Some Random Thoughts...

1. I love receiving comments about my pregnancy from strangers. It is so interesting to hear because they have no idea who I am and have no fantasies about what they wish the gender would be. Remember the first person that said 'Congratulations' to me was a homeless man at the grocery store when I was 18 weeks. There is one homeless man that I talk to a few times a week and he always tells me that I am having a boy because I carry low and I am always smiling. Last week I had some extra time to chat so he told me about his kids and remembering about the different pregnancies. His theory was that women who carry boys always smile, are happy, and want to do things but women who carry girls are moody and want to lay around the house all day. Kyle begs to differ with his boy prediction based on that description.

My other favorite stranger comment came from a girl while waiting for the train to come. She walked around me and then said, "Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" I thought for sure she was going to ask me something about the train so I said ok. She asked if I knew what the gender of the baby was and I told her no. Then she said, "It is a boy...trust me" and then just walked away and vanished. I told Kyle I think that she was a psychic or something because it was a very strange experience and I got a really weird vibe from her. Not that I believe in that kind of stuff but it was odd.

2. We took our Prenatal class yesterday at the hospital that we are going to deliver at. In the beginning we did introductions and learned that we were only one of two couples that had a midwife versus an OB-GYN and we were only one of two couples that were striving for a natural birth. Very interesting for us to hear. The hospital has a 95% epidural rate which Kyle and I think is just outrageous! The class only solidified our reasoning for wanting a midwife and wanting to go natural (I am glad I have a birth partner who is on the same page). The teacher would always talk about how things are going to go and then say, but since you have a midwife it will be different, and it was always a more positive aspect. For instance, she said that the doctor would only be in the room for the last few pushes and to check in but that the midwife would be in the room a lot more during the labor portion and probably there for the entirety of the pushing if there isn't a lot going on. She also explained that midwife patients have the option of a tub for labor but it is a lot more difficult to get one in your room if you see a doctor. Granted this is different at every hospital but this is the way that it happens at the hospital that we go to.

We learned some nice relaxation techniques as well and are going to try really hard to implement them especially in the early stages of labor when we will more than likely be at home. Kyle even had to give me a massage during the class which was AMAZING! I am going to make sure he keeps practicing so he doesn't forget.

3. I know that I haven't talked very much about our ideas of wanting a natural birth on the blog because so many family and friends really aren't on the same page with us, but it is something that is really important to us so we hope that if you don't agree or had a positive experience with your epidural or c-section, that is good for you but we hope that we don't have to have that. Obviously we can't control how labor and delivery goes so we need to remain open but we strive to have an intervention-free delivery. Maybe I will have a separate post one day explaining thoroughly our reasoning behind our decisions.

Kyle desperately needs to take some new belly pictures so hopefully we will have new ones up soon!