First contractions

We had our "home visit" today with our midwife team, which includes two midwives, Kelley and Joyce, and an apprentice, Gina. Kelley determined that the baby was indeed head down, and that I was feeling the now larger bum and legs up by my ribs. Her estimate was that the baby was six pounds, which would put us at about 8 pounds by our due date.

We talked about my vision for the birth, which includes a birthing tub downstairs, relaxing music and candles. I envision a soothing and spiritual environment to help ground me. I find it so empowering that I can choose how I give birth, to a good degree. We have so many choices in this process, and yet most women aren't even made aware of them.

We also watched a home birthing video today with our team, in which a mother gave birth to twins (one breech) with no assistance. The confidence, the presence, the ecstacy of this woman was very inspiring. As I watched her catch her baby, one of the midwives said to me "that will be you!" There is nothing, nothing, that I can imagine to be more amazing than this birthing experience may be.

Even though I'm in my last month, I really don't feel ready to birth soon. I am still comfortable (except the acid reflux), and do not feel "done" with my pregnancy. It feels surreal still to imagine that a baby will soon join us outside my womb.

I did feel my first contractions tonight, though! They felt like menstrual cramps. I had experienced little sensations recently, but these seem to be the braxton hicks type that I've heard about.

So, on another note, it looks like the Sox will win the World Series. This is especially good news for us, because we bought mattresses at Jordan's during their "monster deal". That means that we get a full refund if the Sox win. Yeah us!