The second time around with pregnancy, you think you’re prepared. You know what’s going to happen afterwards – the fact that you’ll still look six months pregnant even after the kid comes out, the fact that your ankles will still be swollen a couple days later. You have a good idea of how long it’ll take you to lose that post-partum weight, and have already vowed not to cry when you’re wearing your “fat pants” still four months later (I type as I eat a Newman's Own Ginger-O's. Hey, they're organic!).

All of this experience and knowledge is a good thing, but let’s face it – we still freak out. And for me, it’s all about the hair.

Since Madeleine was a c-section, the whole vaginal-birth-and-recovery thing was totally new to me. And just as I mentioned in a recent labor blog, I definitely learned a few new things:

(Please note – this is the fourth in a four-part series on c-sections. If you’ve missed out, please read Deciding On A C-Section  Having A C-Section  and Recovering From A C-Section to catch up.)

It’s time to leave the hospital and head out into the world: just you, your husband, your new baby, and a neat incision.

The staff will talk through a sheet of instructions for you that you’ll only half hear because it’s dawning on you that you’re leaving the safe womb of the hospital and its 24/7 room service and care. You’ll set up a 2-week appointment to visit your OB and check on your scar’s healing, either before you leave or soon after you get home. You will –with great foresight – insist that your husband fill your Tylenol with codeine prescription before you leave the hospital, so there’s no lag time in your doses. You will take a Tylenol-codeine soon before you leave. Your doctor will instruct you to spend the next two weeks holding nothing heavier than the baby.

Ten minutes later, if you’re anything like me, you’ll pick up your baby.

In her car seat.

Let’s just say that’s a mistake and move on.