sick day: a hodgepodge

The shitty thing about staying home sick when you are actually sick is that you are actually sick. Also, you are wasting precious sick days that you could take off and enjoy. It's like taking a Vikadin when you are actually in pain. Wouldn't you rather save it for when you're feeling better? Then you can really have some fun with it.

So I'm home sick for the second day in a row. I am feeling better today, thank fucking God because the past 3 days have been absolute hell. I can not remember feeling this crappy in so long. Apparently when you are pregnant all of your immunities go to the baby and you're left up shit creek without a paddle. It's taken me forever to kick this thing.

It's the same exact cold Dup had a week ago. I felt so triumphant and sort of cocky that I had avoided it completely and then BLAMO. I have to say that Dup is taking so much better care of me than I did of him when he had it. I feel bad about that. He's being so sweet to me, doing chores and bringing me ginger ale and things. I really love him.

In great baby news we have hired a Birthing Doula. Some of you may not know what a Doula is so I will quickly explain that there a different kinds but a Birthing Doula is sort of like a birth coach. She is not a medical doctor in any way and is not a midwife. She is just there for emotional and physical support. I decided right away that I wanted one because my experienced support system (mom, sister, cousin) are all in California. We're really going to try and have my mom here for the birth, I really pray to God she'll be here because besides being generally awesome, she is also a nurse practitioner and was a labor and delivery nurse for years and years. So she's knows a few things about birthin da babies. Also, she could actually check to see how dilated I am and help us decide when to go to the hospital. I hope she's there. She's going to try but it's tricky. Those little guys can come without warning or stay up there a while, you never know.

The Doula will definitely be there because we're paying her and she lives in Queens. We met with her on Sunday and she is very cool. She's in her late 40's early 50's and she has that out there quality you would expect a Doula to have but she is grounded and very organized. Also, she has so much to offer. She was originally trained in Dance and kineseology (ok maybe not so helpful in actual childbirth but a start) then she was certified as an Alexander Teacher (some of you may know that i'm very into the Alexander Technique) then she got trained in craniosacral therapy and then she was trained in visualisation exercises, which is sort of her specialty. She did one with us on Sunday where we go down into the amniotic sac and talk to the baby. She asked me to tell the baby that even though I was not feeling well, that it was doing wonderfully and perfectly safe all of the time. This made me a little teary because I had been so worried about the baby with all of my coughing and it felt good to be motherly and tell the baby that it was safe.

She also does massage and aromatherapy treatments. OK? She's like a walking spa. I want here there. Also, she has a sense of humor. She and I were laughing right away and most importantly, she was laughing AT ME. I really only get along with people who think i'm funny.

huh. i never really thought about it that way but it's totally true.

So we hired her and she's a little expensive but the best thing about her is that no matter at what point you hire her she works with you weekly and it's the same flat rate. So I get an hour of body work a week until I have the baby included in the cost. That my friends, is a freaking bargain. So she will be there with us pretty much from when the labor begins until after the baby is born and she will do craniosacral therapy on the baby too and then she comes to the house to do a post pardum visit. You're not sold yet? STEAK KNIVES PEOPLE! She comes with a set of them.

Seriously though, it makes me feel worlds better about the act of giving birth and also about the notion of attempting natural child birth because she has so much experience (96 births) and she can help us newbees make decisions along the way and help translate what the hospital staff are telling us to do and help us realise when we need to make a decision and when it's time to just go along with what they want us to do. The other great thing is that she has worked with our doctor a lot and she has done the majority of births at our hospital and she holds the entire staff and practice in the highest regard. She said they have a low rate of C-sections and they really encourage natural when possible. So that made me feel great.

Still, you just never know. So many things can happen and it's just impossible to predict what your own body is capable of until it happens. Women have been doing this since the dawn of time, YES but they also died from doing it quite often didn't they? And more often than that, the babies died. So, let's not let that happen. If I have to get a C-section then it's not a failure, it's saving my baby's life. And if I have to get an epidural because my baby is facing the wrong way and sitting on my sciatic nerve and i want to kill myself, then I will. But maybe it will be facing the right way and maybe I can do it and so I think I owe it to myself and my baby to try. Also, it just doesn't make sense to me to numb my body from the waist down when I'm trying to push something out of my vagina. And it doesn't make sense to me to not be able to not be able to move around. But there's a big part of me that's sitting in the back row going, "oh please you know you're getting the epidural so why even waste their time?" Ah well, I have some time to think on it...

The Gallivanting Monkey keeps sending us these great books. The most recent was "Spiritual Midwifery" which she lampooned on her blog a while back. I was surprised she sent it to us but Dup admitted later that he requested it. In just one night, I've devoured it. It's hilarious and wonderful. I want to strangle these hippies for having such groovy births all over god's green earth in a caravan but I also want to be them. It make so much sense to me that a birth should be an extremely spiritual, psychedelic experience. I have a feeling mine will be a bit different but it's nice to have these images and ideas there. Instead of "contractions" they call them "rushes" and the woman giving birth and her husband make out with each other during the whole birth. Um, with my mom there?

I just hacked up a huge phlegm ball. Excellent sign that I'm getting better.

Ok, I think I'll leave it at that. The View is coming on in a minute.

Oh wait one more thing. Don't you just love the commercials that are on during the day week days? It's either: personal injury lawyers, train to be a medical assistant, train to be a technician, get a quick loan, loose weight fast, or cold and flu medicine. Ok it's also cleaning products for those stay at home moms. So if you are watching TV during that time you are either fat, unemployed, want to get rich quick, home sick from work or a stay at home mom.