Well, it has been a few weeks since my last post, now hasn’t it? I really am in disbelief that I only have 5 weeks left before my due date-ish time. The days and weeks seem to go by so quickly, finishing up with some of my mamas and yet starting off a whole new “crop” that are due in the fall. I’ve definitely spent this pregnancy least focused on myself; and now the time has arrived (well, as much as it can when one still has 4 kids to take care of!) to focus on my own birth!
So, I am starting to get ready for this birth and this new baby. I really am so excited; that never seems to lessen each time and in fact I think I may be more excited each time. I marvel at how each experience is so different. On the outside, things are pretty much the same. I’m as big as I always am, and this pregnancy has been just as easy (if not easier) than the others. Not too much to report in that regard. But what does always change, and this is pretty obvious I think, is just the sense I get from the baby. This one is quite a little warrior princess; I’d say she is the second most active baby I’ve had, and I just get this super feminine energy from her that is extremely powerful. Now that I’ve actually said that, you can certainly laugh if “she” turns out to be a boy!
Yep, this baby knows what she wants. But I’m not completely sure about the actual birth part of it yet. I have given birth in water the last 3 times, but each time I have considered it carefully. For my last birth, I actually wasn’t interested in water, but then a week before I went into labor I changed my mind and overnited myself a birth pool! I just don’t have any really strong feelings about it this time, except for it almost being like a “habit” to birth in the water. Again, for the last birth I wasn’t really digging it for labor as much as I remember doing previous times, but yet when I started to feel his head emerge I literally jumped into the water. I really felt like the old saying, “a fish out of water” and realized how much I depended on the buoyancy of the water to take off some of the pressure of his head and body barreling through mine. I suppose I am likely to feel that way again this time, so instead of having to rush a pool, I think I will just order one and be done with it. I used a “fishy pool” last time, but I think this time I will buy a Le Bassine. They are more expensive, but I had my 3rd baby in one and I have fond memories of that birth. Plus, I figure I can loan it out to clients if they want to buy a liner for it. Double bonus!
So, that’s about it. Time, labor and baby will tell the final story, as I do believe that babies choose their birth path just as carefully as we mamas make all of our choices. To waterbirth or not to waterbirth? That is the question baby and I will have to answer together.
