I am so blessed to have the good fortune of being pregnant at the same time as a handful of other incredible women I know. I have a friend due Oct. 31, three friends due in December, one due in January around the same time as me and another due in February.
A few of us have started a Yahoo Group, where we can connect online and share tips and experiences with one another. We call ourselves belly buddies because we'll be watching our bellies grow together. It's great because we can update everyone at the same time with just a click of the mouse, and it's there for us 24/7 if we can't sleep or have an immediate need.
Having girlfriends is a great thing, but having women along the ride for this journey is even better. I'm not knew to the world of children. I spent over a decade raising other people's babies as babysitter and private nanny. I learned to change diapers long before I ever learned cursive. Kids are nothing new or strange to me.
Pregnancy, on the other hand, is a new experience. Out of all of my belly buddies, I'm the only first-time mom. That means, I have a wealth of knowledge to pull from when it comes to getting my random pregnancy questions answered. I don't have to plow through books or spend hours on the Internet only to freak out about worst-case scenarios. Instead, I post a simple message and within moments (or sometimes, hours), I get answers flooding back. Almost always, they set my mind at ease.
The only thing that could be better is if we had another WLS mom in the mix...that would truly be another woman who is walking my path. But the fact remains that I'm very lucky to have these women to guide me -- we're all lucky to have each other.
