Post baby decisions.

I'm sure I'll find more things to add to this list as time with Zoe goes on , but I've made a list of things I would have done / will do differently.

About Labor :

• First off , I would try my absolute hardest to not ask for an epidural the second my water breaks. I'm 50% sure I probably could have gone longer without one if someone had reminded me I could walk/move around. In the heat of the moment I had totally forgotten that I could actually do something like move around or Shower or something to manage the pain better. Plus they hadn't taken me off the pitocin yet , so the contractions probably would have gone down to a more manageable state once they took me off of it. I just really wish one of the nurses or even Gregg had told me to try moving around or something first. I really hated the way the epidural made me feel.
• I'd ask if there was some other medication they could have put me on other than the Magnesium Sulfate crap they gave me. I hated that medication even more than I hated the epidural. I realize I had to be on it to keep me from having a seizure during labor since I had pre-ecclampsia. It just made my whole body numb, I felt like I was floating/dying , and it made me throw up. I'm sure there has to be some other medicine they could have put me on to keep me from having a seizure. Or they could have given me a smaller dose of the medicine I'd like to think. Not to mention it totally messed Zoe up. 
• I'd be sure to write down the name of the nurse who decided to over-rule my doctors decision and go ahead and let me have a c-section. I'd send her a present or something. I'm convinced that single decision of hers saved my baby's life. 

Post Delivery :

• I would make sure Gregg knew he was supposed to stay in the hospital with me and not go home to sleep. Those were the hardest nights for me. 
• I'd let Zoe sleep in the nursery more. 
• I wouldn't be so hard on myself for having to have a C-Section. It really was a necessary procedure that saved Zoe's life. I wouldn't feel so deprived of my "ideal" delivery because again , it's something that really couldn't have been helped. It doesn't matter how she got here , she got here. She's safe and healthy, and she's here. 
• I would try much harder to breastfeed. It bugs me that I didn't try harder, but when you're tired, and sleep deprived , and your baby screams at just the sight of your chest , it makes it hard to believe that nursing is really the best thing for your child. Seriously. it's like she thought my milk was poison. I'd try harder though. 

Things I would/Wouldn't buy : 

• I love my travel system. I really do. I've just realized ( this last month) it's really not practical. I plan on having more kids. Hopefully close enough together that the oldest will be 3 or 4 at the time of the new baby. Inevitably kids that age still get tired of walking when you do stuff like the Zoo or an amusement park. So that single travel system stroller is now useless. If I could do it over I'd spend the extra money and invest in something like this:
  
  This is a single stroller that can convert to a double stroller. I feel like this would have been a much more logical choice. Or I'd invest in a frame stroller that you just attach the carseat to. It would probably save money in the long run to do something like this. 
• I'd fork out the extra money and buy a bumbo. seriously. Anything to help Zoe learn how to sit up on her own. I feel like she'll never figure it out.
  
   
  Also , If I hadn't won one in a giveaway , I totally would spend the extra money and buy a baby monitor with the sensor pad. I love the comfort it gives me knowing my baby is breathing AND having one saved my friends baby's life just last week. 
  
  
  I probably wouldn't focus so much on name brand stuff because just my luck my baby won't take the binky's of the brand I wanted her to use. I was going to be a Tommee Tippee mom all the way . As if to laugh at me , the only binky Zoe will take is the NUK brand. 
  
  
  And that my friends is what I'd do differently as of right now. Hopefully I'll save someone else the trouble of going through the same things I had to.