Breathe (and, it’s only a job…)

Tonight we start learning how to give birth. Well, I suppose S’s body has been learning and adjusting for 183 days. But now we will attend classes on what to expect, how to deal with things, and what to watch for! My role will start to expand now, as I prepare to support my wife through the amazing feat of bringing a life into the world!

Now that we have duked it out with the MW and the MBC, we are WAY more comfortable with our birth plan. I think, and hope, the things we learn during the classes they offer (15 hours of them) will really enhance that comfort and knowledge. I can’t believe we are to the point that we are starting to actually physically prepare for the big day!

We have also signed up for a few other classes at the wonderful locally owned baby store. We will be taking cloth diapering and wearing your baby (to help us pick out a sling we like most) in the coming month. These two classes will help us achieve some of the parenting style we hope to be able to incorporate in our lives. I say hope because in our fear-based world people tend to tell you all the negatives they experienced. Not only do they share their negative experience but also they almost try to make it sound inevitable that you will likely be in misery like they were. (How many more people can tell us we will not like our dog after Tot arrives…give me a break have you see her?) True, I am the hopeless optimist in our family but I tend to strongly believe in self-fulfilling prophesies. I like to do my part to make sure that if I am mentally predetermining my future, I would prefer it has a good outcome. (Don’t get me wrong I understand the concept of, “If I’m prepared for the worst I will be pleasantly surprised by the mediocre.”) So, we are determined to try and hopefully be able to incorporate some of the following in our quest and reality of being parents:

1. Water/natural birth at a birth center
2. Co-breast feeding
3. Going home the same day as the birth
4. Cloth diapering (well, we may cheat a bit with these)
5. Wearing our baby
6. Loving our pets even after Tot’s arrival
7. Parenting with Love and Logic (please excuse the excessive use of religion in this book, the concept is the best part! Thanks for the book dad!)
8. Continuing to travel
9. Removing the societal norm of fear-based decision making (i.e. LIVING LIFE)
10. Working together as parents to maintain consistency in our techniques
11. Maintaining a healthy understanding and balance between our wishes and desires for our children and their temperament, aptitude, and goals.

Cerebral and full of high hopes? We hope so! This is one very important job! We are now in the business of creating a future adult.