Went to visit our local birthing center on Friday, and realized just how lucky we were. It's literally a 10 minute bus journey away (so about 5 minutes away in a taxi...people keep telling me I won't want to take the bus when I'm in labor, I still want to try it!), and it is amazing! The atmosphere is really geared up to feel comfy and friendly and homely and not like a hospital ward (though it is located in a hospital which gives me peace of mind). The rooms are huge and 2-3 of them have birthing pools (which are like a big deep hot tub, with more angles so you can get into different positions in them) they have walk in showers so that if I want to have a birthing ball in the shower with me and give birth there I can, or just use it for pain relief, the rooms all have a hanging swing thing in them to help you get into different birth positions comfortably, they have CD players so you can listen to your own music, you can dim the lights to get more comfy, there is a kitchen you can use so that you can go and make yourself tea or food (or in my case, send Coyote to make tea for me) there's a quiet room so that partners can go and have a break and make phone calls, or you can go there to get some space...generally, it's amazing. I love the emphasis they have there on natural pain relief and active birth, and very importantly for Coyote it doesn't feel like a hospital ward (he's had some bad hospital experiences and tends to feel upset and uncomfortable in them). It's just really really great there, and makes me feel really confident about the whole thing...now I just need to cross my fingers that nothing happens that means that I can't actually give birth there...because that would suck!
I am also feeling very lucky to have Coyote in my life right now, one of the other women who I've been seeing at the 'bumps to babies' classes and at the birthing center visit, always has her mum or a friend with her, and it just makes me realize how hard doing this must be if you don't have a partner as supportive as mine. Coyote has been there for me for every scan and midwifes visit, he's going to be there with me when I give birth (unless something goes drastically wrong), he's even willing to get in the birthing pool with me! he's just here for me, emotionally and physically, he's amazing, and I am so lucky to have him. At one point I felt a little bad because I didn't even ask him if he was willing to be there for me so much, I just sort of presumed he would be. But I then I asked him, and realized that he wants to be there for me. He's...he's just amazing. I wouldn't know what I would do without him.
(here is a picture of some of the things we've got for baby!)
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