31-Week Belly

I realized I haven't posted an updated bump picture here in a while. So here's the picture I took on Sunday, at 31 weeks. I've always looked at pregnant belly pictures before and thought they had to be letting their backs sway more than they should. But I was seriously standing up as straight as I could in this picture, and my back looks as swayed as everyone else's. I don't know if it's partially an illusion created by the big belly, but I know some of it's for real. I guess we really do have to compensate for that extra weight, and our bodies make us do it even if we don't want to!

Who Controls Childbirth?

Being approximately 9 weeks away from my big day, I found this article super interesting. I really like the perspective this author takes. It seems like so many of the perspectives you hear about childbirth are dogmatic on one side or another, so I like that she's not. And, I really like her point that the whole movement of women wanting to "take back" their childbirth experience, as admirable as it is, probably stems from our need and desire for control--and to categorize everything as either a success or failure.

Who Controls Childbirth?: Health: Self.com

In case you're wondering, I do, in fact, have a "birth plan." My hospital/OB practice actually gives all its patients birth plan forms to fill out and indicate various preferences. Though it kind of restricts us to have choices only within the categories they allow choices, I like the system they have set up. It gives me more confidence that they'll actually pay attention to my plan.

And, to be honest, I don't care nearly as much about the method of delivery as I do about what happens immediately afterwards. I think the fact that my mom had an emergency C with me after about 30 hours of unmedicated labor has set me up with pretty low expectations. In my mind, labor is a means to an end, and I mostly care about surviving and reaching the end!