And so I wait...
There's a lot of things that I wait for in life.....work to be over, the next time I'll see my family, a crappy day to be over, or a fun day to start.....but there's few things more exciting or anxious (a good anxious) to wait for than the birth of a baby.
My first day of maternity leave is today. It doesn't seem real yet, because normally I would have Mondays off anyway. It'll probably seem more real when Wednesday comes around and I don't go back to work. So, now I truly am waiting. Waiting for my doctor's appointment in a couple of hours and ultimately waiting until my body randomly decides it's ready to kick start the labor process. And this makes me think of something else....
How exactly does a body just randomly decide when the process should start? I know, I know.....hormone levels reach a certain level, which in turn tell your brain and body to start the labor engine, but if I really think about it, it's quite strange. I mean, for the past few weeks, I have felt like I could go into labor at any time, but of course I haven't. So, one minute I'm not in labor, and then wham....labor starts, outta the blue. It's like my body silently says, "Ok......NOW!" I'm still waiting for that "now" to come. To me, it's just weird how a woman waits and waits and waits, and then her body just does it's thing on it's own (assuming she's not induced) and the body knows exactly what to do to birth her baby. I think it's a wonderful thing, actually.
There really is a lot that goes into birthing a baby. Hormones reaching certain levels, body parts contracting and moving, other body parts opening, a baby who's really not that intelligent at this point, knowing to rotate into a head down position and go through a birth canal......truly is remarkable when I think about it. It's kind of a relief too. I don't really have to think about doing anything.....my body and baby will instinctively know what to do when the time comes. If I'm able to birth naturally, like I fully intend to do this time, I will be able to feel my body and baby work through labor, work through what a woman's body was designed for, and really stay in tuned to what's going on. Yes, it will be painful, but the pain will be so worth it at the end. People I've talked to that had a natural birth say it's such a positive experience, despite the pain. With Sarah's birth, I felt like I wasn't really part of it, because I was numbed up from the waist down and I couldn't feel what my body was doing. A lot of people have made comments to me as to why I would choose to not have an epidural and I tell them that I want to experience natural childbirth. I've done it one way and now I want to try it another way.
Anyway, for now I wait. Wait for my body to know when it's time, and I'm going to try to enjoy these last few days feeling my baby boy inside me. Now that's a wonderful feeling.
My first day of maternity leave is today. It doesn't seem real yet, because normally I would have Mondays off anyway. It'll probably seem more real when Wednesday comes around and I don't go back to work. So, now I truly am waiting. Waiting for my doctor's appointment in a couple of hours and ultimately waiting until my body randomly decides it's ready to kick start the labor process. And this makes me think of something else....
How exactly does a body just randomly decide when the process should start? I know, I know.....hormone levels reach a certain level, which in turn tell your brain and body to start the labor engine, but if I really think about it, it's quite strange. I mean, for the past few weeks, I have felt like I could go into labor at any time, but of course I haven't. So, one minute I'm not in labor, and then wham....labor starts, outta the blue. It's like my body silently says, "Ok......NOW!" I'm still waiting for that "now" to come. To me, it's just weird how a woman waits and waits and waits, and then her body just does it's thing on it's own (assuming she's not induced) and the body knows exactly what to do to birth her baby. I think it's a wonderful thing, actually.
There really is a lot that goes into birthing a baby. Hormones reaching certain levels, body parts contracting and moving, other body parts opening, a baby who's really not that intelligent at this point, knowing to rotate into a head down position and go through a birth canal......truly is remarkable when I think about it. It's kind of a relief too. I don't really have to think about doing anything.....my body and baby will instinctively know what to do when the time comes. If I'm able to birth naturally, like I fully intend to do this time, I will be able to feel my body and baby work through labor, work through what a woman's body was designed for, and really stay in tuned to what's going on. Yes, it will be painful, but the pain will be so worth it at the end. People I've talked to that had a natural birth say it's such a positive experience, despite the pain. With Sarah's birth, I felt like I wasn't really part of it, because I was numbed up from the waist down and I couldn't feel what my body was doing. A lot of people have made comments to me as to why I would choose to not have an epidural and I tell them that I want to experience natural childbirth. I've done it one way and now I want to try it another way.
Anyway, for now I wait. Wait for my body to know when it's time, and I'm going to try to enjoy these last few days feeling my baby boy inside me. Now that's a wonderful feeling.