Friday, July 17, 2009

The home stretch

Suzi helping Pluto feel Ivey last night


Wednesday we saw Dr. Stafford (or "Dr. Polo Shirt," as Julie calls him). He wrote my prescriptions, said the baby had a strong heartbeat, and we said thanks and goodbye until I get pregnant again! We picked up the prescriptions (two injectables and some pills we need to have available for the birth just in case) on the way home and luckily it was under $35 with our insurance. I'm 37 weeks and a day by the midwife's calculations. Our midwives are coming for the home visit Tuesday to bring the birth kit and go over final details.

Here's the list of things I've done to prepare so far:

1) Put together and made up Ivey's bed (Arm's Reach Cosleeper)
2) Got cradle set up for downstairs naps
3) Bought a food dehydrator and encapsulation kit for my placenta
4) Put together a basket of labor tools
5) Wrote an emergency hospital birth plan
6) Called Carey about 20 times with questions
7) Installed Ivey's car seat (well Jordan did)
8) Made and froze a chicken pot pie and a couple other things
9) Did a lot of cleaning in various places
10) Did some plaster belly casting (messy!)
11) Washed Ivey's cloth diapers
12) Made music playlist for labor
13) Packed in bins all the stuff we'll need; see below


When you're having a baby in the hospital, they supply all the linens and pretty much everything you need. For a homebirth, YOU are responsible for all that. I went through our linen closet and picked out all our crappy, mismatched towels and washcloths. Then I washed them on hot with Clorox, rinsed twice, dried them on high, and packed them up for the birth. Not only is our linen closet tidy, but we didn't have to spend any money! We also had to wash and pack up two sets of bedsheets, some receiving blankets, and clothes for the baby and me. We bought some teeny little Seventh Generation disposables for Ivey's first black tar poo (if you've had a baby, you know the one I'm talking about). There are many other things we packed up too, and they are all stacked in the corner of our bedroom. I had a good time getting them ready.

I decided not to pack a just-in-case hospital bag, because I don't feel like it. If I do have to go to the hospital in a hurry I probably won't need much and someone can throw a bag together for me. I need the stuff I would pack for my homebirth, and how can it be in the right place if it's in a suitcase? Besides, the whole thing seems so pessimistic. My emergency birth plan is in my purse, so I'll have that in case I need it.

I have just two weeks left of work and then I'm a stay-at-home mom. Big changes are coming for us!

One more picture... Because Suzi said "take my picture, Mommy!"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hooray for the home stretch!

And those itty-bitty diapers slay me. I find them impossibly small, yet they're roomy on a newborn. I think I want another baby just to use the teeny-tiny things again.

Anonymous said...

i am so, so excited for you and sweet ivey! the preparation and list-making and checking off is so conducive to nesting, no? ;) can't wait to see you all next week. <3
your birth will be beautiful!

Emily said...

So exciting! I am only a little bit jealous of your home birth plans ;-) I hope everything goes wonderfully!

And about the encapsulation....I'm still trying to decide whether to have someone do it for me or to do it myself. I think I could stomach it, but I'm afraid once I get this little one home....I may not have the time or ambition to do it. My husband doesn't mind the idea, but he definitely doesn't want to do it, so that's out. Hmmmm....decisions, decisions.

Kristin said...

Those final days are both exciting and agonizing. Praying all goes well.

And I agree about not packing a just-in-case bag. I was watching a bunch of episodes from A Baby Story lately and it seems that when someone says, "I can always get an epidural if I need it" or "We can go to the hospital if we need to", they always end up needing to. It is the self-fulfilling prophecy!

Lauren Wayne said...

I didn't pack a just-in-case bag either, for the same reasons. I think that's a good idea. Yea for home-birthing supplies! I love to see people's stashes.