Spotlight on... Secondimpression Feb 16-19!!!

EDD: August 23
Name: Emily
Age: 22
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Family: 10 month old DS Xander
Baby's Gender (hopes or guesses): With DS, I *knew* he was a he and this time I'm feeling about 10 times more certain that baby is a girl. I don't have hopes either way but it would be neat to say my intuition was right for both kids!
Names you like: Haven't really thought about them, but my favorite girl names from when I was pregnant with DS were Zenia and Miranda. DS did wind up getting my favorite boy name (Alden) as his middle so I'm back to scratch if this one is a boy too.
Birth Plans/Preferences: Unassisted homebirth with midwife backup in the house (just out of my sight!). I'm really excited and thrilled that I found a midwife willing to backup a UC...even though my UC-with-backup is a bit of an easy case since I do want her on our property during the birth.
Strangest craving/aversion this pregnancy: Haha I feel like I'm satisfying or denying a craving at every single meal they're so plentiful. Did not have them at all with DS. The worst is probably the OMG-must-have-it-NOW cravings for Chik-fil-a....but only on Sundays!
Hobbies/Interests: I'm a working single mom to a young baby so I don't have time for much. In a good week I might get to read 20 pages out of a book or squeeze in a whole hour of internet time
Occupation: I work in electronics manufacturing, specifically wiring the antennas that go in these airplanes.
How you met your SO: At work. I'd always admired him for the qualities I wish my XH had had so when my marriage dissolved, I guess I flirted a little harder than I meant to. It's truely been a wonderful whirlwind of dating and we've both been quoted multiple times saying in awe "this is what relationships are supposed to be like". We're definitely the kind of people who each needed to be through a really bad relationship before we could appreciate a good one.
How you ended up at MDC: I heard about MDC about a month before I got pregnant with DS. Clicked around checking out the forums and subforums and knew within a few minutes that this was the place for me.

-In what ways have you changed since having your first child?
Quite a lot! Besides transitioning into motherhood, I left my XH when DS was 4 months old making me a young single mom to a young baby. The last 6 months have been both the hardest of my life and the most rewarding. I stayed with my parents for a month and a half before moving into my own apartment and it hasn't been easy. Holding it all together as a single mom has given me a new outlook on my own self-worth and completely validated my feelings that I really did "do everything" while still with my XH. It's also given me a deeper level of appreciation for everything my own mother did for my brother growing up, she also became a single mom much for the same reasons I did when we were both still real little.

-What ideas, philosophies or actions have you found yourself settling on that you wouldn't have thought you would have years ago?
Thinking of myself as a mother is the first that comes to mind. 5 years ago I was convinced I never wanted kids and now I can't think of myself as anything else first. I never imagined I would get into natural and responsible living or attachment parenting.

-You and I are both having another baby while having a baby still! (My guy is 8.5 months right now) What are you looking forward to doing again the very most with your next baby?
This is going to sound a little nutty, but I miss snuggling with DS. He is very anti-snuggling and I miss when he was so little he couldn't fight it! Also looking forward to nursing him again, my milk dried up fast with this pregnancy and DS was never much of a comfort nurser so he's given it up for now.

-What was your birth like with your first?
Absolutely terrible! DS was a planned UC but I wound up transferring to the hospital while pushing. XH had been completely unsupportive once I was in labor and revealed that out of all the information that we had talked about and all the articles I had given him to read, he had absorbed absolutely nothing. While I was in the midst of transition, he actually had his fingers jammed in his ears (he complained I was screaming too loudly) and was reading a comic book, stopping long enough to tell me "Why don't you just get the f******* drugs already!?" His negative attitude landed me in the hospital where I was birth raped by the on-call OB. During my PP stay, I was repeatedly laughed at and mocked by the pediatric staff for refusing their unnecessary interventions. Given that this hospital has a reputation of being one of the most natural birth friendly hospitals in the state, I feel safe saying I will never set foot in a hospital again while pregnant or take my newborn to one.

Are you nervous about having kids close together? (mine will be 21 months apart and I'm scared lol )
Not really Babies in my family are all 14 months apart, so mine being 17 months gives me a bit more age gap than my mother or grandmother had. I didn't really want them this close together but I'm completely fine with it.

why are you having an uc? Did you have one with your first?
See my answer to what my DS's birth was like. I was pregnant once before him as well and lost the baby around 10 weeks. The miscarriage didn't actually occur until 17 weeks which was so far and beyond what any provider was willing to medically advise on. So I wound up having an unassisted miscarriage which was beautifully simple and healing. Mostly, I just want to be left alone during labor and birth to do my own thing. My body knows how to grow a baby and then birth and can also let me know if something is going wrong. I believe that when we are in a supportive environment where we can really draw into ourselves, our bodies will give birth easily and peacefully in nearly all cases