Hopes and Wishes for Baby Two

I’m now 38 weeks. We are about to welcome a second baby into our lives – a baby that we started preparing for back in January 2012. At one point, it felt like I was never going to get to this stage. The journey has proved longer than we imagined, so it is quite a weird feeling to think that we are finally almost there. Of course the babies we lost along the way are still very much in my thoughts. If things had worked out as planned, I would have a five month old by now, or a 2.5 month old. You don’t forget those dates. This isn’t really baby number 2, but it will be newborn number 2, child number 2, and a first sibling for Arlo.

This started off being a letter of sorts for the baby, outlining my wishes for him or her. But in typical self-indulgent fashion, it’s sort of ended up being mostly about my wishes more than anything.

I hope that you don’t suffer the same rashes, eczema and food intolerances as your older brother. It all seems a distant memory now, but it made for a very stressful and unhappy first year for both him and me. He was so uncomfortable, and I felt I couldn’t do anything to help, and the thought of watching another baby go through that again makes me very sad.

This probably ties in with the last point – I hope that you will occasionally be happy to sit in a bouncy chair, or on the floor. If you are like your older brother, you will refuse to be out of my arms until you learn to crawl at ten months old. Not only would it be lovely to experience a more chilled out baby, but it will allow me some hands free time to play with your brother. I worry about him suffering if I have another baby that wants to be upright and moving all the time. (For all of you about to eagerly jump in and suggest babywearing, I had two slings in operation with Arlo, and will do again this time round, but he still needed to be moving at all times or he’d start screaming).

I hope that your brother takes to you straight away, and I hope that I don’t get too disheartened if this takes a while.

I hope that you take to breastfeeding like a pro and we won’t have to deal with latch issues or anything else.

I hope that you will be happy to let me feed you lying down.

I would quite like you to arrive at the beginning of the week so we can have a few days of holing up in my bedroom, establishing feeding, resting and getting to know each other before the busyness of weekend visitors. (I so wish I had done this with Arlo, he was born on a Friday and we thought it would be a good idea to arrange back-to-back visits from the moment I set foot back in the house after being discharged).

I hope that your name comes to us quickly when we first meet you.

I hope that you are welcomed into the world gently and calmly.

See you soon, baby two. We are all very eager to meet you.