Final Countdown

Seven more weeks to go on this pregnancy. S-E-V-E-N. That’s less than two months (give or take a couple of weeks) before our lives are once again turned upside down as we welcome another tiny human being into our clan.

Luckily, I’ve had a really good pregnancy, and if you don’t count the 10 or so weeks early on that I spent with my head in the toilet getting reacquainted with my lunch, it might even be said that this pregnancy has been better than my first.

There’s a simple reason for this. Namely, that this pregnancy hasn’t had a complication that existed with my first pregnancy, which resulted in my needing a C-section. So we’re highly optimistic that we’ll be able to deliver this baby the good ole’ fashioned way, which, believe it or not, has taken a huge load off my mind. I’m okay with the idea of surgery if there is a medical necessity but I’d prefer not to be in that situation again if I can help it.

In preparation for the Big Day I’ve been practicing relaxation techniques to use during delivery. Thank goodness we’re in northern California with all the dirty hippies who do this kind of thing, right?

Before you roll your eyes and make gagging signs with your fingers, I have learned that a lot of women who prepare this way have found the labor and delivery experience much better than the method that requires a lot of torture and then the required drugs to numb said torture.

After all my research, I’m learning that the mind is effectively capable of reducing fear associated with labor and therefore the pain. I’m all for both. And so, lots of meditation and quiet music are filling my days lately, in between bouts of frenzied house painting and decorating.

This pregnancy has also been better than the first because, frankly, we now know what the hell we’re doing. So no more worry about how to properly welcome a newborn into our lives.

Of course there will be the random curve balls that accompany being a parent. And I’m sure I’ll be awake many, many nights wondering if we’re screwing something up that will require a long-term investment in psychotherapy.

The natural answer to that question is yes.

So seven more weeks before we officially welcome Audric into our lives. I’ll keep you posted on the progress. But for now, suffice it to say that he’s just as much a fan of kicking and punching his mother in utero as Gideon was. We’re breeding some active boys around these here parts.

Must be the water.