About myself: I went thru college, graduate school, and professional school before finally meeting someone who was willing (and worthy) of being my husband. After trying for about 9 years, I just found out I was pregnant on 3/23/09 at the "advanced maternal age" of 36. I turn 37 in June. My husband and I are both quite excited, as this will be the first grandchild for my folks.

Whom I'd like to meet: In reading the forums, I see a lot of very intelligent, wonderful moms-to-be, and I hope I can glean good advice and tips from all of you.

My Interests:

1. Advanced Maternal Age Pregnancy (because that's me)

2. Breastfeeding

Update 6/13/09: Mariettap here on this website suggests this website for looking up comparison reviews of breastpumps: http://breastpumpcomparisons.com/

Update 8/28/09: Cheekybee on this website recommends http://kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-supply.html#supply for evidence-based breastfeeding information.

3. Cloth Diapering

Update 4/4/09: Someone on another forum pointed me to LiveJournal's cloth diapering information. Here are some links:
http://livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=clothdiapering
http://community.livejournal.com/cloth_diapering/

Update 4/8/09: Another online friend who did cloth diapering told me these were the ones she used (Bum Genius 3.0 pocket diapers):
http://bumgenius.com/one-size.php (for a picture of what they look like, even has a video)
http://cottonbabies.com/ (where she purchased them)

4. Home Schooling

I used to think home-schooling was really stupid. I saw people who home-schooled their kids, and they were either religious extremists (which I am not, although I am religious) or just plain kooky. However, a recent trip to my parents' home had me wondering, "What are our kids learning in school?" I am a product of both public schools and private schools in the United States, and I have received varying qualities of educations from both kinds. I received an awesome elementary school education from a public school, a really crappy education from a private Catholic school, an incredible college-level middle school and high school education from a private school, and a dumbed down version of kindergarten-education from a public high school in California. So, I'm not prone to thinking all private schools can offer a better education than public schools, or vice versa. However, where I currently live, I do believe I can offer a better education to my children than either public or private schools in this day and age. Here is a link for an essay which pretty much mirrors how I feel about formal education in general:

Against School -- An article written by John Taylor Gatto
http://wesjones.com/gatto1.htm

And lastly, Democracy in America