Home visit

I had my home visit from my midwife yesterday. I do love her.

You've got to love a lady who's full of faith enough to pray with you, and not so uptight that she can't cackle in amusement when you let a colorful word slip in response to her latest outrageous birth story, and then blush in realization...and sigh with relief when you realize you won't be put on the spiritual doo-doo list because of it. :P AND, she put my cranky, snotty 2yo down for a nap. Gotta love that. :D

My baby's LOT position, which isn't half bad for this late in the game! I'll take it. I was secretly pleased to have my personal opinion of his/her postion confirmed by a second and third guesstimate. (Her MW in training took a whack at it, too, and drew the same conclusion.)

(baby position chart from Spinning Babies...left occiput transverse; a short turn from being optimal. A few good weeks of decent birth ball posture should have us all set!)

My BP was initially a wee bit higher than usual (for me), until she encouraged me to stop talking 100mph. *blush* I sat back, snuggled my 2yo and they giggled at me trying SO hard not to talk for a minute, and my systollic magically went down to 120. I'll take it. For whatever reason, I was especially high strung yesterday about having visitors...it was nice to get a fair do-over.

I laughed at the timing of the arrival of my birth kit...I had just trekked to the bathroom with my pee cup in hand, while discussing what I still had on my "to do" list for the birth, when the doorbell rang and my MW accepted the birth kit box from our mailman for me. Whoohoo!

Now, all that's left is emergency pitocin, a birth pool liner (hopefully, for the La Bassine, as I prefer the squishy sides to the rigid sides of the aqua doula, I think), and a bottle of celebratory champagne and an ice cream cake for the "Birth Day Party" afterwards. Thankfully, my MW owns both the Aquadoula and the La Bassine, so all we have to purchase is the $20 or so liner. AND, it comes with it's own hoses and pump, so no one is left siphoning water with a garden hose out back, leaving the neighbors to wonder WHAT sort of crazy, kinky things we DO in our home. Straight into the tub the water goes, and cleanup is super easy. Gotta love that.

And, now, finally, I leave you with the best baby cake ever. I love me some Cake Wrecks.

Dreams

Given the fact that you remember whatever dreams happened closest to a waking point, I'm not sure whether pregnant women actually dream more, or if they simply wake up in the night more. I can vouch for the fact that I wake up at least a dozen times a night to shift pillows, pee, and sometimes for no reason at all.

At any rate, I've quite an active dream life at the moment.

As a third time mom, I'm noticing my dreams revolving less around birthing a talking baby seal in a tuxedo or leaving the baby at the open air market, and more around terrible things happening to my older two.

My most recent horrific "sleep brain movie" was dreaming that my 2yo wandered towards a giant grate covering a culvert under the road full of floodwater, fell in before I could grab her, and I was desperately searching everywhere for an opening to jump in after her. I woke up with my heart pounding over 130 BPM, and had to repeat to myself over and over: "She's OK, I can protect her better than that in real life, she's really just here beside me. She's good, I'm good, we're good." Breathe, breathe, breathe. It's THE most awful feeling you can feel as a parent.

Not one to take most dreams as predictions or warnings, I called a friend to talk it over. Of course, I'm worried about my middle "baby" getting lost in the shuffle of family adjustments. I had similar dreams about my firstborn when I was pregnant with my second...you'd think I'd learn. :OP

Strangely enough, this funny little story brought me comfort. :D

There's room enough in my family for another child. There's love enough to go around. We're capable, and children are fairly flexible. There's time enough to love and "shuggle" (as my 2yo calls snuggling) everyone. No one will fall irretrievably down a drainpipe.

Now, if I could only find a reasonable explanation for the odd sex dreams, dreams of being chased by an ugly pig man and stabbing him with a fork, strange hybrid rabid crocodiles and dreams about jumping around rooftops like Mary Poppins, I'll be all set.

What's that you say? Hormones? Yes. That is a reasonable explanation for everything that currently ails me. That and forgetting to take my cal/mag. ;OP