spring fever = baby fever

When you live in a place where there are distinct weather seasons, there is nothing better than those first few days of spring (you know the ones I'm talking about: when you do all of your favorite warm-weather things like eat ice cream on the street and lay on the grass in parks...and you wear your favorite warm-weather clothes like flip-flops and summer dresses...and, even though you are actually quite cold because it's never as warm as you think it's going to be, you hold your head up high and stick to your lofty plans because you are delirious with spring fever). Inevitably, spring makes makes me think of all things bright and shiny and cuddly. And, now more than ever: birth, babies, and happy laughter. Here are photos from last year's spring, full of hope and promise and, of course, this year's spring, full of my bright and shiny and cuddly baby!

Spring fever 2009 (already huge at the beginning of my third trimester, a few months before giving birth to Ruby!):

Spring fever 2010:

Along these lines, birth has been on my mind. It's baby season in Brooklyn, plus I have had a few people tell me recently that they are pregnant.

Here is a book, Birthing From Within, that my friend Emily (doula, soon-to-be-midwife, all-around amazing birthing expert) gave me last year while I was getting ready to give birth to my daughter. I love this book because it's very holistic and inclusive in its approach to birthing. And because I think it really got me into a good mindset somewhere in between "planning" how I wanted to give birth, and also understanding that I wouldn't be able to control it all and that I would need to be flexible in my expectations in order to have the wonderful experience I wanted. This helped me immeasurably when push came to shove and the complications of my labor kept me from being allowed to give birth in the natural birthing center that I had planned for and I had to give birth in the dreaded hospital (not at all what I had in mind). Much of what I had taken away from Birthing From Within helped me to shift my mindset in the moment to quickly get over my disappointment and still have a beautiful, memorable, drug-free birth in my little hospital room after 36 hours of sleepless labor.

As I write this with my windows open and Ruby sleeping soundly beside me, I can hear the voices of all the neighborhood kids squealing in delight at the playground down the street. It is one of the unmistakable sounds of spring and the fruit of our hard labors (literally)!

Hope your spring is sheer bliss!