I wonder if I should be more intimidated about adding another baby to the family?

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I’m writing this at 35 weeks pregnant, with two other kids under the age of 4. I can’t help but wonder if there’s something I’m missing, some totally obvious impending stress-doom of becoming a mom of 3, but honestly…it doesn’t feel like that big of a deal.

You see, when I was pregnant with my second, everyone asked us, How do you think your son will do with the new baby? What will it be like for him? Are you nervous for him at all? And every time, we were like…um, no, we think he’ll be great. And he was. But you know who wasn’t? US.

It was SO. HARD. for us to transition to having 2 kids. I was sad to have less time with my first baby–suddenly I couldn’t participate in bath- and bedtime anymore, because I was nursing. I had a hard time when both kids would cry at the same time (like, is this just the new normal? Do I just need to give up the idea of helping a baby/kid calm down and stop crying?). And it was ROUGH when our new baby went through six weeks of colic. (If you’re in Birth & Beyond, you already know the ins + outs of that story…whew.)

So this time around, my husband and I are kind of like, It can’t possibly be harder than last time…right? Well, here’s hoping we’re right! (And if we’re not, let us enjoy our naivety a bit longer!)

Because one thing we’ve realized this time around is that we didn’t have enough support systems in place when we welcomed our second baby. We’re determined to change that this time around!

So especially for those of you welcoming baby #2/3/4, you already know–get those support systems in place BEFORE things get tough! Sign up for Birth & Beyond now so you can get in the rhythm of monthly accountability calls, weekly yoga classes, and regular visits to our resource library of guided meditations, birth affirmations, and more.

Here’s to learning as we go!

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