Past Date Due with Baby #2

As the earth spins routinely around the sun and summer fades to fall, I find myself almost a week past my due date.

I remember this time, pregnant with Amalee. I was so excited and delighted and anxious to give birth and meet this person who has been forming inside of me for nine months.  

I knew labor would be a challenge.  Our culture teaches women to prepare for one of the most painful experiences of our lives.

But my body has been hit by a car going 30 mph.  While the pain has passed, my bones remember feeling crushed, and my insides know near death.  I have a traumatic brain injury and will forever feel the effects.  My skull and vertebrae fractured and healed.

But the body, along with the brain, and babies and pregnancy are not simple things.  I remember my neurosurgeon telling me my brain had bigger dead regions then some of his brain injury patients who were confined to wheel chairs and couldn't speak.  I'm also in a small percentage of the population that pitocin does nothing for.

We are all humans being.  We have many similarities and can easily find patterns.  By using educated analysis we make comparisons and draw conclusions.   And there are textbook answers for everything these days.  While we all have bodies, every body is different.   Everyone has different strengths and struggles.  And we never know what another person may be going through.

So here I am at almost 41 weeks pregnant, waiting for my body to be ready to release my baby.  

I never wrote about my labor with Amalee, but because of my L5 disc extrusion, it was a very pain filled two day labor.  And I was induced because the risks go up after 42 weeks pregnant.  I remember crying days before my induction because I felt like my body was trapping my baby.  I just wanted to hold and love my child. 

So here I am, two and a half years later, holding and loving my sweet daughter, while patiently awaiting her little sibling's arrival.

I went to a wonderful doula training event yesterday and we talked a lot about our culture's medicated child birth and how important birth affirmations are for a woman's psychological journey through pregnancy and labor.  One mother had asked her family and friends to email affirmations that she could copy and post up during labor.  I thought this could be encouraging for me and wanted to reach out and ask any family/friend/human being to send me any kind words to encourage me through the journey ahead.

Thank you in advance to anyone offering support!

*And a big THANK YOU to Julie with Traveling Julie Photography for being super accommodating, making Amalee laugh, and helping me feel beautiful in this time of transition.  I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a photographer!  http://travelingjulie.com/