Planning Ahead

Something motivated me this weekend to do some real digging into the whole birth pool thing. At the orientation thingy (at the birth center) the nurse said they recently got a birth pool that can be used (either at the birth center or for a homebirth) but there's a rather hefty charge for using it. So I thought I'd look into what my other options were. First I looked into renting a birth pool on my own, but that's even more expensive (when you factor in shipping especially), so that made the birth center charge sound not so bad . . . but then I recalled vaguely that an online friend had talked about getting a kid's wading pool and using that for her birthing pool, so I went first back into the archives to see what she said about it, but could only find brief mention of ordering a wading pool, and then talk of testing in (older siblings love that "hey, lets go swimming in the house today!") and using it and such but nothing real nitty gritty on the specifics of it. Then (duh) I thought I'd go see what I could find on the homebirth forum at mothering.com (my overall assessment of the message boards at mothering.com . . . people tend to be quite untollerant of views that differ from their own, it's not someplace I'd go and post, looking for empathy/support/hugs/warm fuzzies HOWEVER it's an awesome resources for all things un-mainstream LOL) and lo & behold, w/o even having to hunt, there was a huge long sticky at the top of the forum about birthing pool options, including what kind of kiddie pools work well (inflatable, w/ inflatable bottom for some padding, in the 100 gal range so you don't run out of hot water filling it . . . ) links to specific ones that people have used w/ success, and great detail in the instructions on what you need & how to use it to fill & empty the pool (though after reading about the options for emptying the pool, I'm leaning toward opening a window & hanging a hose out of it LOL . . . I think we'll for sure do that if there's room to set it up in the bathroom (since that window opens to the backyard where draining a bunch of water would be no big deal for sure) if we have to set it up in the "school room" those windows open onto the front porch roof & the main sidewalk to the front door so that wouldn't work so well unless I could talk dh or dad into getting out on the roof or maybe it could be done from the ground w/ a longer hose?) and running the hose along the porch roof so it drained off hte end of the house not onto the sidewalk . . .) otherwise you waste SO much water running water through to drain it & w/ our slow draining tub (that I don't have much faith will be fixed by then, or ever LOL) that doesn't sound like a good option). Anyway . . . after reading through the whole thread, it seemed like a no brainer to by the $20 kiddie pool from amazon and the necessary "acquarium supplies" from petsmart (though I want to check w/ Dad and make sure he doesn't have any of them already before I buy those) and call it good for under $40! I debated trying to figure out when stores put out their summer stuff to see if I dared wait & get a pool from Toys-r-us (or wherever) next March, but finally decided not to risk it & went ahead & ordered it from Amazon.

So . . . the birthing pool, otherwise known as a kid's wading pool, is on it's way to us :)

While I was on the homebirth forum, I also found a massively huge (also stickied) thread about good things to have on hand for a homebirth, and read through that whole long list & wrote out my own list that is probably overkill (especially considering how short, easy my last labor was) but still . . . alot of it isn't so much buying anything as just making sure things are nearby or where others can find them (having a bowl nearby in case you need to throw up . . . things like that) and alot of the suggestions dealt w/ things to do for tears & such, to ease the pain post partum, which I don't remember being bad at all last time, and that was w/ less than ideal labor position (flat on my back), a doctor who looked at me like I'd lost my mind when I said no episiotomy, etc. Of course it was also w/ 5 lb babies and I'm sure this baby will be much bigger LOL. . . so I made note of all the suggestions and can use them IF I need them, but probably won't do much "prep work" in that regard . . .

Anyway . . . it felt good to be making some actual progress toward planning such things, and have the birth pool ordered so that's a major thing off the to do list.

Beyond that, nothing too exciting happening here. I'm running really low on energy, not at all helped by the fact that I am EXHAUSTED in the afternoon but can't get to sleep at night for the life of me! And weekends make it worse because dh is around so I CAN nap when I'm so tired in the afternoon but then I have an even harder time falling asleep at night, sigh . . .

Yesterday at bedtime I was telling the girls that, according to one site I read, the baby is now "about the size of a plum" so as she went up the ladder to her bed L said "goodnight my sweet little plum" awwww :)