Howdy all.

Another uneventful weekend (labour-wise!) and only 2 days left now.

We filled the pool on Saturday, and had a lovely swim in it on Sat night.

Filling the pool (Click to enlarge)


Still filling the pool... (Click to enlarge)

Karin was saying that it was amazing to not feel the weight of the baby - we can't understand why we didn't get one of these pools earlier!

The pool took 3 hours to fill, and given that we're not going to start filling it until the early signs of labour, I'd better hope that Karin doesn't have a 3-hour labour…!


Karin enjoying the pool... (Click to enlarge)

We did a bit of rambling on Friday/Saturday to explore the local footpaths, and discovered some lovely walks, including the fact that we can walk to the local farm shop/garden centre/café/pick your own berries/catch your own fish place.

(For those of you outside the UK, a footpath is a track that goes across public and private land, which has usually been in use for at least a few hundred years and is protected by law. There are thousands of them criss-crossing the country, and they provide a great way to explore parts of the country side you can't reach by road. People that walk them as known as ramblers).

Karin is still bearing up well, though has a sore back and feels like a lie-down after walking up the stairs!
We've finally setup the loft room, and cleared enough boxes out of the ensuite so that guests will have their own bathroom (assuming they don't mind being surrounded by boxes!).

We've started the process of trying to encourage Karin to go into labour, so now we just have to wait.

The Business of Being Born
Our midwife sent us a link to a movie about Home Birth made by Ricky Lake - I had thought it was going to be released at theatres, but maybe they decided not to.
At any rate, you can watch the entire movie on GoogleVideo (I'll download a copy as well).
Actually, the movie has its own website, and the have viewings in various cities around the world.

It's very interesting as it compares the experience of home birth vs hospital birth, and is well worth a watch
HOWEVER it does contain footage of births, plus a caesarean section, so be warned.

What's interesting is the history of birth in hospital, plus the stats on thing like when c-sections happen (more likely at 4pm and 10pm, which is when obstetricians tend to end their shifts…!) plus why woman were forced to give birth on a bed in hospital (which is a recent thing and is now being discontinued in the UK, although is still common in the US).

Anyway, link to the video is here:
The Business of Being Born (video)
The Business of Being Born (website)

Enjoy.