14 Days Overdue

Today I feel blessed....as I feel I am learning so many great things from my pregnancy experience.  Our Doula sent me a very lovely email filled with some sage words of wisdom:

"Babies first lesson to their parents is taught in the timing and process of the birth. It teaches parents whatever they need to learn in order to parent that baby specifically. Patience, surrendering control. etc etc. This mental game is a great dress rehearsal for the birth. All the same aspects: tolerance, other peoples words swaying you in a vulnerable state, standing up for your wants and beliefs in the medical system, feeling out your trust and relationship with your Doula, bonding with your partner, challenging your own intuition. This is all part of birth, and you are going to be an expert at navigating it when baby does come"

I LOVE these words and they really got me thinking about things....how this wee one is just like its mom and dad....causing controversy and making sure everyone is paying attention for when baby decides he/she would like to make its grand enterance. Not quietly, not descretely and certainly on its own terms.....I think this baby will actually command cheers from people upon arrival.

My dad said a few weeks ago he thought baby would come as a birthday gift to me and I gaffawed at that saying no way it would take that long....and yet tomorrow is my birthday, and what a gift that would be!

This baby has also allowed Ivan and I to really enjoy our time together as a couple...spending each day together  and enjoying so many wonderful moments.  The other day we walked all the way along the water to Granville Island where we gawked at all of the gorgeous foods, then went to our favorite fish and chip shack for lunch called Go Fish .  I have been watching some of my favorite cooking shows during the day and experimenting with recreating the food at night.  I have been able to fully stock our freezer with lots of delicous foods for when we are running on empty and don't want to cook.

Mostly this experience has taught me once again that very valuable lesson of living in the present (like my absolute favorite book The Power of Now taught me many years ago....but this lesson must be taught and taught again).  I felt nervous to go into our Doctors office yesterday...anticipating she would send me straight to the hospital to be induced....but quickly realized that there is a choice in everything we do...and there was no need for me to be nervous about the appointment for the past few days.  We spoke with both her and her resident (who we have also been seeing weekly) and she asked how I was feeling about being induced and I was very frank and said, so long as baby and I are testing fine then I am not interested at all.  They explained that the 10 days over rule is very universal in North America, but her practice strives to find a balance between the "medical rule" and providing quality "personalized" care.  This visit left me with an even greater amount of respect for my doctor than before.  I knew we chose her in the first place because she seemed very open to honest disscussion and natural birth...but hearing that she was in support of our decision to wait for the babies arrival (of course as long as the testing continues to come back fine) made me so very happy.

So we are off for a heart rate test (called a non-stress test) today....and then another accupuncture appointment this afternoon and we shall patiently await the grand enterance of baby while we enjoy!