catch-up post

I'm waiting for a cup to tea to steep and for my neti pot water to cool off. I have a lot of work to do, but, so far, not feeling terribly inspired to do it. So, I thought I'd take a moment to follow-up on some questions you all have asked- some a LONG time ago.

• When will the ultrasound be and why are we having another one? I just scheduled the ultrasound for next Wednesday, October 29th, the last day of the 34th week of this pregnancy. The ultrasound will be at the back-up hospital, the hospital where we'll go if we need to go to a hospital. I'm having the ultrasound because at the mid-pregnancy, 19 week ultrasound, my placenta was low-lying. While is HIGHLY unlikely that my placenta is still terribly low, and even more unlikely that we're in the dangerous situation of the placenta touching or covering the os (the opening to the cervix) (I would have symptoms if this were the case- bleeding- something...), my midwives feel that just to be on the safe side they'd like to know the location of the placenta so to help their interpretation and decision making at the time of the birth. We're still not planning to find out the gender, but there is a piece of me that won't be crushed if we accidentally find out next week. We'll tell them we don't want to know and I'm no good at reading those things, so an accidental discovery is highly unlikely.
  
  
• Where does the "stoutearthchild" thing come from? What does it mean? Funny you should ask. This was the main e-mail address I used in corresponding with our realtor here and it led her to believe I was short, heavy or round, and a bit of a hippy. Those of you who know me know that I am tall. I tend to carry extra weight around (especially at the moment, ahem.), but I'm not really heavy or round. And well... I was runner up for hippie of my class in high school... so... my sister says, however, I shower too much to claim the title "hippie". But seriously, the username "stoutearthchild" comes from the period of our engagement when we were agonizing over what to do about a last name for our household. Names are really important to Kevin and to me, so much so that neither of us would think of asking the other to give theirs up and so that it was important for us to have the same name. We considered all sorts of crazy scenarios before ultimately deciding to hyphenate, ensuring the literacy of our offspring (or the failure of the S.A.T.s, Kev likes to say, they'll still be filling out the name bubbles when they're supposed to be done with section one!) At some point along the way, Kev's dad proposed that we create a new name out of the meanings of our previous last names. Kevin's original last name means "strong or stout", stout, it was decided, made a good first syllable. My last name he suggested breaking into two parts, the "earth" comes from the reference to sand in the first syllable of my original last name, and the last syllable of my original last name is "Son", but as he said "We don't just speak of sons anymore, let's make it inclusive, 'child'." So you put it together and you get "Stoutearthchild". Now we didn't actually think we could adopt this as a last name, but it makes a great username and we adopted it first for the travel blog we kept when we went to Germany a few years ago and it seemed only natural to make stoutearthchildthree the address for this anticipatory blog. Our brother-in-law, a very funny guy, suggested if we were going to take that approach in searching for a name we should just call ourselves "Harddirtboy".
  
  
• What sort of supplies other than boiling water do you need for a homebirth? I just found the list today. Some of this might gross some folks out. You might call it t.m.i. Sorry, for those who are curious I share it, feel free to skip over it. So here goes...
  
  2 boxes disposable bed pads (1 small, 1 large)
  2 boxes maxi pads (overnights)
  1 package Depends-type underpants (if preferred over pads in the first few postpartum days)
  4 wash cloths
  4-6 large bath towels
  4 sheets
  Plastic sheet, shower curtain, or large garbage bags to cover be bed or floor
  Pillows (at least four)
  1-2 bottles hydrogen peroxide
  Newborn hats
  Several bottles of your favorite juice or sports drink
  Flashlight with new batteries (waterproof if you plan to use a tub or pool)
  2 large bowls
  Large Garbage Can (kitchen size) with bags
  Plastic grocery bags or storage container for placenta
  Thermometer
  Peri Bottle (any bottle with a squirt top)
  Olive Oil or Astroglide (to ease birthing the baby' head)
  Large cutting board or baking sheet (to provide a firm service to examine the baby)
  
  All laundry should be freshly washed. It does not need to be sterilized.
  
  A table should be cleared near the birthing location to arrange supplies.
  
  It is wise to have an emergency plan. Make a list of emergency phone numbers, including midwives, hospital, doctor, and babysitters. Have a vehicle ready (with gas) in case we need to transport to the hospital. Know the route to the hospital.
  
  

O.K., I seriously need to get focused for this day. Any other questions?