COUNTING THE DAYS 'TIL D-DAY

Delivery day, that is.

I'm already 36 weeks and 2 days pregnant. And in just a few days, I'll be considered full term and therefore ready to give birth :)

The most common question thrown at me these days: Hindi ka ba natatakot?

Of course, I'm scared. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't.

I know that giving birth the normal way will hurt, and that labor will be much worse, especially since I gave strict orders to Mark, my Mom, and my ob-gyne NOT to give me any kind of anesthesia. I have no idea how long I'll be in labor. I could be in pain for 24 hours straight, or I could be like one of the lucky few who only have to labor for a few hours. I don't know how big my baby will be by the time I give birth. I don't know if I'll have the strength I'll need for both labor and delivery. Heck, I know that I've got a low threshold for pain, yet I insisted and will continue to insist that absolutely no anesthesia be given to me, no matter how many times I ask.

Am I trying to torture myself? No, of course not, I'm not a masochist. I just want to be able to experience giving birth in the most natural way possible. So Mark and my Mom will just have to bear with all my screaming :P

I just don't stress myself out on those things. It wouldn't help anyway, because no matter how much I think about it, I'll never imagine how exactly labor and delivery will be like. It's different with every woman, even with every pregnancy. I just finished my childbirthing classes with Rome Kanapi a few weeks ago, and I could say that I'm more prepared now. No, those classes will not teach you how to have a "painless" delivery because there's no such thing. But it will help you learn more about pregnancy, labor, and delivery. You'll learn a few exercises that'll help prepare your body for the rigorous task of delivery. You'll practice breathing techniques and different moves you can do to ease the pain of labor.

I've entered the much dreaded part of the third trimester starting a couple of weeks ago. I've become manas already. My hands and feet are swollen, and my face looks different. I've always been proud of my feet, but now all I wanna do is hide them! I believe my baby has started descending, preparing himself for going out into the world as well, because I've been feeling a different kind of pain and pressure in my pelvic area. And every time I'm having one of those contractions, I can feel it all around my back as well. It's much more difficult for me to move around now. Switching positions in bed takes me much longer than before. Just the simple tasks of getting out of bed (short of rolling out of it), getting up from my office chair, and just walking around are already more difficult than before.

But on a much, much, MUCH lighter note... Mark's coming home!!! He'll be arriving late afternoon next Saturday. And I absolutely can't wait to see him! :) It's been... *stops and counts* about 8 months already since he left. I can't believe it's been that long already! We've been praying and hoping that our baby waits for him to come home, but also that he decides to come out early enough to spend lots of time with both of us :) I'll be working only 'til next Thursday so I can be with Mark the whole time he's here. And if I don't update this blog for like a month or something, it's either I'm stuck on my bed or have given birth already :P I'm going to work on a separate baby blog though :)

Please pray for the health and safety of me and my baby :D