Caliban – Opinion and Righteous Anger

We’ve now rolled past the 37th week of pregnancy, which means that Eloïse’s imminent sibling is now medically considered full-term. In simple terms, if Sarah went into labour right now, midwifery protocols would allow a midwife to assist us with an attempted home birth. Naturally, a home birth is our strong preference, so this is a pleasing milestone to have reached.

Work on the garden overhaul is in full swing and has been for more than a week. It currently looks as if a rather large bomb has been dropped on it. Over the last few days, multiple skips full of soil and gravel have been hauled away, hedges have been moved around, holes have been dug and a tree has been shifted from one side of the garden to the other.

It’s hard to imagine at this stage what the finished article will look like, but it’s pleasing that work is finally under way. We’ve been discussing a garden overhaul since we moved into our previous house, so it feels as if it’s been stalled for a long time. Our current house’s garden was perhaps our greatest concern when deciding whether or not to purchase the property, so I’m glad that this feature is now being improved.

This is a fairly large-scale project and will take at least another week or so to complete. We’re excited at the prospect of having the new garden ready for the spring. We hope Eloïse is going to enjoy playing out there, and we plan to spend our fair share of time out there, too, once warmer weather arrives.

It’s the little preparations for the impending birth that bring home the inexorable truth of what is about to happen.

Earlier this week, I fitted the new EasyFix car-seat base on the back seat of the car. Even now, it’s still amazing to think that a new baby will be sat there in just a few weeks. That’ll provide some good in-car entertainment for Eloïse, as the new baby’s seat will, of course, face backwards. On the other hand, we rarely use the car, so it probably won’t be until our next driving holiday that we reap the benefit of the children keeping each other amused.

The Bugaboo Cameleon’s fleece upholstery has been washed and is looking almost as good as new again. Sarah has reassembled the carry cot, which has been unused since Eloïse graduated to the seat, and I have fitted a new riding board. With this addition, Eloïse can ride along at the back of the pram while one of us pushes it. I think she’s going to like that.

Thuiszorg delivered a bedpan to our door at the start of the week. That’s needed for the labour process, just in case Sarah needs to dump a load in the bed during all of the huffing and puffing. It’s great that you can borrow these things for free and then return them when you’ve finished with them.

I finally got my arse in gear today and did a dry-run of setting up the delivery pool in the bathroom. It was much easier to set up than the pool we used during the birth of Eloïse. The pool has an inflatable base, plus three inflatable wall chambers. The multiple chamber construction makes it much sturdier, so that it can be leant on and support a lot of weight during labour.

There’s even an inflatable seat built into the pool and handles around the edge. Personally, I think we’re going to get a lot more benefit from this pool than from the one we used in Mountain View. We have an air pump for inflating it, plus a water pump for emptying it of water. A length of hose will be connected to the shower in order to fill the pool. We even have an aquarium scoop for removing any, err, detritus that accumulates along the way.

At this point, we’re fairly well prepared for the manifestation of the new bairn. All of the materials to be used during the labour and birth are ready, as, indeed, are the items for the start of life: nappies, clothes, etc.

It’s just a matter of time now and enjoying our last few weeks (or days, if fate would have it) as a threesome.