38 weeks and Holy Hotness Batman!

So apparently my plan of ending my pregnancy before the heat of summer arrived has backfired--while us Seattleites usually enjoy a cool, damp, and sometimes dreary June, this year Ma Nature is thumbing her nose at my careful planning by sending us our first heat wave remarkabley early. Yesterday hit about 95 in my back yard, which in our particular climate feels like being wrapped in a wool blanket whilst sitting in a sauna. Being humongously pregnant doesn't help. By late afternoon I felt drugged, but couldn't sleep because it was too warm in the house. When I finally was able to drift off, I slept to hard and too long resulting in a very groggy, lethargic evening. I felt much better after soaking in a cool bath for awhile. The kids had a ball-they played outside nearly all day, enjoying the sprinkler and potting veggie plants with Grandma. Garrett was disappointed to miss our first Farmer's Market of the year, but Grandma decided it was just too hot to try and walk him down there, and I agreed.

Today is my self-imposed deadline to have everything ready for the birth. We have our last meeting with our doula tonight, and I want everything in place so we can do a walk-through of the house to show her where it all is. That means I have to clean out our dressing room (our bedroom is comprised of two smaller rooms that we connected with french double doors-one houses our bed, the other our dressers and closets-it also holds the cradle and rocking chair-that's the "dressing room" (or as Morgan calls it, "dressing-up room")--aren't we fancy?) to make way for the birth pool and stools for people to sit on. I also need to create a tidy place for towels and linens, as well as the medical supplies. We'll set up candles on the dresser tops, and might have time to squeeze in installing a dimmer switch for the little chandelier we have in there, but it should turn out to be a very lovely birthing space. And having everything in there as opposed to the living room gives our guests a place to go should I require some private time. We have, as usual, quite the list of potential attendees (nearly all are contingent on when labor happens and how long it lasts)--myself, Troy, my mom and the kids are definites, followed by two midwives and our doula (unless I have a super-fast labor, which is a possibility but not a real concern), my dad (if baby can wait until the 10th), Erin (close friend and videographer of our other births), and Katie (another close friend who was present for Morgan's birth). That's 10 (not including me) people. That's a lot. But really, in comparison to a hospital birth where you will have 2-3 nurses, 1-4 doctors, 1-2 companions, 1 doula, and yourself, it isn't that bad-and I'd choose 10 people I know and love over 5 strangers in my birth room any day. And this way I can have some privacy without having to hide in the bathroom (I've had to send a number of laboring mommas into the bathroom for alone time because nurses and/or docs wouldn't leave them alone in their hospital rooms--seriously, who wants to go cry about medical interventions in a strange bathroom?) and my birth attendants will have a comfy place to hang out until I need them again. All in all, I'm really excited about creating my "birth suite" and am really hoping to labor for at least 3 or 4 hours so that I get a chance to use it. That may sound odd, a momma hoping for a longer rather than shorter labor, but I enjoy giving birth-and the shorter it is, the less time you have to adjust to the process and be in the moment--this makes the journey (and pain) more intense and out-of-control feeling. Now granted, I've never gone through a long, hard labor, so we'll see how this one goes and whether my attitude stays the same.

Fast forward to later today: Mom and I took the kids to a park on the Cedar River today in an attempt to relax, have fun, and stay cool. While we had fun and stayed cool, there was not so much of the relaxing--such is the life of a momma with young, energetic children. This particular park is neat because there is a little alcove built next to the river, so that river water runs in and out but there is a low wall to block the current (a very good thing, as it was running fast with snow melt-off today). So the kids were able to play in it much like a lake beach, but much colder-if I stood in it too long it made my calves cramp. So while I didn't get to bob around as I would have liked, it was hilarious watching the kids explore and test their own limits with the temperature-by the time we left they were able to sit in it up to their armpits, and tried to convince us they weren't cold! But oh, it was nice to sit in the shade with a cool breeze coming across the water. And get a little bit of sun on my gargantuan belly ;).

Oh, and I suppose I should add that at Monday's appt with midwife Val my blood pressure was normal, my urine test from the week before was great (no protein whatsoever, for those who googled preeclampsia-Shelley, you're going to be a walking pregnancy textbook by the time this baby is born ;) ), and while I've gained more weight than I'd like, we are all very pleased with things right now! Val drew more blood because, as she said, "once we start drawing, we kind of have to keep doing it," but she doesn't expect it to look weird--though she did admit being very alarmed by the initial bloodwork that set this whole mess rolling last week. We are very happy to no longer be alarming.

Oh, and we had a wonderful time throwing my henna party this last Sunday. It was just a joy-all my ladies (minus a few who had fairly legitimate reasons for not attending) gathered around, waiting on me, massaging my feet, and thoroughly enjoying each others' company while we all got painted. My belly art is awesome (it drew quite a few eyes at the beach today) and I really loved the general feeling of peace and happiness everyone brought along with them.

About 10 minutes in:
30 Min in:

Almost done! She was awesome-she added a bunch of stuff to the original design as I would request it, and made it look like it was supposed to be there. And she's only 19! (She works with her mom, who did the other ladies' art and was also my mentor doula during my training.) I soooo want to learn to do henna.

The ladies with their hands done (minus mom and my doula-mom's taking the shot and Alissa had to leave prior)-the artists took portraits of us all outside as well, I'll post them when I get them. My belly looks weird and oblong here...or maybe that's how it always looks, I can't see the whole thing all at once!!

The henna looks very dark here because the paste is still on--it takes about 6 hrs to set. I'll take more pics tomorrow so you can see what it looks like now that it has its full color-it takes a few days to finish staining and will stay for 2-3 wks, depending on how well I protect it. It's very cool and I totally recommend it.

It seems unreal that all these things I've been waiting for (readying the birth room, henna-ing my belly, gathering baby supplies, etc) are actually happening and we are now just counting days until our family has a new member. This pregnancy has been a complicated, unpredictable journey--but one I will saver while I have it and cherish forever, as with the little human we will soon have as a result of it. Despite all the hurdles, today I am just joyful. What a wonderful feeling.