reflections on prenatal care {part two}

this is a continuation from my post yesterday. check it out here.

now where was i...? oh yes. my thoughts on prenatal care.

after all that raving about how amazing midwives are, please understand that...
3. not everyone who goes with a midwife will have excellent care. i had a friend in canada who actually ended up transferring her prenatal care to a doctor {from her midwives} because she didn't feel like she was being taken seriously and the concerns she had weren't being addressed properly with the midwife practice she was with. in the end, an OB was the best choice for her and her baby. and that's okay. i think the important thing is that she went with her gut and in the end did what she felt she needed to do for her peace of mind, her health and her baby's health.
my friend in the UK is currently with a midwife who is one of 2 midwives in her area who attend home births {this friend is hoping for her first home birth, although it will be her second birth!}. due to the high demand, my friend has only had a few appointments with this midwife and in some of them she has seemed scattered, unfocused and rushed. this made me sad and a bit annoyed for my friend as this midwife should be seeking to offer a quality of service that she seems unable to provide for her clients due to taking on too many {or so it would seem to me!}. i hope in the end that my friend gets a wonderful home birth experience and that her midwife is able to offer her support and care that is timely and comforting in the time she needs it most. it just seemed sad to me as she commented that she had gotten to know her OB better when she was pregnant the first time. midwife does not always equal nurturing, quantitative {45 mins-1 hr appointments!} care.

4. just because you're in a first world country does not mean prenatal care is going to be awesome. another friend of mine had a beast of a doctor for the first bit of her pregnancy. his rude and unhelpful comments stressed her out and in the end, she fired him and found a better doctor who listens to her and validates her concerns without being condescending or unhelpful. sometimes you have to do "the needful" {as they say here} and leave your OB/midwife if your instinct is telling you that it's not what you want/need.

5. my care here in uganda has been good. i had a midwife {from the UK} giving me my prenatal care up until 36 weeks and then i was transferred to a doctor at the hospital she works closely with and had nothing but rave reviews for him. i am so thankful to have had michele as my midwife here and have nothing but positive things to say about her. she gave me a realistic perspective of what to expect from giving birth in a hospital and in uganda. she gave me insight into the system here and helped me to feel confident despite being an expat "mzungu" {white person}.
i've had two appointments with my doctor and he is soft-spoken but seems competent and confident and from different interactions with people i know here and strangers i've met, i've heard nothing but good things from them as well. i have mixed feelings about giving birth here and in a hospital {mostly the hospital part, to be honest}, but i think that this experience will help me relate to those who have had hospital births in the past as well as give me an opportunity to make the most of this situation - despite the fact that it's not my ideal.

while in the past i might have pushed home births and midwives, i am a little bit older now and hopefully a bit wiser, too. and i am so incredibly thankful for modern medicine, doctors, surgeons and hospitals for the births that are higher risk and more complicated than mine have been. we are blessed.
i have several friends in canada who had high-risk pregnancies due to heart defects, being pregnant with twins and several other issues. i am so incredibly thankful that they had access to the care that they needed for them and for their babies. in another century, who knows what would have happened? so please don't think i am anti-doctor/hospital/medications. i am not.
i think now what i would push is for women to educate themselves. what is best for you and your baby may not be best for everyone. so seek to find out if you like the care presented by doctors or midwives better. maybe you want a home birth but aren't completely comfortable so you look into a birthing center and that becomes your best choice/option. maybe you look into it and decide that a hospital with an epidural is the way to go for you. if you've done your research, i say go for it. {i'd also like to add, that you are stronger than you think you are. and that pain in and of itself isn't necessarily something to be afraid of.}

perhaps with the arrival of this baby i will have begged and pleaded for an epidural. maybe i'll have back labour or maybe my labour will be long and arduous like neither of my other two were. who knows? only God does {as noah likes to remind me}. and so i put my trust in Him and trust that this body that has so graciously and amazingly and miraculously birthed two other babies before baby B can do it again.

i am so looking forward to the journey and the story and sharing it with you when it does happen!

*as always, i love to hear from you, your experiences and dialogue with you. if anything i've said offends or strikes you as incorrect or needs clarifying, please don't hesitate to comment! i understand that the nature of our choices as women and mothers can sometimes cause tension or judgement and that's not my intent at all. i just wanted to share some of my thoughts and reflections on my personal experiences.*

reflections on prenatal care {part one}

a couple of nights ago, as i was standing in a nice, steamy shower letting the somewhat decent water pressure stream hit my big, pregnant belly, i reflected on the prenatal care i've received both here in uganda as well as in the past. and then i started reflecting on others i know who are pregnant and the kind of care they receive.

i had a few thoughts;

1. i love, love, loved my midwives in canada. a friend and i often joked after we had had our second babies that we dreamed of getting pregnant again just to see and hang out with our midwives. they were so attentive and caring but also thorough and careful. i always got the sense that they truly loved what they were doing and really took part in my joy. {they inspired me to one day consider going back to school for midwifery!} my midwives taught me that i can have the birth i want and that sometimes you need to fight a little bit, but it can {almost always} be done. yes, by the very nature of birth, it is unpredictable and things happen, but it shouldn't stop you from exploring every option until you've exhausted all measures within the boundaries of what's safe, keeping in mind what's best for mother and for baby. in my case they booked me not one, but two appointments with two different doctors until i got my prescription for the antibiotics i would need due to me being GBS+ with jude. the first doctor declined to give me a prescription but the second agreed and i was able to get the antibiotics administered from the comfort of my own bedroom to have an amazing second home birth. 

shortly after giving birth to jude at home

my midwives also taught me that i have choices. i can choose to say no to the tests and procedures i do not want. they taught me to educate myself and figure out what i want, rather than just blindly follow what someone else says i should do. when i made up my mind on certain things, they supported me and informed me more fully if they didn't think i had considered all the facts. they taught me that it's okay to ask questions and make sure i know as much as there is to know {or as much as i want to}. 

my midwives were protective of me and my needs; i remember after i gave birth to noah, my sister was the first to arrive and one of the midwives opened the door and asked {somewhat sternly, apparently} who she was before she let her in. i appreciated that. my sister, on the other hand, was expecting someone who was older to be my midwife and thought that my friends had beat her to meeting her nephew and was a bit ticked off!

my first home birth. holding noah in the comfort of my own bed.

2. i am thankful this is my third birth. i am more confident in my body's ability to do what it needs to do. i am more confident of my rights as a pregnant woman. i don't "know it all" and so of course i will always listen to my healthcare provider and take his/her advice/recommendations under consideration. but i'm not just going to go along with what they say. i know that i have a say in things. i also know the general flow of care that happens during prenatal care. this pregnancy has been a lot more "hands on" for me. i have had to go and get my scan {ultrasound} booked and taken care of. i have had to carry around my paperwork - which hasn't been bad, it's just amazing i've remembered to bring it to every appointment thus far! with my midwives, they booked everything for me. it was so great and worry-free. it just makes me so incredibly thankful for the care i received from my midwives in guelph.

my only regret would be that i didn't get any pictures with my midwives!

so i split up this post so it wouldn't be one huge long monster blog post. stay tuned for more tomorrow!

*as always, i love to hear from you, your experiences and dialogue with you. if anything i've said offends or strikes you as incorrect or needs clarifying, please don't hesitate to comment! i understand that the nature of our choices as women and mothers can sometimes cause tension or judgement and that's not my intent at all. i just wanted to share some of my thoughts and reflections on my personal experiences.*

check out part TWO here.

three years later - the birth story

Three years ago my sweet first born, Noah, was born.

I realized after scouring his old blog that I never blogged about his birth story.

So three years later, here it is:

Noah was originally due on my birthday. Actually, originally he was due on my Dad's birthday {4 days after mine}. But the midwives moved up the date to my birthday. I secretly {or not so secretly} did not want to share my birthday. I knew having kids was going to rock my world and I would learn a whole new meaning of self-sacrifice {and how to love it, too} and I wanted just a little piece of me to be all mine.

Well, my birthday came and went and other than losing my mucous plug that day, life went on.

4 days later...

I woke up at 5:45am feeling restless and so I sat up to go to the bathroom and thought I heard a small *pop* inside me and immediately felt a small gush. I rushed {as fast as I could at 40 weeks + 4 days} to the bathroom and sat on the toilet for a few minutes.

It was then that I started to feel menstrual-type cramping. In fact, it was exactly like menstrual cramps so much so that I thought,

"Oh yeah. I forgot about these bad boys."

I cleaned up and went back into our room and told Jamie,

"Um, I think my water just broke and I think I'm having contractions. But they're so mild, I don't really know." {You never really do for your first.}

We both knew that everyone tells you just to go back to sleep and so I tried, but I couldn't so we timed the contractions {or at least tried to} but they were coming so close together that it was hard to tell when one ended and the next began. They weren't too bad at this point and I could walk around and do things.

To be honest, I have no idea what I did for the next couple hours. It's like my memory of those hours is gone. It's bizarre, really. But I do know that the contractions picked up in intensity and so around 7:45am we called the midwives. They showed up sometime after 8am and by that time I was moaning a little bit and breathing deeply with each contraction.

They attempted to check to see how far I was dilated and when the midwife apprentice said,

"Conservatively I'm going to guess 5-6cm."

I almost yelled,
WHAT?!?!

Because everyone tells you how long your first is going to take. How you'll have so much time to wander the house, watch movies, eat, bake, go for walks around the block, etc.

The next little bit was pretty intense. We hadn't set up our room or bed for the birth {oh yeah, we were planning a home birth - I didn't mention that} so the midwives and Jamie were rushing around trying to find everything that I had bought, but hadn't put out in a clearly marked basket. Poor Jamie had to keep coming and asking me where stuff was. I don't actually remember being annoyed with him, but I do remember that shortly after I started going through transition except I had no idea that this is what was happening.

It wasn't until my midwife came over and laid her hand on my shoulder and said,

"It's okay, you're going through contractions. You are doing amazing." {Again, I wanted to shout, WHAT?!? Because I did not believe I was progressing so quickly and almost at the end/beginning.}
Clearly my panicky moans/wails/moos were cluing her into how far along I was and next she said,

"We're going to try and walk down the hall to your room during your next break."

Again, no recollection of walking down that hall, all I know is I got there and crawled up onto the bed on my hands and knees.

After checking to see how far dilated I was again, I was told I could start pushing whenever I felt the urge. Within seconds of hearing that, I felt this body-controlling, amazing urge to push and so I pushed.

I pushed and I pushed and I pushed and they {there were 2 midwives and an apprentice there - I absolutely adored them all} were so encouraging and supportive of me. I was told to stop grunting/screaming the way I was because I was going to hurt my vocal chords {which I totally did. The next day my throat was raspy!} and then asked if I wanted to switch positions.

I didn't care either way, so I slipped down onto the ground onto the birthing stool with Jamie sitting on the bed right behind me and pushed again.

Apparently I was pushing for about 45 minutes, but it felt like no time at all. I really had no concept of how long it had been or what time it was.

Soon I felt his head crowning. When they asked if I wanted to touch it I definitely said {shouted?} no. {To be honest, that totally freaked me out.}

Then slowly the head came out.

All I can remember is total and complete relief.

And then the shoulders and within seconds I had my baby up on my chest.

Both times I've given birth those first few seconds where you hold your baby immediately after being born is completely surreal.

"You just came out of me? You were living in there all this time?"

Amazing.

It was such an amazing, positive experience.

From start to finish it was about 4. 5 hours. He was born at 10:19am, October 25th, 2007. {His original due date. His Grandpa's birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad!}

Noah - days old.

Noah - 3 years old.

I love you, Noah. And in the words of Mariah Carey, you'll always be my baby.

Jude's 12 month letter

Dear Jude,

You are ONE! My word. How time has flown. (Have I said that in nearly every monthly letter? I think I have. Nevertheless, it is still true.)

One year ago you were a few days old. I had spent the morning of July 31st outside labouring in our backyard. "Labour" isn't quite the right word. And I don't say that to boost myself up, you were just really easy on me, kiddo. I swayed when I felt a contraction come on and then back to walking around the garden, playing with Noah and sitting and chatting with the midwives.

Holy Hugeness, Batman! (Well, with you being 9lbs12oz of course I was huge!)

I had lunch and then we went upstairs so that you could be born (or as the midwives said, "To have a baby!"). They broke my water and after 4 minutes of pushing you were born. Puffy and swollen, but alive and healthy. You were mine.

This month has been amazing, hilarious, wonderful, sad, fun, challenging and simply splendrillescent knowing you and loving you.

Some of the big moments:

You saying some of your first words (all words so far are: car, "moo" Dada, Mama, go, kick, Kaka (our friend Kevin), and I think you say "ka" for ball as well). You also have learned to imitate words/sounds amazingly well in the last couple weeks.

You pull yourself up to standing. But you will.not.walk. And being a Mom of two, I am PERFECTLY FINE WITH THAT. (No rush. Take your time. Seriously.)

You are deciding what you will and will NOT eat. Please don't be picky!

I think you may slightly lactose intolerant. Lately cheese, yogurt and milk have all resulted in ... er, diarrhea. Sad. But true.

You rejected your only breastfeed tonight. I had cut out the morning feed while we were in BC and all we were left with was the before-bed feed. You didn't want it tonight. Are we done breastfeeding? Possibly. Will I try again tomorrow night? Mmm...maybe. It's always an inner battle for me when I stop breastfeeding my babies. On the one hand I'm happy to have that sense of "freedom" but on the other hand...it's just a closeness, a bond, something only we share that will end. So we'll see.

You absolutely LOVE playing with Noah's cars. And you know just what to do with them. You crawl right over, pick them up and start driving them on the ground saying "Bzzzzzz". I die every time you do it. So.Cute.

But all of those things don't add up to WHO YOU ARE. You are a ham. My second born. My son. I love you. I can't even put into words who you are because you are just amazing. You laugh and smile easily. You LOVE sucking your fingers. You kick your legs like I've never seen a kid kick! You are easy going, but love to be held (these days, anyway). You are squishable, loveable, wonderful you.

I have never been one of those Mothers who cry when their baby turns one or makes a major milestone or weep when they put away the 0-3 month clothes. Because I know that as you get older, I get to know you more. And as I get to know you more, I get to love you more. How awesome is that?

I can only pray that I train you up in the way you should go and that you love Jesus passionately and use your likeable, passionate spirit to lead others to love Him too.

I love you to the moon and back,

Mama

update

So, much to update on...
I had my appointment with Dr. Ben and he gave me the prescription for both the first dose of antibiotics (the one they want you to come to the hospital for) and the subsequent doses.
At first it seemed as though he wouldn't, but I explained to him that my first home birth was quick and straightforward and that I was concerned that if I had to go to the hospital for my first dose that I wouldn't make it back home for a home birth.
He seemed to understand and quickly wrote the prescription.
I wasn't going to have wasted that hour sitting in his waiting room to NOT get the prescription!
So hooray!
The home visit with the midwives went well. They gave me a few suggestions for what they'd like to see in the bedroom (ie. lower table to set up things/place to measure, look at baby, etc.) and we talked a lot about GBS and what it would mean for me to NOT have the antibiotics, etc.
I also had an appointment at the midwifery office yesterday and was a tool and showed up 1/2 hour early. Oh well. I showed them the prescription and asked how much it usually cost and ended up getting the meds for free since they had extra from previous patients (am I allowed to blog about that?) that went unused!
I had measured 39 weeks when I was at 37 weeks but last week the growth had slowed down to 39.5. My weight is also the same as it was 2 weeks ago.
I keep forgetting to ask if they have a guess on this baby's weight or not...last time they said (earlier on in the pregnancy) that I was looking to probably have a 7 or 8lber. Noah was almost 9lbs and I'm hoping for smaller this time around, but we'll see.
I have all my home birth stuff ready in a basket in our room, a deep freeze that is slowly getting filled with food for after the baby comes, and a house that is slowly getting some final touches.
I'd still like to make the hospital/nursing gown and have bought the material, so all I need is to hunker down and do it!
Hmmm....what else?
I guess now it's just a waiting game. Sometimes I think I might go any day now, but other times I just feel like I'll be here probably until my due date. So who knows?

bummed

So I'm bummed. I bummeth.
Today I went to see my family doctor for a cyst (at least that's what I think it is) that's grown (overnight) on my nose. I knew she would say to wait until after the baby is born or unless it grows anymore...
BUT while I was there we talked about the request that the midwives sent her to see if she'd write a prescription for the IV antibiotics I need since I'm GBS positive.
She declined to give me a prescription.
I am bummed.
Her reasoning is that if somehow labour is undetectable (ya right) and I don't get the antibiotics in time and baby contracts GBS and is really sick or whatever that being at home would be a bad place and baby wouldn't get the treatment he would need in time. So she even recommended (in not so many words) that I don't even HAVE a home birth but deliver in hospital.
Her second reasoning is for me being given the IV antibiotics at home as having some potential dangers, but I'm not worried about that at all. I'm not allergic to penicilin and I know the midwives are fully capable of administering antibiotics via IV.
She did it all very nicely and almost feeling badly for me - she said "I don't want to dash all your hopes for a home birth, but I know I am." and I don't blame her as she's just doing what she feels is best and safest, but I disagree. And I hope she can talk to the midwives and maybe be convinced otherwise, but I doubt it.
So unless we can find some other doctor who will write me a prescription, my next plan of attack is to go to the hospital, get the first dosage and come back home for a home birth.
But I am meeting with the midwives on Friday so I'll talk to them about all this then and my options.
But I am bummed. Plain out bummed.
It complicates things greatly.
UNLESS I go early and before my friend Jen leaves for BC (she would likely be able to come and watch Noah and he is totally fine with her), I will have to find someone else to come right away and watch Noah while Jamie and I head straight to the hospital for my first dose (it has to be given right away). Someone who knows Noah and is comfortable with him and who he knows as well. Someone who lives in Guelph and can get to our place as quickly as is possible until my Mom can get to our place and watch Noah for us until baby arrives.
So there's that whole headache, much less the trip to the hospital, getting into triage, getting the shot and then heading back home (maybe about an hour total?).
Let's hope this baby doesn't come TOO quickly!
Anyway, so I'm not stressed, but I am disappointed I didn't get a prescription and everything is hunky dorey.
But...it is what it is and really all I care about is everyone being healthy and well taken care of. Ideally that would be at home, but...I guess we'll just have to roll with the punches on this one.

week 36 stuff

This is me at 36 weeks after a HUGE meal at the Keg with Jamie for our 5 year wedding anniversary.
I think all that delicious food knocked the baby out as he was quite still and quiet for the following few hours.
I've been feeling EXTREMELY tight and large and often find it quite painful to transition from sitting to standing/walking. I can't imagine how I could possibly get any bigger.
I looked at my belly this morning in the mirror and concluded that I've hit the "grotesquely large" looking belly stage. There's a stage where it's cute and beautiful and then seemingly overnight, it morphs into this gigantic...thing.
I suppose it's still beautiful in a symbolic way...but man. This belly is BIG.
I am positive baby had a growth spurt - actually I think Noah had a growth spurt around this time as well. We'll see when the midwives come on Friday to measure - it will also be our home visit then too so we'll see how that goes.

Also, tomorrow I will be going to see my family doctor for a non-pregnancy related thing, but while I'm there, I'm HOPING she will prescribe the antibiotic for GBS so that I don't have to travel into the hospital to get it. I am willing to beg for it at this point...
Also, I re-read the GBS handout the midwives gave me, and at this point I'm realizing that I should have declined the test as I would have had none of the risk factors that they use to treat Mom/baby after the baby is born for GBS. Oh well. What's done is done and I am confident in the sovereignty of God - even in GBS testing. :)

This pregnancy I've found myself referring to the baby by his name (yep, we picked one out!) a lot more than I did with Noah and so am finding myself almost slipping up and revealing the name when I talk about him. It's okay...according to the ticker at the top...I've got about 25 more days (please let it be less!) so if I can keep a lid on the prego brain I should be good. :)

GBS positive

What a bummer.
I got a call from my midwives today and found out that I am indeed GBS (Group B Strep) positive. The implications from this are many:
1. the recommended procedure is that once I go into labour or my waters break, I am supposed to get an IV antibiotic. The reason for this is that there is a risk that baby may contract GBS and if so, MAY develop a disease which MAY result in death. Quick death.
2. Midwives are unable to write prescriptions for antibiotics. So my family doctor is being approached to see if she is willing to write a prescription for this antibiotic so I don't have to go to the hospital for the first dose. If she ISN'T willing, it's likely I will have to go to the hospital for the first dose. BOO.
3. Obviously the choice is mine. The chance of baby getting GBS and contracting the disease is slight, but the risk is great. Potential death. On the other hand, if the baby doesn't get GBS, he is still getting the antibiotic which changes the natural flora in his digestive tract and makes him more susceptible to yeast infections (or thrush if it's in the mouth) which greatly disrupts breastfeeding.
I'm annoyed and deflated that I am in fact GBS positive. I wasn't with Noah so this wasn't even an issue. There just seems like so many downsides to getting the antibiotic but then one gigantic pro IF and only IF this baby is the one of thousands to contract GBS. UGH.
Now I'll need to think about this and talk it over with Jamie and re-read the pamphlet on GBS.

35 weeks...and counting!

I know I said this last week...but I can't believe I'm 35 weeks pregnant.
Had a midwife appointment this week (actually went to the office twice, but they didn't have my first appointment written down - their fault, not mine believe it or not!) and Noah sat happily and played with the toys in the office (I think he's getting used to going there by now).
Baby is head down with his back on my left side.
He was moving lots while Carol was listening to the heartbeat and every time he moved, his heart rate accelerated which is exactly what is supposed to happen. It was cool to hear the movements on the sonar thingy...doppler. Right.
I also did the swab for Strep B and am hoping I'm negative again. BUT I found out that even if I am positive, I don't need to go to the hospital - I can just get a prescription from my doctor and then the midwife can administer it to me at home! Hoorah! So while I hope I'm negative, at least I don't have to make that trip to the hospital and back (if I even MADE it back!).
I need to up my iron again (since I stopped taking it twice a day because of ... er ... issues) but it's better even though I am still categorized as anemic.
And my next appointment will be the home visit at our new place! Hooray! We move on Tuesday and I can't wait for it! And not a moment too soon either as we are supposed to be getting hit with a heat wave starting next week - with the humidex making it feel like it's mid 30's!
Whew!

blood work results

We were out all afternoon but when we got in tonight we had a message from our midwife, Heather. She said that they got the report back from the lab and my glucose levels are completely normal! Hooray!!!
She also said my iron levels are low. Boo. But not a surprise. So I'm on Palafer tablets for now and hopefully that will kick up my iron count to a more normal level.

But all in all, I'm THRILLED not to have GD and I don't mind taking iron supplements. As long as I can get my iron up, then I can still have a home birth! Yippee! Happy 26 weeks! :D

a wee update

Well I seem to have grown quite a bit in the last couple days.
I FEEL bigger, that's for sure. I've felt more kicks (or punches or head butts...not exactly sure what they are) to the cervix than I remember feeling with Noah, that's for sure. I just feel this baby so much lower than I did, although I'm definitely feeling tightness in my ribcage, that's for sure.
I will have to go for my gestational diabetes test in the next week or two and I'm hoping for the best, though my eating habits don't reflect that at all. Eep!
Not too much else is new in pregnancy-land.
We did some house hunting today and saw a bunch of houses for rent. We really liked a couple of them and will hopefully move forward with those. Somehow we always move when I'm extremely pregnant. It's my ticket to getting out of lifting heavy things. Haha...
It would be SO NICE to live in a house, have our own backyard and be able to do my own laundry in my own house...but for now I will just dream and imagine little Noah and his brother running around and causing a ruckus in our home-to-be. :)
It's also interesting to picture myself giving birth in any of these houses. I'm not so sure we'd tell the home owners that that is the plan...but that's definitely the plan! :) We're so sneaky.

home birth land

I got the call today - or rather I made the call.
My iron is officially at 110! So I'm in home birth land now - hooray!
However for having "normal" levels of iron I am feeling absolutely EXHAUSTED today so I took a nap and am opting out of going to the event on campus tonight.
It'll be good to relax and get some rest.
Tomorrow I go into the midwifery clinic for a stretch and sweep so hopefully that will give me a kick start into labour!
It's a waiting game...

update

This may be a long post but there's a bunch to say right now.
First:
We had our home visit from our midwives. Except only R, our intern showed up. No midwife. I really like R so that was okay. She said that C was sick at home today and that S was going to going a little bit late.
So that was fine. We went over lots of things like who will be at the labour, where we hope to labour/give birth (bedroom, bathroom, spare room, etc.) and her recommendations and thoughts concerning post delivery and who will be coming to visit/help and when. These are all things I've been thinking about a LOT and so we talked through some of the things I wasn't sure about (where I want to deliver, who will come to visit and when) and I let her know about the things we've already decided upon (who will be at the labour). So that was good.
I'm measuring the same as I did last week so that's fine, she said.
She took blood to check my iron levels again. Apparently if my iron levels do not get to 110 before I go into labour I am not allowed to do a home birth. I didn't know this! At least it wasn't made clear to me! So...I hope that my iron levels have gotten bumped up with the supplements I've been taking.
I also did a GBS swab test to check if I have a bacteria that is not harmful to adults and a high percentage of women have it at any given time anyway. However it can be harmful in a small percentage of babies (the bacteria is located in the nether regions and is passed on to baby during delivery) and can cause infant death in a very tiny percent of births. So if I do test positive I will have to go to the hospital and get a first dose of antibiotics during labour. The doses after that can be administered at home, but that initial dose occurs at the hospital. Which is annoying since I've planned for a home birth. So I'm hoping I test negative for that to avoid all of that. The test was optional, but I guess I figured it was better to know - at least for my first.
Then I met S when she showed up. She is nice and thorough so that was good. But then she explained to Jamie and I that one of our midwives (M) is on sick leave and the other midwife (C) is going on holidays (not sure for how long - hopefully only 1 or 2 weeks) and so as of right now I have no midwife. So the other midwives are taking over and juggling M & C's patients and if I go into labour before C gets back from holidays I will have midwives I've never really dealt with.
So I'm pretty disappointed about that since I've spent the last 7 months getting to know M & C. At least R (the intern) will be there. And the other midwives are nice, but I don't know them. I do trust them ... but it's just disappointing if that happens that if C isn't back (or unavailable) from holidays when I go into labour I will end up with our back up midwives (which could have happened anyway I suppose) or someone I don't even know?
Oh well. I guess it's for the best...just not what I anticipated.
So that was the home visit.
Ummm....oh yes.
Second:
We've registered for a Baby Bjorn carrier at Babies R Us, but it's quite pricey ($199) and I don't anticipate that anyone will get it for us. So I decided to check out ebay to see what's on there and there are a TON of brand new Baby Bjorn's (just like the one I've registered for) that are like $90! So I'm pretty pumped and will probably buy one off of ebay if we don't get one.
So that's exciting.
I also found this website that carries clothing with funny sayings on them. There are a bunch of "onesies" with hilarious sayings like:
STORM POOPER
Boob man
iPood
and my current favourite: I'm kind of a big deal.
So funny.
I'm not sure if I'd fork out the $13-20 per onesie for them, but they certainly are fun to look at.
So yeah. I just spent the evening chatting on the phone with my lovely cousin and then surfing the internet looking at baby stuff, checking facebook and just chillin'.
So that's my update for now.