Making a Baby: Take 2

Eli Bryant Wooten

Well... At the end of my posts detailing Zac’s birth I mentioned having to write 6 blog posts for any other children I had so they wouldn’t feel less loved (Zac’s birth, part2, part3, part4, part5, part6).  I don’t think this one will get as long as that one.  I’m not lying to get you sucked in, I promise.  So if you’re up for it, here we go... again:  (Also, it’s a great way to process everything and a fun way to share it with friends).

The plan:  It was almost time for another baby in the Wooten household.  Almost.  Zac had just turned 1 in April and we knew we wanted them to be about 2 years apart.  “Let’s shoot for summer/fall 2012 for the next one” (to the extent we have control over it).  May 2011 rolls around, some stuff goes down, and baby #2 is in the oven, a few months ahead of schedule.  What’s that make the due date... February 6.  Wups, let me check... yes, that is still tax season.

I admit, it was a little nerve racking for both of us at first.  We were a little worried.  But it didn’t take long for the excitement to take over.  Even though we had already decided we were ‘ready’ for baby #2, there were moments of doubt.  After Tiffany was pregnant there were definitely nights, at least for me, of lying in bed and wondering if we were really ready.  Another baby?  Zac will be 22 months old.  We’ve gotten used to 1, can I really do 2?  Do I really want to go through that whole part that involves the hospital, and the laboring and all the mess?  Serious doubt of being able to handle 2 kids enters your mind, no matter how well you think you’ve adjusted to having 1.  But lucky for me, I have a natural ability to accept things I know I cannot change, and so the doubt quickly moved to determination.  

I also was very excited about Eli coming in February after the initial day or two.  I like my birthday being in February and told Tiffany that if it weren’t for tax season I wouldn’t have minded planning a baby in the early months of the year.  So it worked out nicely.  

Also, around January Tiff and I were discussing the difficulties of having a child during tax season.  Then it hit me... we haven’t had a normal tax season yet.  2009 - first tax season in New Bern doing taxes.  The first one takes a lot of adjusting.  2010 - Tiffany was very pregnant.  Would she be able to get out and do everything she needed to do without my help?  2011- Zac was 9-12 months old and not exactly sleeping all that well (not as well as adults sleep anyway).  Plus Tiffany needed to adjust to doing more and having less help from me at night and at bed time.  2012 - Eli is born in February... What will 2013 hold?  Our first truly normal tax season I hope!  Although, I hope it’s not our normal...  

The first few months I really don’t remember a whole lot about.  We had Zac and vacations keeping us busy.  I very much wanted to take the birthing class we took for Zac again, but the couple that lead it the first time wasn’t teaching anymore and Tiffany said we could just review the materials we had.  She did a great job at re-preparing for labor.  I on the other hand did what I do... waited until the last minute and then got done what I needed to get done.  I reviewed most of the chapters and material in late January.  

After we found out we were having another boy (which is what we were both hoping for) most of our thoughts were about how similar or different he would look from Zac.  And of course choosing a name.  We had settled on a name.  Locked it in.  And then we took a trip to New Jersey.  Well, that’s a long drive and somewhere in Maryland Zac and Tiffany were both napping and so I was alone with my thoughts driving down the interstate.  By the time Tiffany woke up I told her I had accidentally liked a different name better than the one we chose.  She was not on board with the new name.  We discussed it for about 2 minutes.  2 days later, out of the blue, Tiffany told me she liked Eli better as well and the little guy was named Eli Bryant Wooten in Cape May, NJ.  (The original name is still in the running for future boys if there are any).

I removed the label of “Part 1” in the title to this post so it wouldn’t scare you away.   :)