I am 20 weeks pregnant as this hits your inbox, and I want to be transparent with you: this pregnancy has been trying to kill me.
With Jamie, I had zero symptoms. None. I was so convinced that meant something was wrong that I went to an urgent care OB just to confirm that yes, everything was fine, I was simply one of the lucky ones. I left feeling vaguely suspicious.
This time around I have been nauseous, exhausted in a way that feels cellular, and plagued by headaches that show up uninvited and stay too long. Jamie's daycare class also generously shared bronchitis, the stomach flu, and pink eye with me in the span of a few months, because that is the gift of toddler germs and there is nothing you can do about it. We told Jamie about the baby. He is too young to understand. He went back to his trucks.
I'm due in August with a girl(!), and I have approximately 20 more weeks to figure out what I'm doing. In the meantime, I made you this.
This issue is everything I wish had existed when I was newly pregnant with Jamie - one place with the honest, unsexy, actually useful information that your friends text you at midnight from their hospital beds. Where to deliver. What to actually pack. What to ask your pediatrician. What nobody tells you until it's too late.
Consider it a love letter to every Charlotte mom who has ever Googled something at 2am and come up empty. You're going to be great.
Now let's get into it.
🏥 Where to Deliver in Charlotte
A completely unscientific, crowdsourced guide
I texted my group chat and asked everyone on Instagram where they delivered and whether they'd recommend it. What followed was the most useful 20 minutes of crowdsourcing I've ever done - including an Atrium detail involving an epidural button and an itemized bill that you need to know about.
I kept a running document of everything on Jamie's registry with notes on what we actually used, what was a waste of money, and what I'd put on every single list if I could. The Fisher-Price Kick and Play Piano Gym should be on every single registry in America and I will not be taking questions.
The full annotated list is on the blog. I also note which things are totally baby-dependent (swings, pacifiers, swaddles - do not stock up until you know), where you can save versus where it's worth spending, and a few things that sound useful and are actively not.
And yes - my real thoughts on the infamous, outrageously expensive SNOO bassinet are in there.
Not a robe. Not flip flops. Not a FridaMom peri bottle. Four Charlotte moms, six collective births, and one very honest list of what actually made it off the nightstand.
Plus: the one thing everyone leaves behind at hospitals and exactly how to avoid it.
I sent this note to a group of friends from my hospital bed the first time around - still in my gown, running on zero sleep and approximately one granola bar. It covers everything from the nursery to the nurse button to the thing about shift changes nobody warned me about.
I have a note in my phone from Jamie's entire first year that is essentially a running log of every panicked question I brought to our pediatrician. Some normal, some unhinged, all answered without judgment. I filled in the answers so you don't have to show up to your first appointment empty-handed.
Jamie does not know he is getting a sister. We have told him. He has not retained this information. What he does know is that something is different, and his response has been to become a barnacle - specifically, a barnacle with zero spatial awareness who treats my stomach like a trampoline and my lap like real estate he intends to defend at all costs.
We are working on gentle. We have not made progress.
Know someone who's pregnant or just had their first baby? Forward this their way. It's exactly the email I wish someone had sent me when I was standing in Target at midnight Googling "what do I actually need for a newborn."
💚 Emily
Founder, The Charlotte Sprout
P.S. The web version of this issue lives here if you want to send it to a friend without forwarding your whole inbox. The registry guide is also free to download - no catch, just a spreadsheet with 79 honest opinions.
Help The Sprout grow. If one idea made your week easier, please forward this email or tag @thecharlottesprout so more Charlotte parents can find us. 🌱
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