Babies, and toddlers, and kids....oh my

So, I'm pregnant.....again. It's funny. Well, not funny haha, just funny interesting. I honestly thought that my last baby would be, well, my last baby. I do admit that I had brief fleeting moments of sadness when I thought about never having babies again. I love everything that surrounds pregnancy and labor and birth. And, I'm good at it....like, really really good at it. I have easy pregnancies with no complications, quick labors and fast births. My babies have all been healthy and relatively easy to care for.

The subject of pregnancy, labor, and birth fascinate me. So much so that I teach couples how to have babies the natural way. I went through all of this training and academic stuff so that I could teach natural birth stuff to other people. It's a way for me to stay involved with pregnancy and labor without actually having to do it over and over and over again....the problem is that I keep doing it over and over and over again....this is my 4th baby. 1, 2, 3, 4 people!!!! That's not a family, it's a clan! Add me and mine to my honey and his babies and we're talking about six living children, one deceased baby, and two adults. My friend, Nikki, said it best when she said "we have the yours, mine, and ours thing going on."

So, there's a couple of things to mention. 1. I'm not married to the daddy, Bee. Love him, love him, love him. We had plans to marry before finding out we were pregnant, just hadn't gotten around to it yet. 2. Honestly, I haven't been divorced just too terribly long (that's a long story that I just won't go into right now). 3. My mother is devastated and rarely talks to me now. 4. I have lots of things on my to do list. It'll be fine.....just busy.

I am excited about the pregnancy for a few reasons (other than the obvious). I will actually have the opportunity to use a midwife and labor and birth my baby in a place other than a hospital. I detest laboring and birthing in a hospital. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to do things this way (because my labors are so short and all of the midwives are too far away), but things have worked out in such a way that it's going to work. I have a friend that's a doula and lives just a few miles into Texas. She graciously offered to let me visit her and "accidentally" have the baby there. You see, Texas midwives can't legally practice in LA. I was able to meet with my midwife for the first time on Friday. She's a new midwife, but with lots of experience. I'm excited about doing it this way. No hospital staff poking and prodding me or the baby. No rules about what can and can't be done. No required hospital stay.....I get to birth and go home. Natural birth brings with it a feeling of empowerment and a huge adrenaline rush that just won't quit. Being in a hospital is not conducive to that feeling...it fades and you're left feeling confined. It'll be nice to experience things in a different way.

So, I know there's no pics right now, but Bee said that he intended on taking them throughout the pregnancy. I'll add them as I can. As of today I am 8 weeks and 1 day. My due date is technically on January 10th, but the midwife, SW, and I agree that it will most likely be around the 17th or the 20th.