A little while ago, when that "25 Random Things About Me" was running rampant on Facebook, I sat down one day, having avoided writing one about myself for some time, and succumbed. I was bored, it was cold out, Nora was napping and I figured, "Hey, I could read a good book but how about spilling some pointless information on the Internet?" It felt dumb. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that sort of thing, but there isn't that much about me that people don't know, so my "25 Random Things" was more like "25 Things" I've told you a bunch of times already." So when I was tagged in this other survey on Facebook I probably should have settled with a "why bother?" but instead I decided on a resounding "let's do it!"

I thought I'd fill it out here, though, because - I don't want to be a hater or anything - but I like my blog a lot more than I like Facebook. Firstborn Share

1. Was your first pregnancy planned? It was, like, I don't know. Too personal. That's a good start on a post about "sharing."

2. Were you married at the time? Yes. Thank God. Or else the Catholics would have come calling.

3. What was your reaction? Nausea. Excitement. A sense of calm. Repeat.

4. Was abortion an option for you? Is this seriously a question on a Facebook survey? Are we having fun? Or are we starting semi-political debates?

5. How old were you? 30.

6. How did you find out you were pregnant? A pregnancy test, silly.

7. Who did you tell first? J, but almost my best friend Jennifer, for real, because J was at work and I couldn't wait. But then I reconsidered and decided I should tell my husband first because, you know, it was his baby and all.

8. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes.

9. Due date? September 25.

10. Did you have morning sickness? I sort of felt like I was carsick some of the time, but I was pretty lucky and it was never that bad. I was incredibly tired, however, during the first trimester, more tired than I've ever been in my life.

11. What did you crave? A very serious and important matter in my pregnancy. See here.

12. Who/what irritated you the most? My swollen ankles.

13. What was your first child's sex? Girl.

14. Did you wish you had the opposite sex of what you were getting? No, I was very happy that the sonographer was "99 percent sure" we were having a girl. There was this one point right after delivery where the anesthesiologist made an honest mistake and called the baby "he" and I started freaking out immediately thinking about the 7,000 pink outfits we were somehow going to have to return.

15. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? Are you kidding me? There is no way I'm answering this. I gained, you know, enough to sustain the baby that was growing inside me. Plus ice cream pounds. Sometimes I wish we'd return to a culture of decency and decorum where women didn't dare talk about things like weight. That's how it used to be in the good old days, right?

16. Did you have a baby shower? Yes.

17. Was it a surprise or did you know? Um, I'm getting kind of sick of this survey. And bored. Anyway, I had one that was thrown by J's side of the family that was a complete and awesome surprise, one thrown by my office that was a total surprise and one thrown by my oldest and best friends that was a lovely sort-of surprise. My mom's side of the family also threw me one that I knew about. I'm a lucky girl.

18. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? I was very lucky and did not have any at all.

19. Where did you give birth? Yale.

Right now I am watching Nora, who was recently learned to turn herself over on her tummy, faceplanting on her activity mat while chewing on a little toy duck. Do I or do I not save her? After all, she is learning, and in my opinion she needs to learn that when she gets herself into situations like this, she's got to get herself out. And, I mean, it's pretty funny. It is also more interesting than where I gave birth, is the thing.

20. How many hours were you in labor? 24 (insert expletive) hours including the C-section.

21. Who drove you to the hospital? J.

Have you guys read the Twilight series? Jennifer is trying to convince me that I should start reading them. I'm nervous about it, because I'm pretty sure it's going to result in a Harry Potter-like addiction where I'm not going to want to do anything else for a few weeks. Then again, I could really use some good train reading.

22. Who watched you give birth? It was just gonna be J, the doctor and nurse, but it turned out to be a rather large surgical team. I viewed them all as very good friends at the time.

23. Was it natural or C-section? Please see above.

24. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Yes I totally, totally did. I really respect women who go without, but I am very happy with my decision.

27. How much did your child weigh? 7 lbs. 11 oz.

28. When was your child actually born? September 20, five days early.

29. What did you name him/her? Nora Claire Chipmunk Cheeks McDonough.

30. How old is your firstborn today? Four and a half months. I was just kidding about "chipmunk cheeks," by the way.