Keeping Your Mind From Fearing Birth During Those Final Weeks

Watch out!  It’s officially birth month.  Something pretty large is exiting my body soon whether I like it or not.

My due date is Jan. 23rd.  So I’m currently 38.5 wks. pregnant.  Some might say baby is due any day.  Which is possible.  But really anytime between Jan. 9th and Feb. 6th should be considered “ordinary” since due dates are an approximation and two weeks “early” or “late” is the normal window in which your body is likely to go in to labor.

In fact, according to Glow’s Nurture Pregnancy App.  95% of babies aren’t born on their due dates.  Just 25% of babies come “early” and 70% of babies come “late.”

So, that said, I am just over here trying to keep my cool and enjoy these final weeks before a tiny dictator becomes the center of my universe.

The last couple of weeks I have shared resources I used to educate myself on birth, why I chose a natural birth, the natural hospital birth story of my first daughter, and today I’m sharing my thoughts on how I’m dealing with the idea of experiencing birth for the second time around – very, very soon.

In reality I am excited and nervous at the same time.  Birth is like a beautiful body and mind *ss kicking that can sneak up on you at any moment.  So psychologically, that’s a blast.

I’ve been trying to stay healthy, positive, and busy to avoid getting stuck in my own head.  Birth will happen in its own time, so in the meantime, here is how I’m keeping my mind from fearing birth during these final weeks…

• Staying Active:  I don’t feel quite as strong, or as active, as my first pregnancy, but I’m still making a decent effort.  I’m stretching, doing short (15-20 min.) body weight to 10 lb. weight workouts, and walking.  The better shape I keep my body in, the more likely it will be ready to be my teammate in labor.
• Relaxing:  My bubble bath habits have gotten a bit out of control.  Between finishing our master bath remodel and my baby belly growing much faster this time around, baths happen almost every other night.  I am not a big t.v. watcher, so the tub is likely where you’ll find me after 8 pm.  I also like to get massages.  I didn’t enjoy some of the wimpy prenatal massages I received with the first pregnancy.  So now that I am in the “birth month” window, I feel comfortable getting a firm massage again, with no fear of it setting me in to labor.  At this point, baby is developed.  Plus I feel like this aligns my spine and pelvis, which is helpful for baby’s exit strategy.
• Checking Things Off My To-Do List:  Some of the things are rational, and I really would like to accomplish them before baby arrives:  washing the infant car seat that have been in the dusty garage for a year, setting up some book marketing efforts for my children’s books that can run in the background, girl time with my friends.  But other silly things just get added on when I start to panic that I will never have free time again – like washing the living room curtains, transplanting my succulents, and filing every piece of paperwork in my house.
• Adulting – When you start to think about creating new life, you also start thinking about how you need to get your ducks in a row.  With the first baby, our adulting goal was to pay off the remainder of our hefty student loans before our daughter was born.  We managed to pay them off the month she was born, except the joke was on us when her monthly daycare and diaper bills ate up all the money we thought we were going to be savings.  Kids are fun.  This time around, our adulting goal was to write a will.  We managed to finish it, but are waiting to file it until we have a name and birth date for Baby Two.  But, at least we now have it on paper, and know what each of our wishes are, if needed.
• Filling My Head With Positive Thoughts:  Is child birth going to hurt?  Yup.  Am I going to have to try to push through that to have the birth I want?  Yup.  Is it going to be a walk in the park?  Nope.  And even with my best intentions, plenty of unforeseen things could still come up.  But, having no plan, is like planning to fail.  So, I’m filling my head with positive birth stories through the resources I mentioned here, and leaving the rest to the higher power at be.

I got this mailer from my hospital the other day.  They mention the pampering experience you receive in the Labor and Delivery ward.  That should be illegal.

Unless they now paint my toe nails and tell me I’m pretty during labor, leave chocolates on my pillow during turn down service, and my girly parts feel relaxed and rejuvenated when I go how with my newborn two days later, a pampering experience is a slight overstatement.

I’ll report back in a few weeks and let you know how that pampering experience played out.

***I’M CRACKING MYSELF UP OVER HERE***

Author: J.K. Coy

Orange County Mom. Wife. Author. I like being active almost as much as I love dark chocolate, so that works out well most days. View all posts by J.K. Coy