I have some OCD tendencies. I try to embrace them and not drive my husband crazy, but I enjoy only moderate success on that front.

My OCD tendencies extend to stockpiling (please God don‘t let me end up on Hoarders in 20 years), organizing stuff, and fertility tracking. Unbeknownst to me when I started tracking my fertility (and trying desperately to have a second child), there is a whole community of people who obsess over every detail of their cycles too! We have a whole online support group with fertility tracking tools, message boards, and even our own jargon. My favorite is POASaholic for people who can‘t stop peeing on a stick. People like me.  Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Pregnancy
• Tags: fertility, pregnancy, siblings

All the parenting news you probably didn’t have time to read this week.

- Pregnant women should get two months of sick leave–that is, before they have their baby–says a new Norwegian study. This is awesome, but unless you live in Norway, you probably can’t expect two months of sick leave :( (Science Blog)

- Want to read some of the best parenting tweets about the election? We like the one about mommy stealing daddy’s margarita. (Huffington Post)

- Kaytlynn Welsch, 12, and her younger sister, Heather Welsch, 10, regularly run–and win–13 mile trail races. Are their parents pushing them too hard? (New York Times)

- A study showed that kids only act generously when they think people can see. I guess kids are pretty savvy operators. (Washington Post)

- And in horribly sad news that we hope turns out not to be true: Kevin Clash, who voices Elmo on Sesame Street, is on leave from his job after allegations (which he claims are false) that he had an inappropriate relationship with an underage boy. (CNN)

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: election, Elmo, giving, pregnancy, running, Sick, twitter

All the parenting news you probably didn’t have time to read this week.

- Is it harder to raise a child with a disability, or a child genius? An article in this week’s New York Times Magazine examines the surprising similarities. (NYT)

- One mom faced a heartbreaking choice: deliver her baby early enough that it would be at risk for severe impairment, or do nothing and wait to miscarry. She wrote about her situation and her decision for Slate’s DoubleX blog. (Slate)

- A woman goes to a restaurant (with kids, presumably), orders $138 worth of food, and leaves no tip, instead writing, “Single mom, sorry” on the tip line. A photo of this receipt went viral this week, prompting lots of questions and judgements. (Washington Post)

- A professor whose study indicated that gay parents were ill-equipped to raise children now says that his research methods were flawed. His university has called an investigation, but the professor, Mark Regnerus, says he stands by his findings. (The Advocate)

- And this was a week of tragedies. The murder of the two Krim children in Manhattan, the two children swept away from their mother during Hurricane Sandy on Staten Island, and a child killed after falling into an exhibit at the Pittsburgh zoo. Our hearts go out to all of those grieving. (NYT/ABC)

- Finally, some happy news: a woman went into labor in the middle of the hurricane in New Jersey. Though she wasn’t planning a home birth she did wonderfully, and all despite the lack of power or water during the birth. Mom and baby are both doing well. (Huffington Post)

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: home birth, hurricane, nanny, news roundup, pregnancy, single mother

My due date is tomorrow.

I remember those halcyon days when I was pregnant with my first child in New York. I left work a month early to “get ready.” Since I had no kids, “getting ready,” entailed long lunches with friends and family, museum visits to exhibits I’d read about in the New York Times, and putting together a registry that included now-banned items like crib bumpers. Livin’ la vida loca! I was so excited to give birth. “ANY DAY NOW!” I’d excitedly chirp to doormen, shopkeepers, and random pedestrians. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Pregnancy
• Tags: due date, iPhone, new york, pregnancy, registry

Jordana and Baby G.

I’m sitting in the kids’ service for Sukkot, my 38-week-pregnant body uncomfortably positioned on a folding chair. In front of me is my 14-month-old daughter, Baby G. She is sitting for the first time in a plastic toddler school chair, in a circle with other kids.

It’s clear that she is profoundly mesmerized by the proceedings. It is blowing her mind how the service leader knows her name, and how she is asked to clap at regular intervals. She keeps turning around to look at me with her huge, gap-toothed grin on her face, as though she’s saying, “Can you BELIEVE this?”

She is sweet, and innocent, and beautiful. I stare at the little Florence Henderson-esque blond curls on the back of her neck. In an act of tremendous restraint, I somehow refrain from leaning over, grabbing her and covering her with kisses. I love her. And I pity her.

This gorgeous baby, light of my life, is totally and completely screwed. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: brothers, new baby, pregnancy, siblings, sister

Wow! Charlotte is 8 weeks old and it’s hard to believe she’s been home for two months now. My life feels like it’s been broken into two parts–B.C. (Before Charlotte) and A.C. (After Charlotte).

B.C. I could get up and go places without asking anyone to watch the baby, or could leave the house without taking a ton of baby supplies. B.C. I could easily sleep eight hours uninterrupted and leisurely shower and brush my teeth at will. B.C. the only pumping I did was at the gas station. B.C. my purse held my wallet, keys, and a tube of chapstick. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Pregnancy
• Tags: birth, first child, pregnancy

When F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that the very rich “are different from you and me,” I doubt he had pregnant women on the brain. But Bravo’s producers took his sentiment to its logically rotund conclusion with the reality TV show “Pregnant in Heels.”

Each week, maternity concierge Rosie Pope caters to New York’s super rich and their sometimes absurd pregnancy needs. Client-facing Rosie is always polished, professional, and the best friend you don’t yet have, though Rosie’s client commentary can be less rosy. Overall, it’s a televised spectacle, alternating between appealing and repulsive.

Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Pregnancy
• Tags: pregnancy, pregnant in heels, Television

“Smack! smack! smack!…. crunch, crunch, crunch…” Repeat a dozen times a day.

I am addicted to ice right now. And not just any ice–specifically ice which is partially (but not completely) frozen in one of those personal sized water bottles. (Thank God Costco sells them for so cheap or I’d have to take out a small loan to support my habit.) I check the freezer a hundred times or so, exactly what I tell my children to never do, and wait until it’s at that perfect stage–just beyond slush but right before it gets frozen solid. Next, I beat the living hell outta the bottle by smacking on the palm of my hand and then I open the bottle up and start crunching. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Pregnancy
• Tags: pregnancy, pregnancy cravings

Lately, we’ve been talking a lot about nursery rooms. The ones we want, the ones we have, and the ones that are Jewish. But many Jewish parents often wait to decorate a baby’s nursery room until after they are born, on account of superstitions involving the ayin hara, or evil eye. One Kveller reader recently wrote to us about just this, and we thought we’d open up the floodgates to the rest of our readers to see what you guys think.

Judith from Miami writes: Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Pregnancy
• Tags: featured, nursery, pregnancy, superstitions

Suzanne Finnamore is the author of three books: Otherwise Engaged tells the story of a woman planning her wedding. The Zygote Chronicles is about Finnamore’s pregnancy, from conception through the baby naming. And in Split, she writes about her husband leaving her and her toddler son for another woman, who became pregnant before the divorce was final. Her writing is deadpan, witty, and electric, and she isn’t afraid to get extraordinarily personal.

I always give The Zygote Chronicles to my friends when they tell me they’re pregnant. It’s my favorite book about pregnancy. In it you talk a bit about raising a Jewish son. I know that you’ve since split from your ex-husband, who was Jewish. Is Judaism at all still a part of your life?

Thank you, that’s very kind. It is the book that means the most to me, because it is basically a love letter to my son; the book begins when he is conceived and ends with his birth. But the timeline is rather tragic, because before the first draft was done, my husband has already left us. When he left, my son was barely 1 years old. And I was actually in the midst of going through the classes at the Marin County Jewish Community Center, which I loved. I was going to convert because I felt it was something meaningful I could do for my husband, that the three of us would move forward into the future with that as our faith. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: Divorce, literview, pregnancy