39 weeks and a poem

Im 39 weeks and 3 days pregnant.

Lincoln took this amazing picture last week 

Feeling pretty great in general.
The last few days things have definitely shifted. Much more crampy and feeling baby down SO low.
I also have a yucky cold and tooth pain.... thinking my body is working so hard at getting rid of that stuff before kicking into labor gear.
But I am feeling incredibly excited to feel this warm squishy baby in my arms. To introduce him/her to the family and hear the baby's beautiful voice.
I want to see baby toes and baby eyes and whether baby has hair or not.
Yes, I am definitely feeling ready.

This morning I was taking my bath and reading Sacred Pregnancy book, week 39 about giving birth. It talked about how precious and amazing this time is and how important it is to give into that power and just let it wash over you. I read the whole thing with a big grin on my face while baby kicked inside my womb, just knowing this would happen so soon and baby is such a big part of the whole process. But what really got me all kinds of weepy and emotional was the poem. I have to share it with you:

Being Born is Important. by Carl Sandburg

Being born is important
You who have stood at the bedposts
and seen a mother on her high harvest day,
the day of the most golden of harvest moons for her.

You who have seen the new wet child
dried behind the ears,
swaddled in soft fresh garments,
pursing its lips and sending a groping mouth
toward nipples where white milk is ready.

You who have seen this love’s payday
of wild toiling and sweet agonizing.

You know being born is important.
You know that nothing else was ever so important to you.
You understand that the payday of love is so old,
So involved, so traced with circles of the moon,
So cunning with the secrets of the salts of the blood.
It must be older than the moon, older than salt.

Home birth supplies

All right let's see, here is a pic of the majority of birth supplies I have right now.
What is in it:

• Tons of chux pads/doggy peewee pads to put down around the house as needed
• Birth tub liner
• Debris net to clean out floaties from tub. Yes I said it. 
• Sterile gloves
• Gauze sponges
• Surgical lubricant. Though I think olive oil or coconut oil would suffice
• Curtain liner to cover couch (I got PVC free)
• Antiseptic skin cleaner (no idea why I have that??)
• Paper towels
• Drinking water safe hose (50 ft.) for filling Birth Pool in a Box 
• Hand sanitizer (I have EO lavender spray and castile soap wipes)
• Granny panties, like the hospital ones, super big and more comfortable 
• Maxi pads, Heavy duty kind to make frozen postpartum pads with postpartum bath herbs and witch hazel sort of like this: http://www.milkfriendly.com/2012/06/post-partum-care-make-your-own-frozen.html 
• Postpartum bath herbs from my awesome Midwife, and I also have more from LuSa Organics
• Peri bottle (yes!)
• Wishgarden Afterease tincture
• MegaFood Blood Builder for my iron levels after birth 
• Cord clamps 
• Bulb syringe
• Lots of towels, and lots of washclothes
• Bendy straws (for easy drinking in labor)
• Healthy and yummy labor snacks and drinks (water, coconut water, juices, fruits) 

These are just the supplies that I have listed from my midwife to have on hand, or that I thought may be handy from past experience. This does not include the awesome bag of tricks that both my Midwife and my doulas will have on hand. But in the end, really, these are all mostly just precautionary type supplies. Let's let birth unfold without messing with it and see what miraculous things take place!!!! 

What would you add to this list? Is there something you think would be super handy that I have forgotten? 

Excuse my crazy crazy hair and clothes. This is how I roll most of the time these days.