Then BabyCenter Broke My Heart
Monique | Tuesday, January 1, 2013 at 10:27AM 
When I first found out that I was pregnant with Samara, I was about 4 weeks along, and I was absolutely petrified.
While she wasn't exactly a surprise, the moment I saw two lines, I wanted out. I just knew I couldn't handle being a parent, I didn't know what I was doing, how many children had I mothered before?! What was pregnancy like? Paranoia, paranoia, paranoia.
Thanks to Google, I'd made my way over to BabyCenter and signed up for their weekly pregnancy emails when I was 6 weeks along, but because my due date wasn't an official one, I was afraid to read the emails or the information until I knew just how far along I really was.
BabyCenter provided me with so much information, gave me an idea of what to expect, and provided me with their bulletin boards {from which I am now, and forever will be, banned} and to friends that I STILL hang on to from those days. It gave me a little more confidence and my fear gave way to immense anticipation.
At 8 weeks along, I'd received my official due date {which was the same one BabyCenter had given me anyway, go figure!}, December 23rd 2003, and read the first email. Samara was the size of a kidney bean, and that's how she got her nickname; Baby Bean {which we still call her today}.
I read every detail of those emails, and a lot like I do now with my weekly pregnancy updates, shared the things I learned from them with anyone who turned an ear in my direction, I didn't care if they were listening or not!
When she was born on December 31st, the first thing I did when I returned home was ensured that the next phase of newsletters would be accurate, and I've had them sent weekly to my email ever since.
Yesterday, that Bean turned 9 years old, and as I do every year, I anticipated the arrival of the email from BabyCenter that announced her new age.
It never came.
I read the email from last week that I had skipped over in a rush and there it was, the reason why: I'd reached the end of their age by age articles. No more emails, no more newsletters, the end.
And boy howdy did I lose it. I bawled my eyes right out of their sockets! Christian was so worried he flew from the couch to hold me as the sobbing racked my body to pieces, it was almost embarrassing just how displaced I felt in that moment.
From 6 weeks of pregnancy to one week before she turned 9 years old, I'd received those emails. I guess I should have expected that they would stop eventually, but I just never anticipated it. Hours later, I've slept on it, I'm still not over it. I can laugh about it, but it's only because I can't cry any more.
BabyCenter doesn't know that my daughter celebrated her 9th birthday without me, that I'm not cleared for travel, or that there was a huge event there that we wouldn't take her away from, nor intrude upon.
But losing emails I'd merely skimmed felt like a kick to the balls when I was already down and gasping for air.
I can't even blame being pregnant and hormonal, I miss my daughter for too many days out of the year and the feelings that I try so hard to contain finally caught me off guard and made one soggy wreck of a human.
So, there you have it guys, BabyCenter's weekly age and stage newsletters end at age 9. Learn from my mistake, don't be caught unaware! That kind of crying causes severe exhaustion.
Reader Comments (7)
I didn't realize that they stopped at age 9! I would have been wondering where my email was too!
Oh no! You would think they would give you a heads up on that. :(
I never paid attention to the emails, but I did notice when I was pregnant with Jillian that my bigger bunch (who are all over the age of nine) all show on Babycenter as being 9 years old. I think that has been the biggest complaint I have heard about BabyCenter is that you fall off the edge of their site once your youngest reaches it. I think it is time they "grow up" and extend the site to accommodate parents with children of all ages (or at least until 18-20)
Wow it stops at 9??? that makes me sad, I follow my kids progress on their from conception almost!
On another note... Happy Birthday to your daughter!
Oh I can see that as heart breaking. It is those little things that can caught you completely off guard.
When Bobbi's updates stopped coming, I disengaged from Elijah's. I didn't want to go through that again. If I couldn't have updates for both of them, I didn't want either, so I unsubscribed. I still get Parenting Magazine, and recently subscribed again so that I could follow the progress of my nieces life. I understand. I was caught unaware as well. How am I supposed to know what to expect from my 10 - 17 year old?