This past weekend I finished reading The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp. It's was about how to soothe a colicky baby. Reading it taught me a lot about how to calm a baby, but also made me realize how much more goes into taking care of a baby that I don't know. Kyle told his friend on the phone last night, "Yeah, we've got no idea what to do with it when it gets here." The Happiest Baby on the Block even mentioned how parents think they will instinctively know what to do with their new baby, but in reality, that's not how it works. Uh-oh! Must keep reading....
I guess we're getting ahead of ourselves though, I mean, the baby has to come out first, right? The doctor brought this up on Friday when she showed me a piece of paper on which I could write my 'birth wishes.' Oh crap, I guess I have to think about actually giving birth now. Naturally, I turned to my girl Ricki Lake for advice; Ellen was busy.
Ricki Lake had a lot to say on the topic of giving birth, so much so that she made a movie about it in 2008 called The Business of Being Born. This movie was a documentary about the birthing system in the United States. It shared good information and gave me a lot to think about when it comes to my birth experience. The births in this video were beautiful. I had to bite my lip each time the baby came out because you could feel the mother's joy; I wanted to cry each time. Seriously- these hormones are ridiculous! I didn't realize how naked the whole birthing experience is. I thought you wore a gown and lifted it up when the baby was about to come out, but evidently, you bear it all when you're having a kid. So, sorry mom, dad, cousins, neighbors, Buster; you will not be in the room with me while I'm giving birth. (Did I just hear a sigh of relief?) Instead, I plan on finding a doula and/or a midwife. I must thank Ricki Lake for all the insight into giving birth and let you know that you too can watch the movie; it's on Netflix streaming!
I am also reading a stellar book on birthing called Ina May's Guide to Child Birth.
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In the forward, Ina May, an experienced midwife, discusses how telling birth horror stories has become a regular thing to do, so much so that women go into the whole birthing experience frightened and expecting it to be an awful experience. To counteract the horror stories, this book starts out with about 70 positive, real, natural birth stories. The second part of the book informs the reader what happens in labor, giving birth, common medical interventions, and much more. I'm hoping to learn a lot from this book; I'm sure it will help guide my birth plan. However, the main useable ideas I've gotten from it and the movie so far are to move around a lot during labor and to take my time going to the hospital. Who knows what information I'll actually use from the book and movie, but I feel much more informed now and will feel even more so when I've finished the book.
The third trimester starts today! I can't believe I'm 2/3 of the way through my pregnancy, and my little boy will be born in less than three months! Actually, three months exactly would give him a pretty cool birthday- 11/1/11. : )
The doctor's office should call back with the result of my glucose test any day now.
The doctor's office should call back with the result of my glucose test any day now.
Am I weird for thinking the glucose drink tasted good? I actually heard myself say, "Yum!" and "I wonder if I can get another one of these" while I was drinking it! It reminded me of those barrel drinks my mom would buy for us when we were kids. The flavors were either grape, blue raspberry, orange, or fruit punch. I LOVED drinking them as a kid and would often take them to school in my Animaniacs lunch box! Coincidentally, barrel drinks are exactly the kind of drinks I will try keep away from my child- full of sugar and devoid of nutritional value!
As I mentioned last week, my lower back has been bothering me while I sleep. There are no comfortable sleeping positions! I feel like I've put up with the back pain for long enough (7 days is like forever when you wake up with a sore back!) so I sucked it up and bought a Snoogle. The price on the pillow was ridiculous, but I've tried rearranging all of the pillows we already have- under my stomach? between my knees? against my back? I still wake up sore. Here's to hoping the Snoogle is the miracle pillow all the reviews claim!
Time to go enjoy my last two weeks of summer!
haha I laughed at the glucose drink... it kind of reminded me of how my sister and I would eat the Otter Pops before they were even frozen. That stuff was amazing.
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