Sunday, March 02, 2008

In the absence of cute baby - or monkey - photos...

The contents of my bag for the hospital

Oh yes, those stubborn babies are thwarting the arc of our story here! The whole middle act (or is it the first act?) is draaaaaaaaagggggggging out, isn't it?

We're just sort of waiting waiting waiting here.

Enjoying the hormonal rollercoaster - you should have seen me when we arrived late for reservations at Alta on Friday and found that they had given away our table. The hostess said something like "I would really love to help you - I have a soft spot for pregnant ladies...' Oh! I was steamed! It was not pretty.

Don't condescend to the hugely pregnant and wildly hungry lady! She will get weepy AND mad!

We ended up going for sushi instead (which my OB has always said was fine - provided I stay away from high-mercury fish and eat at a reputable place... so relax!) which was nice, because our new 'hood has only one sushi restaurant and I am unwilling to try new places along this vein (see I am paying attention to my OB!) until I am no longer with bebes in mah belly...

Yesterday, I took advantage of the last Saturday morning to sleep in and I did the same this morning. I also took the time to organize paperwork, and collect all the items for my hospital bag. Well, except for the toiletries... I still have to get together shampoo and soap and a toothbrush and contact lense stuff and moisturizer and whatnot.

Woohoo.

I suggested to someone recently that I don't particularly care what brand soap or shampoo I use and they almost fell over gasping like a fish. Outraged on my hair and skin's behalf... so I guess I have to get a little more discriminating about that, and choose something that the babies will like the smell of. Like chocolate. I know they like chocolate.

I also watched The Business of Being Born - which I thought was awesome. They featured the hospital where we will be delivering - in a good way. It has a birthing center (we know two couples who've used it) and allows midwives and has very compassionate OB's.

I thought it was interesting that there are midwives who will assist home births in apartments in New York. I can't imagine... But home birthing twins has really never been considered an option, so I watched the movie firmly comfortable with my birth plan.

My only caveat is that I think they are unfairly harsh on the subject of c-sections. They act as though, no matter what the situation (and there is an emergency c-section in the film) YOU WILL NOT BOND WITH YOUR BABY OR LOVE IT AS MUCH IF YOU HAVE NOT PUSHED IT OUT OF YOUR V_A_G_I_N_A!!!!!

And I am afraid that I just don't believe that. I've seen the photos of Mom holding you when you were a hairy little monkey baby newborn, and I am pretty sure that the look on her face is one of googly mother love for you. As googly as I have ever seen.

In the crazy coincidence vein, at the beginning of the movie where the super beautiful chick is posing nude in all of her pregnant glory - she is posing for Howard, for whom I design the books! Small world!

Back to me though... We also have the crib put together, the sheets are washed and their coming home outfits are all clean and packed (Petite Tresor jumpers and hmmm... where did those cute little hand-knitted hats come from?).

We have the car seats put together with cushy lambswool liners and the little wee head supporters that little wee babies need. Not that our babies seem to plan to be little or wee, at all.

SO WE ARE READY TO HAVE BABIES!!! BABIES? DO YOU HEAR ME? WE ARE READY NOW!

Um, kinda. I mean, is anybody ever really totally ready for something like this?

1 comment:

Dakota said...

um, no, nobody is ever ready for something like this...not ready because it fills you with this crazy love that can't be described in words (well, Wendell Berry came close in Hannah Coulter). Anyway, you're going to have that TIMES TWO! And you're right, c section or no c section (I didn't like that part of the movie either), you're gonna have that love potion number 18 coursing through your veins, making you like a lovesick mama bear! In my birth class with Penny Simkin, there happened to be a midwife and a doula taking the class (mostly for their husband's benefit) and those two people happened to be the two out of the class who needed c sections. When we got together a few months later for a reunion, one of them said something very sweet, with tears in her eyes, 'Some babies need to be lifted into the light instead of pushed into the light.' So, whatever kind of birth you have, it's your own experience and it will be lovely.