It's a waiting game from this point on...

I'm 38 weeks this week and yes, I'm still pregnant. Much to my dismay, I am still freakin' pregnant. Most women who have experienced pregnancy before will agree that the last 2 weeks of pregnancy are the most excruciatingly long weeks of one's life, and this isn't only because of how uncomfortable it is to be 38+ weeks pregnant. The waiting is what is unbearable.

For those of you have not been pregnant before, or have been lucky enough to have a planned delivery, let me see if I can relate it in this way: Suppose you are due to go on a vacation. You know the vacation will be any day now, but unfortunately, the exact day your vacation will start is unknown to you. Every morning you wake up excited, thinking 'today may be the day my vacation starts', and every night you go to sleep disappointed because said vacation failed to happen. Now imagine weeks us this. Waiting. Wondering 'when the heck will my vacation begin??' Now imagine this is not really a vacation but the birth a child- one of the single most important life events that can happen to anyone. Can you see why this might drive a person mad? Or in my case, make them a tad bit bitchy?

Third babies are not supposed to be late, or even on time for that matter. Then again nothing about this pregnancy has been what I expected or planned for. I guess that's the thing about pregnancy- it's the one time in a person's life where you have absolutely no control over your body, your life, or the life that's growing inside of you. Forget planning- it does no good. We can pretend we are in control but in reality, control is an illusion that we have created during pregnancy. Control is in the hands of God alone.

So wait I shall. In the mean time, I'm trying to focus on the positive. Like the things I will do when I'm not pregnant. Drinking a margarita and shaving my legs are at the top of my list. Sneezing without fear of repercussions is also at the top.

Another positive- we had a wonderful baby shower this past weekend that was thrown by my neighbor and my sister where we acquired almost everything we needed for the nursery. We had a super fun time with our family and friends that included blue and red caterpillar cupcakes (the theme of the nursery), hamburgers/hot dogs, and even a keg (not for my benefit obviously). I absolutely love the nursery and have included photos of it below. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take pictures of the shower! I'm working to aquire some from others that were in attendance and will post when I do.

This weekend my mother-in-law wants to watch the boys, so Shad and will have the whole weekend to ourselves. Instead of sitting around, waiting for this kid to pop out, I was thinking we should do something that we won't be able to do once the baby arrives. Nice dinner and movie possibly?? Any ideas?

For those of you that have been pregnant before, what did you do to cope with the waiting??

I want a natural delivery... well sort of

This week marks the beginning of the end. I am now 36 weeks- aka I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! While I'm slightly sad this will be the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy status, I'm honestly very thrilled to that in 4 short weeks (or hopefully less), I will not only be meeting my little man but also NOT BE PREGNANT!


Oh the joys of pregnancy. I won't bore you all by having an all out bitch session about what it's like to be 36 weeks pregnant, working 10-12 hour days, with two other kids at home who want and need my attention. I will say that it has not been easy and because this is the case, I'm ready to get this baby out of me!! So at my most recent midwife appointment, we had "the talk" about when and how I wanted to deliver.

Let me start by saying that for this delivery, I have opted to go more natural then my other two in various ways. During my first delivery, I felt the same as many women do about pain control during labor and decided to "see how long I could hold-out" before getting an epidural. After 6 hours, I opted for the good stuff. Although the pain relief was fantastic, I did have a pretty severe drop in my blood pressure that had to be corrected by medication at the time. My attitude for my second delivery changed slightly three years later. I wanted nothing more to get to the hospital and get my happy meds as soon as I could. After my epidural, I had an even more severe drop in my blood pressure that caused me to not only loose consciousness, but be given epinephrine to stimulate my heart. Because of these two reactions, I've decided that epidurals may not be such a good idea for me, so I will not be getting one for this delivery.

It seems when I tell people I'm opting for a "natural" delivery, their reactions are the same in that they look at me with both a sense of horror and shock. Natural?? Is she crazy?? I can imagine them thinking. Working in the medical profession has also led to a lot of negative feedback about my decision. I've had doctors and nurses a like to tell me how crazy I truly am. Why would anyone want to deliver naturally?? They ask me. Even after I tell them my story about the previous epidurals, they still seem to disagree that this is the best course of action.

It's not like I'm the first woman to ever deliver naturally. After all, didn't women used to do this all the time? My mother certainly was not privy to an epidural with either me or my sister. So why have epidurals become the norm when it comes to modern day deliveries? Why am I being seen as "crazy" for choosing to labor in a way that women have been doing for thousands of years??

In any case, I have no false expectations about how "easy" or "painless" my labor will be this time around. I know it will probably be the most painful thing I will ever go through. I'm OK with that, though. There is something very liberating about being able to say I had a natural delivery that cuts down to my feminine soul. Or I could just be crazy. I'll let you all know.

I talked about all of this with my midwife, and I'm so glad to have someone that understands and will be there for me in the laboring process. As for other medical interventions, I do not, by any means, want a pitocin drip for induction purposes. My reasoning is simple for this one- OUCH! I choose not to put myself through any additional pain if possible, and pitocin will not only make my contractions come closer together but will also increase their intensity. I may be crazy but I'm not a sadomasochist.

I am not, however, opposed to other natural induction techniques. I will be trying them all in next couple of weeks. I'm thinking March 1st would be an excellent day to go into labor. Since I have an appointment February 29th with my midwife, we're going to try to make that happen! I will let you all know if this works out!