Where do babies come from?

Recently, Caitlin, my five year old has been interested to know where babies come from. It's pretty much every Mum's nightmare being faced with this question. Thoughts go racing through your mind on fast forward, of them coming home at 15 and announcing that they're pregnant. Do you tell them the blunt truth and risk them growing up too quickly or do you "modify" the story you tell them to suit their age? I did the latter. I know that some people will disagree but I'm just not comfortable with my 5 year old having that kind of information. I want to protect her childhood and innocence for as long as possible. That's just me.

I guess I should backtrack and explain how this conversation came about. It wasn't as random as you might think, you see last week we were having dinner and I had gone around the table and asked each of the kids what the best thing about their day was. I got mostly the usual responses, lunch, play-time, home-time etc. When it got to my turn I felt the nerves kick in. This was it. I had no idea how they were going to react. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 as Mel Robbins has taught me. "My favourite thing about today was when we got to see your baby brother or sister". SILENCE. The girls mouths were open and they looked confused. "We're having a baby!" I confirmed. They started to smile and kept saying "Really? Are we really having a baby" Once it sunk in the excitement took over and we shared pictures from the Nuchal Scan. We deliberately waited to tell them until we had the all clear with a low risk because at my age (40 years young - or geriatric as a 35+ pregnancy is known) and my history of a previous DS pregnancy (that's a story for another day) the risk was already elevated.

So what is different about this pregnancy?

Well, for starters I'm not working in Corporate (Shopping Centre Management) anymore. This time around I got to keep a low profile at home during the first trimester and not feel the need to explain my constant eating (to keep the nausea at bay) or the ever growing stomach. This time around my body obviously knows what it's doing because I've pretty much looked 6 months pregnant from 8 weeks onwards. I wouldn't have been able to hide that in a corporate office. I haven't had to feel guilty about keeping secrets from my boss, because my boss is me! I've been able to work when I want and not have to "pretend" to be working whilst staring into space and counting down the minutes until I can jump in the car and start the long commute home, before cooking dinner, getting kids to bed and making it into bed myself sometime before 11pm so that I can get up at 6am the next morning to do it all over again.

This time I have a loving and caring partner who is actually interested to know about all the little niggles and changes in my body and how big the baby is this week - hello baby beet! He is actually more excited than I am. You see, this is his first baby and so this is all new to him. It's kinda cool to see it fresh through his eyes because it's easy to forget what a miracle it is to grow a baby inside you.

The biggest difference about this pregnancy is I get to concentrate on my health (mental and physical) and the baby, because there is no Domestic Abuse, which means my stress levels and blood pressure are low unlike my other pregnancies.

I have so much to be grateful for. Falling pregnant naturally at 40 in itself is a huge cause for celebration but being surrounded by the love and support of my partner, kids, parents and genuine friends is priceless.

Only 26 weeks to go!