So here we are, 17 days away from the Due Date. Unfortunately, I’m sicker than a dog and just praying this horrible cold virus exits my body before the baby does. I can’t imagine trying to give birth in this condition.
We’ve spent the past week at Havarti’s parents house, eating ourselves stupid, playing Tripoli, and watching the random selection of movies that just happened to be left at the video store the day after Christmas. Our nieces are here from California, so Avery and Ella have been in high heaven. I’ve been struggling mentally with being so unproductive, although having this cold helps with that some since I don’t have the energy to do anything anyway. It’s funny how it feels to do nothing for a day when you’re someone who is always doing something. I mean, I usually relax in the evenings, but even then, it’s usually with one eye on the TV and one eye researching homeschool materials or planning a Bahá’í’ school class or making a to-do list or something. It’s a bit disconcerting for the first couple of days of vacation to not be busy doing something. I suppose it’s good, but I really actually enjoy days when I do a lot. There’s a real sense of satisfaction in having a productive day, and I prefer that feeling to the feeling you have at the end of a vacation day of doing nothing. But I know it’s probably good for me mentally to shut down for a little while. It just feels weird at first.
On a more important note, we’re all very excited to meet our little baby boy. We still haven’t decided 100% on the name, but I think it’s come down to Jonah or Oliver. I like Jonah, but not so much with Jude as a middle name. Plus, the story of Jonah in the Bible is mostly about how he disobeyed God, and although it all comes out fine in the end, I’m just not sure how I feel about that. There’s apparently a negative association with the name Jonah amongst sailors, too. It would be fun for Havarti and the boy to both have “J” names, though. I really like Oliver—the only problem is that it was the name of our cat. But who cares, right? It’s a cute name. Plus, I found out that one of the meanings of Oliver is “elf army,” which is perfect. When I was looking up the girls’ names once, I realized that one meaning of The Muse’s real name is “ruler of the elves” and one meaning of Dolittle’s is “elfin” or “beautiful fairy.” So if Oliver means “elf army” then we’re sticking with tradition (which we didn’t even mean to start). We might just wait until he’s born and see what he looks like.
We took a tour of the hospital a couple of weeks ago, and I was very happy with their approach/attitude toward childbirth. It still feels weird to me to go to a hospital to give birth after giving birth at a birth center and at home, but as far as hospitals go, I think this is about as good as it gets. It’s also just weird to think about going through birth again, since this wasn’t exactly planned. I thought Dolittle’s birth was a nice note to go out on, and it will be hard not to compare this birth to hers. I’m a little nervous, to be honest. This pregnancy’s been so weird, I can’t help but worry that the birth will be a surprise in some way as well. But I’m envisioning a smooth delivery, while being prepared in the back of my mind for whatever occurs. Like I said, I just hope this cold goes away first. They don’t call it “labor” for nothing. ☺
If you enjoyed this post, please pass it along. You can follow Motherhood and More on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.