Warnings

There are a few things I wish I knew before we decided to try to get pregnant. In my more desperate moments, I imagine myself going back in time and having a chat with my pre-TTC (Trying To Concieve, in the lingo) self:

1. You will never again have time off. Oh, sure, you'll get some occasional moments where you don't have a child hanging off of you, when you achieve escape velocity and find yourself in a space (car? store? mall? town? state?) where your kids aren't. But, you'll never get to just Blithely Walk Out The Door ever again. So, make sure you enjoy it now. At 10pm, just because you can, leave the house. Go outside. Walk down the street. One night, just stay up until 3am (or 4, or heck, even 5!) and then go to sleep and -- here's the really awesome part -- wake up when you want to. Revel in the fact that if you get yourself hungover, you don't have to still get up anyway and make breakfast and change that disgusting diaper.

2. Sleep Deprivation is torture. Yeah, you know it in an intellectual way now, but after the kid you will be on a first name basis with it. You will learn to dread a night waking the way you dread shots. So enjoy the unbroken sleep you are getting now, cuz it's a thing of the past.

3. Pregnancy is NOT easy. At least not for you. You're going to miscarry, twice. The miscarriages will leave you unable to invest in any gestation until about 24 weeks have passed, and even then you will be unable to plan for the baby until you begin to panic that you have no diapers and the baby is due in 2 weeks. Your second pregnancy will end poorly, and leave you with anxiety attacks for years to come. Your fourth pregnancy will be so uncomfortable that you will wonder daily what the fuck you were thinking.

4. There will be days that you will wish you didn't have kids.

5. Fortunately, there will be many more days you can't imagine not having kids.

6. The second child is 4x more work.