Belly Buttons and Birth Plans

When I was still TTC, my life was divided into 2 week increments--waiting 2 weeks (or more) to O, then waiting another 2 weeks (or less) to test. I thought those 2 week waits were excruciating.... Now My life is divided into 4 week increments--waiting 4 weeks between doctor appointments, 4 weeks between getting to see Cosmo, getting to hear his/her heartbeat, getting to relish the moment in time when I KNOW, for certainty, that everything is ok, that Cosmo is healthy and wiggling and thriving. I never knew how slowly 4 weeks could pass!

To help get me through the 4 week waits, I try to focus on all the fun, crazy pregnancy stuff that is happening right now. I don't want to miss the stuff that happens in the 4 weeks because I am so fixated on the next doctor's appointment.

The fun stuff that has happened during this 4 week wait is that my belly is growing! It's true. Yes, I'm only 14w3d pregnant, but you can clearly tell I'm pregnant (depending on the clothes I'm wearing). If I look down my body, my stomach is already beating my boobs (not that my boobs ever put up much of a challenge, even in their lovely, bigger, pg state). And, the most surefire way I know I'm getting bigger and bigger: I can see the back of my belly button! What before was a dark little cave is now a shallower little ditch. (side note: actually touching the back of your belly button for the first time is a strange, strange feeling.) I am fascinated by this change and wonder if I'll be one of the women whose belly buttons "pop" out like a toaster timer (*ding! Baby's done!) or if it will just stretch into oblivion. In the meantime, I'm enjoying seeing the back of it for the first time ever.

The crazy stuff that's happening is that we are starting to get into the "down and dirty" part of planning for Cosmo--where we are going to take him/her to daycare when I return to work, what gear we are going to register for, etc. It's no longer just idly daydreaming about our little bundle of joy--now we are actually taking steps to get ready! One step that I may or may not have been ready to take just yet is to look at this website that helps you create your "birth plan." This is a written documentation of how you'd like your labor and delivery to go--what medicines you want and don't want, who you want in the room, what gear you'd like around to help you, etc. The idea is to make it ahead of time so that when you are in the thick of labor and not able to think rationally, your desires can still be followed. My curiosity got the better of me, and I wanted to see if I could put together a competent birth plan with just the knowledge I've gained so far.

Bad idea. The list contained so many things I'd never heard of, I felt lost and overwhelmed with everything I didn't know! But what was worse was the things that were on there that I never, in a million years, would have ever guessed were things to consider when giving birth. My two favorite examples: sucking your own thumb can bring on labor, and a "lunge" as a possible birthing position.

For the former, I don't think even being a week late could make me want to suck my own thumb. Just the thought of feeling my thumbnail touch the roof of my mouth creeps me out. I don't care how clean I can get that thing...ewwww.

For the latter, I am very familiar with lunges. Very familiar. And let me tell you, I would not want to be doing a lunge while pushing an 8-lb package out of my hoo-ha. No thank you. There's a time and place for doing lunges. A delivery room is not one of them.

Now, I do know that it's all fine and dandy to say these things when I'm sitting here at a comfortable 14.5 weeks, that I might be singing a different tune when the time actually comes, a tune with lyrics something along the lines of "GET THIS THING OUT OF ME!!!" But I'm hoping it's in a time like that that my birth plan will come to my rescue, and TH can gently remind me that neither thumb-sucking nor lunging are things I wanted to resort to back when I was thinking clearly.

So these are the things that have been keeping me distracted until next Wednesday, when once again I can get that ultimate reassurance that Cosmo is happy and healthy and well on his/her way to meeting us. I can't wait!