Long time fan - first time commenter.
Just wanting to wish you luck. We welcomed our #2 four months ago and it has been a marathon, but a very satisfying one. All the best!
Good luck!
will be thinking of you four (!) over the next few weeks. luck!
Even "anal fissures" couldn't stop the beautiful flow of your writing! Best of luck.
Jules
House of Jules
You remember, though, right? This is the worst part - the waiting, the last weeks when all you want is to give birth but you're so scared of actually giving birth, too... Try to relax, put your feet up, and yell at the dog from the couch - you deserve it.
I remember the last few weeks of pregnancy so clearly. And you've described it all perfectly: the anxiety, coupled with excitement, and a little dread thrown in for good measure.
Your relationship with Jim sounds so much like my own with my husband, who takes on the worrying (thanks, S.!). I never worry (well, unless I'm pregnant) about anything after, say, tomorrow, whereas my husband worries about what's going to go down YEARS from now.
I wish you a speedy and painless (at least in a relative sense) delivery. Can't wait to meet the next Dutch and Wood creation.
I'm usually not a worrier, but these past few weeks I can't stop being terrified of all the things that come with the birth of Number Two, including (esp.?) the birth. I've been reassured that this is normal.
We're both in the homestretch, Wood. Best of luck to you: may your labour be healthy, fast, and as pain-free as possible. I'll be thinking of you.
We've all lived through anal fissures before. You will be fine.
fissures... sounds like something you'd eat on crackers with goat cheese.
errr.
The last line, the one about managing and handling? You will.
Just wait until they start cracking each other up - you'll totally explode with pride, and let me tell you, that's messier than fissures with goat cheese anyday, but much more enjoyable... enough so to make all the other mechanical details fade into irrelevance.
our Juniper was transverse breech at 37 weeks and, like your baby, was successfully turned. i used a combination of willpower and the Earth's gravitational pull to keep her in launch position for the next 3 weeks. wishing you all best.
"she's like a gastropod that propels herself along the ground by laying down a track of stuffed animals, crayons, and crude drawings of her unborn brother" Ahhhh, thanks for the laugh. I know this phenomenon well.
I agree with the other commenters ... I think the last few weeks of pregnancy are some of the hardest (maybe not quite as hard as the first trimester, but they come close). I think there are a lot of amorphous worries which there are no answers to and they just feel really overwhelming (like, how in the world will I handle two children, one of them being a newborn?). Somehow, it just feels more comforting to worry about things like anal fissures. At least it's defined and known (possibly?) and there is, perhaps, some kind of remedy. Whereas, there is no "remedy" to having two children, or any of those other, more amorphous fears.
As for the positioning woes, it sounds like you have things well in hand, but if it comes down to it, craniosacral therapy can be very effective at turning breech or posterior babies. My mw has used it to turn breech babies, and the CS therapist I see has done it as well. Drop a line if you need a contact -- my CS therapist is in Royal Oak (it costs $65/session).
Life is a fine line and as delicate as it is tough - kinda like a newborn. Well before I get too poetic (in my own mind) can I just say that I can't believe it's 37 weeks already - it seems so fast (for me at least, feel free to virtually slap me for that comment). Best wishes for the upcoming event.
That's the problem with worrying, the inevitable avalanche of possibilities. You will be fine. Whatever happens, it will all be fine.
I like a woman who can acknowledge her pre-labor anxiety and joke about anal fissures in the same sentence. The lead up to the 2nd birth is rough but in my experience, things even out after the baby is born. All that shit you worried about with the first? Is she breathing? How do I breastfeed? Is *that* normal? Most of it is gone. I enjoyed my 2nd (and 3rd) babies immensely, so much less stress than #1.
jim cooks and cleans for you so you don't have to do anything when you get home? woman, show some gratitude and sit your ass down on that couch, possibly using Wendell as a footrest. imeanit.
in unrelated news, you are very, very funny
"Violet O'Hefty"--I think I am totally changing my screen name to that. I loved this post, probably because I could identify with every word. Although I am the worrier in my family and my husband is Mr Lah-De-Dah about most things. I miss sleep.
I was freaking out about having almost no clothes for a boy; then we did one big shopping spree weekend and now I'm fine. The rest of it? Right there with you. I'm in denial about having two of them. As far as planning a party, we had Maggie's at Ladels and it was wonderful,they did a great job and everyone had so much fun. And all I had to stress about was the cake. She still talks about it: "Remember? I had my birthday party? At the bookstore?"
As one fed attorney to another-dude, it's not like any of us are working either so don't feel so guilty. Here I am reading your blog post when I should be giving away your valuable tax money.
I hope they gave you an aeron chair or whatever the hell it's called-I was sort of dubious but it's so much easier to be a bureaucrat in this thing.
Good luck with the birth and everything.
Thinking of all four of you (and Wendell too) as the day approaches.
I had no idea that there was a girdle contraption that could 'hold' the baby in position. So cool.
Glad he could be flipped. Hope he stays that way like a good boy and all goes well.
I can't really say to stop worrying, as I am 28 weeks and the third trimester panic has set in for me as well.
But really. No matter what (and this is my mantra so feel free to use it) everything will be okay because you love each other and you're a family and you'll get through it.
I'm with superblondgirl. The last few weeks of pregnancy were WAY worse than labor, delivery, and the first few sleepless weeks of infanthood. I was anxious about everything, constantly waddling around trying to nest before collapsing in a heap, mumbling about sciatica. At least it wasn't anal fissures.
Sometimes it helps just to rename something that bugs you. When I was struggling with now being actually fifty-six years old- that sounds soooo old- I renamed it fiddy-six. Now it just sounds kinda hip to be fifdy-six.
Anal fissures price for example makes it sound more toy-like. Or Fissures R Us- could be a nice place to shop for things to use on or use with anal fissures. You could walk down the big isles with your shopping cart and pick out- oh I don't know - some kind of super duper hemroid creme.
Finally, just to challenge yourself- you could call it anal fissure or go hungy. That way you could make up stories about "the one that got away."
Hmmmm, just so you know- thinking about all 4 of younz- and sending big wishes for a speedy happy healthy birth. Soon it will all be over- you will all be home getting used to being four instead of three and trying to find fun things to do together. Probably, when the new baby is sleeping, you'll all sit back and have a nice simple card game- maybe something like Go Fissures would work good.
oh the things i could worry about- and do! from the most benign to the most outlandish- right now i'm freaking out about possible early pre-eclampsia, what if i get put on bedrest, how this all is going to rock our already precarious world, and oh yes, it's a *male* and oh crap, everything we own is for a female and i know that's a selfish reason to want another girl, but we're just a little shell-shocked right now. how will i raise up a good man? what if he's even earlier and smaller than pnut?
all i thought i needed for this pregnancy was a mobywrap and some diapers. sigh. i'll bet we'll all manage just fine, somehow. best to you all- a sweet and manageable l&d for you- we'll be thinking of you.
I hope the rest of the journey goes smoothly. I too watched The Ghost Hunters Marathon the other night and it gave me nightmares.
Clearly your MW kicks ass, so no worries my dear! Half the battle is finding the right caregiver.
Spinning babies is exactly the right place to puruse at this point and surely you have it down? so you can get regular pelvic adjustments from a fab chiro and prop yourself up on your birth ball while watching Jimdarling cook and clean while reading awesome birth stories online.....
oh yea, ghost hunters rock...
You've been Boing-Boinged. http://www.boingboing.net/2008/
0...r.html#comments
breath and trust.
As we begin to consider another baby, hemmorhoids and stitches were one of the first things I thought of.
Hang in there. The nice thing about the second one is that you know it's only temporary.
And good luck!
I had my son, River, 6 weeks ago and the thought of having another (while I want one) scares the crap out of me. It's the recovery: stiches, swelling, hemmorioids. I had a natural birth and even the killer pain of FEELING myself tear was nothing to being laid up with my nether regions brutalized. Just remember that it all goes away in a couple weeks and even though it kills, it will be well well worth it!
Good luck!
i am always inspired by how articulate and honest and calm you write. will be thinking of you from over here and sending good vibes. best of luck!
I try to remember that most of my delivery woes receded to the background the first time I got to unwrap my son and count his toes.
I worry too - and I'm only the start of the 2nd trimester - but this time around I'm not a newbie, and hope (fervently) that experience makes a big difference.
You are definitely in good hands, Violet. Things DID go well last time. Odds are very good they will again. Best wishes as you fly/plod through the next 3 weeks.
That was great...made me green with envy to hear of your pregnancy worries. Best to you mama during the coming weeks.
Hugs and sweeter dreams
you're so close! it's going to be awesome.
I agree with you-- Ricky from PR is SO ANNOYING. What is there to always cry about? And the hats! Ick. You know you're a weenie when the person who gets eliminated has to comfort YOU.
Why oh why hasn't Ricky been told he's "out" yet? Those mesh hats haunt my nightmares.
I can't believe you're 37 weeks. Try to trust your decisions on choosing your care provider(s) and hospital/birth center/whatever. I had two nurses spin Petunia 180 degrees on her head-to-ass axis (she was head down, posterior and 100% stuck inside my pelvis) while I was fully dilated after having pushed for an hour, lost the epidural, quasi-blacked out for an hour due to the pain, reset the epidural, come to awareness and become ready to push again. Petunia arrived 40 minutes later, and I know that the wisdom of those nurses was what saved me from the knife. They even told me, 'The doctors are out in the hallway sharpening their scalpels right now; this is your last chance at avoiding a C-section.' I would deliver at that hospital with that nursing staff again if I had to drive an hour and a half to get there.
Good luck, Wood. I hope all goes smoothly from here on out.
I did not get the lack of control thing sometimes. Sometimes I got the impression that by a sheer act of will I could make the baby do what I wanted. HA HA HA HA HA.
Those baby books are so misleading.
However, I did keep telling her not to come because I wanted to finish a paper and I was 10 days late and got induced and didn't finish the paper anyway. So it might be a little bit true.
I love your writing, Wood! I hope you will post more but hmmmm...I guess I will know why you do not.
as I approach 30 weeks, I'm finding myself worrying about his cord, noting in my head that I have to ask the midwife to check that his cord isn't forming any shape resembling a noose (as if they can check for that). Staying in the moment is the hardest thing right now (esp. hard that it's a main focus of what I tell clients to do)...want the snow to melt, want baby here, want want want...and though I am excited about Bronson now doing (rather than just talking about) water births, I am also worried I won't follow the freakishly calm 2nd time mom's lead in the video (on bbcenter.com) as she mildly grimaced while baby crowns underwater.
in any case, it is validating to share the worry and I am sending head-first, 5 minutes of pushing vibes to Detroit....
I think all those people who told me that I wouldn't remember all the puking, pelvis aching, the labor and the forceps delivery are crazy. And crazier still when they couldn't sympathize with how terrified we were.
My husband and I have been reading your blog for some time now. We love, love, love it and we'll be sending you all good thoughts!
You are amazing and you're gonna be great come delivery time!
You are such a good writer. I just had my 6th daughter a few weeks ago. The end of pregnancy seems soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooong
I think there's a mental-preparation psychological reason for it. I will be stalking you to watch for baby news and reminisce about those last weeks of preg. How hard will it be to not post "I think I am in labor" like a hundred times a day?
Almost there!! Once you have him in your arms, "anal fissures" will be the last thing on your mind. 
Hang in there Wood. I ended up delivering at 37 weeks and two days - not to scare you or anything. Jack was sunnyside up as they say, from about 34 weeks. Back labor was in my immediate future. However, every night, I sat on an exercise ball and basically "gyrated" around until he flipped. Oh, sweet relief! If you have one, you might want to try it out. Good luck lady!
Bossy can get from a birthday party to anal fissures in only two seconds. Skills like that come with advancing age.
Your midwife sounds great. I spent a lot of time on Spinning Babies too. In the end, handstands in the pool turned our breech baby. Or it could have been a coincidence. I like the pool story better.
I am thinking of you all!
Commenting by HaloScan
