Some random updates.

I'm officially in my 5th month of pregnancy now. Holy shit...when did THAT happen?!?! I had an appointment with my MW last weekend. It was a busy day, so Darrick ended up staying home while Luca and I went. Everything is going well; weight gain is low but fine, blood pressure and all past bloodwork are normal, and baby Sprinkle seems to be growing just fine. Sprinkle's heart rate was 163, and he/she was moving like crazy when our MW put the doppler on to listen to the HR. We talked about whether or not we will get another ultrasound (most people have one between 18 and 22 weeks to check the baby's growth, location of the placenta, amniotic fluid levels, and baby's brain and vital organs). A lot of moms who homebirth skip u/s entirely, unless there's a medical indication one is needed (less fetal movement, trouble finding heart beat, growing too fast or slow, etc). However, my MW told me a good number of the moms she works with do the u/s around 20 weeks, both to see the baby and to find out the sex. Since we're not planning on finding out the sex and we had an u/s and pretty in-depth bloodwork at 13 weeks, she left it entirely up to us to decide whether to have another u/s done. We're leaning toward not having one...everything indicates both baby and I are healthy, growth is on target, and the previous u/s and bloodwork show us things are very likely to be just fine. It's a decision we still have time to make: the MW can give us a referral at any time for an u/s, so we have time to change our minds.

I sometimes get random questions from friends and family about what care under a HB midwife is like. One question I get is, "Do you have to pee in a cup?". Indeed, I do. The only real difference is that I pee in the cup, dip my own test strip in, dump the pee, and hand the strip off to my MW. My MW did give me shit for not eating or drinking enough that day (apparently those pee strips you do tell a LOT more than I knew), so I need to be more conscientious about my food and drink intake, especially when I get busy.

Another question I get is about whether I have to weigh in at every appointment. I do, but it's not as strict as most MW/OB practices. She has a normal bathroom scale, and I step on and report to her what it says. At my last appointment, I forgot to step on the scale, but she asked me about my weight gain and I told her what I'd gained, and she was happy with it. It's kind of nice to not have 'scale stress' at every appointment!

Also on the baby front, I am really feeling this baby move now. I've been feeling 'flutters' and 'bubbles' since I was about 12 weeks along, but now it's real movement I am feeling. I forgot how awesome this part of pregnancy is! It really drives home for me that I need to take more time to focus on myself and prepping for this birth.

In other news, Darrick underwent rotator cuff (shoulder) surgery on Tuesday of this week. Back in mid-August, he tore a ligament in a jiu-jitsu tournament, and he needed to have it repaired. He's on fall break right now, so he thought that would be the best time to do it. The surgery went really well, and the Dr was confident he'd recover quickly and fully. In the meantime, though, he's going to have to take it very easy and he's dealing with a significant amount of pain. It's been rough on him to have to get help with things like putting on a shirt, and Luca's had to learn that Daddy has an 'owie' and be gentle with him. But he's doing pretty great and I have no doubt he'll recover like a champ. :)