Just thought I’d share some tips and thoughts that I got when I was pregnant and found very helpful.

• Crying is normal. Yes, if you’ve read books about pregnancies or baby books, you’ve probably heard about it, but for me it was good to hear it from somebody else than a book. A few days after you’ve given birth the hormones and rush of feelings can make you feel blue. I had a few moments a couple of days after I had given birth where I cried like there was no tomorow. I cried because I wanted to go home, I cried because I was tired, I cried because I didn’t have milk to my little girl, and YES, I’VE WATCHED THE NURSING CHANNEL!! (Yup, the hospital had their own nursing channel on TV), I cried because the midwives told me how to breast-feed, but it didn’t help cause HELLO, I HAVE NO MILK! And that made me so goddamn frustrated. And it was the reason why I couldn’t go home. Which made me even more frustrated.
• Bring toilet paper to the hospital — if you’re sensitive. The toilet paper they provided at the hospital felt like sandpaper. And that’s not good. And even worse when you’ve pushed a baby through your vagina. And even worse-worse when you’ve had an episiotomy. I got this advice, but forgot to bring my precious two-layer toilet paper, but trust me, I remembered it while staying at the hospital.
• Make your own nursing top. Use a singlet under your regular top. Lift your regular top up and the tank top down, and then you don’t have to show your belly or flash your boob in public. This was a Christmas gift from my best friend — tank tops and the tip. Couldn’t be better.
• Get Spedbarnsboken (for Norwegians). Order it or get it at the hospital. It has tons of useful information and is something to read while you’re at that goddamn hospital with no milk and didn’t feel like watching that nursing channel for the tenth time. And no, watching others do it doesn’t make your milk magically appear.
• Don’t freak out if your milk doesn’t flow. Yes, I know, but it only makes it worse. Or so I was told.
• Get your partner to count you through your contractions. It helped me tons! A contraction usually last for a minute and when Christian told me “15 seconds”, “30 seconds” and “45 seconds” had passed, I knew that time didn’t stand still and was soon over. I must tell you that the first 15 seconds felt like ages and each time I was wondering if he was paying attention or if he had forgotten to count…
• Get a good nursing bra. No, scratch that. Get at least two good nursing bras. At least two. I really recommend Bravado!‘s Body Silk Seamless Nursing Bra. I didn’t want to get a new bra until late in my pregnancy because I didn’t want to have to buy hundreds of bras each time my boobs grew, which was stupid if I had only known about the BSSNB. I think I was about 7-8 months pregnant when I got my first BSSNB. I had already gone up two-three cup sizes and would probably move up even more after the milk came, so I got one a little too big. (You can get sizing help at their site.) I remember when I tried it on I laughed because I was thinking how ridiculously huge my boobs would be if this bra would fit. But by the time I had thrown it in the washer it fit like a glove. The fabric is wonderful, and nobody tells you this — at least nobody told me: You boobs are not the same size throughout the day(!), and this bra fits no matter! Did this sound like an ad? Maybe. But it’s THAT good. I swear. And I take my bras very seriously.

So there.