Labor of Love

jp's birth story is both one of the greatest days of my life and the most horrifying. for those of you who are familiar with the statistics related to complications from induction, we experienced a number of them. thankfully not a c-section, but many other upsetting problems, including a baby who was born blue and not breathing. he was fine, mind you, just a little traumatized from the whole thing himself!

i only have one picture of me holding jp after he was born. there is one of e too. just one. neither of us held him right away. they had to get him breathing and warmed up and even when we did get to hold him, it was less than a minute, total, for both of us combined, before he was taken to the nicu.

in said picture, i look like a hot mess. i mean that. is it a beautiful picture? of course it is. i was holding my first child for the first time. i'm glowing. and swollen. and hooked up to every machine imaginable.

so this time will be different. and so far (seizure aside) it has been. i'm not showing the signs of pre-eclampsia the way i was with jp and i am VERY confident that we are going to make it to full term and i will go into labor on my own and go through all of it as naturally as possible.

i've often called this my "re-do" labor.

in the spirit of second chances, i'm making a labor outfit. a classy, comfy, fitted hospital gown and some type of hair piece that will let me keep my hair back without leaving me looking frizzy and frumpy. possibly some cute socks. i may even attempt a bit of make up.

i know what you're saying. "you're ridiculous. you're feeding into vanity. it's labor, you should look disheveled and worn out. why do yo even care? that's really shallow."

but this is for me. i have every intention of holding my baby the second he comes out this time and for hundreds and thousands of pictures to be snapped. and when i look at those pictures, i want everything about them to be a joyful reminder. my hair may still get quite tousled. i may be swollen and sweaty. but at least there will be hints of dignity and the pictures will be that much more personal when i think of the work i put into planning for this baby's arrival.

and when he sees the pictures and asks about his birth story, i can tell him that i was so excited about meeting him that i spent weeks preparing to make it special and memorable. that i was thinking about him and creating for him even before he came.

you were wanted little man. you were nurtured before you came out, your body and your soul.

away from the sappy! a great website called lazy girl designs has a free pattern for a hospital gown. you can donate any amount for use of the pattern if you so choose :) all you do is print it on to plain ole computer paper and tape it together. it's insanely easy. INSANELY.

after finding some other bloggers who had made the gown and taking in their alterations, i decided to do a practice run.

my modifications to the original pattern would be: taking it in about 6 inches and lowering the hem a solid 6 inches (i suffer from chronic string bean syndrome, even in pregnancy), adding belt loops to make an empire waist line (i'll lace a wide ribbon through the loops so it will be more fitted) and using snaps instead of velcro on the left sleeve.

i took the drapes that we once used in jp's room and began cutting away!

i took it nice and slow--mostly out of necessity! we have an 18 month old for heaven's sake!-- and 3 days later i had this:

this definitely boosts my confidence-- i can totally make a great designer hospital gown all by myself!

no designer would neglect accessories ;) here's my makeshift safari headband

and my silly jungle scarf :)

this is obviously not the final product! i need to go find my fabric (s) and see what speaks to me, and i'll accessorize from there. but i'm pretty excited about having a "look" during labor :)