86 more sleeps

Well, we are officially "prepared" for childbirth. We have a certificate that says so. I guess it would be more accurate to say that today's Prepared Childbirth class prepared us for the fact that while we may plan for things to go one way, our delivery may unfold in a completely different direction. And at the end of the road, we will still have a precious little c whether he or she makes the trip naturally, expedited by pitocin, sucked out by a vacuum, or pulled through an incision. I'll have to do some major self talk to be prepared for the use of the ginormous forceps we saw today. I mean those things are for real.

Isn't our practice baby darling?
How cute is our pretend family?

We heard a lot of complete sweetness from the video parents. Let me just say that these women are seriously more confident than I could ever imagine being. The cameras went everywhere. Jared really liked hearing the fathers talk about the joy, love and pride they felt for their newborns.

I can't express how grateful I am that I will have an amazing partner to support me during this process. If our plan comes to fruition and we are able to do the deal naturally with no epidural, Jared will play a huge role in the delivery. I was afraid this class would plant some serious seeds of doubt that we can actually deliver without it. The opposite happened. I feel more confident about the possibility than I did before. Thank you, thank you, thank you for Jared!