Great Expectations: Liz @ 38 Weeks

Anyone who denies the intelligence of babies, clearly hasn't met our little nugget. After only a few days of moxibustion, a fabulous Mayan abdominal massage, and some inspirational somersaults performed by my oldest daughter, the baby flipped and is now in the head-down position! I really feel like given all of the other craziness that has been going on in our lives, this baby just wanted me to start paying a bit more attention to him/her (behaving like a youngest child, perhaps?).I had become very disconnected from this pregnancy in the last month and now am getting back on track, making time for yoga, massages, and acupuncture once again. Last week, a fabulous group of women (including my amazing midwife and wonderful mother, see picture) gathered for my blessingway (a traditional ceremony focused on honoring the mama-to-be), which was exactly what I needed after two days of emotional breakdowns. After going through the anger part of my altered birth plans, I'm now truly in the acceptance phase. It's very hard to have to heed my own advice about making the best of the birth cards that I've been dealt, but I know that it is essential and I can still have a positive experience, even though it's not what I had planned.Given that my guess date is only a couple of weeks away, I've had the realization that I am not at all prepared. While I've crossed some things off my list like make birth music playlist, entitled Break on Through, 2011, other items such as: baby clothes and pack hospital bag have been overlooked. The last few nights have brought frequent Braxton Hicks contractions, a general feeling of weirdness, and the Is this it? thought process. This, of course, tailspins into full-on freaking out at my lack of readiness for this baby to arrive. So, in my re-connectedness with my babe, we have had many a recent discussion about not coming early. I am totally fine with several more weeks of pregnancy, at least for now.***For those of you interested in following our family's journey with myotonic dystrophy, we have set up a Caring Bridge site, http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/abbene.

Published: January 06, 2011

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