Due Date
Today, the 8th December, is our baby's "due" date. The last nine months have been something of a learning curve for me and I now know things I never thought I needed to know about the biological workings of a woman. A couple of other things I discovered:
- Babies don't go straight in to their room/nursery upon arrival. Not knowing this I'd been hurrying to get the nursery finished, thinking today was the deadline.
- The "due date" is a stab in the dark guess and only 5% of babies arrive when expected. This came as a shock as I'd have expected it to be more 95% that do.
So, the nursery is ready, but the baby obviously isn't and wants to stay where it is (unless it does in fact happen some time today) and who can blame it. Karen is convinced she'll have to go in to hospital to be induced just before Christmas!
The midwife called in the other day and left us in charge of the Doppler kit they'll be using to monitor the baby's heartbeat during delivery. As I mentioned a while ago, to the shock of a few, we're having a home birth. Needless to say we've been messing about with the heart monitor and last night I made a video.
This baby is already a part of the modern world, whether it likes it or not. No doubt he they'll take things like this for granted and look back on this amazed at the poor quality of the video. At which point I'll say "You don't know you're born!". There are no videos of me as a child and I'd love to be able to watch something like this.
Keep your fingers crossed that it's going to happen today!!
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Jake. It was very windy yesterday and I'm sure that was the noise from your garden, not the baby!
Good Luck. I hope it's today.
(Mine is 14 and last week he came home with a letter about a school trip to Moscow. £1100 in all. Can we afford it? No. Are we going to deny him the opportunity? Of course not! Start saving now Jake!)
Wishing you and Karen the best of luck, i'm sure everything will go perfectly.
All the Best Jake. My wife is a midwife so she'll be cheering your home birth :)
'Hope it all goes well, Jake.
My boys birthday is on Sunday (10th), so that would be a good day. Two at once is a bit much though.
Life will never be the same again. Enjoy every minute.
All the best guys, things will be fine for sure!!
I was a home birth and look how I turned out. Oh my God you're in your trouble!
Best of luck to you and your wife and may your wife not blame you too much during the whole process.
Hey Jake,
Wishing you all well - as you probably know they don't like you to go more than 2 weeks overdue before inducing. We were 1 day short of having to go into hospital and being induced (we wanted a home water birth like yourselves) and went see an acupuncturist friend to help things along - 45 minutes later the contractions started and 9 hours later our daughter was born.
Find the name of a traditional acupuncture practitioner in your area - and book yourselves in for about a week to 10 days time.
Good Luck Matey!
One piece of advice, get some sleep now!
I second Clarkey. Go sleep while you still can. :-)
Interesting thing about babies staying in past their due date. Assuming all is well, they will come out with a bit more hair (our first was a week late and had lots of hair) than their hasty countparts, and if they stay in for a month past and are still happy, they could be born with some teeth. The Inuit (Alaskan natives) once believed babies born without teeth would not survive as they're women usually carry 10 months.
Best of luck! We'll be cheering you all on from here. :-)
Best wishes to you all, Jake. Thanks for sharing the video - a heart monitor at home, how fun! (And Karen looks great for being due any day now.)
Can't wait for baby pictures (and baby and big sister pictures).
By the way, that video really shows a softer side to you than the Domino hater that some try and portray :-)
I liked the way you wife said the baby wasn't whining. Are you sure it's British?
Jake,
Best wishes for you and your wife. Remember, you can't have just one....actually life starts with three!!!
Exciting times!! We were just blessed with our 5 child {Link}
. Two of our children where born at home and would not want it any other way.
Now get some sleep.
Hi Jake,
Been following your blog for years but never post anything but today is the day best wishes for you, your wife & baby.
Foo.
Congrats to you and your family. Hopefully the little one arrives in good health and happy spirits.
Take care!
Good luck mate,
Better out than in.
while you at it have a few toots on the gas and air .. its trippy man
;-)
Having just migrated my last child off of diapers, part of me thinks "better you than me"! But the first weeks are the most precious. Enjoy and have fun!
ya know, I heard that doing it brings on labor.
Now if you can just convince your wife.
LOL
Brian is right. The nurse that taught our "how to have a baby" class said the same thing.
I couldn't bear the thought though... seemed a little, wierd. Can you imagine the poor kid? "Blimey? What's that racket? Best go have a look."
*shudder*
I hope everything goes well, and hopefully something like on schedule. The very best wishes to all three/four of you.
Simon
Crossing my fingers!!, best wishes to all three of you.
Marcus
Best of luck to you all. My first one came a week later, and the second 2 weeks earlier. That's the way it is with children, they don't ever follow your plans, get used to! When I met my husband my very well planned little family of 3 became 9! He had with him 5 children, they are today between 13 and 20, and we stopped planning anything a long time ago... as well as counting. Next May my oldest is getting his first, and I'm more nervous than ever!
Keep on blogging!
Good luck - I'm sure it'll all be okay.
Get some sleep. In about three weeks time, you'll look back fondly to unbroken sleep lasting more than 4 hours...
:-)
---* Bill
Our second was a home birth and everything went far more smoothly than it did for our first who was an hospital birth. We had an excellent midwife and on the night (for he came along at just after 2 in the morning) we had midwifes and birth helpers crawling all over the house. He was born on the 10th of December which also happened to be the birthday of our first born. So yesterday for us was a busy party day. Thinking of you both and hoping that all goes well. We probably won't see much of you for a little while; so much to get used to and so much to enjoy.
Make caffine your friend. Some days it's the only thing that will keep you going...
Oh yea and did anyone mention...get lots of sleep while you can.
:-)
Mary did it with the immaculate conception happening on the 8th and delivering on the 25th. Brian wasn't around then to give advice and if he was, the three wise men may have happened upon an entirely different scene in the manger. :)
My wife and I played some basketball to bring on the delivery.
Good luck Jake,
Couple of things that you must do if you are going to stand by her during the supreme moment -:)
1.) Wear full sleeves.
2.) Make sure Karen's fingernails are trimmed.
3.) Apologize for anything that you think you have done wrong.
Other than its a wonderful feeling to be a parent.
regards
Hi
The biggest surprise is yet to come. You'll probably feel/fall in love like the first time again ... but with a newborn. I'm sure it will surprise you to have the emotional life of a 13 year old again ;o)
Best wishes
Steen AA
Hi Jake,
my memories of the heartbeat monitor are not so good, my firstborn girl had the umbilical cord a few times round her throat and the heartbeat was really fast before theygot her out with a cesarian.
I guess you'll have to wait until 13th until you hold your baby in your arms...
I wish Karen and yourself good luck and all the best..
Mark
Wow, it is amazing to listen to the little heartbeat.
Wishing you all the best, hopefully by now you are well into delivery...
Pamela
That's so cool! I just stopped by and saw the baby's photo (cute) and then this!
I knew you had it in you!
:-)
What a lovely little boy, he's gorgeous. Congratulations to both of you.
All my love Louise.