Preparations

The time is coming soon. I met with my birth doula yesterday for the first time. She is freshly trained through the weekend long course at Douglas College. A weekend is not a lot of time to learn about birth, especially if you've never experienced or witnessed one before, but I really like Erin so I asked her to be a companion. She's my pre-natal yoga instructor. I feel honored that mine will be the first birth she witnesses and she feels honored that I asked her. Her back up doula is also a friend of a friend, whose company I really enjoy. If Paul is filming in the back country they'll both attend me. I've had offers from people to look after Anneka, so Paul and I have said we will sit down and finalize plans for various scenarios. We will call my mom and she will come as soon as possible and stay in the basement spare room for a couple of weeks.

My Dad is visiting this weekend and bringing their old fridge (they've just built a new kitchen), dishwasher and cabinets that the go over the fridge. He is also bringing some tools to do some finishing work left over from when Paul removed the wall and closet. I've got a nice cradle set up by our bed, borrowed from a friend. It's hand-made, wooden and swings. I wonder how much the baby will sleep in it, and I'm really glad we have a king-sized bed this time around. I've got a really cute white cradle set up in Anneka's room also borrowed from a friend. Right now all her stuffed animals are in it (finally a place to store them) but she says the baby can sleep in her room! I'm sure when the baby's crying a midnight, she won't appreciate that! "Anneka, can you get up and tend to the baby please, Mommy and Daddy are sleeping!"

Other than that, the baby has a changing pad on top of the change table/dresser in our room, and two drawers in that dresser. I'm working on clearing out another drawer. We have clothes, towels and sheets in pull out cloth containers under our bed. It's tight, but it's cozy and organized! We also have an infant car seat and bouncy chair. What more do you need, really....oh and a few sleepers and clothes to get started before we know the gender.

I'm beginning to get excited (and scared). This is beginning to feel real. Now, I think Anneka is asleep and I should get started cleaning the kitchen and preparing dinner for friends. Is it too late in the day to make and set a cheesecake?