Oh, Baby

Personal

I guess I haven’t really talked about this or made any formal announcement yet. Since I’m due any day now, I figured it’s probably (past) time to announce that I’m pregnant ;)

I’m not really the type to make a fuss about this sort of thing, which I think is why I kept it quiet for so long. Sure I’ve made some comments here and there on twitter or facebook, but somehow skipped the whole “By the way, I’m having a baby!” announcement. Yes, I’m totally delighted and happy, and can’t wait for this belly lump to turn into a baby (it happens by magic, right?!), but it sort of felt… private. As well it should feel I guess. I’m pigheaded sometimes (er… sometimes?), and didn’t want to get flooded with random advice and horror stories and teasing (isn’t it weird that the first response for most people to pregnant women is to tease them about what’s ahead? Really, society, grow up).

So I kept quiet. But at this point, well, it’s a little hard to keep quiet any more. And once I actually have the baby I’m sure I’ll want to talk more about that as well!  So consider this my official announcement!

 I’m about 38 weeks along at this point. The “official” due date is 31st October which I REALLY want to get (hear that baby?). I’d love my baby to have a Halloween birthday. Halloween still isn’t a very big deal in Australia, but it’s growing in popularity. It’d be cool to have people dress up and get free candy every birthday, right?

I fell pregnant very quickly after my wedding. We were planning to have kids, but what with previous health issues, we were trying not to expect too much, thinking it could take months or longer to fall pregnant. We were very wrong, lol.

This is the part where you’re really going to hate me. I’ve had such a breeze of a pregnancy. I feel great most of the time. I’ve had a tiny bit of acid reflux, but no morning sickness, and skipped a lot of the normal complaints pregnant women suffer. Sure it’s a bit uncomfortable now, but I’m still doing almost everything I was before (even putting my own shoes on!), and was painting walls and going overseas just a couple of weeks ago. Fingers crossed the smooth running will continue on through the birth itself.

We haven’t found out yet if it’s a girl or a boy, we’re waiting to find out at birth. And no, for those who think so based on the photo, I’m not having twins (although I would have liked to!). Keep in mind I’m only about 5 foot tall, so my belly looks really big on me. It’s just ALL out the front like that.

We’ve picked a girl’s name and a boy’s name already. They’re a bit geeky, of course! But hopefully not too much to cause a lifetime of misery for the child ;) I’m not going to share what the names are yet, but I will say that they are both from Greek mythology.

I’d share a photo of the nursery, but it’s really nothing fancy. I’m not much one for “stuff” so we’ve bought very little and plan to keep things as minimal as possible, rather than cluttering with unnecessary accessories. In fact, luckily we haven’t had to buy barely anything. We got all necessary baby furniture and clothing as hand-me-downs. All we’ve bought is a new cot mattress, and a soft toy Chewbacca who roars when squeezed (uh, ok, I think I probably bought that for myself…).

I’ve got all sorts of crazy plans for my baby. I’m avoiding all chemical baby care products for starters, but that’s a simple choice for me. I avoid all chemical beauty products (and cleaning products, etc) for myself already! Want to know why? Check out this video- http://storyofstuff.org/cosmetics/. I’m hoping to get some of that Dunstan baby language stuff working for me, as well as baby sign language. I’m planning to cut down on baby’s environmental footprint by using a combination of cloth nappies and “elimination communication”, or infant toilet training. And of course, breastfeeding is a no-brainer. I figure since I already work from home I’m in a great place to be able to spend time playing with these plans. They might not pan out, I might be too overwhelmed just with normal baby care to bother, but I’m going to have a go!

I’ve got no fancy plans for the birth though. I’ve been really impressed with the public hospital midwives system here in Australia. Birth isn’t anything like what I expected it to be, like they show on TV with a woman lying on her back in bed, in styrups, screaming. That’s SO 1950′s. They are really pushing natural, non-medicalised, low intervention births, which is great. So while I’m not following any particular “brand” of birth plan, no water births or similar, I’m planning to just go with the flow. I figure no matter what I plan anyway, whatever is going to happen will happen. The hospital midwife system caters to anything from completely natural to specialist medical care if needed.

It’s funny. Going into the pregnancy I didn’t know a lot about birth other than what you see on TV. Our culture led me to believe that any woman who tried to go drug-free for birth was some kind of insane hippy, and that the epidurals are standard these days (and they are, with almost 70% of women getting them). But after learning more about all the different approaches and what is actually being recommended now, not just by individuals, but by the state health department, I’m keen to try and go drug-free and natural. Whether or not I manage is another story!

So keep your fingers crossed for me that baby decides to make an appearance on Halloween! Honestly, I’m getting very excited and a little impatient. I’d be happy for it to happen any day now! But still, a Halloween Baby would be very cool…

 

| 20 comments