Photo: Alexis Marie Chute
As I pack my hospital bag for the delivery of my fourth child, I can?t help but chuckle. I?m picturing the big red hard-shell suitcase I jammed full when I was an imminent first-time mom. That was six years go. Back then, I had read all the baby books I could get my hands on and printed a long list of hospital essentials. I was prepared?for the birth of my first child and to be a parent. Or so I thought.
My packing list in 2009 had many important items on it. It included my birth plan, a pair of slippers and a housecoat, a nursing bra, clothes for baby, and my journal and camera. Unfortunately for my husband?s back, he also had to lug around all the other belongings I felt I couldn?t labour without.
Here are a few of those things: 1. A giant hot-pink yoga ball

The ball was deflated, of course, as it had to fit inside my suitcase; hence the hand pump I also included. In all my visualizations of delivery, I didn?t actually consider when that ball would be inflated, or by whom. What I did see was myself, bouncing in calming, Zen-like rhythm as contractions passed through my body. The ball was never inflated. I had an epidural 10 minutes after being admitted.
2. An art book by Christian Riese Lassen

Lassen is an extremely talented Maui painter who creates the most magical seascapes with sunsets that seem to part the skies, revealing the whole solar system beyond. Dolphins arc above the water, frozen mid-jump. The paintings may sound corny, but they d...