Good advice

One of the things that I've feared most about becoming a parent is the unsolicited advice.  I'm fairly certain that somewhere on my ever expanding belly is a sign that says, "please give me advice about how to raise my child, especially if you don't know me or my family."  That being said, it hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected it to be.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind advice.  Especially the helpful kind like - don't forget to take chapstick to the hospital because the air is really dry.  The kind of advice that bothers me typically ends with a connotation that if I don't follow their advice exactly I will ruin my child.  Example - the woman in one of our classes who all but said "you're a terrible parent if you decide to supplement with formula or choose not to breastfeed all together."

Last night, I got the best advice I've had during pregnancy.  During birthing class, the instructor told us (in reference to whether or not to receive pain medication during delivery) that we should have a plan but don't expect it to be in stone.  We've never done this (labor, delivery, parenting, etc.) before and until we are in the situation we won't know what works best for our family.  

I've been stressing out lately about whether we're making the right decisions:  nursing vs. formula, traditional vaccination schedule vs. delayed vaccinations, cribs vs. co-sleeping, cloth vs. disposable diapers, medicated vs. unmedicated birth, pacifiers vs. no pacifiers, etc., etc.  I'm fairly certain the list could go on for pages and pages.  Dan and I have made decisions as to what we think will work best for our family and last night really cemented that for right now we are making the right choice.  Right now we're making choices based on what we think will be best for the three of us and someday we may eat those decisions because there's a different way that comes along and works better for our family.  That's ok too. And it's ok if we're doing things differently than what people think we should be doing because what works for some might not work for us. 

**So I just re-read this post...hopefully you all know that this is not directed at anyone in particular and that if your opinions are different than mine I completely respect your decision and do not think that either of us is right, just that different choices work better for different families.**