Weeks 27-29

My life just kinda needs a little push. You know, something to make myself feel impowered/important/strong. I've never really done something to the fullest just to see how far I can go so after much though and debate, we (including my drug loving pharmacist of a hubby) have decided to have this baby naturally...if at all possible. I wanna feel what it actually feels like to push. I want to be able to make the connection that "hey, those are my legs the nurse is holding" without having to be told she just moved them for me. I totally think epidurals are great, in fact I think it's a miracle drug, but I'm just curious how far my body can take me and how the "natural high" feels after. Plus it feels like a safe alternative for me at this point.

We are aware that Jr seems to already be a bit of a chubby baby and that might cause a small problem, but we are hoping for the best and preparing for a drug free delivery. Yes, this is coming from the girl that thought her anesthesiologist was some kind of god after giving me that heavenly shot with Hayes :) I just feel like every sign possible is telling me that this is something I need to do for myself and this little babe.

So what does one do when wanting to go natural? Well, I read a Hypnobirthing book because I've heard a lot of hype about it. I would really love to tell you it was the enlightenment I needed but it kind of wasn't. There were a lot of good points that were really helpful but I'm afraid I'm not the type to "visualize" and internalize everything around me to block out the world and get to a hypnotic state. I get distracted way too easily. I'd rather have someone helping me and nudging (or heck even pushing) me to get through it. Not dogging Hypnobirthing if you are the type of person to take charge and go into a relaxed state by yourself, that stuff is just harder for me.

A friend I met down here in Vegas had an awesome natural home birth (which we won't do but props to her) and she gave me some great resources to check up on. So I started reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth (and I've left The Birth Partner on the counter for months, you know just in case Chris gets bored and wants to read it ;) and called a local center that has classes and such. At this point Chris is super supportive of whatever I want, so I talked him into taking a 12 week class with me going over the Bradley Method of Childbirth. It's a more husband coached method and we've learned a lot about different positions that help ease pain and massaging to get through the hard parts. It's great and our instructor is awesome! It's got me super excited to push (no pun intended) myself and see how far I can go. We had a friend set us up with a student doula to help at the hospital - and for those of you that don't know what student doula means, it's just another word for free :) No really, she seems awesome and I'm sure will be a ton of help!

Besides some crazies in the class- that I could write an entire book on and that actually think we are the crazy ones (we really might be in this case) we feel really good about it all. Gosh, can I just go there for a minute? I have to. This class is so entertaining. One lady in our class actually refers to herself in third person as "Super Sized". She's funny, but my oh my please don't tell us in details about your home birth you want to have naked in a tub with your hubby. Wow, TMI. Then you have to meet the kid in the class we call "Anthrax". He's the first person I've met to ever dislike my husband. Nobody hates Chris. "Anthrax" thinks the military gave him Anthrax by a vaccine and tries to find ways to pick a fight with Chris about the evils of medications and vaccinations whenever he can. Of course, Chris just smiles at him. Haha. And the small survey of people in our class wouldn't be complete without the "know it all". She's never had kids, of course not, but everyone else is dumber than her because she's read "16 books on the subject" and anything anyone else says deserves one serious eye roll from her direction. She gets mad at anyone who uses the word "pain". Heck lady, I don't care what you call it, pain is pain, that's why we are at the class. Just by calling pain something else doesn't mean it hurts less. If you call a horse a cow, that doesn't make it a cow now does it?

Oh man, good times! So if you wonder what I've been up to, I've been doing a lot of research and reading on birth. It's seriously fascinating.

Now we just have to find out how fast our families can get down here (ahem sister who goes on a work trip the week I'm due) and who will take Hayes until they can get here. Minor details.