1st Appointment.

We had our first appointment with our Midwife and her Apprentice today. It was great! The midwife we chose does appointments at the office in her house, and lives in an acre with dogs, cats, horses, and chickens. We got there a little early, so Luca played with 2 of their cats and a dog who were on the porch outside, and we talked to MW's husband, who was sipping a cup of coffee on the porch swing (how freaking idyllic is that???). When she was ready for us, we went in and went over our paperwork, and she asked us if we'd be willing to be part of a study on homebirth (looks at risk factors, care, nutrition, and outcomes for mom and baby) and we said yes. She also gave me a nutrition tracking form for the next week, and we talked about the importance of protein now to help baby's development, as well as leafy greens to prevent excessive bleeding in labor. The leafy greens, she noted, are most important later in pregnancy. The protein, however, needs to be something we watch starting NOW, since I'm not much of a meat eater and eggs are touch and go for me while pregnant.

We also talked about an exercise program to help make labor easier, and a lot about my pregnancy and delivery with Luca. Her Apprentice was there, and when I told her the name of the Midwife who attended our birth with Luca she FLIPPED out, she was so excited I'd worked with her. She then proceeded to tell me some story about a delivery she was at with that MW when she was in school, where the MW actually told the nurse to get the hell out of the room because she was trying to intervene with the baby and the MW knew baby was fine. LOVE it!

There was no physical exam, and no bloodwork yet. I go back in 3 weeks to have the regular bloodwork for the first trimester done. We did listen for the heartbeat, an experience that freaked little Luca out. They have an exam table in the office, so I layed down and let them try to listen with the doppler. As soon as both women were standing over me, Luca got veeeery still on the other side of the room and her lip started to quiver. I could see her eyes were rimming with tears, so I had Darrick grab her and bring her over so she could watch. It took a few minutes, but sure enough we all got to hear the heart beating clearly...our first real sign there is a growing person in there! It was awesome...my husband is SO excited!!

I also had to step on the scale, something no woman looks forward to. I know from weighing myself at home regularly (i.e. obsessively) that I've gained somewhere between 0-1.5 lb so far (it fluctuates all the time). So I got on expecting a certain number and her scale weighed me at 4 pounds less than that. It's not a big deal at all, since her real concern when it comes to weight is not what I weigh NOW, but what I gain between now and the end. She didn't give me a goal or a range, just stressed a healthy diet.

All in all, we are so happy we picked her, and we really like her Apprentice as well. When we left today, we both were really excited and it really hit us that we're doing this! It's a tiny bit scary and overwhelming, but between those two women, they have 13 kids and 9 of them were born at home. I think we're in capable hands.