All hands on deck

Greta has shown some early signs of labour.  There's a good moderate chance that nothing will happen tonight.  Nonetheless, we sent Max and the dogs to Gramma and Grampa G's house as a precautionary measure -- if labour does occur in the middle of the night then we'll be glad we sent him now.  No unnecessary phone calls, please.

Update (2012-Mar-21 09:15):  Greta had painful contractions before bed last night.  She couldn't sleep.  Thinking labour was imminent, she took some gravol and tylenol to help her get some sleep before the fireworks.  She awoke this morning no longer in labour and mighty grumpy about it.  She suspects that the drugs halted her labour.  Still waiting.  Perhaps we'll go for a walk.

Here is a final "before" photo of the belly.

Does my outie bellybutton make me look fat?

We prepared our bedroom for the home birth.  On a whim, Greta borrowed an inflatable birthing tub from her friend and fellow mother Andrea.  The weather's been so nice recently that we joked today about inflating the birthing tub outside under the veranda.

Ha ha.  Funny joke.  Since then, we inflated the birthing tub outside, hung up some bed sheets for privacy, and tidied up the area.  As a bonus, we discovered some old, tinted, unused light fixtures that provide excellent mood lighting at night.  (Unfortunately, the mood is not easily captured on camera.)

The birthing tub with bed sheets hanging in the background.

Chairs and a table prepared for tea time.  The deep freeze provides food storage for the long haul.

Greta may or may not do some labouring in the tub.  She may or may not give birth in the tub.  These decisions will be made on an as-needed basis.  Don't try to stop us!  You can't!  It's too late!  MwahaHAAAA!.  A couple more pictures.

Gus testing the birthing tub and providing perspective for the photo.

The recommended birthing position.  I couldn't resist including this photo.  I'm still laughing out loud, right now, by myself, as I type.