A Diary of Pregnancy

36 weeks:

~ Baby Leopard made it to the magic date at which he can be born at The Birth Center. As far as I'm concerned, he can come any day he wants now. Francisco told him that, no, he isn't allowed to be born for another month.

~ Ina May's Guide to Childbirth: I don't think it gets any crunchier and hippy-er than this. Ina May Gaskin is a midwife at The Farm, a commune that she helped to found in Tennessee in the 70s. I think that she was at the forefront of helping to reestablish midwifery in the contemporary U.S. Francisco calls her, "Ina May, the sexpot," because, let's just say, she is attentive to the connections between sex and labor and delivery. Her book also really emphasizes the power of positive thinking--half of it is straight up positive stories of labor and delivery, and the other half, filled with more typical birth book information, still attempts to reframe labor and delivery. She advocates tapping into your inner primate, as well as educating the rest of the person about the human body's abilities to birth a child.

~ We (mostly Francisco) installed the car seat. This may be the most adult thing we've ever done.

~ I'm all packed for the hospital now, too. It's getting real.

37 weeks:

~ Francisco is in LA for a couple of days at NK and EL's wedding. The baby is most adamantly not allowed to come now. And any Braxton-Hicks I feel while Francisco is traveling make me freak out: I immediately lay down and drink a lot of water. (On the plus side, since Francisco is gone, and Stearns is here to keep me company/hold my hand if I go into labor, we've (she's) gotten a massive amount of cooking and freezing done: 1 lasagna, 2 meatloafs, 2 things of meatballs, and 2 things of chicken and beans meant to go inside of tacos.) (On the downside, I missed NK and EL's beachside wedding in LA!)

~ Also: my 80-some-year-old, very nice neighbor just offered to drive me to the hospital if my husband doesn't make it home in time.

~ Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way: Disclaimer: All I know about the Bradley Way is what I've read in this book, and I'm not planning a Bradley birth specifically. I'm just trying to read all the books about labor and delivery, because how else would you expect me to approach it? It cracks me up that all of these different books have very specific (and often contradictory) ideas about laboring positions and breathing techniques; it makes me appreciate the birth center, whose philosophy is you should do what your body is telling you to do, but don't worry--if you're nervous, we'll suggest some techniques and positions that may help. That seems pretty sane to me. What I do like about this Bradley book is that it prepares you for the average birth, which I think is the only thing that it makes sense to prepare for (although I am stubbornly, as Francisco always points out, a worst-caser, so it's hard for me to prepare for average).

~ At Little Sisters today one nun told me that she came from a close-knit family of 8 siblings and that she wishes the same for me (a close-knit family, I'm assuming, rather than the 8 kids). After mass, the priest spontaneously came up and gave me a blessing that includes a prayer for a safe labor and a healthy baby. I love being in a place where people just bless you left and right.

~ Francisco, while watching the Sopranos: "What if our kid turns out to be a criminal? Well ... hopefully he'll be a successful one at least."