The Long Time Sunshine Song

Hello, Peach!

You are still floating about on the inside---a human in a human. It was suggested to me, by nursing staff, that maybe one reason you have not yet been sitting very low ("dropped") is that you seem to have an Olympic size swimming pool to float about in. I guess this enormous belly of mine has a LOT of amniotic fluid in it. So why would you want to lodge your head down into the pelvis when there's all this nice floating still to be had? Enjoy. I truly hope it is fun, that it feels good, that is comforts and holds you. From my perspective, the speculation about the copious amniotic fluid is reassuring--the size of my belly is not necessarily indicative of how large you are, Peach, as we together navigate getting you out of me!

Supposedly, according to our medical care team, you were due to emerge last Thursday. According to my own calculation based on menstrual cycles, you are "due" to emerge this coming Friday. What I've gathered from the friends I've made through this pregnancy is that we would do pregnant moms a favor if we would use "due months" rather than "due dates"--since it is very rare for due dates to be the day a child actually is born and in fact the average birth date for a first time momma is 40 weeks and 8 days---8 days later than the "due date". All of that said, these final days sure do have me wanting to meet you, Peach! I'm doing lots of things that are said to promote labor. I'm back at Dr. Pei's office this week as she is well known for her accupuncture being successful in inducing naturally. And while I actually feel fairly patient and I'm enjoying this little cushion of time that I have to not go to work, to read, to cook, to go to yoga classes every day, to nap with our Teacup, to do lots of walking, I also feel at every moment that it would be great to go into labor---I just have so much anticipation about who you are, who you will be, how mine and Papa's lives will change!

Peach, can I just put in my vote right now---I hope you sleep. I'm fully ready to nurse every hour for a while, to be tired tired tired, to accept that compromised sleep is part of parenthood. But eventually, I hope you are a good sleeper. I'd say there's a 50/50 chance. Your Papa sleeps like a rock. Your Mama does not. I'm thinking that if you are a good sleeper, maybe, just maybe, I'll get some too. Because it is most certainly not happening these days at all. Ah, I hope you sleep.

I've added in a song to the Peach In Utero Collection. This one is called the Long Time Sunshine Song. It is one of the gems that I have gathered at Yo Mama Yoga Studio (http://www.yomamaboulder.com/), a place where I have found so much support and collective wisdom and grounding throughout these 10 months with you, Peach. I love it that you will know, that you already know, the voices of Katie, of Kelly, of Faith, because you have listened to them teach, share, question, philosophize, comfort over and over again as they guide me and other pregnant mothers through the art of yoga and pregnancy. I will deeply miss pre-natal yoga with them---but we'll go to "Mommy and Me"--I promise! And at the end of every pre-natal class that Katie teaches, she plays the Long Time Sunshine Song. We all put our hands on the homes of our babies and we sing the song to you. And I haven't been able to sing it without tears until just very recently. I'm thinking that means I'm ready to meet you, Peach. Here is the song for anyone who wants to put this beautiful song into your heart. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1D3ejwQiVg) At the end of the song, Sat Nam, is repeated. This means I am truth.

I've been thinking about how fortunate I feel to have spent so much time already loving you, Peach. At Yo Mama, some of the teachers, and some of the second and third-time mamas have said, "You are only pregnant once." What they mean is that often it is only the first pregnancy that a mother gets to truly and deeply experience because when/if a second or third child comes along, there is much less time to pay attention to the process of pregnancy. So, Peach, you and I have had irreplaceable precious time together that will never come again. Again and again I come to gratitude. And be born soon, wouldja?