Crunch!

And here I am, back for another birthing post, as last night I set up the birthing tub. I figured it was about time even though I expect to be pregnant for at least a couple more weeks . . . better to do it without the pressure of being in labor while setting it up!

Here's the thing, though. Our bedroom is approximately 127 degrees right now as we have no A/C upstairs, and that is NOT the right temperature at which to be setting up a birthing tub. Especially if you are trying to be nice to your husband who just got home from work and insist on setting it up by yourself. (John did offer very nicely and genuinely to help, I'm the stubborn one that insisted on doing it myself.)

I'm pretty sure I sweated out my body weight (which is considerable right now!) while setting up the tub. The instructions say that it should take 10 minutes. Ha! Whenever instructions give you a time estimate like that, you should at least triple it. (Like when an alcoholic patient insists that they drink a max of four beers a day, you know what they mean is that they down at least 12.)

But I digress . . . back to the tub! First you have to put down the tarp, which I cut out of the insulating black plastic we have leftover from insulating our basement. Then the round foam floor pad has to go down. After that you start on the actual tub.

First there is the very hard plastic molded part in two sections that you have to wrangle into a circle shape and hook together. Then the thick foam that goes inside that. And then you have to test the heaters and make sure they are working before you put them into the backside of the first (HEAVY!!!) liner. Said liner fits inside the tub just so with the heater cords coming out thru the foam and plastic layers, and then it's time to pull the liner over the outside of the tub as well. The last, and easiest part, is putting in the disposable liner that we bought from a birth supply company.

Whew! One five foot birthing tub complete! And one almost-9 month pregnant lady collapsed in front of the downstairs A/C unit with a HUGE cup of ice water for the next half hour.

And that, my friends, is show-and-tell for today.