Baby Business: Week 37, Bump, birth and head back in the sand

 Three new websites under development. Tick

Client’s new name finalised – on with the branding. Tick

Web review complete. Tick

Birth plan re-written for the fourth time. Tick

Can any mums out there tell me where you can buy that ‘magic’ cream that takes away all pain... you know the one, the one you get out anytime your child bumps themselves, falls over or bangs their head. Well I want some please for labour.

NCT and antenatal classes may be great for getting us mums-to-be ready for the birth and the weeks following little baby taking over our lives, but it also manages to put the sheer fear of god in to you too. I have followed a simple philosophy throughout my pregnancy - baby has to come out, so there is no point getting stressed and worked up about it. There are going to be a host of highly trained midwives and doctors who deliver umpteen babies a day and there’s an array of different pain relief options available. It will be fine.

Of course there have been plenty of people not shy in coming forward with their ‘birth stories’ (or horror stories) and scarily most of these people have been near-strangers, who end up chatting to me after they spot ‘bump’. It is lovely that people show an interest and seem to want to know about bump, but I really do not feel the need to know all the gory details of their own birth experiences.

There is a common theme though that runs through all the birth stories I have heard... “it is hard to describe as it is like nothing you can ever imagine”. Ummmmmm, haven’t I heard that before somewhere...

My NCT session this week covered all the different pain relief options available and it turns out they all have some negative sides to them, and some carry risks to the baby (even if very small). Now that’s a whole different ball game. Previously I have been thinking about how I will deal with being in labour and not really focusing on my little girl – surely nature takes it course and she wiggles her way out in to the big wide world (non-medically or graphically speaking!). But now I am finding out that the things that can help me and reduce stress and trauma to my body could actually cause her distress, however mild. That is not an option to me as those instincts to ‘protect at all costs’ are there before our little ones are even born. So what do I do then?

Simple. Back to my original philosophy – baby has to come out, so there’s no point in getting worked up about it beforehand. Besides, it’s going to be “like nothing I can ever imagine” so why bother trying!

On the ‘to do’ list:

Re-write birth plan again

Slow down and put my feet up more

Stop changing the outfit for my little girl to travel home in!

Prepare for judging of the four awards I have got clients’ shortlisted for