The Maternity Weave

This is my belly, filled with a 6.8-7lb-ish beautiful babe. Wow, I've never shown so much skin! And I certainly don't feel as big as I look. Now that I'm not even working, I'm not that uncomfortable, despite how much more weight (21 lbs!!) I am carrying. I'm even about to commit to a physically awkward, but highly rewarding hour of prenatal yoga! Tomorrow we have another OB appointment where my cervix will be checked, and my fundal height measured (from pubic symphasis to top of uterus). Hopefully, I've grown. During the last appointment I was told that if I stop growing it may mean the amniotic fluid is a little low. It's probably not, and I will be happy to hear that everything is normal. Pregnancy is the only time in life where everything normal and expected has meant fun and happiness - a boring pregnancy is a fantastic (and healthy) pregnancy! If the fluid is a little low, it may mean drinking tons of water, or that our little one is ready, or that an induction might be necessary. Developmentally, the baby can emerge as a healthy and normal baby at anytime (after 37wks and we are at 38wks). Birth, while being a monumental occasion, is a relatively unimportant event when looking at the overall maturation of a baby. I know that sounds almost like a slight. But, what I mean is that there is really nothing that is going to develop in the next couple of days or weeks that can't either happen inside the uterus or outside - the baby is simply putting on fat and growing hair. However, sometimes things happen and it's better to get the baby out before labor initiates on its own. This what I am hoping to avoid. A naturally progressing labor is most desirable and will always be smoother than an artificially induced labor. Science has lent techniques to speed up the process of production in plants too, but it is usually a more intensive and invasive process. This is the same with our bodies. If left to labor naturally, most women, most of the time will have a complication free delivery. If you provide a basil plant with sufficient water and sun, it will produce harvestable leaves and buds on its own . When one tries to speed up the process, which is necessary at times, there is an entire chain of events that occur often leading to cesarian delivery. If you try to speed up the process in plants they can bolt - grow too tall, too fast before becoming strong enough to support their height. A woman's body is on an individual clock, where the necessary preparations are taking place to warm up, strengthen and prepare her for the task of labor ahead. When induced, the contractions are often much stronger and longer and closer together than they would be naturally - most often a woman's body is not equipped to handle the extra pain and the baby is not mature enough to handle the extra stress of the more intense contractions and that is why cesarian often occurs (often, but not always.) The baby's health is most important to me, just like a farmer's harvest is the culminate priority. She will rush into a mad storm to protect the crop with covers, heard the goats into her warm house in the midst of a flood, wrap her young plants in plastic coats to keep them from the bugs and dear and carefully and lovingly feel thanks for each plum, tomato, grape or orange that made it through the toughest conditions to nourish and support her family and friends. Anyway, I am excited/nervous for tomorrow's appointment, and hopefully the reassurance that accompanies it.

So, let me tell you why nesting is wonderful:

Home-made Banana Bread, and other creations!

I've also cleaned my walls and doors, vacuumed my stairs and rearranged the hall closet and the baby closet (again). Perhaps I am not nesting, maybe this is just me when I'm not working. If so, then what will real nesting be like? Oh my, I will be like a domestic android - I will fold laundry pacing a hummingbird's wing flutter and maintain a consistently distant expression which suggests I'm computing quantum theories in my head, yet still produce a nice and unflinching smile. My husband will think he's been thrown into a sci-fi horror, a body snatchers moment, until he realizes the potential benefits and then settles in and begins to milk it.

Okay, and now for the confession of a farmer:

Here is my confession of vanity: I will miss maternity hair. It is so thick and healthy and when the baby comes it will fall out, mirroring all those fall hardwood trees emblematic of seasonal change. I can sympathize. I mean, it must be nice to have a lovely bouquet of colorful leaves, but then, one chilly day and they blow to the roadside and rot. Nature is unfair. At least I get a baby, I'm not sure what the trees get, and men, poor men, when their hair falls out they are just left wondering what to do with the stragglers. Ah, I will miss thy maternal main. I'm not really accustomed to caring about my hair or appearances too much. I'm a 'farmer' for goodness sakes! I will sometimes wear makeup at work, since being on maternity leave I haven't really gone to the trouble, and I have no concept of styling my hair, or often times, even matching my clothes. I am a mostly comfortable person who has a few stylish moments here and there. So I feel a slight guilt for knowing that I will be sad to pull my hair out of drains and obsessively use the lint roller once more. There is my confession - I blame having made one on the residuum of my Irish Catholic heritage.