I Was Born in a Crossfire Hurricane...

Well, not really.  I wasn't born in a car (or a hurricane), but I was born early, on vacation, out of state, and during a tropical storm.  About six weeks before my due date my dad needed to go to Houston for work, so my mom went along (they lived outside of New Orleans at the time).  I decided to make my entrance into the world there (couldn't wait to be a Texan?) and my parents did their best on the six-hour ride home with no car seat and  no baby clothes.   I think I spent the first few days of my life wrapped in an adult-sized robe.

My brother came a year later, and he made his entrance three months early.  It was an extremely stressful experience for my parents as my mom's original doctor told them there was nothing to be done to save the baby.  My parents made one of the best decisions of their lives to ignore the doctor and hightail it to the biggest hospital in New Orleans (nearly 2 hours away).  Ondre had a rough first few months but was 110% a-okay after that!  Can you imagine if they would have listened to the crappy doctor in their town??

Now that I've reached that point of time when baby could be ready any day, Chris and I have been busy making preparations so that we are ready to welcome him into this world whenever he decides he is ready.  Until I became pregnant, I really didn't understand how many decisions need to be make surrounding our child.  Over the past few months, Chris and I have made a bazillion decisions regarding the birth of our baby and his first few years of life. 

I do know that I have been dying to nest for the good part of this year, and we have been working hard to find a nest so that will be possible.  The good news is that we should soon be able to enjoy the fruit our hard work in our first home!  I still don't want to curse it, but it looks like we will be able to close on our house in less than three weeks.  Yipee!  This means that I am currently de-nesting and enjoying every minute of it.  And in a few weeks, we should be able to purchase a crib and other baby things and get them put together in baby's own room!

Being pregnant has been for the most part an amazing, incredible experience.  And I can't even imagine the act of giving birth.  I can tell you already, it will be the best day of our lives.  I am so ready and excited to meet the little guy and we want everything to be perfect.  For me, that means I want to be completely in the moment - alert, relaxed, and involved.

I've know for a very long time that means my ultimate goal is a healthy birth - drug-free and without surgery.  I do not want my baby to be "delivered"; I want him to be born.  I don't want it to be a medical procedure, but rather a natural one.  In my head, I imagine the kind of birth my great-great grandmother probably experienced, and her grandmother before her.

At the same time, I am very aware that complications can happen and the unexpected may pop in.  My mother, with all three of her births (the third unsuccessful), is the perfect example.  Each one of her babies came at an unexpected time and two in an unexpected place.  Not everything can be controlled.

So Chris and I have our Plan A, which involves an active birth in a local hospital.  We want to stay home as long as possible and head to the hospital for the birth.  Of course our Plan B involves being prepared for those unexpected things that may come up.  For example, if our baby does come the week he is due, my doctor will be out of town for Christmas.  So we've done what we can to learn about the doctors who will be on call that week.  But other things could come up too, so to be ready for those, we have done a huge amount of learning to be prepared. 

I'm so proud of my husband.  At the beginning of my pregnancy, he supported my decision to aim for a natural birth simply because he knew it was what I wanted.  But now his desire for a natural birth comes out of his own process of learning.  We've been preparing for the day that he will be my coach, and I'm certain that he's up for the job.  Through months of birthing classes and reading on our own, we've both become empowered and ready for this event.  In a way, our preparations have reminded me of training I did before I completed a triathlon.  We're working on preparing my body and mind.  It feels like a team effort, and I couldn't be more thankful.   

I am considered full term in less than six weeks!  Counting down the days to meet that beautiful little being who is currently playing soccer on my ribs. :)