April! The month Chris and I have been waiting for since finding out we were expecting in August. The month our baby boy will be born. It's spring! It's sunny and everything is blooming and new. What a perfect time for a baby.

The year has been pretty packed so far but the pace of life slowed significantly starting last weekend with the end of our weekend commitments. So I'm taking a deep breath and savoring this time, however brief, before a whole new kind of exciting busyness fills our lives.

As much as we can be, I think we're ready. And I'm feeling ready and even a little excited for the great work of giving birth that is ahead of me. 

So, April. So much in store for us. And being mindful of that I have very simple goals.

In April I will be present, so important this month, and hope to also:

+ Have a positive birth experience. I've been thinking about what this will be like for a long time and there's no way to know until I go through it. Chris and I have done a lot of preparation together and I've been staying active and practicing my focus and mental relaxation. Chris will be an amazing birth coach and we have a wonderful doula and midwife who will also be with us and I know that I can have a safe and healthy unmedicated birth. It will be hard, hard work but it's an experience that I want to have. But we also know that we can only control so much. What I will count as a positive birth experience is one in which Chris and I are holding our healthy baby boy at the end. I'll be proud of myself for giving birth in whatever way it happens and for carrying and sustaining a healthy baby for 10 months.

+ Jot down notes in our baby book. No aspirations of long descriptions, printing and inserting photos, or things like that. I just want to take 5 or 10 minutes here and there to remember the little things during the first month of our baby's life and our first month as parents.

+ Let go of what doesn't matter. During the first few weeks I have no expectations for getting anything done other than caring for our newborn with Chris and taking it easy so I can heal. Since Chris will be home too I'm hoping that a daily shower will be attainable but I guess we'll see. I'm not going to worry about the house being spick and span, about blogging regularly (although of course you'll get an update with the big news just as soon as I can get to a computer!), or whatever else might come up. April will just be about getting our bearings. There will be time to find a rhythm, or a semblance of a rhythm, later.

Happy April!