I turned 35 last month, and I had my first baby in October, so I slipped just under the “AMA” (Advanced Maternal Age) or the oh-so-flattering “Elderly Prima Gravis” (pregnant for the first time after age 35) classification. But when you think about it, all the factors that automatically put older women into the “moderate risk pregnancy” category don’t occur overnight at age 35, but are gradual changes to the body. I’m fortunate that I avoided, by just four months, a lot of arguing with doctors over recommended tests and a lot of additional monitoring.

In spite of the slightly increased risk of complications that come with having a baby over the age of 35, there are a host of benefits that come with it after the child is born.

For me, I could not have imagined having a daughter one minute before it happened. What are some of the things we have working to our advantage when we’re a bit older and (presumably) wiser?

• Increased financial status – As a general rule, men and women in their 30s and 40s are earning more than their fresh-out-of-college 20-something counterparts. The odds are better that you own a house, have a reliable car, and maybe even have some savings tucked away for an emergency. Of course, there’s the old adage: “If everyone waited until they could afford it to have kids, there would be no babies!” And this is true. But waiting can definitely alleviate some of the financial stress that comes with children.
• More patience – I’ll admit I was selfish, impatient and even a bit flighty in my twenties. Now I am more settled into my life. I’ve done many of the things I’ve always wanted to do, seen some of the world, wasted many days and nights, and figured out exactly who I am and what I believe in. Maybe it’s this personal growth that has given me more patience. I don’t think I could have handled the frustration and ineptitude (mine) of being a new mom, the lengthy crying sessions (hers), or the sleepless nights (hers and mine!) when I was younger.
• We can appreciate it more – The odds of a successful conception and pregnancy decrease as you get older. Maybe this is why older parents seem even more grateful for our children. This thought struck me as I was reading my own baby book. My mom had me when she was 40. In the back of my baby book, she had placed a lengthy note, a beautifully-written update of my life that simply wouldn’t fit into the pre-determined spots in the baby book. One line stands out in my mind: “Sometimes I can’t believe she’s mine!”

This is exactly how I feel about Ashley (wow, I wish my mom was here so I could tell her that.) I look at this little girl and realize I couldn’t possibly love her more if I tried.

Some younger moms might say I would have done better than I think I would have raising a child when I was in my 20s, and that could be true. Certainly, I might have loved her just as much as I do now.

But I want to let all the new moms who are over 35 (or even close to the borderline!) know that not only is your child is a very special gift to you, you have done the right thing by bringing your baby into this world at this time – not a moment sooner, not a moment later! So wear that AMA badge with pride, and know that it means that you waited until you were ready!

You know the age-old expression that “there’s something in the water”? According to Nicole Kidman, swimming in Australian Outback waterfalls is the cause of her unexpected pregnancy.

Nicole says that she, and six other women who swam in the same waterfall pool all became pregnant during production of her last movie, Australia.

Her daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, was born in July this year, when Kidman was 41. Pretty first names, but the multiple last names don’t get any easier after a few months…

She says the pregnancy was completely unexpected, especially after a miscarriage she suffered while married to Tom Cruise.

She’s so convinced that the waters were the cause of her pregnancy that she’s encouraging other women to visit the town of Kununurra and swim in the water too.

Would you go all the way to Australia to get pregnant?

Source

Have you and your partner decided to get pregnant? If you have, congratulations. Trying to get pregnant can be a snap for some couples, but for others, it may take awhile. Before you and your partner take the plunge however, you’ll be ahead of the curve if you try to at least do some of the following. You’ll not only feel healthier, it may even better your chances of conception and a healthy baby in the end.

1. Make a visit with your ob/gyn or general physician. Tell them of your plans, they’ll most likely due a routine examination and then tell you of anything you should work on. Whether it be weight, blood pressure, diabetes, etc. If you’re given an all-clear, they’ll most likely prescribe you some prenatal vitamins.
2. Regularly take the prenatal vitamins. Physicians usually recommend taking the vitamins for at least two months, so you’re body is nice and stocked with the essential vitamins that helps you while pregnant. The most important of this is folic acid, which aids in the baby’s brain development for the first few months and helps avoid any potential brain defects. You need at least 400 grams of folic acid and you’re prenatal vitamins is the one that will pack the appropriate punch.
3. Start exercising and stick to it. It’s more important now than ever before to get healthy. I wish I had gotten ultra-fit before I tried to get pregnant. Studies show that the fitter you are before getting pregnant, the faster you’ll get back to your pre-pregnant weight. And let’s face it, that’s mom’s top desire immediately following the desire to have a healthy and happy baby. You’ll also be able to carry the added weight of pregnancy if you’re exercising, be less stressed, and more limber. All of which could greatly help in labor.
4. Avoid alcohol and cigarettes, even second-hand smoke. Both can get in the way of getting pregnant, and it’s not healthy having any of the carcinogens in cigarettes or any alcohol in your system even at the very beginning of conception.
5. Start eating healthy. The healthier you are, the better your body is prepared to start conceiving and nurturing a baby inside you. Getting into a habit now will help stave off the “I’m pregnant so let me eat what I want” excuse. Your future baby will soon be ingesting everything you put into your mouth, so watch what you eat.
6. Start saving. Babies cost money. A LOT of money. Even with generous parents or friends, you’ll want a nice cushion to help you once the baby comes. You’ll suddenly find you absolutely need that new and top of the line infant swing once you heard it helps babies get to sleep faster. It’s also nice to have savings so you are not beholden to your company’s stingy maternity leave (for those who aren’t as lucky as others).
7. Start looking at your health insurance policy. The earlier you’re forearmed with knowledge, the better. I had a top-notch insurance policy. All I had to pay, literally, were $300 out of pocket. My best friend’s brother’s family however, had to fork out $2000 because their policy wasn’t as inclusive.
8. Start investigating your work-place’s maternity leave? How much money will you need to save up if you plan to stay home for 6 months after the baby’s born? Is your job save if you wish to stay home that long? Be in the know.
9. Find out when you ovulate. There are many different methods. You can time your periods, take your temperature (there’s a small spike in body temperature when ovulating), etc. Research the different methods and time your bedroom forays on the right day.
10. Last but not least: Relax! Do yoga, practice meditation, and breathing exercises. The more relaxed you are, the better your chances at conceiving.

Good luck!

I have a bone to pick with implantation bleeding.

I know that’s a weird thing to be mad at, but I spent a year trying to get pregnant with my first baby and every time my period would start up I would tell myself the same thing: “Maybe it’s implantation bleeding.” Every single time it wasn’t implantation bleeding. It was the same old menstrual cycle, announcing my lack of pregnancy. It was maddening.

What is implantation bleeding? From what I understand it’s what happens when the ovum sticks itself to the wall of the uterus. Apparently some women initially mistake the implantation bleeding as signs of a menstrual cycle only to later discover that they’re actually pregnant.

At least, that’s what I kept hoping for.

I’ve also heard of implantation bleeding happening to women who already know they’re pregnant, so of course it scares them because they think something is wrong. It sounds like yet another situation where a woman looks at the blood and thinks to herself, “Maybe it’s implantation bleeding.”

It’s funny how something so small can mean so much, depending on if it’s one thing or another.

Of course, if you experience bleeding while you’re pregnant it’s probably something that you should talk to your doctor about. You can tell your doctor that the woman with the weird grudge toward implantation bleeding sent you.

Editor’s note:? You can read more about Implantation Bleeding at Babies Online

Pregnant women have a lot of questions. When will my morning sickness end? What will I see on my ultrasound? And what’s the best car seat to buy?

Here’s a great resource with the answers to all of the above: Aha! Baby.

From trying to conceive through to labor and delivery, Aha! Baby is a search website devoted to pregnancy.

The website is organized into topics such as conception, baby names, pregnancy baby showers, and mom’s health. You can pick a frequently asked question from one of the topics, or ask your own.

The reason Aha! Baby is more useful than Google or Yahoo search engines, is that all the information Aha! Baby provides to answer your question is reviewed to make sure it’s accurate and useful.

I’ve never had more questions about anything than when I was pregnant, and this website has everything organized to make finding answers – the best answers – as easy as possible.

Expectant moms, add this one to your bookmarks now!

There’s been much fuss lately over whether coffee is safe to drink during pregnancy. A summary of the current research: it’s probably safe in moderation, but don’t drink 47 cokes or ten gallons of coffee a day if pregnant.

However, doctors in the Netherlands have discovered the drinking coffee before you get pregnant may be harming your chances of conceiving. Wannabe moms who drank more than four cups of coffee a day had a 26% lower chance of conceiving naturally. Compare that to the damaging effects of smoking – reducing chances by 44%, of being overweight – reducing changes of conceiving by 29%, or drinking alcohol more than three times a week – 26% less likely to conceive.

Doctors already knew that being overweight, smoking and drinking all affect fertility, but are surprised that caffeine has comparable effects.

Conversely, fathers-to-be might benefit by drinking coffee. Men with drowsy sperm can wake them up with a cup of joe, which seems to increase sperm mobility i.e. bettering the chances of the little wiggly things getting to the egg, instead of giving up or getting a bit tired and needing to sit down and then forgetting what they are supposed to do on the way.

Random caffeine fact: spiders can’t spin a web after imbibing caffeine. They get all frantic and confused, and make something that looks like toddler art rather than a web. Spiders high on marijuana or LSD did a better job than the ones who’d drunk lattes. NASA did this research. Aren’t you glad your tax dollars are spent so wisely? (And no, my toddler isn’t on drugs.)

So for those trying to get pregnant, when you brew up a cup of coffee or find a fridge pack of Pepsi has found it’s way into your shopping cart (sneaky little things, those fridge packs) give it to your man, and hopefully it will benefit you both. And you’ll fill up the favor bank for exchanging for foot-rubs and back massages when you do get pregnant.

Since I am most likely new to the majority of you reading this blog, please allow me a paragraph to introduce myself. I write under the pseudonym SciFi Dad, but you can call me SFD for short. I am a Canadian father to a three year old girl as well as a gender-to-be-determined fetus whose arrival is currently pegged at early October. (The Canadian thing means that I will have what most of you, as Americans, will believe to be typographical errors, usually insertions of the letter “u”. Try not to find my spelling humourous.) I have been blogging for nearly two years at my personal blog, and have recently started guest blogging for Babies Online – The Blog. I was asked to write from the dad’s perspective (which is far easier for me than from the mom’s perspective, believe it or not) about topics that would appeal to their audience.

For my inaugural post, I have decided to share our struggles with secondary infertility.

When my wife and I decided we were ready to leave the DINK life behind and start trying for a baby, we did not have a long wait. Our second month found us pregnant with the child who would eventually become the daughter I mentioned above. We had friends who struggled with fertility, but the experience was completely foreign to us.

When our daughter turned one, we decided we would begin trying again for a second a few months later. Unfortunately, the start of those efforts was delayed by an injury (I broke my ankle), so my daughter was almost 16 months in July of 2006 when we began trying again. Now, as you have read above, our story had a happy ending, although it took a year and a half to get there.

What is interesting is that if you asked my wife, she would tell you we had been trying for a year and a half before conceiving. However, if you asked me, I would have said a few months. Why the discrepancy? Because in June of 2006 my in-laws began living with us periodically while their new home was constructed. They slept at our house for three nights at a time every few weeks, usually timing their visits perfectly with my wife’s ovulation cycle. And while at first we valiantly tried to make the arrangement work, we eventually just felt like a couple of teenagers trying to do it quietly so their parents didn’t catch them. Combine that inability to properly schedule our efforts with the fact that my in-laws are not the easiest guests to have around, and you have a cocktail for failure that lasted until the middle of October, 2007 (when mercifully, their home was completed).

So when my wife started investigating her fertility in the fall of 2007, I gently suggested that perhaps her reduced stress level and our newfound freedom in our home would result in success. However, she genuinely thought something might be wrong, so she had blood work and some other tests done, but they showed no signs of a cause. She proceeded to take non-traditional steps, including acupuncture and seeing a naturopath, without success. By the time she got to the point of investigating my part in our inability, it was December, and I deferred providing a specimen until the new year, explaining to my doctor my belief that while my in-laws were guests our efforts “didn’t count”, and therefore we had only been trying for two months. My wife had her last period January 1, 2008.

According to the reading we both did while we were trying, secondary infertility is quite common, and some couples never actually conceive a second time; it’s difficult not to feel like something is broken when you’ve got one child and cannot give them a sibling. We were fortunate to eventually conceive. However, it also goes to show how much external factors can influence fertility. My wife had cut out caffeine (a trying time for everyone in our family, not to mention the neighbours, phone solicitors, and retail personnel), alcohol, and any other thing she could find a source online that told her she would conceive if she reduced her intake of. We trended her temperature for months and months, trying (as best as we could) to catch her ovulation date. In short, we weren’t just haphazardly trying; we were doing everything we could do from a purely natural standpoint. But it wasn’t until we could control her (and to a less significant point my) stress levels that we were able to conceive.

By no means do I think that stress is the key to fertility; that was not the point of this post. I just wanted to share our experience with the intention of opening a dialog with the readers. Are you experiencing secondary infertility? What steps have you taken to improve your odds at conceiving a sibling for your child?

Source:

Secondary infertility

(Note that the previous link is not the only source for information about secondary infertility on the web. A simple search using Google or some other search engine will yield pages of results. Also note that for the most part, this is a personal and anecdotal piece, not intended to be taken as scientific or medical fact.)

Choosing birth control is hard. And for new moms, especially breastfeeding moms, it’s even harder. With all the warnings in the news lately, it makes moms wonder what’s the best choice for them.

A growing number of mothers are turning to an all-natural method, called Natural Family Planning, or NFP.

If you charted when you were trying to conceive, you already know how to do it. The same charting methods of tracking your basal body temperature, and especially cervical fluid, are used to determine when you ovulate, and around ovulation, you abstain, or use a barrier method.

The premise is, there are only a couple of days during your cycle when you can get pregnant. You ovulate once in a cycle, and the egg lives at most 2 days. Before you ovulate, and after the egg has gone, then you cannot get pregnant.

This method has some wonderful advantages. It’s almost free, it needs nothing more than pen and paper, an optional thermometer, and a couple of moments of your time a day. It’s very eco-friendly – no pill packets, and no peeing out synthetic hormones and turning all the local fish into 3 eyed hermaphrodites (kidding). There’s no medication so it’s very compatible with breastfeeding. It’s also compatible with faiths that disapprove of birth control. There’s nothing to interfere with lovemaking when you are not ovulating, and many couples feel that the advantages outweighs having to abstain or use condoms for a couple of days mid-cycle.

Disadvantages are that the method takes some time to learn. You really need to understand the principle if it’s to work, and you will probably have to chart several cycles before you’ll feel confident you won’t get pregnant. It took me several cycles to start understanding my chart, but now it takes literally seconds a day. You’ll also need the discipline to chart every day – but it’s barely any more work than popping a pill.

I use this method because I don’t want any more artificial hormones, foreign object or implants in my body. A bonus for me is that I now have a greater understanding of what my body is doing every cycle, and it’s pretty awesome what your body actually does! Another neat advantage is that once we decide to try for No. 2, we’ll know exactly what day to go for it!

My bible of Natural Family Planning, which explains everything you need to know (and also a must read for anyone trying to conceive, women with questions about their cycles, and just about anyone with a womb) is a book called Taking Charge of your Fertility, by Toni Weschler.

It’s everything you’ll need to know about NFP, and a must read if you are interested in following this method. There were several places in this book where I exclaimed – so that’s why that happens! Or that’s why I feel like that! I highly recommend it.

Say what?

Conceptionmoons (conception honeymoons) are big these days. Couples are encouraged to take trips to relax and time these with the woman’s fertile period. This is a great idea for those who are already trying to conceive but don’t want to commit to the whole fertility workup just yet… or those who have been undergoing fertility treatments for so long and want a break from the needles.

It can just be a weekend in the country or a beach getaway to enjoy some sun and a lot of fresh air. It can be the perfect time to return to bird watching or stargazing. It can even be the perfect time to try new things, like bungee jumping or white-water rafting. It may sound weird but adrenaline rush actually makes people more libidinal, maybe because they get to scream and sweat the stress off their bodies. At least, making love would not seem like the chore it has been for the many months that you’ve been trying.

And I’m sure you’ll agree, we all need a break from work anyway!

Maybe you’d want to take it a step further. If you’re willing to try anything, why not time these conceptionmoons with fertility festivals? The Hounen Matsuri Festival in Japan happens every March. Squeeze in a trip to the wonderful Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium and learn about dolphins there or get made-up like a geisha and have wonderful pictures taken.

Or maybe it’s really wonderful beaches and surfing that appeal to you. The Obando Festival in the Philippines happens every May 17-19. Maybe you can spend several days first in Palawan or Davao (or even popular Boracay) to destress before attending the festival and dancing in the street with the many believers who have been blessed with, or are asking for, a child. These things are not going to hurt (well, maybe your pocket) but will be enriching experiences to bond you closer with your partner and lead you both to reflect on why you really want to have kids.

Laugh, swim, frolic the stress away. Let the sun do you good. And in the event that you don’t get pregnant during your vacation, at least you are now refreshed for more of the workups and you got a much needed break away from it all.

Seriously, there’s no better reason to travel… especially since traveling may take a backseat for awhile when you do get pregnant or when there’s already a baby.

Long before my husband and I actively started trying to have a baby we made an appointment with our family doctor for a preconception appointment. I know that many people just jump right into trying to conceive without doing this, but since I like to plan everything I figured it couldn’t hurt.

If you plan on having a preconception appointment with your doctor, here are some of the things you can expect:

1. Your doctor will weigh you. If you are overweight you’ll probably be urged to lose a little weight and get into a regular exercise program long before getting pregnant. If you’re underweight, your doctor will probably suggest you get up to a healthy weight before getting pregnant.

2. Your doctor will review your current list of medications. If you currently take anything that might not be okay for pregnancy then your doctor will talk with you about alternatives.

3. Your doctor may suggest you start taking prenatal vitamins, or at least a vitamin with extra Folic Acid. My doctor actually prescribed prenatal vitamins to me, but you can buy some types over the counter.

4. Your doctor will chat with you about any questions or concerns you have. My doctor was a real trooper and answered all our questions: “Can I drink coffee while I’m pregnant?” “How long do I have to wait to take a pregnancy test?” “Can I take Tylenol for a headache while trying to conceive since I might be pregnant?” We’re lucky to have a great doctor.

Your doctor may have a different method to get through a TTC appointment, but the important thing is that you’re able to get all your questions answered. If you’re thinking about getting pregnant and want to start out as healthy as possible, an appointment to check your health and get questions answered certainly can’t hurt.

When my husband and I were trying to conceive our first baby it was common knowledge among our friends and family. Everyone knew we were trying to have a baby, and everyone had ideas that they wanted to share with us. Apparently we were the only people who didn’t know how to make a baby. I mean, we knew how to make a baby logistically, but since it wasn’t working everyone had a tip for us.

Many of our advisers said the timing of our attempts was everything. We heard a wide variety of ideas: try to make a baby every single night, try to make a baby every other night, try to make a baby only once a month after carefully timing my ovulation…it was exhausting. We tried every method suggested to us, and none of them worked. I won’t even go into the various positions suggested by well-meaning folks.

We heard from friends that the only way to have a baby was to not try. In other words, the stress of trying was so taxing that my body would shut down. So we tried to be nonchalant in our attempts at getting pregnant. That didn’t work either.

My poor husband was victim to many unsolicited tips too. He was told to wear boxers instead of briefs, to take in extra Vitamin C, and to stop drinking Mountain Dew. He was such a trooper. Not only did he listen politely to all the advice, but he actually tried what people said. Still no baby.

I think that most pregnancies just happen when they’re ready to happen. There is no tip I can pass on to help anyone get pregnant because I’m not sure if any of the million tips we received actually helped. I did wind up pregnant, but as the scientist in me says (in a stern voice): Correlation does not equal causation. I don’t think the extra Vitamin C helped my husband impregnate me, but hopefully it stopped him from getting a cold or something.

I don’t think I can.

A woman in Brighton, England has already given away seven babies and is willing to carry and give away another. She was reported to have said that, “I don’t love the baby and I don’t want the baby for myself – the baby is conceived for my couple.”

This is actually baffling for someone like me, who has seemingly loved my unborn children even before I actually conceived them. Heck, before I found someone worthy to conceive them with even.

The Free Online Dictionary defines surrogate mothers as “a woman who agrees to bear a child for another woman, either through artificial insemination by the other woman’s husband or partner or by carrying until birth the other woman’s surgically implanted fertilized egg”. In a lot of countries, surrogacy is legal provided that only the reasonable expenses are paid for by the prospective parents. These expenses include, but may not be limited to, fertility procedures, prenatal check-ups and lab tests, food allowance, vitamins and/or other drugs required by the surrogate mother. Sometimes, this may also cover a minimal allowance for the mother in case she suffers from loss of income due to the pregnancy.

Surrogate mothers come in various forms and shapes. It can be your sister, your sister-in-law, or your mother. It can be a friend or a stranger a surrogacy agency has set you up with. It can even be outsourced now. But whoever they are, they are heaven sent to couples who are unable to conceive on their own.

Now, many say that a child becomes bonded to his host, usually his mother but in this case, his surrogate mother. Firstly, it’s her voice he hears all the time. Secondly, unborn fetuses seem to share the mother’s emotions through the hormones associated with them. Some studies also suggest that mothers who felt no attachment to their unborn child are more likely to have kids with emotional problems.

So isn’t there some disconnect somehow after the baby is given up?

And yet, there have been many adoptive parents who have lovingly cared for children they didn’t conceive, proving that being a psychological parent is the more important thing to be.

Still, I really don’t think I am made of the same mettle as these surrogate mothers. It must take great courage and a really strong self-concept to be able to nurture a child within you, and then have the grace to give it up.

Are you?

Resources:
Ask Dr. Sears

It took me a while to get pregnant with my first baby. My husband and I tried for almost a year, and this came as a huge surprise to us since we’re used to working hard for something and then getting it. We were left scratching our heads, befuddled that month after month our efforts resulted in no pregnancy.

The worst was when I would feel menstrual cramps coming on. Each month I would convince myself that I was pregnant, and then each month I would feel the familiar cramping and immediately feel like a failure. We had gone into this venture as educated as we possibly could. I was already on prenatal vitamins, we’d had the preconception appointment with our doctor, we’d read several pregnancy books cover to cover…heck, I had even given up coffee so that caffeine wouldn’t harm the baby I was sure I would be pregnant with any day. Having made all these changes, yet seeing no results, was incredibly frustrating. The thing I hated most was the smarmy comment most people gave: “Well, at least you can have fun trying, chuckle-chuckle-chuckle.” No, it wasn’t fun. I began to detest the process because we kept failing.

I did eventually get pregnant, and then my second pregnancy happened so quickly that we joke that I became pregnant the instant my husband walked off the plane returning from Iraq. I’m glad that my pregnancies turned out the way they did, however, because my kids are ridiculously clever and I adore them more than I adore chocolate (that’s a lot of adoration, by the way). If they hadn’t come along when they had, maybe they wouldn’t be the same kids. It was worth the wait.

If you’re trying to conceive, cut yourself some slack. You probably want a baby more than anything in the world, and maybe even the sight of a mother carrying a child makes you burst into tears. Know that you’re not alone! More women than you realize are going through the same feelings you are. When the time comes for your pregnancy to finally happen you’ll quickly forget about how frustrating it is to try unsuccessfully to conceive, and all you’ll think about is how you can’t wait to hold your baby in your arms…or, if you’re like me, all you’ll think about is how you can’t wait for morning sickness to pass.

Hi Moms, Dads and all of those TTC and soon-to-be parents! I am a 25-year-old married SAHM (stay at home mom) of two, ages 2 1/2 and 7 months. I am also a chef, laundromat, cleaning service, and financial planner. (You should see my paycheck – I get paid way too much!)

This is my first entry in a series I’m starting about the life and times of a SAHM. Now, as you can imagine, my days aren’t full of heart pounding excitement, nor are they similar to a high-powered CEO who makes company decisions all day, but they sure are interesting and BUSY. So, I decided to write about them. I will share the frustrations, joys, chaos, and the ins and outs of everyday life that come with being a mom. I’m sure you will find things similar to your own life here, after all, we are all parents.

And now, to share a little bit about myself.

I decided to have children young because I knew I wanted to stay home with them before working out of the home. My husband and I were lucky enough to get pregnant with a son right after we were married. Two years later we had our daughter and now here we are – together 9 years, married 3 1/2 with two kids and two dogs. There’s lots of chaos at times, the house is by no means spotless, and laundry piles up seemingly endlessly, but that’s life!

In the past two and a half years I have found that I thoroughly enjoy staying home with my kids. I love seeing them grow, learn, and discover new things each day. I also realize how fortunate we are for me to be able to stay home – I know that many parents don’t even have the option.

So, here I am four years after graduating college, home with my two little ones. Not many (actually none) of my friends from college went the same route I did in choosing to become a young mom and a SAHM too, but I love it. I have found that I’m learning and growing as a person just as much as my kids are.

So, hello again to all of you here on the babiesonline.com blog! Be sure to come back and read more of A Day in the Life of a SAHM! This life gets more interesting with each passing day!

Let me know what you think about the series – reply in the comments section below!