Getting Ready For Our Baby

My wife, Cornelia, is due May 11th. This will be our fourth child, God willing.

We're planning another home birth. It's a great way to have a baby. Of course, we have a hospital backup if the need arises.

With two months left, I'm now starting to focus on this baby and it's coming birth. We went to the midwives office yesterday for a checkup.

Cornelia and the baby are doing great. The baby has a strong heartbeat and she (we don't know what gender the baby is, but we're saying she) is head down and ready to go. She looks like another big one.

Cornelia has big babies. My step-son Ari was well over nine pounds and Lucas was eleven pounds 4 ounces. So, of course, I'm more than a little concerned about her home birthing another big baby at the age of 44. But the midwives do not seemed concerned, nor does Cornelia. So I will trust their judgment.

We decided to try a water birth again. The last time it didn't work out so well. With most techincal things, I get pretty compulsive. So when it came to a water birthing tub, I got right to work. Calculated the tub weight filled with water so that it wouldn't crash through our bedroom floor and into the living room. Found just the right position in the bay of our bedroom so that it's weight would be supported by the front wall of the house.

Then I wanted to do a dry run (actually a wet run) to find out how long the birthing tub water would take to fill and get up to temperature. At that point, everyone told me to take a chill pill and forget about it.

So... Cornelia goes into labor... her sisters comes over... I say I need to fill the tub... they say, don't worry not yet... the midwives come over... I say I need to fill the tub... they say ok go ahead... then we all realize that it taks a LOT of water to fill a jacuzzi sized birthing tub and a LOT of time to bring it up to temperature. There were men in the kitchen actually boiling water!

Anyway, Cornelia's labor was just under five hours and the tub never got fully filled. So, she delivered Lucas in a birthing chair instead.

This time, I'm testing the dang tub out before she goes into labor. If it works out, this baby will be born into a pool of body temperature water. I'll need to log it as her first swim workout!

I'll keep you posted.  And meanwhile, please keep the baby and Cornelia in your prayers.