Mari Walker

When I was pregnant in 2011 I had a desk job, and as my due date neared my assignments decreased to the point of sheer boredom. I joked that I was able to “finish reading the Internet” because I had so much time on my hands. That’s not the case this pregnancy; although I do work freelance jobs at a computer I also am taking care of my preschooler and bound by her schedule. I still have found myself around week 30 of the pregnancy beginning to get serious about how to get this baby out and researching childbirth methods again in earnest. My first birth story makes me weep. I’m so glad that I wrote it down, because already I’ve forgotten many of the details even if some of the heart pains have stayed excruciatingly with me. Looking back, I’d probably make the same decision now. After more than 24 hours of induced labor and very little progress, warnings of a “big baby” and “permanent nerve damage,” my husband and I chose to take our doctor’s advice and have a C-section. I

I’m writing this one week away from my estimated due date, so no matter what, I’m in the home stretch of this pregnancy. Although it’s been true since the beginning, each day brings me closer to birthing and meeting my daughter. I can’t wait! It also means I’m in the home stretch of gestational diabetes – hallelujah! I’ve worked very hard to manage my blood glucose levels, and I didn’t miss a single test until last week. I woke up and started getting my older daughter ready for preschool and just didn’t do the fasting test. It was the weirdest thing, as I didn’t even realize the mistake until I tested two hours after breakfast and saw I was missing a number in my record book. The morning fasting test is the worst one to skip, but the sky didn’t fall and all is well. I think one missed test out of hundreds isn’t too bad, and my numbers have been so good that it isn’t really an issue. The data nerd in me is disappointed to have a less-than-perfect record! Read the rest

I’m not a first-time mom, so I haven’t spent much of this pregnancy poring over listicles of “things you need” and “things you don’t need” to bring home a new baby. It may be false confidence, but I think we can handle it. Although there still are a few things we need to buy. One thing we definitely needed was a car seat, since the car seat we brought our first daughter home in is a convertible model (Britax Marathon) that four years later she’s still using! Luckily Target has pretty good baby clearance in January, and I managed to get the updated version of my firstborn’s car seat for $90 off. SCORE! One thing I definitely don’t need is another bag... Read the rest on Woman's Hospital's "Life Among Women" blog . (Called Mommy-Go-Round when published.)

Date nights are rare in my house. We’ve never taken the time to find a regular babysitter, and our families live more than a day’s drive away. So when we have family stay with us we take advantage and sneak away for dinner and a movie. Since the new Movie Tavern opened near our house we decided after Christmas to check it out while my mom and sister were in town and willing to watch our daughter for the evening. We saw this Star Wars movie everyone was talking about. We picked a 7:10 p.m. showing. It’s an hour after my normal dinner time, but I ate a late snack and figured I would be OK if I could eat around then. Of course that’s not how things go. Read the rest on Woman's Hospital's "Life Among Women" blog . (Called Mommy-Go-Round when published.)