Nobody can ever really make you understand just how much your life changes once you have a baby! I am not gonna lie, we are so looking forward to when our free time increases a bit once she’s older. Right now the constant need to be held is rough on us.

Finding the time to feed and care for ourselves is verging on impossible with little 7 week old Everly. That comes with the territory though, that’s what we’ve been told at least…

We had a good 6 week checkup with our midwife at The Farm this past weekend. We stayed in the cabin that Everly was born in, it was so cozy and quiet. We relaxed a bit but things weren’t quite as leisurely as we had expected.

Turns out little E doesn’t like being away from home right now. She was extremely overstimulated and had a pretty hard time going down for naps and sleeping at night. We even brought her beloved swing that she falls asleep in at night but the different surroundings left her acting uneasy and unable to relax, even in the swing.

Pamela examined us and said we were both very healthy and doing great. E got weighed and she was too big for the baby scale (almost 11lbs). She’s also gained 2 inches in length since birth so her growth is great which means breastfeeding is going great too.

My 4th degree tear repair was done very well according to Pamela. She was very impressed with how nicely the stitches healed up and she says my pelvic floor is very firm and all back together. By 3 weeks postpartum my bleeding had stopped and the tenderness of the stitches was gone, that is apparently remarkable healing for such a bad tear.

All in all things are on track following labor and delivery, we are glad to hear this. I still can’t believe we are parents though. Staying in the cabin and looking at the spot there on the floor where I delivered E is surreal.

Our midwife was telling me that she’s been sharing my birth experience with all her students too. She thinks it was pretty great how I was “in a trance” and so relaxed during labor and transition. She tells everyone how calm Everly’s birth was and keeps complementing me on it.

I still can’t grasp it all, I know I had a baby but it still hasn’t sunk in how truly huge and amazing that fact is.

Anyway, now we are home and getting back in to the swing of things. E seems much more relaxed and comfortable now that we are back too. She slept great last night and we had band rehearsal today which went well. Tomorrow E and I will have a day off to relax and get caught up on some stuff before another busy day on Thursday. Fun, fun!

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Pretty much everything on my to-do list is done, I am ready to go and am slightly excited to arrive at The Farm. On the other hand I am sort of sad to leave the house, pets and N behind. It is going to be strange to be away from it all and when I return I’ll be a mother. Kind of a crazy concept when you think about it.

Today has been a calm day for severe weather, thank goodness! After 2 days of thunderstorms and tornado warnings we were both exhausted. N was of course chasing storms for work and I was having to herd animals and hide out in our “safe place” in the downstairs bathroom…

Not sure if you noticed the odd blog format from yesterday’s post. It’s how my future live blog posts will look as I update you on my progress while I am away at The Farm. Those updates are sent via text messaging from my cell phone, they show up in my twitter timeline (but aren’t as pretty) and they auto post to the blog also. Like I’ve mentioned before you can subscribe to this blog to ensure you don’t miss an update, that way you’ll know exactly when I go in to labor!

I’ll be offline as far as internet access goes so I wont see or be able to respond to your comments (or read your blogs). The best way to communicate with me (if you need to) is via direct message on twitter (those should come to my cell phone, possibly). This is all dependent on the access and quality of cell phone reception out at The Farm of course, just an FYI.

All the feelings and sensations I described in graphic detail yesterday are continuing and happening more regularly. I am not in labor yet but things are headed that direction and I am just trying to keep active as much as possible (which isn’t very much at all really)…

N and I did a mini shopping trip this morning to get some groceries and such for me to take along to the birthing cabin. The best deal we got today was 5 gallons of milk for a total of $5.15, yep paid $1.03 for each gallon thanks to coupons and store sales! I am a big milk drinker and use it to cook so we’ll have no problem using it all plus it will last us weeks.

Walking around at the stores today was way harder and more painful than normal so that means it shouldn’t be too long now, we’ll get to meet Tater so soon!

My mom is delusional thinking she is going to get me to toodle around Columbia, TN and do fun things with her when she comes to The Farm to stay with me and wait for labor to begin. I can hardly handle walking back and forth from the bed/ chair to the kitchen for food or to the bathroom these days. Of course that is probably due to the stairs but still, I am pretty immobile these days.

Here is a farewell belly shot. It’s probably the last you’ll see until I get back from The Farm.

You can compare it to the very first belly shot I took at the start of the pregnancy if you need more “wow factor”.

It is kind of funny to see how my mole/ freckle has moved up as my belly has grown. It’s totally amazing how the body can adapt and accommodate a growing baby inside you all while you do nothing but rest and increase food intake. The body is truly a smart, complex and highly evolved “machine” isn’t it?

Well I am off to make some been and cheese burritos (hopefully) and to possibly tidy up the place a bit. Stay tuned for the labor updates and progress and don’t forget to enter the baby weight contest!

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Let me elaborate a bit. Birthing options here are varied. There are underground midwives who will attend home births in Evansville. I have had many referred to me. I started talking with one particular lady who left me with zero confidence in her ability to support me during delivery. She remarked that the majority of first time mothers require transport. Yeah, you are not my first choice after that comment.

I want a midwife who is very experienced, supportive and encouraging, knowledgeable of complications and also has the ability to remedy and treat minor complications.

Some midwives come prepared with medications, IV’s and other essentials to ensure if the unspeakable does happen they are able to help you or baby until transported to a hospital when necessary. Other midwives prefer to not delve in to this aspect at all and will call for hospital transport for much less.

Specifically my major concern is hemorrhaging and becoming “sensitized” to rh positive blood thus impacting my ability to have more children.

I want the essentials there when I give birth out of hospital. I want to be safe and to do what is best without subjecting myself and my child to the unnecessary interventions in a hospital setting. I am picky huh?

I feel really good about birthing at The Farm because of the 25+ years of birthing experience and also because Ina May Gaskin is practicing there. She has oodles of experience and knowledge. The Farm is responsible for thousands of successful, natural births each year and I feel really good about birthing there.

I have found a few birth stories from real women who choose to birth there that you can read if interested:

• Carrie’s Birth Story at The Farm
• Thomas’ breech birth at The Farm
• Asher’s birth at The Farm

Now I just need to see how much birthing there will actually cost. I am sure insurance doesn’t cover it… Have you birthed at The Farm? If so I would love to hear about your experience!

Oh and so far we still have power here dispite the ice storm action, thanks goodness!

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