Home Brewed Smittle: Week 30. 10 to go.

I can't believe we are almost to single digits! WOO HOO!! I'm feeling this big old boy, for sure! I'm totally rocking the third tri bump! Ha! I actually think my growing has started to slow down a little!
I sang at church for our Christmas program, and standing for the hour to practice then the hour for the actual service was not easy on my lower back. The good news is I was able to go see my FAVORITE chiro the next day and I'm happy to say that after my adjustment Eli has moved to a much more favorable position and I'm feeling much less pain in my back and having fewer contractions. Dr. Cooper really is great, and I'm so thankful for the relief. I've even been sleeping better at night which is an added benefit of feeling good!
One of the things I've been working on this week is getting my supply list ready. I still have several weeks left to get my supplies, but I like to have everything ready to go by 36 weeks, so I've been looking through what I have left from my first home birth and seeing what I still need to order/buy. These supplies are mostly like what you'd have in the hospital, but there are several herbal supplies for after birth that ease pain and calm you and baby. My favorite is this! I did one bath right after Mia was born, but it wasn't warm enough and I ended up wanting to get out ASAP and get into bed! BUT, a few days later I did another one and had her with me and it was one of the most amazingly calming experiences I've ever had. Watching her body go almost completely limp and relaxed was SO cool. Here is a picture of her afterwards.

 I've also been working through  how I want things to go this time. We had a plan last time as far as what we'd do with the kids and who we wanted to be here to help with them, but we didn't think through what would happen AFTER the baby was here. This time we want to have a complete plan, because a homebirth is MUCH different from a regular hospital birth as far as how visitors and resting goes. Because you are in your home, there is no waiting room or nurse buffer to keep visitors to a minimum. Last time it got a little out of control as far as noise/visitors goes and I wasn't able to rest after being awake and in labor the night before with a living room full of people. We've decided to ask visitors to wait a while to come this time. I want to feel comfortable coming out of my bedroom and resting in the living room if I want, and I really want our family to soak up this LAST time of having a baby. I want to snuggle that brand new boy! We are hoping that extended family and friends will understand, but sometimes it's important to make decisions that are best for your family, and since I'm the only person who has ever had a homebirth in my family I'm really hoping they will trust my judgement and not take it personally. All that to say, know that there are a lot of GREAT things about having a homebirth, but there are some things like this that I think are actually a little harder. I was NOT ready for it last time!
There wasn't a whole lot of information on babycenter for this week, but it did say that Eli was about 15.7 inches long now, and weighs almost 3 pounds. About the size of a large head of cabbage. I can't say that I've EVER had cabbage. Don't really ever WANT to try it either. SO stinky!