A Good Day to be Born

New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights. 
-Hamilton Wright Mabie

Down the Rabbit Hole

Today I have been feeling like Alice peering down the rabbit hole, with no way to imagine the world waiting for her on the other side.  Tomorrow Greg and I will jump right in and end up in a Wonderland of our own.  There is something truly surreal about knowing the date and time when your world is going to be launched into a whole new realm.  It's like traveling to a foreign country for the first time.  You can read all the books, pack everything perfectly, talk to people who have been there, but really there is nothing to prepare you for the experiences that await you.  You just go in with an open mind and a positive attitude and enjoy the ride!  

Okay, enough with the metaphors!  Greg and I are enjoying our last day before we take the big leap.  We slept in and started the day off with a trip to our favorite bakery and took a nice walk downtown.  The car is clean, the house is clean, the car seat is ready to rock, the bags are packed and we are just milking the remaining hours.

We are so excited to share all the details of our little one's arrival with you tomorrow.  In the mean time we appreciate the company as we all revel in anticipation of what is to come!

Merry Christmas!

Warm holiday wishes to all of you far off folk!
Greg and I enjoyed a mellow morning of gourmet pancakes and some simple stocking suffers.  Greg, sporting some Wisconsin pride (thanks Mike for that gem!), was pretty excited to open some baby goodies from Sean and Kelsey...as you can see.  The afternoon brought a trip to the disc golf course followed by a fabulous food filled evening.
Greg and I got cozy in the kitchen and prepared my dear friend Tarrah's amazing recipe for a Curried Vegetable Pie for dinner and Gingerbread for desert. We spent the rest of the evening in a heated game of sheepshead with some fellow Midwestern transplants, Sean, Kelsey and Scott. Greg, of course, came out on top and is now going to try to continue his winning streak in a late night game of poker.  It was a great holiday and while we weren't sad to miss the twelve degree weather in Wisconsin, we sure did miss all the warm family gatherings.  

A Christmas Poem

My Ai Chi instructor, Patty, shared this poem with me.
It captures the story of Christmas, which is really a story of birth, just beautifully.
Enjoy!

THE NATIVITY

No man reaches where the moon touches a woman.
Even the moon leaves her when she opens
Deeper into the ripple in her womb
That encircles dark to become flesh and bone.

Someone is coming ashore inside her.
A face deciphers itself from water
And she curves around the gathering wave,
Opening to offer the life it craves.

In a corner stall of pilgrim strangers,
She falls and heaves, holding a tide of tears.
A red wire of pain feeds through every vein
Until night unweaves and the child reaches dawn.

Outside each other now, she sees him first
Flesh of her flesh, her dreamt son safe on earth.

John O”Donahue

The Home Stretch!

We had our last visit with the midwives today and everything went well.  At thirty-eight and a half weeks Baby is still happy, with a strong heartbeat and is doing lots of calisthenics.  And I am not growing or gaining as much these days, measuring 36 1/2 cm.  While I can not imagine being any bigger, I must say that I am pretty comfortable.  I can still put my own socks on and I can even touch my toes!  

We are looking forward to Mom's arrival next Tuesday. One benefit of knowing when the baby is coming is that it allows Mom's arrival to be perfectly timed! We get to keep her for ten whole days and may not let her go!

As Greg and I enter our last week of being a just a couple we are enjoying and savoring every moment, yet they somehow manage to fly by.  Our list of things to do before baby comes seems impossibly short. So we are taking naps and sleeping in and watching movies and eating out. All things that will be but fond memories in a matter of weeks!

Our Visit with the Doc

Today Greg and I met with our new obstetrician, Dr. Paul Qualtere-Burcher, aka Dr. QB.  He is a great doc and Greg and I like him very much.  He listened to our list of questions and requests for the birth with an open mind and was very receptive to them.  He is very empathetic to my desire of having an experience that feels like a birth, not a surgery.   We are going to bring in some music to listen to during the birth, my friend Allison Zopel's CD, Music from Within.  If I am feeling brave I can ask for the curtain to be lowered as the baby is born.  Greg will be able to make the gender announcement of our little boy or girl, a delicious moment I cannot wait for!   And if baby and I are doing well then Greg and baby will be able to stay with me as I am getting sutured up.

It has been such a blessing to be able to take the time to adjust to the idea of a cesarean birth and be able to look at it in a positive light.  I fully believe that the energy and expectation that I bring with me will determine our birth experience.  And just because we didn't plan for this doesn't mean that it is any less beautiful and amazing.  We are just so excited to meet our little one and begin our adventures as a family. 

Thank You

I want to thank you all so much for the support that you have given me and Greg throughout this time of transition and letting go, by which I mean the whole pregnancy, really, and especially the past couple of weeks.  We are getting very excited to meet the little one, and are finding ourselves less concerned with the means to this beautiful end.  

Greg has been so supportive and is helping me to find and focus on the many positives that we have to look forward to.  And I feel all of the thoughts and prayers from everyone back home and far away with me everyday.  

I am also blessed to have a community of incredible healing women supporting me through this change in plans.  In a reiki session with my amazing friend, Julia, I was able to see that the baby is trying to move, and perhaps is not the little rebel I had thought it to be.  Then yesterday I met with my naturopath, Rachel, for a cranio-sacral session, after which I found myself putting a lot more trust and faith in the baby to know what it needs to do.  

Initially I was more concerned with trusting my body to know what to do during labor.  Now I am finding myself placing this trust in the baby to know where it needs to be.  My birth plan now is simply to have a beautiful birth and savor every moment, even the ones I didn't plan on.