It's amazing....

that people used to have babies before the internet. AND raise them to be mostly functioning members of society!!

Now, we visit message boards, blogs and websites to gain insight, facts and learn from other's screw-ups. We consult Dr. Google before/after/instead of a medical doctor. We shamelessly live vicariously through the blogs we follow.

When we were TTC, the internet taught me about my fertility, led me to blogs, gave me statistics and guided me to Fertil.ity Fr.iend where I charted away, while joining in on all of the message board action that included analyzing each other's pee sticks (OPK, Pregnancy etc), discussing symptoms (both real and imaginary!) and propping each other up when another cycle failed.  While I spent time on many a message board site, this one remained my favorite--if not for the information but for the lack of snarkiness that is so abundant on many sites.

Once we became pregnant, the internet advised me on beta numbers, pregnancy symptoms, nutrition and what to expect.  I researched everything I needed for a baby and learned to adjust my expectations by reading reviews. It gave me my Due Date board...where we supported each other through losses, scares and the sharing of waaayy too much personal/bodily information :-) The reactions of these ladies to the birth of LM were more excited than some of my family! In fact, they knew my water had broken before TH...as I chose to let him sleep while I analyzed with them about whether the *pop* I heard meant that those small gushes in fact meant that LM was on the way.

Now that LM is here, the internet still connects me with these ladies--except now we share baby questions, sleep deprivation woes and ask/give advice about the "unique" things our babies do that freak us out. Between Dr. Google and them, I usually have my baby questions answered long before I have to call the pediatrician. The internet gives me a way to share pictures and videos with my family all over the country. And it gives me a way to blog my life with LM.

I know that babies were born before the internet...and raised....but man, I'm glad I didn't live during those times!