I am on my third day of maternity leave and it’s great, I can sleep how much I want, which is a lot. I haven’t yet got my nesting instinct as the flat still looks a mess. My parents have furnished the nursery though and the little one is kicking around in my belly and loves music, the baby is supposed to be a boy. For some strange reason, he seems to like in particular Opera and choir music, both not my favourites, but I just put the CD player under the duvet and let the little one wriggle away.
I found the Pregnancy and Parents Centre in Edinburgh so far a really helpful resource to prepare for the birth and parenthood.
The Yoga for pregnant women is not just about stretching your limbs, but we always have good talks about what happens to us and other members of the group in our pregnancies and its also in particular helpful for the members of the group to come back after the birth with their little ones and talk to us about how it went. The babies are always so gorgeous to see, too.
My partner and me also went to one of the Birth Preparation workshops, which was very helpful as the free workshops offered by the NHS, the National Health Service, were only offered during the day and my partner could not attend. Also, I really liked the practical, hands-on focus on being massaged, although I nearly fell asleep after lunch as I got suddenly so tired.
I would really like a water birth, and first I was very keen on a home birth but that seems a bit unpractical in our 14 floor tower block with little soundproofing. Also, my mum is coming for the birth and she was insisting I go to the hospital, in her opinion that’s where the best care would be available especially in case something goes wrong. I thought a little bit about it and then decided for the hospital, mainly because so many women and babies in the world actually don’t have the option to be under such excellent free medical care during birth. So we are actually quite lucky to have the option to decide whether we want to go to hospital or not, and we choose the smaller, quieter hospital a bit further away of which we heard good reviews, as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary tends to be a bit overcrowded.
In Britain in theory there is also the option to go to a midwife-led birth centre – a compromise between home and hospital birth, but there is none yet available in and about Edinburgh, they have been in the process of building one, but it won’t be ready for us this month, I suspect.