what to expect

35 weeks! The baby weighs as much as a honeydew melon this week, and I think that's just lovely. Babycenter.com tells me there's more baby than fluid in my uterus right now, so things must be getting tight. The kicking has been near constant the last 3 days, and baby has finally given me a break this morning. Still a few kicks, but not the constant barrage from this weekend.

Two people today gave me a waving finger and warning that they went into labor a month early and I should be prepared. I love that those warnings always come with "make sure your hospital bag is packed" and the like. Ha! No hospital bag! Thanks to Dave, we've got all of our birth supplies arranged, and I am feeling good as ever. I honestly don't think I'll go early. The baby is still high up, and there's no indication of labor at this point. I do plan to have everything at work ready for my leave at the end of next week. I'm not naive enough to think I can be in charge of the birth, but I do have hope that I will go at least 40 weeks.

I picked up Pushed at the library on Friday, and haven't set it down since. I know that most people would be a little wary to read something with the tagline "the painful truth about childbirth and modern maternity care" while pregnant, but I've really enjoyed this book. It provides tons of well researched information, and completely reaffirms for me that Dave and I are doing the right thing in choosing a home birth. There are some scary statistics in this book, so I'm sure it's not for everyone. Most of the information about the decline of our maternity system in the United States, the climbing cesarean rate, and the prevalence of such interventions as medical induction and episiotomy I have read and heard of before. It's a timely read, though, since the ACOG just last week issued a press release reiterating their stance against home birth. I enjoyed Gail's comments here, and believe she says it best. I'm off to enjoy the blog at jenniferblock.com, to see what I can see!