About the Midwives

We had our first appointment with the mid-wife at the birthing center. We decided to try the birthing center because it seems to be in line with our plan on how we picture our birth. More all natural, a little tree-huggerish, very open to our (my) plans. I have a pretty good picture in my my how I want the birth to go (cross your fingers no complications). Matt has read the few pages on pregnancy in his daddy's book, but he hasn't really read any birth stories or birth options. I have done my research and I really think that a drug-free waterbirth is what I want. Matt is ok with it as long as he doesn't have to get in the tub, he thinks it's kinda gross. We had kept our next appointment with the ob incase we didn't like the birthing center, but we decided to stay with the birthcenter. Feel free to check out the website if you feel like it, http://www.tucsonbirthcenter.com/. One aspect of the birth center that Matt really liked was the group prenatal classes. Instead of having a 1 on 1 appointment with the ob every 4 weeks you meet with a group of couples who are all due the same month as you for group appointments. The groups meets in the evenings every 4 weeks. The mid-wife leads the group and incorporates childbirth education with pre-natal appts. Each woman spends time with the mid-wife for a talk or exam. This works well for us: The classes are in the evenings so we don't have to take off of work, the childbirth education classes are normally 5 weeks so we will save 5 trips across town to the birthing center, and we will meet others who are due around the same time as us. The birth center also offers mommy and me classes for after the baby is born so that we can meet after the births as well. So here are the new stats based on the mid-wife appt: New Week 17 Stats: My Weight: 155 1/2 (guess I need a new scale) My weight gain: 8 1/2 lbs Baby's hearbeat: 140 bpm New due date... The due date from my ob/gyn's little spinny thing said December 16th, the due date from the first ultrasound was December 13th. Now... the due date from the mid-wife's little spinny thing is December 18th. To make it even more confusing when the mid-wife did the belly exam she said that it felt like I was 18 or 19 weeks. So who knows when the little bugger is going to be here. The official due date listed on the paperwork is December 18th. The center only allows you to go 1 week over due before inducing so we listed the latest date to give us the greatest chance of going into labor on our own. In other news, my Mom threw a birthday party for me yesterday. We had the whole family including Aunts, Uncles, cousins, sister, brother & newphews. Lots of fun. The suprising part was a joint gift from my Mom and Dad. They bought me an old fashioned wooden rocking chair. My Grandpa Lowell, Dad's Dad, bought my parents a rocking chair when my Mom was pregnant with Kiara and my parents wanted to do the same. It is a beautiful "sweetheart" rocking chair. I have already practiced rocking Avery, but she was not very cooperative. Hope you all have a great weekend!!!