Didn't want this to be in the same post as saying welcome to the baby, even tho it's triggered this post directly. Now that he's out and from the sounds of it healthier than they even expected while Kathryn was laboring, I can let my breath out a little... Yes, Sabrina, I was containing my impulse to go spaz and I hid it from you because I knew you didn't need the extra stress, but someone due almost exactly when I am going into labor has/had me a little freaked out - in ways that are entirely MY issues and not anything to do with what Kathryn's family was dealing with. No, that DOESN'T mean you shouldn't have called me, I just tapped into my other supportive friends here (THANK YOU SERENA AND CLARE!!!!!!) and of course, Ravenclaw that I am, research research researched issues. The fact that we're planning a homebirth makes premature/preterm labor a bigger deal than for someone who had been planning a hospital birth all along - if this baby comes before June 9th (the day after school is out and when I am "officially" 36 weeks), it'll "have to" be in the hospital. I was watching Liam's birth video (finally figured out where it was on the computer - in a completely logical place that required I used the system search to find it of course) and while able to see that it was a really good hospital birth, there were so many unnecessary things that happened during it (including the nurse-midwife's verbal play-by-play commentary - yes, dearheart, I do have nerve endings that are firing just fine since they're not medicated, I know the head is out, if you don't want the rest of the baby flying out at warp speed and doing a bunjee jump toward the floor please shut your mouth, get your hands in position and STOP DISTRACTING ME! --- then the TWO times the suctioned him even tho he was crying quite lustily and not a gurgle to be heard, nice and pick, and BOTH times it interrupted him as he was just about to nurse... the fact that there were more strangers in the room than people I knew [5 hospital nurses vs. the CNM, my hubby, and my 2 friends], the big bright light they turned on in my face and having to rush to put plastic under my butt and move the bed/chair AGAIN right in the last few pushes... none of this was for my or Liam's benefit and it was REALLY annoying). As good as it was, as compared to the American standard of birth told via TLC's a Baby Story, it was still so disrupted and manipulated. The only way I'm letting that happen again is if there is a real medical indication (such as premature labor, or signs that the baby or I need closer monitoring). Yes, I'm going to pre-register at the hospital and make sure they have all the records accessible just in case, but I'm doing everything in my power to avoid going there. And I'm still freaking out about Garvin being more than 30 minutes away from me. And I'm having mild panic attacks about going into labor (early or on time or late!), being alone in the house with Liam and not being able to reach ANYONE on the phone to help except the 911 operator. I really need to get to know my new neighbors better. I swear, I'd catch the baby myself if the paramedics could hold Liam back from climbing on me while I pushed if there was no other medical reason to be at the hosptial, but the idea of birthing ALONE with the 3yo ANYWHERE (hospital or home or whatever) has me bugging out. Damn pregnancy hormones.
In other news, pictures from Liam's birthday party Saturday are up on our photos website (link at right). He and the other 2 kids that went to the movie (via the public transit train, no less) did REALLY well at the movie. I actually had less audio/focus difficulties than I did when Clare, Bryan, Garvin and I went to see Ghost Rider (when some old lady behind us kept saying "what'd he say?" every 2 minutes and "is he still the ghost rider" in between, totally disregarding the death glares I kept shooting her way). The movie is cute, but the plot is much less solid than the prior two movies. I do really like the resolution of the movie, and the kick-butt princess part is by far the best part of the movie (it comes near the end, of course). Large (diet) movie soda + popcorn + 8mos pregnant = very surprised that I made it through the movie without mad-dash to the bathroom (which was upstairs and on the other side of the lobby - eek!). Really proud of my son making it through his first feature-length in-theater film without running circles around the seats. He hadn't been into a theater since Goblet of Fire (I took him to a "Mommy & Me" screening of it with a friend), the last movie he'd SAT through in a theater was Shrek 2, funny enough (he was a couple months old at the time and incapable of independant locomotion - that helped). We may actually take him to see Order of the Phoenix the second time we see it in the theater (must see it without toddler distraction the first time, hopefully I'll have a newborn distracting me by then tho as it comes out a week after I'm due... I WILL see it opening day even if I'm still pregnant tho!).
In the last week (including yesterday) I actually broke down and created baby registries at Babies R Us and Target too, in case any of my dear readers are curious. The Target one should be extra amusing to look at - yes, every item on there DOES directly benefit the baby, you get to guess how... Especially since there's a toilet seat on the registry. I'm not joking, I'd actually really like to receive that particular item as a gift, and I'd put every single thing on both registries to use. At least at this point, every item is directly related to this birth/baby. Since I found out Target also does what Babies R Us does (which I didn't know about when I was pregnant with Liam but Clare says they did it when she did her wedding and baby registries) and gives the registry-maker 10% off items they purchase themselves after the "event" that they didn't receive as gifts, I may add a few more items that are less baby-related, but they are housewarming type things. In other words, don't be surprised to see power tools and adult-sized towels get added. Other things the baby could actually use are soft leather shoes (I found two pairs at Target yesterday that I could scan, but more would be nice) in solid neutral colors (cream, black, browns especially) - I didn't figure out the use of infant shoes until Liam was over 6mo and got really dilligent in his I-will-remove-these-socks efforts, but given that I'm now going to be outnumbered by kiddos while Garvin's at school (and Liam's enough to keep 5 adults busy and distracted at once all by himself), it makes sense to try to keep feet covered on colder days and such. Robeez is a good (if pricy) brand - the all-leather sandals Liam wore were that brand and the soles wore better than the ones from Target that I got him. Aside from the plain ones, this pair of course really caught my eye. I think the harliquin ones were Starchild shoes - that's a UK website, not finding a US one (I bought them off of a local mom who resells them. This particular pair off their website would likely be very popular with Garvin since he loved the 50% mommy 50% daddy outfit Liam had when he was tiny so much (and *I* like that the "50% mum" is on the RIGHT shoe ;) LOL). Too bad it's international shipping, not sure what the monetary conversion rate is right now. I'd be tempted to get them myself, even with international shipping and a less favorable exchange rate. We also stumbled upon what in the US is called "gdiapers" and I'm fascinated - this looks like a REAL eco-friendly diapering alternative because it minimizes washing (which is why in real examinations of the enviornmental impact, cloth diapers don't come out much ahead of disposables) and the "disposable" part is flushable/compostable. Very cool stuff. And it means if I forget the darn thing in the diaper bag after a change, it's not nearly as likely to be a problem as a full-cloth diaper (this was the major barrier to even really attempting cloth when Liam was small, I'd leave things in the diaper bag for a month at a stretch and that would be BAD with a dirty cloth diaper!) - the non-disposable part that can come in contact with pee/poop is supposed to air-dry in 10 minutes, and it's small enough to stick that bit in my pocket instead of the diaper bag or clip it to my purse or something while it dries if I need to rinse it out in a public bathroom instead of falling into the bowels of our "kiddos" backpack (ah, the unmentioned joys of breastfeeding and not needing an insulated obviously baby-specific diaper bag).
Piglet Movie is not distracting Liam anymore at the minute, better stop typing.
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