Baby talk.

   I'm afraid my blog is going to be quite baby-themed for the next few weeks or so.  Bear with me!  It's heavily (pun intended) on my mind.
  
   Today was actually quite profitable.  My mother-in-law Bonnie had an idea (that was nothing short of divine inspiration), to have a once-a-week "Grandma Day".  So she had Jocelyn all day and I was able to tear through the house, getting things done.  I did some laundry, namely washing up some baby things like the car seat and bouncy seat covers.  I already have the bedding, blankets and towels all washed and ready, and it all makes baby girl seem so much closer!

   I am especially giddy about the bouncy seat (which I badly needed) that I found at a garage sale BRAND NEW for $10.  It's a Combi Pod bouncer, which reportedly retails for $90, although I realize it can be found cheaper other places.  Such a steal.

 Another garage sale steal was these baby moccasins!  I just love them to pieces.

 I am so glad I didn't lose my patience and end up buying these:

 source

I saved about $59 this way.:)

   Then Randy came home from work early so that we could go into town to do some grocery shopping and meet with the maternity nurse coordinator at the hospital.  We also got to tour the labor/delivery rooms, and go over our birth plan.  Yes, you read right, we are having our 2nd at the hospital.  This is for a number of different reasons that I won't launch into right now.  Maybe some other day.  But one of which is the fact that when we moved, we moved 20-25 minutes farther away from the birth center where we had Jocelyn, and considering that Jocelyn was born an hour after we got there, and 2nd babies tend to go even faster, we didn't think we should take our chances of delivering along side the road somewhere.  :p

   Like I said, there are other reasons, but I don't really want to go into them now.  In a perfect world, I wouldn't give birth in a hospital.  I would give birth in a jacuzzi in a fully furnished (and air conditioned) hut on the beaches of Bora Bora.  Randy would be dutifully massaging coconut oil into my aching muscles and a midwife would be fanning me with a palm branch as soothing guitar music played softly in the background. 

But this isn't a perfect world now, is it?

  And so sometimes we have to work with what we have, and this time around, for us, that means the hospital.  But I am optimistic.  Hospitals have changed a LOT in the past number of years, and are much more open-minded and even supportive of approaching labor and delivery as naturally as possible.  I am not scared of the hospital, and although I have heard lots of horror stories (who hasn't?) I am confidant that things can go just as well there as they can somewhere else.

   It was evident as I talked with the maternity coordinator that some of the things that were important to me, were very important to her too.  Without me even bringing it up, she mentioned skin-to-skin contact between the mother and the baby happening immediately after birth, and the baby is never "whisked away to the nursery" as is often perceived.   I felt completely supported in my decisions to breastfeed and abstain from medication or an epidural, and other things.  She never once seemed pushy or even subtly trying to affect my decision.  Randy and I both really liked her.

   So, we'll see how it goes.  I am not saying I think everything will go perfectly as planned.  I am not that naieve.  But I am saying that I think hospital's horrible reputations are not always what they seem.  And I am both curious and excited to see how it will be for me, during this birth.  I will keep you posted.:)

In other news, I am 37 weeks along!

   This means that:

• Baby girl is the size of a small watermelon, and boy does it sure feel that way!  I feel like a beached whale most of the time, and it is getting harder and harder to get comfortable.
• Her body is developed enough to survive outside of the womb. 
• Her lungs, now filled with amniotic fluid, are ready to take her first breaths of air. 
• Her eyelids flutter open and shut preparing for her first view of Mommy and Daddy.
• This baby is just about done growing inside of me. It could be anytime now!

   I am so excited to meet this little soul.  To touch her velvet skin, and to see if she has lots of dark hair like Jocelyn or is bald like her daddy was.  To name her.  To hold her close and breathe in that newborn scent that no one in the whole world can replicate.  To watch her meet her Big Sister.  To take her home and start our life as parents of two.  TWO!  Are we crazy?!

Hopefully the next few weeks fly by, because I am one, impatient (and uncomfortable) mama!