shaving, showers, and sex

I got one question from a close friend about shaving "down there" during pregnancy and for childbirth.  I wondered that, too, and I forget if I asked anybody when I was pregnant.  I wonder why it's so important to women what the state of their pubic hair is, but I guess to some, it's as important as the hair on their head.  For me, it was all about how much I wanted poking through my underpants.  For the last trimester of my pregnancy, I could only manage to shave the bikini line; the rest, I left undistrubed.  Yes, friends, undisturbed for three glorious months.  Well, almost.  2 weeks before my due date I waddled into the bathroom, carefully stepped inside of my bathtub, and armed with soap and a fusion vibrating razor (the men kind...they do a much better job), I blindly shaved "down there."  OK...I know.  DUMB move.  But, I didn't want to go into the delivery room with a full-blown 'fro.  C'mon!  My doula was going to tape the entire thing for me.  I wanted the focus to be on Desmond's head crowning and not on how cuhrazy my pubic hair was.  The reason I did it 2 weeks beforehand was so that I wasn't completely "bare" down there during my delivery (I wanted some coverage, you know...this isn't playboy!)

Here's something that I wished I had 2 months ago:

The Shower Hug.

Taking a shower is one of the few times in the day where I don't have to have Desmond on me or near me.  For the first 6 weeks postpartum, I would have to hunch over so that the water spray wouldn't hit my sore and cracked nipples.  Can you imagine?  Anyhow, drying myself off was a hassle, too.  I would have to pat my breasts gingerly with the towel, avoiding the nipple, and dry off the rest of my body limb by limb.  I LIVED in comfortable nursing bras; I even slept in them.  I don't think I have ever in my life slept with my bra on, but the thought of the sheets rubbing against my nipples sent shivers down my spine.

Ok...now for sex.  Poor, poor Billy.  For the last month of my pregnancy, I wanted nothing to do with Billy's reproductive organs.  Nothing.  I felt like the beginning of a turducken and Billy would be the chicken in the whole thing: I was stuffed!  So, sex was just about the last thing on my mind.  Although I didn't tear during delivery, I did have some small abrasions.  They stung every time I peed, so I figured they'd sting just as bad during sex.  So, we decided to wait another six weeks so that I could heal and so that I could get the go ahead from my midwife at my first postpartum checkup.  I didn't have insurance until just last week, so I didn't go in for a postpartum checkup until yesterday, at almost 9 weeks.  At around 6 weeks, I felt ready to resume my "sexual relations" with Billy...but he wasn't.  He was so deathly scared of getting me pregnant again that he wouldn't come near me.

So, Tuesday I got the Mirena inserted and the song that went through my head was "Tonight's the Night" by Neil Young.  I went home, made a plan to shave my legs (among other things), and put on some of the nicer maternity underpants I had.  Billy came home after having a bad day and still had to work on his essays, which would take ALL night.  I was cramping from the IUD insertion and spotting and didn't feel like getting frisky AT ALL.  *sigh*  So, it's 91 days and counting...

We'll see what the next few days brings :)