good news and mass indecision

Hi all -
Things seem to be getting crazier and crazier the closer we get to baby johnson's arrival. I am very happy to report that as of yesterday morning, the baby's head is down and in place for delivery. I saw a naturopathic doctor who does home births yesterday morning, and with very little effort, she was able to move the baby into the correct position. This woman was amazing, and the experience was by far the best I've felt about having this babe in Hawaii's chaotic health care system. She said that it was actually a very easy move - that the baby wasn't too far from where he/she needed to be. Which led me to wonder why my own midwives haven't done anything like this..............they were ready to let me have a c-section. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the irony - that a naturopathic doc/homebirth midwife was much more capable of getting baby and I ready for birth than the docs and midwives i've seen at the hospital where we are scheduled to have the birth.

So now we're weighing the home birth option. Insurance, of course, doesn't cover home births, so it would be a significant financial consideration if we were to change plans 26 days before due date. Our families are also very opposed to this option, as they are concerned that something could go wrong. However, we are friends with 4 couples who have hired this woman to deliver their children, and all of them rave about her, and have nothing but good things to report about their birth experiences. It's hard to decide - we dont know now what we're going to do, and we dont have a lot of time to decide. I have an appointment with our regular midwife tomorrow morning. I think my feelings towards our birth choices will be largely determined by how this appointment goes.

In other news, i learned that "there is absolutely nothing going on" and this babe "isn't coming out any time soon". So much for the 3 weeks early that I was hoping for. The doc yesterday said that the baby is still very high, that there is no activity with my cervix, and that she didnt expect an early delivery. Better for baby, but frustrating for mom. I'm ready to be done with this whole pregnancy experience, but we'll be glad to welcome a healthy baby whenever he or she is ready to make an appearance.

The last couple of weekends, Cam and I have spent a good amount of time getting the house ready for baby. We now have everything cleaned, set up, washed, organized, and ready! We met with, and hired a doula (who looks very much like Cam's sis Alexa) who will provide labor support for both Cam and I. This weekend we will meet with her again and make a birth plan. I think we know pretty well what we want, we just need to get it in writing. We got out the hospital bag, and i packed stuff for the baby, and we have something close to a list of stuff that we'll need for the event. The carseat hasnt made it into the car yet, but it is out and ready to go. We're getting there.

More soon...........
Lisa