Some Preparations

Beth's doing a great job of eating the right things (annoying though the dietary restrictions are) and taking exercise, as recommended by our midwife. I'm helping as I can, cooking meals and encouraging an evening walk when it's not tipping with rain. Together we've also been getting together some of the things required to receive Fish into the world; to wit the birthing kit.

At her last visit the midwife gave us a list of things to assemble ready for the birth, though she also brings along her own kit, mostly medical supplies and monitoring devices. We need lots of clean towels and washcloths, Q-tips, a fresh box of tissues, trashbags, and some other things you would probably guess yourself. I hadn't anticipated a 6'x8' tarpaulin, but happened to have an unused one in my car trunk, still in its packaging, so that was added to the kit. I didn't have a shower curtain liner, but Wal-Mart did (In the US a shower over a bath frequently has two curtains, an inner waterproof one that hangs inside the bath, and a pretty one to match your bathroom decor that hangs outside). A quart of chicken broth is apparently indispensable, and an energy drink called "Replenish" or somesuch, which we know where to buy but are still looking around for a better price. The midwife neglected to include a catcher's mitt, but we're ready with that too.

If you are having a hospital birth then you also need your infant car seat fitted and ready for the eventual journey home. We won't need the carseat quite so quickly with a homebirth, we hope, but have bought one seat and two bases, one for each car. The seat also attaches to our Bob Stroller (with an adaptor) for walks, until the baby is big enough to sit in the stroller proper.

There are rules and regulations, advice and suggestions for attaching an infant car seat to the rear seat of the car, and all cars sold in the US after (I think) 2001 or so have attachment points for the straps. Ours both do. The basic idea is to have the seat facing backwards in the centre of the back seat, and securely strapped down, with the baby secured correctly in the seat. The combination of various infant seats and car sizes unfortunately means that infant carseats are often not fitted correctly, but help is at hand: one of the Eugene Fire Stations has a monthly infant carseat inspection class, and we plan to visit one before the birth. If we can't make the class, they also do inspections by appointment.

Our weekly birth classes continue, with number seven (of a planned eleven) tonight. Thanks to a fantastic and understanding boss at Wal-Mart I was able to reschedule my evening shifts so I can attend the rest of the classes, having missed a couple so far. We get a lot of chat, some games and exercises, and usually a video of several births. I have yet to spot a tarpaulin in any of the videos.