Slowly and Surely

I never realized how much prep was involved in a homebirth. Actually it is not that much, but for the first time I seem to have shed my New York City pace, and just simply do something and sit down, do something, and sit down...So in terms of buying supplies and whatnot, I get something, and take a break, get something...That is why I was hoping not to go into labor until all is ready.

This Saturday, we picked up the birth tub.

That is a 150 gallon horse trough at the foot of my bed. It makes it difficult to make my bed with that thing there. It is on loan to us from another family about 1/2 an hour away from here. They had 5 children as well, and decided a baby or so ago they might as well purchase a tub of their own. The mother said she discovered water 2 babies ago and never wants to deliver without it. I feel exactly the same way. This will be waterbirth number 3.

They were really the nicest couple and I hope we can cultivate a friendship with them. My husband described them as "people who love life". If you knew my husband, that seems just a tad bit poetic for him, but that is truly how this couple struck us.

Now I have to get a few more odds and ends on my list. I need some black garbage bags because the garbage left over from the delivery would look kind of suspicious in clear ones. The thought makes me chuckle.

I need to get some more towels-I think I can find some at the dollar store. Oddly, we moved around for years with a linen closet full of towels, but I think we got rid of many of them last time we moved. When we got married, my grandmother seemed to think that newleyweds need lots and lots of bath towels to start a household. We only used a few and the rest took up a whole closet. Now I need them. I need a hose for the tub, and perhaps an adaptor.

We were discussing the Christmas tree, and the usual attempt to get as close to Christmas as possible before putting it up. There is no way we could put up a tree in this house anyway with a 150 gallon horse trough in my bedroom. So perhaps we will be good Catholics this year, and have a tree from Christmas to the Epiphany.