I had our monthly appointment with our midwives- all three of them, which will likely continue to be the case since they are all free on our preferred appt. days (Wednesday). I felt like it was our best visit so far. It seems like we are becoming very close with all of them. We have a very fun yet trusting and professional relationship. Our head midwife, Stephanie, fully explains all of the risks and benefits of any procedure or testing so that we can make informed decisions about them. We never feel pressured into anything, which is so great. We get to weigh the risks ourselves and decide what we are comfortable with. How refreshing :)
We covered a lot of different things during the visit (more details below) but the main event was hearing the heartbeat, which included another fun surprise! When she was checking my abdomen I looked down to watch and noticed that one side was bulging a bit. I didn't think it was the baby, but I asked anyway (along with saying something stupid like "is that my bladder?" I know my bladder is not located there. It was the first thing that came to mind :)). She felt it and confirmed "that's your baby!" and then taught Kraig and I how to palpate my abdomen. This is something we were comfortable with during our last pregnancy (we could always tell what position Owen was in based on what body parts we felt and where) but I did not at all expect to be able to feel the baby this early! It was amazing, and now I lay around and home and try to feel if she's (*yes I refer to the baby as a she, but we don't know yet) in a position where I can feel her little body. It's pretty amazing, and it helped us to bond to her even more. (Especially Kraig, who can't feel movement yet, obviously). You can watch the video posted below, but I will warn you that you can see my stomach, obviously, so watch at your own risk :)
Other than our appointment, which was the highlight for the week, I've been feeling pretty good lately. I purchased some Earth Mama Angel Baby Heartburn Tea and wow, is it ever a magic potion. I can eat ANYTHING and just drink some tea afterwards to prevent heartburn. It's amazing, organic, all-natural, herbal tea and I highly, highly recommend it!
I'm still so, so very tired but try to squeeze in a nap each day and I go to bed pretty early (in the 9 o'clock hour).
More details:
At this appointment we covered nutrition first. I had to record everything I ate for an entire week for Stephanie to review. She was very happy with my diet, but we need to discuss some ways to supplement iron based on my blood test results. I can either take a pill OR she will refer me to a naturopath for treatment, which may be more beneficial since I may have more deficiencies or areas of concern that don't show up on a blood test. I was only a wee bit anemic, which was good to hear, but it's obviously something that needs to be taken care of before third trimester when anemia worsens.
We discussed prenatal screening for defects and disorders, and decided against any except for the 20-week anatomy scan. We had the quad screen (a blood test) with our first pregnancy, but feel as though we are young and low-risk, plus the screen isn't definitive and requires even more testing to be done. The followup tests are the part we are not comfortable with (another ultrasound and/or amniocentesis, which carry risks of their own), and they are done when your chances of having a baby with a certain disorder are just high enough (but not conclusive) to merit more testing. So it could all be for nothing- which seems like a lot of worry and testing for no reason. It wouldn't change whether or not we'd continue the pregnancy anyway. We feel that the 20-week ultrasound screens for enough physical markers for defects or disorders without being ultra-invasive.
We also talked a bit about my last labor/delivery and some thoughts I've had about it in regard to this birth. Stephanie put me at ease- which I knew would be the case- but it was just nice to be able to process aloud some of the things that I disliked about my last birth experience. I love that the midwives don't mind acting a little bit like therapists in that regard.
We also discussed some of the benefits of home vs. birth center birth. We have until 35 weeks to decide, but we are leaning toward birth center (Kraig is 100% certain he wants to be at the birth center). *There is no difference in care, since it is a freestanding birth center. I have so many thoughts about this- too many to list right now.
Finally, I weighed myself (totally optional here, which is great) and I gained 5 pounds (WOW) since the last appointment (I had lost 2 at that appt.) for a net gain of 3 pounds. Not bad after gorging myself on crazy amounts of food during vacation. I also had to do a urinalysis (you do the dipstick yourself at my midwife's office) and I had a couple of abnormal results. Namely, high glucose and a teeny bit of blood. She was not concerned since this is the first time it's been abnormal, but if I get another abnormal result we'll do more testing. (Specifically earlier testing for gestational diabetes. It is very common to spill sugar into the urine at some point during pregnancy and the vast majority of the time it is no cause for concern. Whew.)
Anyway, watch this video if you'd like.
(somewhere in the upload from iPad to Macbook it got all smooshed looking. Everyone just looks a little wide. Don't know what happened. Whatever.)
*Highlights:
-Owen tried to measure my belly with a tape measure. He's never seen that done before. Funny boy.
- Heart rate was ~150-156bpm according to my count. I could be wrong.
- yes, I am all dopey and can't even answer simple questions like "Do you feel those?" because I was zoned out listening to my babe's heartbeat. I also have a really high-pitched laugh when I'm excited. Embarrassing.
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