A Blessingway for Baby Harrison #2

If you haven't heard, my general middle-front region has been growing for almost 30 weeks now and it's not due to deep dish pizza (although it kind of is).

The news is out, and was almost never a secret (except to me for the first trimester): I am due with a second child in January.

As I'm of the camp that thinks it's strange to have a baby shower for a second pregnancy, I have another plan! (And by the way if you're a real-life close friend or family member, I'll likely have a get-together once baby is here - somewhat of a meet and greet - that might look a little like a baby shower. I'm not planning it myself so I don't know any details.)

So, without further ado...

You're invited! To Baby Harrison #2's Virtual Blessingway.

Anytime, from now until January.
(For your answer to "what the heck?" see below.)

What is a blessingway?

A blessingway is a special event that Navajo women celebrate to "bless" a mother and her coming child. As it might be seen as culturally inappropriate to use this term, being of Prussian-via-Brazilian decent myself, I was debating using the term Mother Blessing but decided I didn't like it. Mother Blessing makes it seem as though the whole party is thrown for me and I'd really like to focus on it being a blessing on the new baby, with a little residual blessing coming my way. If you are offended by my use of this term I apologize! As a lover of all things natural whose husband is partially-Native, I am in awe of the culture and constantly want to find ways to incorporate traditions into my life.

I am hoping this blessingway could be a little bit different because I know it can be stressful to choose a day when everyone is free, plan all the decorations to be Pinterest-acceptable, get people to bring food, buy prizes for games, etc. Let's not even meet up guys! In fact, I encourage you to stay in your pj's as much as possible, I know I will. -- This blessingway is a virtual one. An online party, so to speak. And with that: everyone is invited!

This blessingway will happen anytime you want from now until January.

What to do? We're going to pull some inspiration from amazing things that other women include in their blessingway:

• Share your birth story and what you learned from it - in the comments below or as a direct message/ email to me
• Share an inspirational quote, poem, thought, or prayer - again, via comments or directly to me
• Share your well wishes for this new little boy or girl and the person they will grow to become
• If you see me in real life, contribute one bead (any colour, any style) to a bracelet that I can wear around my wrist to remember all the support from my friends and family

When I go into labour, I will do my very best to remember to post a notification online, or have someone else do it. At this time keep me in your thoughts and say a prayer for me. One neat thing some blessingways include is that the other women wear a string around their wrist and when they hear their friend is in labour they cut it off, symbolically like cutting the cord.

The second thing I'll try to remember to do is get some photos or videos (PG-only) to share with you so you can feel like you were there.

And that's the whole thing! I hope you will share in my blessingway!