Hello, Doula

Drumroll, please... I met the doula! And I LIKE her! A little too much, apparently- after she left, Jim was like, "Wow, so you guys could have talked FOREVER, huh?" And I realized I had maybe kept her a little long. But it was like she was reading my mind! She totally got everything I wanted and everything I wasn't happy with last time and we were practically completing one another's sentences by the end.
And she's not a "no pain meds ever" Nazi whatsoever. I mean, obviously, as a doula she's a big supporter of natural childbirth, but I told her within the first ten minutes that I wasn't entirely ruling out epidural if things were going too long or I was getting exhausted, and she was totally fine with that.
What I really like is that she's there as a go-between for myself and the staff, and to help me plan out what I want beforehand. Such as, for instance, none of that, "Hold your breath as every single person in the room loudly counts to ten and tells you to push- PUSH-PUSH!" as though birth were a freaking sporting event, and also as though you were a robot who couldn't feel that there was a bowling ball between your legs needing to be pushed out. As though if they didn't instruct you to push, you would perhaps lie there and hold the baby in indefinitely.
Anyhoo... So I'm a happy girl today. Now I just can't wait to get on with it and have this baby! Actually, no, that's not true. I'm not quite ready. Still have a toddler bed to buy and a room to paint and baby clothes to organize and a name to decide on. So I guess I'm glad we still have the summer.
Oh, but, sorry everyone who's been posting over at Swistle, I don't think I'll be buying cloth diapers. It sounds lovely and environmentally responsible and all but... Ew. I get grossed out enough just taping the diaper up and tossing it in the trash. I don't think I would enjoy having my washing machine perpetually filled with soaking poopy diapers. I'll have to find another way to do my part for Mother Earth.