my “plans” vs. reality…

(anyone who knows me well knows) i am a planner. i make checklists on top of checklists (dill calls me obsessive). i remember getting so excited to buy planners at the beginning of each school year. once palm pilot came out i switched from paper planners to electronic. not that i always get to check everything off my planner but it’s reassuring to have “a plan”. well, God and karys are showing me that my plans mean NOTHING! so far here are the “plans” that went out the door…

1. the “plan”: natural childbirth—no epidural, labor in birthing tub, and water birth. our hospital has these wonderful labor rooms that i was so excited about using. NOT! reality: not only did I have an epidural and not get to use the labor room—i had a c-section. i'm okay with it, especially since we’re both healthy and the recovering is going surprisingly well.

2. the “plan”: no pacifiers—i am nursing and didn’t want K to get “nipple confusion”. i was very specific about asking the nursing staff at the hospital not to give her a pacifier. reality: little miss K got a paci as we were leaving the hospital (at our request—more dill than mine but i was in agreement). the nurse said “are you sure you don’t want a pacifier” babies are smart and they know the difference between a plastic pacifier and mommy’s milk. after a very short discussion we decided to take the pacifier because we were going to be home all alone and didn’t have a nursery/nursing staff to send K to if necessary. (i’m sure my sister is laugh while reading this one b/c when i first said i wasn’t using a pacifier she just smiled and purchased me a cute pink pacifier and pacifier holder with and elephant on it—thanks LB I’m sure karys will get lots of use out of it and i don’t even mind if you say “i told you so”).

3. the “plan”: keeping karys in the hospital room with us 24hrs.—no nursery. reality: the hospital does assessments and cleans the babies daily between midnight and 6am. we requested that they bring her back right after her assessment on night one. on night two they offered to keep her in the nursery until she need to be fed (which is usually every 2-3 hrs.) and we happily accepted. on night three we requested that they keep her after the assessment (but only until she needed to be fed). i certainly missed karys when she was in the nursery and was so excited when she came back but those 2-3 hrs of sleep each of those nights were wonderful!

i must add that although i make plans i am open to change and don't often say "i'll never" (you never know what you'll do in certain situations). i can be flexible in most situations (or at least i like to think so). which is a good thing because i'm sure i'll be humbled hundreds of more times as my “plans” get changed...
-ty