Ready

It’s 5 PM on Sunday night and it is now a pretty safe bet that my doctor will be available to deliver my baby when I go into labor.  My pastor should be available to visit me during labor and give me a blessing as well.

Now I’m just hoping and praying that this little troll baby gets this party started on his/her own before hot doctor starts bugging me to do an induction. I have a non-stress test scheduled at the hospital on Monday night at 6 PM, then I’m seeing hot doctor for a check-up on Thursday morning at 7:45 AM.

My employer (who has been so wonderful to me) seems a bit uncomfortable with me working past my due date, and though he’s too polite to say it, I think they were planning on striking my job from their budget no later than my due date. So I’ve agreed to tap out after Tuesday’s shift if I have not delivered by then.

More importantly though: I finally feel ready for this. My hospital bag is packed, my daughter’s bag is packed for staying with a friend for a few days, I’ve created several playlists worth of songs to labor to that I can play at the hospital, the bassinet is all ready for baby to sleep in, the infant car seat is installed into my car, and I’ve reached a sense of peace and excited anticipation for this birth. I’ve also prepared a set of excerpts from Margaret L. Hammer’s Giving Birth that I’d like to have read to me during delivery. I e-mailed a copy to my doula and printed another copy for my hospital bag. With DD, I don’t think I ever felt ready. I was afraid of labor beforehand, afraid while it was happening, and then I was afraid of being her mother after she arrived. With this baby, I’m like, “bring it!”

My marital problems? On the shelf but not forgotten.

Oh, and Mike’s Hard Limeade? Yeah, I really am packing that into my hospital bag:

So as they said in Cabin in the Woods, “Let’s get this party started!”