A rant about timing

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Hi there!!

I'm also in Maryland - although Northern Maryland - and I have an 8 month old. I'm an assistant instructor and yesterday I assisted in my first open water class since getting pregnant (17 months out of the water). Now, I'm DYING to go diving and we CAN'T for the same reasons as you - no one to watch the little guy.

So, once your baby is born and you want to get back to diving, let us know! Bonaire and the Florida Keys would be great options for us (although we are Little Cayman people - we were married in Little Cayman and our little guy is named Owen after Owen Island).

Kim

Hi Kim! Sorry for the late reply... I have been busy with my new job (and studying for my Series 7 exam, which I just passed - hurray!) and well, since I'm not diving, I haven't been keeping up with Scubaboard. I'm up for diving pretty much anywhere! Since we're new divers, everything is new and exciting - even the quarry, haha. I'm trying to convince my hubby to dive without me this summer so that he stays current with his skills. Our LDS (Sea Colony in Severna Park) usually does customer appreciation days during the summer, so I was thinking those weekends would be good to get down to Lake Rawlings where he could buddy up with some other people.

We are planning to meet up with my aunt in Hawaii next summer (she lives in Australia, so it's kind of halfway) and bring the baby with us - hope to get some diving in then. I love that you named your son after an island, that is awesome. I was hoping to do something similar, but my hubby wants a more traditional name (we are also having a boy). Owen sounds traditional, but I mean something like Mark or Jason. I love the Whitsunday Islands in Australia and thought it would be cool to name him after one of those, but none of them are really sticking out for me.

---------- Post added May 20th, 2014 at 11:55 AM ----------

Oh, how much you don't know. By the time you have this child, this won't even rate as a problem. My wife and I just had twins in October, and all schedules and plans are in flux at all times. Prepare yourself for lots of work and screwed up plans otherwise you will drive yourself nuts and ruin the time you are supposed to be appreciating. There's plenty of time for diving and enjoying later on.

BTW, contrary to common thinking, anything over 35 is getting pretty late in the pregnancy game. Things can happen easily or not, with the docs telling us that once over 30, essential hormones, etc start to slow down and it's appreciably already increasing the difficulty of getting pregnant. This is important because it doesn't matter how much you want a baby, a whole lot of things have to work for it to happen. Anyone reading this should know that if you think you want a baby at some point in the future, go get yourself tested today to know where you are at. Male and female. You'll find out whether it can happen, where you are in the process and can start doing something about any problems. Otherwise, you'll never know and it could be too damn late. An easy way is to ask yourself if you will be OK with NOT having a baby.

Congratulations on being able to have a beautiful baby. You'll be diving again soon enough.

Congrats on your twins! And it's true that things start changing after 35. The thing is for women, the only real "test" you can do is to try getting pregnant. At least that's what my doctor told me before we started thinking about starting a family. Basically you don't know until you try. For guys of course you can get the swimmers checked - for women there are way too many variables.

I'm thinking that this will probably be our only child... It may sound selfish, but if we have more than one, we won't be able to sustain the kind of quality of life that we want for us and our kid. I still want to be able to travel (and dive, of course) and have our kid see the world. I think part of being a well-rounded person is to see that there is a lot more to this planet than good ole 'Merica.

 

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Introducing Mark Anakin! Looking forward to getting back in the water soon. Our instructor said that if it had been a while since we'd been diving that we were welcome to hop in the pool during an open water class to refresh our skills.

Just need to line up some good babysitters or find another couple that we can trade off with... wink wink nudge nudge Kim! So if anyone is looking for a couple to watch their kid(s) while diving this summer at Lake Rawlings and would like to take turns and watch ours, let me know.

 

[victorzamora]

Please tell me the middle name was inspired by your nerddom. That would just make my day

 

[scubadada]

Please tell me the middle name was inspired by your nerddom. That would just make my day

?????

 

[victorzamora]

?????

"Anakin" As in....Skywalker? Or is "Anakin" his last name?

 

[Diver0001]

Anyone else have this issue??

I live in the Netherlands, where both mother and father have a legal right to take leave and care for the child.

In my job, working (as I did) 4 days a week was a major impediment to my career. I put off career advancement for about a decade. My wife was, due to the nature of her job, able to work 4 days a week and carry on like nothing ever happened. In fact, we're 15 years on now and she *still* works 4 days a week. I'm lucky if I work 6.

As for how the baby affected our lives. If my experience is any guide then in the first 6 months you can pretty much forget diving. It's possible to find the time but you honestly need to focus on family first. After that it becomes easier. I never stopped diving and now that my kids are older I dive as much as I did before I had kids..... in fact, one of my kids has become a dive-buddy.

R..

 

[scubadada]

I live in the Netherlands, where both mother and father have a legal right to take leave and care for the child.

In my job, working (as I did) 4 days a week was a major impediment to my career. I put off career advancement for about a decade. My wife was, due to the nature of her job, able to work 4 days a week and carry on like nothing ever happened. In fact, we're 15 years on now and she *still* works 4 days a week. I'm lucky if I work 6.

As for how the baby affected our lives. If my experience is any guide then in the first 6 months you can pretty much forget diving. It's possible to find the time but you honestly need to focus on family first. After that it becomes easier. I never stopped diving and now that my kids are older I dive as much as I did before I had kids..... in fact, one of my kids has become a dive-buddy.

R..

I got three new dive buddies out of fatherhood. My 30 year old son has been diving with me for 18 years. My 25 year old daughter has been diving with me for 13 years. My daughter got my wife to get certified with her, she's been my buddy for 13 years also, and my most frequent buddy. I'm a happy man.

 

[tomatogrw]

I remember when I was pregnant the first time, I told myself: "Well I won't be hanging out
on barstools for a long time". Our LDS has dive days at the local lake. As was mentioned above,
perhaps you can find a sitter from someone in the dive group that you know and can trust.
I thought about doing that so I can bring my dog so she doesn't have to stay at home alone.
Swimming and snorkeling are still good skills to maintain while you wait for your little one
to grow into a scuba buddy or at least ground support in the future.

 

[button]

Please tell me the middle name was inspired by your nerddom. That would just make my day

Yes everyone, Anakin as in Skywalker. Dad and I are huge geeks.

---------- Post added January 14th, 2015 at 01:05 PM ----------

I live in the Netherlands, where both mother and father have a legal right to take leave and care for the child.

In my job, working (as I did) 4 days a week was a major impediment to my career. I put off career advancement for about a decade. My wife was, due to the nature of her job, able to work 4 days a week and carry on like nothing ever happened. In fact, we're 15 years on now and she *still* works 4 days a week. I'm lucky if I work 6.

As for how the baby affected our lives. If my experience is any guide then in the first 6 months you can pretty much forget diving. It's possible to find the time but you honestly need to focus on family first. After that it becomes easier. I never stopped diving and now that my kids are older I dive as much as I did before I had kids..... in fact, one of my kids has become a dive-buddy.

R..

Unfortunately the US is very behind the times when it comes to family leave (and other such things like vacation). My Australian aunt jokes that we are like a third world country. ;-) I had also just started a new job when I found out that I was pregnant, so I didn't even qualify for the wimpy FMLA (unpaid) 12 week policy that the US does have. I was off for 8 weeks and went back to work when the baby was 7 weeks old. It was brutal, but I'm getting in the hang of the working mom thing - he is 4 months old now.

And since he is 4 months old, we are planning our first trip at the beginning of March. The resort that we're planning on staying has babysitting services, so we may try them out one day and depending on how that goes, go diving one day while they watch the baby. I'm a little nervous about it though, so we will see!

---------- Post added January 14th, 2015 at 01:07 PM ----------

I got three new dive buddies out of fatherhood. My 30 year old son has been diving with me for 18 years. My 25 year old daughter has been diving with me for 13 years. My daughter got my wife to get certified with her, she's been my buddy for 13 years also, and my most frequent buddy. I'm a happy man.

That is what I'm hoping for! Little Man starts swimming lessons in two months. We made sure that we got him the rhythm of the reef play gym so that he can get excited about turtles and octopus. Haha!

---------- Post added January 14th, 2015 at 01:12 PM ----------

I remember when I was pregnant the first time, I told myself: "Well I won't be hanging out
on barstools for a long time". Our LDS has dive days at the local lake. As was mentioned above,
perhaps you can find a sitter from someone in the dive group that you know and can trust.
I thought about doing that so I can bring my dog so she doesn't have to stay at home alone.
Swimming and snorkeling are still good skills to maintain while you wait for your little one
to grow into a scuba buddy or at least ground support in the future.

Indeed! And I know that the time will fly by anyway. And now that I'm thinking of it, I actually do have a former coworker who was an instructor in Hawaii. She said that she might be interested in the arrangement!