My best friend back home believes in psychics. She even has her own personal favorite - a medium she has been seeing for many years who she trusts completely. While I have never been to see this person myself, she knows all about me, and my life has come up during their sessions a few times over the years.
Early on in my pregnancy with CC we had a close call due to a blood clot showing up in my uterus. I remember being horror stricken the morning I discovered that I was bleeding, and then struggling to keep a positive attitude after being put on bed rest and told to prepare for the worst. It was just a little while later that my best friend went to see her psychic. She was worried about me and about the baby, and her medium picked up on it quickly.
"Who is Mary?", she asked.
"That's my best friend.", said Melissa.
"She's pregnant. Isn't she?"
"Yes. Is she gonna be OK?"
"She and the baby will be fine. But you need to tell her to keep her feet up. That's important. You'll tell her, right?"
"Yes, I'll tell her."
"The baby will come fast. I see it shooting through a tunnel - REALLY fast."
When Melissa told me all this and I wasn't sure what to make of it - but I started putting my feet up anyway. By the end of my pregnancy we discovered that I was suffering from high blood pressure. Despite this being my first pregnancy CC did indeed come fast. I was pushing within minutes of reaching the birth center.
Later, we found out that CC had fetal cord restriction due to my blood pressure problems. He was born tiny but healthy - but we might not have been so lucky. It's a good thing I put my feet up. It's a classic piece of advice for blood pressure problems.
This past weekend Melissa went to see the very same psychic and when I came up this time she offered more advice. She said that one of the babies was hiding right now (but she wasn't exactly sure what that meant) and that I need to stay calm, stay relaxed, and watch my blood pressure. All of those things are kind of givens, but her last bit of advice was nice and mysterious - just like the feet thing.
She said that I need to sit down and sing to the babies. If there ends up being a medical explanation for this advice I will be pretty amazed. But either way, it can't hurt to give it a try right?
I'm also doing as much as I can think of to keep my stress levels low. I've even been hiding out at my parents house for the past few days. They have a giant bath tub, home cooked meals, plenty of CC distraction, a really comfortable guest bed and most importantly, no crazy dog to wrangle, piles of laundry to fold, or messy house to contend with. I will have to eventually go back home, but I'm not looking forward to it all that much. If they lived within a reasonable distance to his preschool I think I'd never leave.
My everyday strategy is to just drop anything that makes my heart race like it's a hot potato. Topics, situations, tasks, people... For now, the only things that I'm allowing myself to really care deeply about are my kids. I'd worry about that being selfish, but I'm not allowing myself to.
It's an interesting experiment for me - as it definitely goes against my usual habits. I'm used to buzzing around like a bee, worrying about deadlines and people's feelings, and that sort of thing. Not to mention the constant stress many of us have been under for the past year - just waiting for the sky to fall or for our society to crumble. I should probably block Facebook from my computer and phone if I REALLY want to cut stress. CNN news alerts too.
I hate to be that person with my head in the sand, but if that's what it takes to get these two babies into the world, then so be it. Just call me Mama Ostrich.
Any other good ideas for lowering stress? I think spending more time outside might help, and perhaps unplugging my phone more often. What do you do to relax your mind and body? Kindly leave some wisdom in the comments.
