36/40 weeks
I've heard lots of ways to describe labor. One of my aunties compared it to going through rapids in a kayak. "Don't backpaddle!" she advised (the most useful advice I got for Dutch's birth). A friend of mine related a metaphor she heard used by a friend of hers - giving birth is like moving, because you get to a point where you feel like you just can't lift one more box, but you HAVE to, because half your stuff is out on the sidewalk, and you can't stop. And I read something somewhere describing birth as being like having a Mack truck drive right out of your body. All of these similes* seem like good ones, in my limited experience.
I've reported before on how quickly Dutch was born. We're expecting that this labor will be fairly speedy as well (because of my super-fit uterus!), but of course there's no way to really predict what it'll be like, and it could very well be longer than the first time around. However, Cook and Dutch have both reviewed some info on What To Do In Case The Baby Gets Born Really Really Quickly,** because there's a chance that one or both of them might be the only ones around when this kid emerges.
Anyway, we're ready. Bring on the trucks and the kayaks and the cardboard boxes.
*I have recently realized that I have a very limited grasp on the difference between similes, metaphors, figures of speech, analogies, etc. - stuff I surely learned in 5th grade English class. I just looked it up, and I still don't really understand. But I'm not going to bother. I don't have the spare brain space at the moment. NPR reported today a news-of-the-weird-type blurb about some guy somewhere who accidentally jammed a spear 6 inches into his head - the doctors say he's going to be just fine, because he "didn't hit anything important." I'm pretty sure that I could Phineas-Gage myself and not hit anything important, these days.
**Step one: "Remove the clothing on the lower part of your body." After that, just try to have a clean soft place for the baby to land, and then cover it with a blanket while you wait for the EMTs. Don't cut the cord!
I've reported before on how quickly Dutch was born. We're expecting that this labor will be fairly speedy as well (because of my super-fit uterus!), but of course there's no way to really predict what it'll be like, and it could very well be longer than the first time around. However, Cook and Dutch have both reviewed some info on What To Do In Case The Baby Gets Born Really Really Quickly,** because there's a chance that one or both of them might be the only ones around when this kid emerges.
Anyway, we're ready. Bring on the trucks and the kayaks and the cardboard boxes.
*I have recently realized that I have a very limited grasp on the difference between similes, metaphors, figures of speech, analogies, etc. - stuff I surely learned in 5th grade English class. I just looked it up, and I still don't really understand. But I'm not going to bother. I don't have the spare brain space at the moment. NPR reported today a news-of-the-weird-type blurb about some guy somewhere who accidentally jammed a spear 6 inches into his head - the doctors say he's going to be just fine, because he "didn't hit anything important." I'm pretty sure that I could Phineas-Gage myself and not hit anything important, these days.
**Step one: "Remove the clothing on the lower part of your body." After that, just try to have a clean soft place for the baby to land, and then cover it with a blanket while you wait for the EMTs. Don't cut the cord!
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