To Battle Stations!

Oh... Wow... Really?

Wow...OK...

You remember at the start of the year when I said my friend Awesome and her fella were expecting a baby?

Well it's not long to go now and it turns out that, contrary to my assumptions, I *am* going to be a birth partner 0_0

This is both a huge honour and really *really* nerve-wracking!

Because a) I want to make sure I support her properly and don't get in the way and b) DO YOU KNOW WHERE BABIES COME FROM? THIS IS GOING TO BE INTENSE!

I am soooooooooooooo* glad I watched all those episodes of One Born Every Minute when she first told me she was pregnant.

It seems it's time to dust them off and watch them again, focusing this time on the fact that I'll be in the room whilst it's going on.

I've been putting together a list of things I can bring that she and her husband may have forgotten or not thought about.

Ricochet's Awesome List of Supportive Birth Partner Paraphernalia

• hand fan to fan her with (or hand-held battery powered one if I can find it, maybe both)
• flannels for her face
• lavender oil
• heat packs
• spray bottle to mist her with
• snacks
• playing cards for if it's a long, boring labour
• exercise ball for her to sit on
• head bands for holding back hair
• tissues for all the crying
• CAMERA! DON'T FORGET THE CAMERA!
• and last but not least, any remaining romantic notions I may have about giving birth, though I expect I'll be asked to leave these at the door as they interfere with the equipment... and the screaming...

I'm trying not to overdo it and walk in with a wheelie travel case of things like a travelling salesman ready to unload some high quality snake oil on the unsuspecting populace but I figure the items on this list stand a good chance of coming in handy.

So, yeah, this is happening.

I think I'm ready.

But I'm pretty sure I'm not :-p



*Believe me, there are more o's. So many. You have no idea.