coming up for air

i got swallowed up into a lot of things this past week which kept me from writing. work, soccer, work, work, and work, mostly. but since i only have like forty things on my to do list today, i thought i’d squeeze in a little update.

in three days i will be thirty weeks pregnant. all of a sudden my appointments with the midwives have gone from every four to every two weeks. all of a sudden they’ve handed me an admissions form for the hospital. all of a sudden they are talking signs of labor, primrose oil, and sweeping the membranes. if sweeping the membranes is anything like “sweeping the leg” from karate kid part one, i’m thinking this could hurt.

but wait, i haven’t really gotten to know my doula. i haven’t taken my “methods for coping with pain” class. i don’t have a bassinet. and i haven’t been to the indigo girls concert.

but i am thankful that i literally have a million things to do between now and july 11. and i hope beyond hope that this doesn’t all end in a c-section. i’m eating well. i’ve managed my weight gain. i’ve read ina may’s book. i’m getting there. and somehow i’ve managed to squeeze in some time at the garden, planting heavily to reap the benefits when this baby comes.

last week i took the kids to the garden and we knelt down on our knees to examine and identify the sprouts that had appeared. english breakfast and easter egg radishes, deer tongue and red romaine lettuces, sugar snap peas, carrots, marigolds, borage, cilantro, and dill. at this time two years ago i was stuffing a sweet potato into the ground that would later become baby’s first food. these seeds that turn themselves into food with just the help of some water, sunlight, and healthy dirt are every bit as much a miracle to me as the baby i’m carrying around today. i am so thankful that our kids are witness to these miracles, that they will know that the world is not just tv and video games and shiny food at the grocery store. that it is also, and more importantly, dirt, and worms, and strawberries picked and eaten right there in the garden, still warm from the sun.

why can’t we stop shoving crap in our kids’ faces, blocking their view of the world? if we just step back and let them see, the world itself will teach them so much of what they need to know.