little feet, big sky

Impatient little bugger that I am, I’m starting to get frustrated that the baby has yet to “drop”. I can feel him/her getting lower, as my hips start to ache more and I feel more “pelvic pressure”, but I still look like I’m carrying high. Bleah.

I try to be reassured that some babies wait until labor to engage, or that you might not lose your mucus plug until labor starts. But I know this is unlikely. As a first-time mom, I worry that the baby is just too damn cozy in there. :-( I know too many moms that ended up with cesareans because the baby didn’t drop, or labor just never started and I’m frustrated that I’ll end up like that. I just want to have this baby at home; is that too much to ask?

I found on a thread on the Mothering forums that recommends things like walking, squatting, sitting on a birth ball and even dancing & “bumpy car rides”. *sigh* I’m sure I’ll try some of these things, but can you tell I’m getting depressed already?

Fuck.

Enough already – time to get showered & dressed for the day. I have a chiropractic appointment today, and I want to get all the baby things washed. I have cloth diapers to prewash and that will definitely take the rest of the day.

I know that in the last few weeks leading up to my due date I’m supposed to be resting, but it’s hard! I still need to get the bedroom organized, put together a diaper bag, an “emergency” hospital bag, etc. But st the same time, I don’t want to be at home. I keep thinking of errands that I can go run, people to meet up with for lunch, and stuff that really isn’t more important than me resting.

According to my favorite pregnancy calculator, I’m current 37 & 4/7 weeks pregnant. Now should be about the time for the baby to drop, so I’m trying to do everything I possibly can to encourage that. The acupuncturist did a some points to help with that, and starting today, I’m going to make myself walk every day.

This is harder than it seems to be, for me, at least. Here are some of my fabulous excuses for not walking more often, all of which elicit much eye-rolling from the spouse:

• It’s hot. By the time I wake up and get dressed, it’s heating up enough that it’s too hot to go for a walk outside.
• In the afternoon/evenings when it’s cool enough, I’m too tired.
• We live on a bit of a crest of a hill. Which means that walking in either direction requires an arduous walk uphill. (Okay, okay – only arduous when you’re 8 months pregnant.)
• Walking around the neighborhood is boring.
• Walking around the neighborhood while listening to something on iPod/iPhone is only slightly less boring. (I used to love this. While pregnant, I find it oddly annoying. No idea why.)

Now, I realize these reasons would never get me out of hell, but they’re all quite true, to some degree. Still, I realized the importance of walking to get the baby to drop, even as the 21-year-old in me shrieks at the thought of voluntarily doing something to shift a bowling ball into my pelvis. So I’ve figured out a plan that only someone in Los Angeles would think of: I shall drive somewhere nice to walk and walk around there instead! :-)

Some of the locations I have in mind are: the beach, near Malibu; Huntington or Descanso Gardens; Sunset Plaza; the Grove; Aquarium of the Pacific; and West Hollywood.

Any other tips/advice for getting the baby to drop? Factual tidbits or old wives tales welcome!

I’ve been looking at birth tubs/pools trying to pick one out and thought I should share my research. There are two main sites as recommended to me by my midwife: waterbirth.org and yourwaterbirth.com.

yourwaterbirth.com seems to mostly sell birth pools and kits and has a wider selection, but waterbirth.org is like the motherlode of waterbirth information, so I’d suggest starting there. The only model that really appealed to me in both price and features on yourwaterbirth.com was the La Bassine ($95). It’s about 100gal, with an inflatable floor and has handles on the inside, which is pretty neat. The downside for me is that it’s made out of PVC which probably has phthalates.

Which is ultimately why I’ll be ordering the birth pool in a box eco ($185, with liner) from waterbirth.org. In the regular size, there’s room for the partner or labor support person, is made from phthalate-free PVC, handles on “top” and on the outside, and has a built-in seat.

As for accessories, waterbirth.org offers a fairly generic accessory kit for $100 that includes an electric air pump, a floating duck thermometer, a “non-toxic, lead-free” hose, a long handled debris net, and an electric drain pump. yourwaterbirth.com offer more customizable kits ranging from $40 (manual air pump) to $195 (electric air pump), and also has kits available for rent.