Because we can't ever really be prepared for this sort of thing

I’ve been sorting through and tossing lots of stuff lately. Nesting, you ask? Well, I suppose I will start nesting in earnest over the next couple days, when we arrive at our new church and new home. At 35.5 weeks’ gestation (but who's counting). All part of the CSPP adventure, no? Hey, I’m looking forward to actually meeting the doctor who will deliver this baby next month. But more on that later. Probably much, much later.

In all this purging, in some long-forgotten archives, I came across the handbook from the “Prepared Childbirth” class we took some 6 years ago, whilst pregnant with our first. Of course, the irony of the class’s title is obvious to anyone who has actually given birth—but oh! We were all such earnest students! Carrying our pillows to each session, learning the proper massage and vocalization techniques, sticking our hands in icewater to simulate the pain of giving birth (?!?)…

Allowing my swollen self a break from the boxes, I thought it might be fun to at least flip through the thing before I pitched it, especially as another Blessed Event looms large on my personal horizon (ahem). So I kindly entertained my hardworking husband by reading him choice tidbits, such as “Forty-One Ways a Labor Partner Can Help,” from those terrifyingly giddy long-ago days.

I flipped to THE TAKE CHARGE ROUTINE (“Save this routine for any time during labor when the mother: hits an emotional low; is in despair, weeps, cries out; wants to give up or feels she can’t go on; is very tense and cannot relax”). This includes the admonishment: “DON’T GIVE UP ON HER – it is a difficult time for her, it won’t help if you decide she cannot handle it. Acknowledge that it is difficult but not impossible” At which point the ever-supportive father of my children oh-so-innocently inquired whether I was still talking about his role during labor or just during life in general.

Well, he has a point. In fact, for some time now I’ve had a half-baked post half-drafted on Hard vs. Hopeless (unrelated to L&D but with obvious parallels). And half-drafted it shall remain until later. Much, much later.

In the meantime, “ENCOURAGE HER WITH EVERY BREATH…YOU CAN TRULY EASE HER BURDEN BY HELPING HER WITH EVERY BREATH” isn’t such bad daily advice, after all—for CSPP husbands and Sisters alike, in the L&D room and out. Biblical, even.