31 Day Writing Challenge 2014,  On Pregnancy

Where’s My Nesting Instinct?

nesting-instinct-image-chelsearotunnoBecause this is my 5th baby (I’m due November 9 or sometime around there) my nesting instinct took way too long to kick in.

For my 1st baby, I had everything purchased and prepared a month in advance. I had the room set up, clothes hung on matching hangers in the closet, the room decorated and filled with gifts from our amazing family and friends. We had 4 or 5 baby showers, hospital tours and classes completed, and everything in our lives prepared. Our nest for our new little one was clean and in order.

Fast forward to my 5th pregnancy and my situation is quite the opposite.

I have nothing ready. Really. nothing. Oh wait, I did buy some cute onesies from H&M. And I washed some baby hats and burp cloths that I found in the garage.

I’ve noticed 2 interesting differences between my nesting instinct for my 1st baby and my 5th baby.

First, while preparation for the 1st child meant getting stuff and filling a room with gear, the preparation for the 5th child is more like emptying my life of everything I don’t need, deleting as much stuff as possible, cleaning out everything that is excess, and simplifying until I feel like I can breathe.

Second, because of my age and experience with babies, I feel more prepared for this baby–maybe not physically or materially, but definitely spiritually and emotionally. I was a nervous wreck before my 1st baby was born, but I am relaxed and at peace about my 5th.

Yet I keep asking myself, What do I need to get? What do I need to buy? How should I prepare?

The reality is that I have everything I need: a warm place to sleep and food to eat; a husband who loves and provides for us; and confidence in who God has designed me to be as a mother to my baby.

Everything else is just stuff. Some of the stuff is important, but a lot of it isn’t. The list of things you actually need to take care of a baby is so much smaller than the list of suggestions you get at the baby registry.

In my next post, called What Do You Really Need for a New Baby? I will give you a short list of what I actually use for a baby, as opposed to what I thought I would use when I had my first baby.

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Thanks for joining me in my 31 day writing challenge. I will continue to post every day in October on the topic of pregnancy. If you missed any of my posts, you can start here.

Chelsea Rotunno is the author of Goodnight to My Thoughts of You, a novel about life as a Christian teen searching for true love.

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