Well, life has been busy for us the last few weeks! It is hard to believe that our due date is only three and a half weeks away. It seems like we were just sharing our news yesterday! Finn's room is as ready as it will be, the car seat is installed and our hospital bags are packed. Now, we wait. Last week, we took a class on breastfeeding and tomorrow we will be taking an newborn care class. Our appointments with our midwife are now scheduled for once a week.

We've decided to hire a doula and will be meeting with her this week for our prenatal visit. For those of you who are unfamiliar with a doula, here is a website that explains more about them: http://www.dona.org/mothers/index.php . A doula is a professional labor coach and postpartum support person. She will meet with us before the birth to talk about our goals for our birth experience and will teach us techniques to use during labor to manage pain. She will attend our birth offering physical, emotional and informational support to both Ammon and myself. And finally she will come to our home postpartum to help with our transition into parenthood (by answering questions we may have, offering breast feeding support etc.)

We are both excited to have this extra support. We are really hoping for a natural birth and feel that a doula can help improve our chances of achieving this. Studies have shown that having a doula at birth results in shorter labors with less complications, reduces the needs for medical interventions and reduces the mother's request for pain medication. In addition, they have found that families who receive postpartum support have a greater success with breastfeeding, more self-confidence and less postpartum depression. Anyway, I could go on all day about the benefits of doulas, but really the important thing is that we feel like it is the right choice for us and we are looking forward to a satisfying birth experience whenever and however that may come. As crazy as it sounds, I am getting excited for labor and can't wait for what I know will be one of the most intense, amazing and rewarding experiences of my life.