Monday, July 9, 2012

Guest Post:


As my second guest post (ever!) I am so happy to introduce Meghan, a dear friend of mine. She doesn't actually blog, but wanted to write a post for me! I thought it was fitting seems how July is Cord Blood Awareness Month and she actually has experienced banking her son's cord blood. I didn't know much about it, but thanks to Meghan I am fully aware! Here, Meghan describes her journey into motherhood- enjoy!


For any new mother-to-be, pregnancy brings on so many feelings and emotions that sometimes it’s hard to separate which feeling is which. For me, pregnancy brought on happiness—happiness that I was finally starting a family with my loving husband, Ryan; fear—fear that I wouldn’t be a good mother; and wonderment—wonder at how amazing it was that I was creating this little person inside of my body and wondering what sort of person my baby would become. When my son David was born, my whole world changed and refocused—my life was now all about my family (mostly David, of course) and I couldn’t be happier to begin on the journey of motherhood.

Pregnancy involved many more preparations than I had originally thought—I pictured a cute round belly and afternoons spent looking fabulous in cute maternity clothes while perusing baby shops, picking out equally fabulous clothes for my son. But life is full of transitions and fine details. With my round belly came morning sickness and swollen ankles. Trying to maintain my ‘cute maternity look’ required pregnancy exercise classes and not indulging in my ice cream sundaes topped with mountains of hot fudge. Small sacrifices for the big picture—a healthy baby boy.

More important than worrying about how I was looking and faring the pregnancy changes, was worrying about my baby’s future health. My side of the family has a scary history of leukemia that has taken loved ones too soon. Ryan’s side also has suffered from cancers and diabetes. There is no cure-all insurance to save my little David from future sniffles and ailments, but I wanted to do what I could to help him and his future brother and sisters from whatever sickness I could protect them from—this thought was what fueled my decision to use umbilical cord blood banking. After much research and deliberation, we chose to go through ViaCord, a private cord blood banking company. They we so helpful every step of the way! While there are few guarantees in life, we know that if anything were to ever happen to our David, (or another child down the road!), we have done anything and everything we possible can to help. 

David is a healthy, happy baby—although he is growing too quickly before our eyes! I’ve already started scaring Ryan with talks of our next addition to the family—I can’t help but love being a mommy!

5 comments:

  1. Hi Katie,

    You stopped by my place and left a comment but you are a no reply commenter so here I am commenting on your wall. Let me know how I can help you. inspiredbyfamilymag@yahoo.com

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  2. I think cord blood is a topic that should be talked about more. I did learn some about it when I was pregnant but I think more information could have been provided. And although, I understand cost is a necessity I think the expense turns some people away.
    Thanks for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading! I think its such an important topic as well, I am glad it is being discussed more and more these days!

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  3. Thanks for the guest post. Katie, I've tagged you in my blog as a fabulous blogger. You're it now! http://whattoexpectwhenyouarentexpecting.blogspot.com/

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  4. Hi Katie, can I ask about something. I'm a bit worried about my daughter that is pregnant for 5 months now, she keep insisting to go tanning even though she is pregnant, and she even told me that the tanning bed she is using is safe because it is from Dr. Mercola. Do I need to worry about her or is it really safe?

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