Homeless Happenings

We may be homeless, but that doesn't stop me from nesting. We know we'll be moving soon, so we have to be smart about what makes sense to purchase beforehand and what can wait. Obviously, one issue is that we don't quite know how much space we'll have at our new place and what the layout will be, but we are fairly confident we can get more space for our money in the midwest than we did in South Florida. We've been slowly accumulating stuff for the baby's nursery, but I had my eye on this dining room table from World Market:

for about a week. (We didn't even bother moving our old, awful, hand-me-down table we had before, so, we needed one for sure.) We sold one of our cars (we miss you, Versa, and we hope that spoiled high school student will treat you with the dignity you deserve!) and used some of the proceeds to take advantage of WM's 25% off furniture sale since it ends before we move.

So she's mine---all mine! I'm feeling pretty grown-up about this purchase. (Even more so than when we purchased our first baby's crib.)

You could say it was a pretty tight squeeze in our SUV.

We defied the laws of physics to get the furniture box into our truck. Will, genius that he is, removed the headrests from both front seats and slid the box over top so the back door would shut. We had just enough head space to bring the Cheerwine bottles to our mouths and take large gulps. In other words, it fit perfectly and comfortably.

PS - No, we don't have chairs yet. Builds character. (But I'm thinking a bench like this and some mix-and-match chairs like this via eBay or Craigslist.)

Sooo, what else do I do in my abundant free time? Read birth stories. Duh. I freakin' love reading birth stories. I'm about 75 birth stories into the Camp Patton Birth Story Link-Up. (Yes, I'm reading them all. Every word.) I also finally got through all the birth stories in Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. It took me months because I just cannot handle reading this book for more than a half an hour at a time. It is exhausting! I gotta say, at around page 80, they started getting really weird. Like: lots of making out during "rushes" (okay, I can live with that), orgasms during labor (probably untrue), and aborted children returning as current children (definitely untrue).

As my husband will likely be gone during my labor, if not the entire birth (who knows), I will probably have a hard time finding someone to make out with me during the contractions. I don't think they would allow Daisy or Ace in the birthing room with me. 

She'd give me some tongue action.

Things are clearly getting weird here so I'll move on. 

Anyway, I find myself constantly going back and forth between wanting a med-free birth and asking myself "what's the point?" and planning on the epidural. On the one hand, my body was made to give birth. I literally have to sit there and my body will do what it needs to do, eventually, so why mess with it? On the other hand, I hear there's no trophy at the end for going pain med free and as long as there's a healthy baby at the end, who really cares how you get there? Sure I could offer it up, but I'm sure there will be plenty of suffering go around with an epidural as well! Decisions, decisions.

Either way, I'm not sure it's smart for women put a lot of stock into the "birth experience." I'm wondering whether putting too many expectations into a physiological process you have little control over is a good idea to begin with. This might be one ride that really is all about the destination, kind of like how we got that huge box from World Market into our storage unit. If I could sneak some Cheerwine during labor, that would be ideal.