Preparing for birth

In early pregnancy, I imagined preparing for birth with daily meditation, long stretches of prenatal yoga, and giant platters of fruit and cheese.

And here I sit - watching Survivor in the middle of a messy room, polishing off a bag of Easter candy.

And while my reality does not quite match up to my expectations, today marks the day when I have officially gathered everything I need for baby D. Sure, we still have to wash the baby clothes and pack the bags, double check on insurance and clean the carpets, but all the things I wanted to buy, are purchased. And suddenly I feel very very ready. I only needed three things . . .

1. Nikki McClure's baby journal. This was one of my prized possessions from Truman's babyhood and it is filled with stories and memories of our life together so far. Baby D. gets the same treatment. The book arrived this week and is sitting in his cradle.

 

2. Diapers. We are doing things a little differently this time - using pocket diapers instead of "prefolds" with a wrap. Entirely too much of my brain has been dedicated to cloth diaper purchasing and research, but we finally have everything we need for the first six months.

 

3. Socks. I have this weird memory of myself during Truman's birth. I would yell out to Jason, "Take off my socks! I'm too hot!" And then I would have a contraction and yell, "Put my socks back on!"  During transition I was totally naked, walking around the room, asking my midwives and Jason to take my socks on and off. It seems random, but I knew I wouldn't be ready for labor unless I had some nice new socks. When our REI dividend arrived this week it was obvious how I should spend our money:



Time to sit back and enjoy the last trimester.