How to pretend to be prepared for a baby… {1st Year Birthday Celebrations}

Our curly girly turns 1 on the 31st October, and we’re spinning around in circles, like “huh?! did that just happen?!” For the next few days, sometimes in my blog, but mostly in my head, I will be reminiscing on my glorious pregnant days and all the prep that went into making sure the transition from womb to world was an amazing one.

This has been such a trip! I enjoyed looking back to when I was pregnant, all the great stuff that made my pregnancy such an experience and all the other stuff like the 4D Scan and the baby showers. It made me realize how much WORK goes into planning for a baby! They don’t just pop out and “ta-dahhhh!”… No sir, you have to plan and pre-plan and unplan and replan and plan to plan your plans. Such a brain freeze when your brain feels like mush!

It’s no secret. I am kind of a freak when it comes to being organized. So you can imagine the brain work that I had invested into planning for Curlys arrival! For starters, I had a very precise check list of things we needed to get before she arrived.

I also knew what type of birthing experience I wanted. I believe that God answers prayers and I knew that I had to be specific with what I wanted. And so I made a list. Top of the list was that I wanted a birth experience that was HAPPY and not “AAARGGHGH!” (like how woman make it seem in movies).

Here’s a snippet of my list: 
– Painless labor. I wanted to be joyful and not miserable.
– First signs of labor must be at home
– Water to break naturally
– Short labor. I especially wrote down 3 pushes. lol
– Smiling and happy
– Supernatural stretching. My body would do what it was designed to do, naturally.
– No afterbirth pains. Apparently those really suck.
– Breast feed naturally and easily
– Healthy and happy baby and mom
– No complications

I prayed over this every day and I believed God for it. I also read the most amazing book called ‘Supernatural Childbirth’ by Jackie Mize. It’s a must read for any expectant mom. I highly recommend it.

But besides for the spiritual and supernatural aspect of the birth, I also made sure that I sorted myself out in the physical. I prepped and planned where I could, to make sure that it would be an easy transition for me and my family.

My hospital bag was packed to the T, up to an extra charger for my phone and my Journey Journal, to document my first few hours with Curly. I made sure to pack my “special nightie” (yes, I have one of those) – the same one that had belonged to my grandmother. I wore it when my son was born too.

Total live savers that I am glad I packed in were:
– Maternity undies. They are a dream, after giving natural birth!
– Soft feeding bras, pads and lanolin nipple cream.
– Lots of change of sleepwear that are easy to get out of and easy to feed baby in.

I also had a labor room bag, since my hospital bag was too bulky to take into the labor room. My labor room necessities were: 
– My slippers. I knew I would be walking into the labor room, fully dressed and would probably change into hospital clothes while I was there. So I did not want to be barefoot.
– Documents for admission.
– A laundry bag for the clothes I wore to labor room.
– Something to tie my hair up with to avoid hair in my face.
– Some lip ice, just in case.
– An energy bar.
– A pack of tissues
– A CD with all of our favorite, soothing, worship tracks on it.
I also made a note of what must go where, and slipped it in, in case Hubstopher was unsure.