39 weeks

I am sitting on my birth ball, watching my 2-year-old son play with his chicken nuggets while I eat my chocolate chip pancakes. I've given up on timing contractions for the time being- I couldn't concentrate on starts & finishes, and all in all, they aren't really proving to be regular anyway.  Planning a home birth, my biggest concern is that I will be in labor and my kids, particularly Chu, will wake up in the middle of the night & want to sleep in my armpit.  With him, no other armpit will do. Abs is pretty good about finding her way to the toddler bed in our room & not waking anyone.  But Chu needs skin-to-skin contact when he comes into mommy & daddy's room.  It's sweet, really, but if I'm not in there because I'm birthing a baby, he's gonna flip a lid.

Anyhoo, I'm very close to having this baby, and I've been having periods of interesting contractions and then nothing.  So I am trying to be careful not to cry wolf with any of it.  But I also want to  be careful not to have a 2.5 hour labor like I had with Chu, I'd like to give my attendants enough time to get to me.  It's a beautifully frustrating balance of being in tune with my baby, my body, the time of day & the schedules of my husband & my children, and the universe.  Tall order!

Here are a couple shots from a photoshoot I did with the lovely & talented Kim Sailor with Sweet Meadow Photography last week.