Post-partum: 5 things no one tells you

Before you have a baby, you hear a lot of: “It’s life changing!” “Enjoy every moment!”

No one tells you: “You’ll feel like a mental patient!” “You’ll bleed like a gunshot victim!”

So I’m just going to be honest and tell you five things I was not expecting after I gave birth. Even though we took an in-depth childbirth class at The Birth Center, I feel that the information we were provided was extremely sugar-coated. Most likely to not scare us silly, which I can appreciate, but looking back, I wish someone was a straight shooter with me about a few things.

This is based on vaginal childbirth. So for people who are having a scheduled c-section, your experiences may vary.

*Warning: TMI ahead*

1. Blood. So much blood. I actually think gunshot victims bleed less than women who give birth vaginally. And I’m not even talking about hemorrhaging,I’m talking about normal post-partum bleeding. Before your due date, go to the feminine hygiene aisle of Target and buy 4-5 large packs of maxi pads – all different sizes. Then, steal every single pad from the hospital that enters your line of sight. When you nurse, hormones will make your uterus contract and you’ll feel a gush. When you stand up from a seated position, you will feel a gush. If you overexert yourself, you will feel a gush. Prepare yourself and don’t wear any cute underwear for at least 2 weeks. (The good news? Flynn is almost 8 months old and I still haven’t gotten my period back.)

2. You may not want anyone to hold your baby. Family & friends will want to visit sooner than you'd like them to and “give you a break” by holding your baby. While this is well-intentioned, I just want to warn you that you may not want anyone else to hold your baby. In fact, you may feel like punching whoever is holding your baby in the face. This was the case for me in the first week or so after we brought Flynn home. When my parents, my sister-in-law and my in-laws were holding Flynn, I felt an intense surge of RAGE pulsing through my body. This has got to be some sort of primal urge of a mother to protect her young because I have no other explanation. Tim could hold him all he wanted and I was fine with it, but when anyone else did, I wanted to grab Flynn and run away. (On a brighter note: most visitors will bring food and that is the most helpful gesture in the world to new parents.)

3. Control over your bodily functions may disappear for a short period of time. I felt all around disgusting in the weeks after giving birth. I had an episiotomy at the last minute because Flynn’s big old head wouldn’t budge after 3 hours of pushing, and that whole “area” was greatly affected by the incision (and tearing). Not only are there stitches in your nether-region, but the muscles that hold in pee, poop & farts take a vacation. Seriously, haven’t we been through enough already?! Not only do you have to be concerned about a gush of blood when you move suddenly, but also accidentally letting one rip. (Thankfully, any visitors will be too enthralled by your baby’s cuteness to notice that you just sharted and if all else fails, blame the dog.)

4. Speaking of pooping… you won’t be doing that for a while. Not without being terrified at least. While you’re at Target stocking up on maxi pads, hunt down the stool softeners. I wasn’t prepared for this and had to make an emergency trip at Rite Aid a few days after we brought Flynn home. It’s a real pain in the ass (pun intended) because you gotta go and yet you’re scared sh*tless (I am on a roll) that you’re going to rip a few stitches out with the slightest bit of exertion. Worst.feeling.ever.

5. You’ll wonder if this was all a huge mistake. After the frozen lasagna is gone, your husband goes back to work and you’re on your own with a newborn, you will wonder if you’re ready to be a mother. There were moments when I wished Flynn was never born. And then I’d beat myself up for thinking something so horrible. I’d yell at the dog or Tim because I was feeling overwhelmed and only sleeping for 2 hours at a time. Flynn would wake up and want to nurse and I would start crying because I had just fallen back to sleep. Looking back I know it was just the “baby blues,” but it felt more like the baby crazies. I didn’t feel sad - I felt completely insane! One night when I was nursing Flynn in bed, I couldn’t see him very well in the dark and I started getting really pissed off at this needy, faceless creature (that’s how irrational my thinking was at 3 am). He peed through his diaper and after I finished feeding him, I carried him into his room feeling extremely angry & unhinged. I turned on the light to see what I was doing and as soon as I saw his precious little face looking at me, those awful feelings disappeared. Things got better from then on, and whenever I was up in the middle of the night, I would make sure I could see his face (thanks flashlight app!) and I felt completely at peace.

Note: There is a big difference between the baby blues and postpartum depression. You can read about both here: http://www.urbanmommies.com/pregnancy-2/the-baby-blues-vs-post-partum-depression-how-to-tell-the-difference/

Has anyone else been through what I detailed above? What were you unprepared for after (or while) you gave birth?

A comfortable routine

Who's up for more breastfeeding talk? It's been consuming my life for the past 7+ months so I always am. Nothing delights me more than when a friend or relative has a baby and asks me breastfeeding questions... nothing! Not that I'm an expert (not even close), but this is how women used to learn about breastfeeding before books and the internet existed. Through sharing experiences. We should do it more often.


Flynn and I have finally settled into a comfortable nursing routine. On the days that I work (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri) I nurse him as soon as he wakes up. Then, he gets around 10 oz. of breast milk at his Nana's house plus 5 oz. of formula. I pick him up after work and nurse him as soon as we get home. That is usually followed by 4 oz. of formula since I always seem to be "running low" at that time of the day. He kindly lets me know there's nothing in there by whining, "Eeeeehhhhhhhhh!" and squirming around on my lap. Point taken, Flynn.


I nurse him once more before he goes to bed, and then sometime in the middle of night he wakes up for a quick nursing sesh and goes right back to sleep. We are seriously blessed with a very easy going baby.

Source

There was a short period of time when I was nursing him to sleep, but now I put him down drowsy but awake and he falls asleep within a few minutes. So to all the "experts" who say you should never nurse a baby to sleep because he'll never learn how to fall asleep on his own... suck it. I also comfort nurse him if he's cranky or bumps his head. The horrors!


While I'm at work, I pump 3 times which usually yields between 10-12 ounces. I'm sure my boss/co-workers can't believe I'm still pumping at work, but it's not affecting my productivity and honestly, the little breaks each day are quite nice. My old pal the federal government says I can take pumping breaks for a year, and I'll be taking full advantage of that. Since Flynn started solids, my supply has not dropped (due to the pumping, I'm sure) so why not just keep it going so he has the liquid gold for as long as possible? Anything to delay the inevitable first ear infection... and the inevitable return of my period. Haven't had it for 16 months and can't say I miss it!


Nursing covers are pointless at this age because Flynn enjoys flailing his arms and legs during booby time, so I either find a private area or pack a bottle JUST in case he refuses to nurse, which has happened a few times. 7 month olds are very easily distracted and my son hates nursing when  it's hot outside. Give him a cold bottle from the fridge and watch his eyes light up! Just like his Daddy.

Source

I'm finally at the point where I truly enjoy nursing. Sometimes if I just need to sit down for a few minutes, I'll grab the little guy and say "Let's nurse!" He's always game and I get some time to relax on the couch. Win-win. 


But of course, as soon as I reach the point where nursing is comfortable and easy for both of us, people will start asking, "When are you going to wean?" Ugh, really? But we're finally good at it! It doesn't hurt anymore! He has the perfect latch and he's so efficient! 


When Flynn doesn't want to nurse anymore, that's when we'll stop. It could be a month from now, it could be a year from now. I'm not trying to be Mom Enough or asked to pose for the cover of Time. It's just going really well and it would be such a shame to give that up, ya know?  


Plus, I'm reaaaaaally not looking forward to ditching my awesome nude-colored nursing bra yet. J/K! That thing is hideous and I'll probably burn it when Flynn's "all done" (*waves hands*). 

Flynn's Birth Story

Flynn is 9 weeks old and I’m finally sitting down to write this. Better late than never! I know you’re all just dying to know every detail… right?

Before I was pregnant, or married for that matter, I was fascinated by natural childbirth. I watched the documentary “The Business of Being Born” by Ricki Lake and was very turned off by the hospital birth process. It seemed so cold and strict. Not every woman is the same, not every birth is the same, but doctors expect everything to go the same way or there needs to be an intervention. (I’m sure a lot of this has to do with covering their butts from lawsuits, but that’s another issue altogether.) I’ve had bad experiences with doctors in the past and decided the typical route of a hospital birth with an OB was not for me. Plus, I figured if the cave women could do it… I could do it! Also, women in most European countries use midwives and have home births and they have less infant deaths than the U.S.

My mom (who had 3 natural births) always told me, “Just go to the Birth Center.” The Birth Center is a wonderful stand-alone facility in Bryn Mawr, PA located just steps from the Bryn Mawr Hospital, and they are affiliated if someone were to need an emergency transfer. All of their patients are cared for by CNM’s (certified nurse-midwives).

When I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t need to weigh my options. I already knew I wanted to give birth there. They only take a certain number of clients per month, and luckily I called early enough to get on the list. Tim and I went to their introductory seminar where we learned everything they do and don’t do. One of the big things they don’t do is offer pitocin to induce labor or epidurals. Fine by me! I wasn’t a fan of anything I read about either.

My pregnancy was ridiculously easy. Good genes? Good luck? Who knows, but it was a breeze. I kept running through month 6, then slowed down a bit and did yoga, walking & hand weights for the remaining months. I feel strongly that all of this exercise during my pregnancy gave me the birth outcome I wanted: a healthy baby & minimal recovery time.

Fast forward to Friday, November 4^th, 2011. I started noticing something at work that afternoon. I was losing my mucus plug! Hooraaaay. This usually means labor is imminent. And yes, it’s as gross as it sounds.

3am on Saturday morning, I woke up with contractions… REAL ones. None of this Braxton Hicks nonsense. I knew without a doubt I was in labor. And for some reason, I was extremely calm and nonchalant about the whole thing. According to Tim, I woke him up around 5am and said, “Babyyyy, I’m in laborrrr.” I honestly don’t remember sounding that dumb, but whatever. He jerked out of bed with a panicked look on his face and I told him to relax because my contractions were around 8-10 minutes apart. It was going to be a while. A while meaning approximately 27 hours… mm hmm, you heard me. It’s not like in the movies, kids! Especially not the first time around.

I called The Birth Center at around 9am to talk to the midwife on call and explained what was going on. I lost my mucus plug, my contractions were 8 minutes apart, and I was pretty sure my water broke. It wasn’t one big gush, but multiple small ones… kinda like I peed my pants a few times. Lovely! She told us to sit tight and keep timing a few contractions here and there. We should call back when they were 4-5 minutes apart. She also told me some FANTASTIC news. The midwife coming on duty was my favorite one… Gazelle! Yes, like the horse. I think I fist pumped the air when I heard this. I had seen her multiple times for prenatal appointments and had complete confidence in her.

My mom came over, gave me a pedicure and cleaned the house. She must have been bored. Tim took Indy out for a long walk. And we waited. At around noon, my contractions were getting more intense and were consistently 5 minutes apart. I called Gazelle and through my heavy breathing, she could sense it was time for us to come on over. Worst. Car ride. Ever. Driving on bumpy under construction 202 while you’re having contractions is torture.

From around 1:30pm-8:30pm… I labored, and labored and labored. Now I know why they call it labor. Hard work, son! Tim and I walked circles around the parking lot, and walked the steps, and walked the hallway… and I basically never sat down. Sitting down hurt like a mother#%&@$! After all that walking, Gazelle checked me and I was 4 cm dilated. Yep, all that and only 4 cm! I was in for a long, uncomfortable night.

I got into the shower in my room and lay over a birthing ball (exercise ball) while Tim pointed the shower nozzle right on my lower back. Ahhh, a tiny bit of relief. After about a half hour of that and lots more excruciating contractions, Gazelle checked me again. 5 cm. Are you effing kidding me? Tim said the look I gave him was one of sheer terror. How much longer was this gonna take? Hurry up, Flynn!

After the shower, I pretty much realized I was going to be naked from then on. Honestly, you reach a certain point where you just don’t care anymore. I got into the whirlpool tub and very quickly went from 5 cm to 8 cm. And boyyy could I feel it. I went into my own little world of pain and couldn’t really hear or see anyone. It was pretty bizarre. Tim put my birth mix on the iPod… couldn’t even hear it. I apparently yelled at him a few times, too. Sorry, babe!

It was around midnight when my body started having the urge to push. So I’m in the tub… pushing. The midwife decides to just go with it, even though I wasn’t 10 cm yet. (That’s what I like about them. They let you follow your instincts.) I got out of the tub, suddenly re-energized. This was it! I was going to pop this baby out! Not so fast...

For the next 3 hours, I pushed and pushed and pushed in every position possible. There’s the head! Wait, where did it go? Now ya see it, now ya don’t. Flynn’s big old head was stuck. (And yes, Tim looked.) Finally, Gazelle broke the news to me that Flynn wasn’t going to be born at The Birth Center. His heart rate was up and down for too long and he needed to be born in a hospital setting for safety reasons. Vacuum? C-section? I was crushed. I wanted to give up. It was over. I was going to the hospital. I failed.

But how can you think you failed after this beautiful screaming baby comes out of your body? It’s impossible. With birth, there is no such thing as failure if the end result is the baby you carried for 40 weeks. You finally meet him, and forget everything that just happened.

5 am. I bucked up, put my clothes back on, jumped into my car with Tim and Gazelle. No ambulance, baby head literally between my legs. We drove the 5 second drive to the ER entrance, illegally parked, I got in a wheel chair and was admitted. Hospital gown on. Monitors on. IV in. They gave me pitocin through my IV. Really you guys, was that necessary? I’m 10 cm and pushing. The doctor was rude and short with Gazelle. I remember hearing her say something like “Another one? You’re wasting my time.” How about stop being a bitch and deliver my baby!

I amused the nurses with my cave woman-esque moans and grunts. I heard the word “episiotomy” and got scared. Gazelle reassured me that it was probably for the best. They gave me a local & told Tim not to look. Slice. Push. Wahhhh! Flynn was born. He came out screaming, peeing and with the cord around his neck. Tim didn’t get the chance to cut it, but I think he was too exhausted to care.

Instead of handing him directly to me as the Birth Center would have done, he was whisked across the room for an oxygen mask and cleaning. I could barely see him. That was the saddest moment. I kept asking when I could hold him, but all of the nurses were ignoring me. I barely even noticed Dr. Bitch between my legs stitching me up without anesthesia. All I wanted to do was hold my baby. After what seemed like forever (pretty sure it was only 15 minutes), they handed me this little bundle and Tim and I stared at him in awe. He nursed immediately, with Gazelle’s help, and that was that. I did it. We did it. Oh, where was Tim that whole time? Right by my side. But I could barely even remember him being there. It was an insane 27 hour whirlwind.

We were released 12 hours later. Not the typical hospital stay, but that’s when we would have been released at the Birth Center. I felt surprisingly great after being awake for 36 hours and couldn't wait to get out of the hospital and back home.

A week later, I was back in my skinny jeans and 25 pounds lighter, to which I credit breastfeeding, genetics, age and exercising throughout my pregnancy. I’m not trying to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight because frankly, it was a little unhealthy. I had lost weight due to stress before our wedding and was hardly eating anything. Whenever I have spare time and Flynn is big enough to sit in the jogging stroller, I’ll get back to exercising. But for right now, I’m enjoying every minute of just lounging around nursing and holding the little one. It’s going to go by so fast…

Would I give birth without drugs again? Absolutely. But I know now why pitocin & epidurals are so popular. Birth is long & painful! But pain doesn’t kill you. You get through it and you forget about it, which I almost have only 2 months later. What I liked about having a natural birth was this: I could feel everything. Is it weird that I WANTED to feel everything? I was so curious as to what it would be like! After giving birth, I feel like I can accomplish anything. The more people told me I was crazy and that I’d be “begging for drugs”… the more it motivated me to have a natural birth. So, thanks haters ;-)

Flynn Ryan Annan

Born 11/6/2011 at 5:30 am

7 lbs, 3 oz. 19” long

Tests, Protocols & Waivers

It's obvious by now that my husband and I aren't going the "usual" route when it comes to having a baby. Our decision to put my prenatal care and delivery in the hands of certified nurse midwives, instead of doctors, has been questioned by many. "Are you sure that's safe?" No, I'm going to purposely put my life and the life of my child in danger.

Every decision we've made thus far has been in the best interest of our baby. And aside from choosing a birth center, there have been many other decisions that we've needed to make. Since I'm a bit of an oversharer, allow me to indulge you!

1) Genetic testing. When you go to your first appointment (mine was around 9 weeks), there is a slew of testing that's offered. If you want, you can find out right from the start if your baby has any genetic disorders or other things like Down syndrome. I knew that I wanted to opt out of as many of these screenings as possible. A) Tim and I have no family history of these conditions; B) We are both well under the age of 35, and yeah, I'm bragging about it (haha); and C) If it was determined our baby had some type of disorder, we wouldn't consider terminating the pregnancy anyways. Waiver, please!

Of course, I had the routine blood test for STD's, Hepatitis B, blood type & Rh factor. All were fine and I am Rh positive (which is good), so no further action was needed.

2) Ultrasounds. The birth center's opinion is that ultrasounds do not lead to better birth outcomes, therefore, they don't recommend that you get any if everything is progressing normally. We decided to just get one at 20 weeks to find out the sex of the baby. That was our choice and we were glad we did it!


Hey, little dude!

However, a protocol snuck up on us. Yes, even hippy dippy birth centers have them. It was determined from this 20 week ultrasound that my placenta was low, which can be VERY bad if it stays that way. They recommended I come back at 28 weeks for a follow-up ultrasound. I was not pleased, especially after reading that this "low placenta" condition is extremely common and clears up on its own 99% of the time. If I would have never gotten an ultrasound, this would have never been an issue. I presented my reasoning to my midwife and asked if I could skip the second ultrasound. She said "Sorry, no can do."
The next time around I will probably skip ultrasounds altogether, now that I know that wanting just one can lead to more. Luckily, my placenta moved up (as it usually does) and no further testing was needed.

3) Hep B Vaccine. The birth center does not offer this vaccine at birth like hospitals do, and that's fine with us because we're waiving it. I don't have Hepatitis B and I doubt my newborn is going to be shooting up with dirty needles in the alley way, so for now, that's one less needle prick on his first day in the outside world. It's a disease usually contracted later in life, so if he wants to get it one day, he can do so. We just don't feel that it's necessary on Day 1.

4) Vitamin K. We have the option of the Vitamin K shot or giving it to our baby orally. I can't tell you how many times I went back and forth on this one! It's pretty vital as it promotes proper blood clotting and since babies can go through some pretty traumatic things on their way out, we didn't want to risk our newborn bleeding to death. But I am just naturally wary of all types of injections, so I discussed the oral dosage option with a few different midwives at multiple appointments. The consensus was that they thought the shot was best and easiest. The only thing in the jab is a synthetic form of Vitamin K (which annoys me, but whatever). No fillers or other weird stuff though. The birth center waits a few hours to give it, so mom & baby get to rest and establish a bond. They told me the oral dosage is difficult, babies hate it, and it has to be done multiple times the week after birth. While it sounds more gentle than an injection, it would be one more thing to worry about after I left the birth center. So we're gonna stick it to him. Sorry, little guy.


I'm also going to make sure I include a lot of K-rich foods in my diet
so it's passed through my breast milk.

5) Antibiotic Eye Ointment. It's standard protocol in hospitals these days, but does it have to be? The purpose of the ointment is to protect a newborn from contracting an eye infection due to the mom having gonorrhea and/or chlamydia. So, if you know you don't have either of these STD's, your baby doesn't need his or her eyes all gooped up with ointment right after birth. I read up on this, asked my midwife if I could waive it, and she said all I needed was an extra culture done towards the end of my pregnancy to verify that I was STD free. I did. It came up negative. I filled out a little form and boom, my baby doesn't need this intervention. It's amazing what just asking about something can do!

6) Group B Strep. Another protocol the birth center follows, and for good reason. If you test positive, you need 2 rounds of antibiotics during labor. Luckily, I tested negative for this bad boy which means two things. If my water breaks early, I have a full 24 hours to go into active labor before pitocin is required, and if I go into active labor before my water breaks, I don't have to go to the birth center early for antibiotics. I can labor in the comfort of home for a longer period of time. I'm really excited. It's the small victories at this point, I guess :-)

7) Circumcision. This has been a hot topic in the news lately, mainly in San Francisco. Yes, we will be getting our little boy circumcised. Yes, we've done the research and weighed the pros and cons. I left the decision up to my husband and that's that!

8) Hospital Freebies. By going to the birth center, Tim and I are also "waiving" all the fun hospital freebies we've been hearing about. Everyone says make sure you grab tons of this and that before you leave! Well, the birth center doesn't really work like that. When I go into labor, I'm required to bring a lot of things with me that a hospital would normally provide. Example) They don't give you a hospital gown. You wear whatever you want, like an oversized t-shirt or nightgown. Also, it's BYOP. Bring your own pads. And food. And beverages. And anything else you want. Of course, they have all the necessary medical supplies - it's not like I'm going to give birth in a cave. They just don't have agreements with big companies that give out thousands of samples like hospitals do. You definitely won't be going home with any formula samples, either. They are very pro-breastfeeding. In fact, I think Question #1 at my first appointment was, "Are you planning on breastfeeding?"

If you want to be fancy, Etsy sellers have homemade hospital gowns!

So there are our choices & testing outcomes all laid out for you. I LOVE the fact that we were able to opt out of things we didn't feel were necessary. For two leos, having control makes us moewy happy. Yes, I just said that.

Misconceptions

Throughout my pregnancy, I've been asked "So which hospital are you giving birth at?" One person actually went on to list a handful of local hospitals without giving me a chance to respond first. "Paoli? Bryn Mawr? Chester County?" It's always assumed that I will give birth in a hospital.

And then I break the news. Well, actually, we're going to a birth center. Cue total confusion...

So I launch into my spiel (I've got it down by now). It's a stand-alone birth center right across the street from the Bryn Mawr hospital, and I'm under the care of midwives, but in the case of an emergency, I am transferred to the hospital. Then I like to add, it's a little hippy-ish, but I love it! For some reason, people get this. In truth, it doesn't have anything to do with the hippy movement of the 1970's, except that that's the decade when women returned to using midwives and wanting births with as few interventions as possible. Before hospital births became popular in the 20's and 30's, almost all women had their children at home under the care of a midwife.


The Birth Center in Bryn Mawr, PA

In many European countries, there are far fewer hospital births than in the United States, and these countries actually have lower infant mortality rates. As of 2010, the U.S. was ranked 34th for infant mortality rate, which means that 33 countries have fewer infant deaths than we do. Sweden, Denmark... even Cuba beats us. CUBA!

Additionally, I knew that if I went the traditional hospital route, there would be almost a 1 in 3 chance I'd have a c-section. That is the national average for all hospital births, regardless of the mother's health. Up front, I knew I wanted to avoid being part of that statistic. Who wants major surgery? No one.
On the other hand, the birth center we are going to has an 8% c-section rate. They also don't offer epidurals or pitocin (except for after childbirth, if pitocin is needed to expel the placenta). So if I were to want/need either of those drugs, I'd be transferred to the hospital. They believe that the body works best without these interventions and they offer tons of natural pain management methods instead (there have got to be about 100 of them). We already learned about them in our childbirth classes, and I have a handy packet for home use when labor starts. It's like my new bible.

Then there are the misconceptions. That midwives aren't trained properly (false, they receive the same training as nurses, plus additional training in emergency procedures that can arise during birth). That only a doctor can deliver a baby (clearly not true if women in other countries have such great success with midwives and if women in the U.S. were successfully having children for hundreds of years). That drugs are 100% safe (no drug is completely safe). That there is one "best" place to have a baby (again, in looking at other countries, maybe we're the ones who've got it wrong). Ay yay yay. Whenever I hear these things, I just roll my eyes. Throughout my prenatal care and childbirth classes, I've felt so safe, comfortable and confident with their methods and attitudes towards birth. I refuse to let other people's narrow-minded opinions about my birth choices deter me.



I don't feel scared or nervous because I know there will be a wonderful team of women helping Tim and I every step along the way. Not to mention, it always helps to feel in control of the situation. I've never been pressured into any kind of testing and we're even opting out of a few post-birth procedures (antibiotic eye ointment & the hep b vaccine) and doing so wasn't an issue. Having your decisions supported and trusted is truly empowering.

Do I sound like a hippy? Okay, maybe I do. Afterall, I wasn't drawn to those tie-dye tapestries in college for no reason. But I don't think it's a bad thing. Some people I've spoken to act like I'm being wreckless. But why? Because they've never heard of anyone else going to a birth center before? Talk about fear of the unknown.

Wherever and however you plan on giving birth, being 100% confident in your choice is key. There aren't wrong choices, just different choices. I've really enjoyed educating people on my choice, and I can't wait to tell Baby Annan's birth story in a few weeks. In GRAPHIC DETAIL. Haha... just kidding... kind of.

I'd also like to give a shout out to my awesome husband who has supported every one of my choices, attended hours and hours of childbirth classes with me, and who gives one hell of a prenatal massage. He's going to be a counter-pressure rock star when I'm in labor!

See you soon, little one! And please don't cause problems, mm k?