, like a Magic Eye picture suddenly came into focus. And yeah, it'd be cool if folks were closer together. Support is so important!

[thedivinegoat.livejournal.com]

But seriously folks, it's cool, and it's too bad that most of them actually live far enough away that we can't really form a support network or playgroups or whatever. Oh well.

Do you have anything like the National Childbirth Trust over there? I'm actually Chair of our local branch, and we run coffee mornings and get togethers for local mums, as well as providing other support like Breastfeeding Counsellors, Antenatal Teachers (I'm hoping to start training as a ANT soon), Postnatal Co-ordinators etc as well as the campaigning up at National on behalf of parents. I've often wondered what other countries have in the way of equivalent organisations.

Re everybody being pregnant, I know how you feel, as practically all of my friends are pregnant, (four of them due within the same week period in April!), although it's quite hard at times as we're trying for a baby at the moment, and we had quite a lot of problems concieving last time. Even though I try not to, I still, at times, get bitten by the green eyed monster.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with a National Childbirth Trust, but certainly there are lots of random organizations around here for parents, parents-to-be, etc. I'm not really an organization-joining type, although I have sent a couple of emails to some single-mother groups in my area to see whether I might want to join them.

it's quite hard at times as we're trying for a baby at the moment, and we had quite a lot of problems concieving last time. Even though I try not to, I still, at times, get bitten by the green eyed monster.

I completely understand! I had similar problems when I was TTC even though I didn't know a whole lot of people who were pregnant at that time. There was one infamous occasion where a coworker asked another coworker, "when is your wife due?" but he thought she said "what does your wife do?" and it so happens that his wife does the same kind of job that I do. So he replied, "The same as Joan," and everyone was like, "hey, we didn't know Joan was pregnant, ha ha!" Sigh.

Uh, but anyway, I digress. Good luck getting pregnant!

Re:

[thedivinegoat.livejournal.com]

My sister got pregnant by mistake (she was 21 and her boyfriend of that time and now husband is a waste of space) when we'd been trying for about the year without success, and I found that very hard to deal with. Esp. as we have rather a love/hate relationship anyway.

What made it worse was when she had the baby and every one kept on asking me if my sister's baby was making me broody. I came very close to violence on quite a few occasions!

networking

[lizr.livejournal.com]

I found alot of good resources through La Leche League. I'm not sure I'm totally in line with all of their philosophies (despite having breastfed for almost a year), but you can meet alot of nice people. I tend to dislike groups with agendas but I just ignore that part of the meetings.

Sign up for a Lamaze class - those people tend to form groups friendships and playgroups and all as well.

And don't discount long distance support. Sure, you can't get emergency babysitting, but my most trusted child-rearing resource is a friend who lives 1200 miles away. But I'll call her before I call the woman across the street despite having good friendships with both.

It's amazing though, the second you have a baby in tow, suddenly all you do is meet other parents.