Midwife Appointment
A couple of days late, but oh well!
Lovely midwife Julie came on Thursday and stayed for over an hour! We talked loads about Ina May, Mary Cronk and homebirthing in general. Then she told me that she won’t be in this country for the whole of April - oh no! She’s taking her children to Australia for a month, it’s where they were born and she’s looking forward to catching up with old friends. Can’t begrudge her that now can I?! But she’s told me about two other midwives who are very pro-homebirth. I’ve met both of them at previous appointments - Paquita, who I saw at this appointment and Lesley, the student midwife’s supervisor at this appointment. They’re all really hands-off, preferring to stay in the background and letting the mother do what comes naturally… I love these women!
Julie said she wished that she could be there for mine, she’s never been to a completely natural homebirth before and (I’m going to gloat now!) said that I seem very well read and prepared - something they don’t see very often apparently! Ok, gloating over! She asked to borrow my Ina May book after I’ve given birth but I wonder if I’ll ever see her again? Probably not.
Onto antenatal stuff… Indi is still measuring LFD (large for dates) but hasn’t exceeded the growth chart really. I was offered a scan again but I declined, again. Heartbeat is 148bpm and s/he is head down and 3/5 which means ‘lower but most is still above the brim. She didn’t say the term for it but head down and back lying against my side was how Indi’s position was described. It was hard for her to really feel where the baby was because s/he kept moving. She is fairly certain that s/he will stay head down now and not go into a breech position. Julie did say a few times “that feels like a heel”, it was nice hearing an actual body part mentioned for some strange reason! She reckons Indigo will weigh around 8lbs, it’ll be interesting to see if she’s right. My own blood pressure is still good 120/70 and well everything’s going fine. I didn’t mention the SPD, it’s been fine recently.
So much more was said but it was mainly about births in general and other people’s attitudes. It was a breath of fresh air talking to someone who didn’t think I was making too much of a big deal about my birthing experience. Someone else also believes that it should be special. I’ll be getting a phone call from either Paquita or Tracey in the week to arrange my next appointment which should be on 3rd April.
Let’s get back to normality!
Now that everything has been settled it’s time to get back to normality.
Our little Indigo has started to drop down into my pelvis! How do I know? Well, bump looks smaller and is lower and heavier and my hips and pelvis feel heavier too. Still getting a lot of movement, this baby never seems to stop! My ribs get the worst of it if I lie on my left side at night. I can almost feel the shape of little feet sticking out here there and everywhere! But I just can’t catch it on video! Everytime I feel movement I grab the camera and the little begger decides to stop moving, see s/he causes trouble already!
I’ve put on so much weight though, almost embarassed to write it down - 51lbs! That’s over 3 and a half stone! It’s no wonder if feel and look like an elephant! I can put about 1 stone of it down to the baby and placenta, amniotic fluid etc but still! If it weren’t for this SPD I might be able to exercise but I know that the less I do the better I feel so what’s a girl to do?! I’m not going to bother with physio or anything like that, it’s a waste of their time seeing as I’m so close to D-Day.
Indigo’s got one more week to hang on and then s/he can arrive whenever, preferrably sooner rather than later please little one! I haven’t had anymore ’signs’ of pre-labour except crampy, period-y type pains when I’m in bed and increased Braxton Hicks contractions. I went on to that Spinning Babies website that that student midwife suggested and now I’m even more paranoid! I tried out the baby map thingy they have on there but Indigo moves around so much and I’m still feeling movement lower down which (on the website) points to back to back or occiput posterior, although the ‘normal’ position says that you can feel back and butt in front at the top and feet kicking out at the side which is also what I’m feeling. Oh no, my baby is back to front!!! See why I’m so paranoid now?!
Julie the wonderful midwife is coming here tomorrow morning so I have to get everything ready for her this afternoon. I washed all the babygros and vests a couple of days ago and still need to put them away and tidy the upstairs bedrooms. Have to get up early in the morning, feed the zoo, put most of the cats out in the run - hopefully it’ll be nice and sunny for them - put clean throws on the sofa and chairs and will probably have to vacuum again. She could come at any time in the morning from 9.00 so we have to be ready by then. I don’t know exactly what she is going to be doing, I presume it’s just the homecheck and I know I’ve got some forms to sign. I don’t think she’ll have a feel of where baby is - haven’t got a surgery bed here! Will she need a sample again? I’d better get one ready just in case. Our appointments should increase to fortnightly now. Unless I go into labour before then I’ll have 2 more appointments, 1 at 38 weeks and the last 1 at 40 weeks - assuming I don’t go over 40 weeks that is.
Anyway, that’s all I can think of right now. I’ll come back and edit if there’s more 
Response from Angela of homebirth.org.uk
Angela was the first person I contacted as it was her website where I got the information. If you’re planning a homebirth or would like to know more about planning a homebirth in the UK then you couldn’t do any better than visiting Angela’s website!
This is the response I received…
The legal situation regarding attending births is intended to stop
unqualified people passing themselves off as professionals, not to
dictate who first lays hands on the baby. The government has clarified that by
‘attending the birth’ they mean assuming responsibility for care. If
you follow the link to the AIMS article (this is the very same article that the midwife copied and pasted!) which you’ll find on the page about unattended birth, you may find that helpful.
Catching the baby does not constitute attending the birth as a
professional, nor acting as a midwife. It is a common confusion and
it’s not unusual for midwives to believe that only they are allowed to catch
the baby. I suspect this reveals a lack of experience with active births as
it sort of suggests they’re used to the mother being in a situation where
nobody would question that the midwife ‘does things’ while the baby is
being born, but at homebirths it’s quite common for a woman to catch
her own baby. However, it is neither necessary nor sufficient to catch the
baby in order to act as a midwife. For instance, no midwife has ever caught
any of my babies, but they have always been there, acting as a midwife…
they have been watching, monitoring, and able to take responsibility in case
of an emergency. I just didn’t want their hands anywhere near the business
end
Thanks a lot for that Angela, it’s always great to have a personal experience to quote as well! And… what typos? 
Who Can Catch Baby - THE FACTS!
Yesterday in my search for the truth about the legalities of who can ‘catch’ the baby, I emailed Nadine Edwards, the Vice Chair of AIMSUK and Angela Horn, owner of homebirth.org.uk.
This is the response from Nadine Edwards…
“Sometimes midwives are a little unsure about this - but you are
entitled
to catch your own baby. Some midwives encourage women to do this -
especially in water. If you don’t want to at the time, your husband can
do this.There is no legal requirement for a midwife to catch a baby. Her
responsibility is to be there if called, and to offer you the best care
she can.”
For Those Who Have Doubts About A Mother Catching Her Baby
Warning: This video is graphic. Dad - you may not want to watch it!
This May Turn Ranty
It’s nearly 2am and I cannot sleep thanks to a comment made about MY birth plan. At the time that the comment was made I said thanks and just chose to ignore the ‘advise’. But after having a few days to think about it, it has really irritated me. Too many times in the past have I let people tell me what I should and shouldn’t do. Too many times have I laid down and not questioned their logic or researched for myself. That’s not me anymore. I have deleted the comment now as I feel having such a negative thing on my blog is no good for me, but I will write about my own feelings on this persons comments…
-
Whether it is viewed as negative or positive should not be the concern of anyone but myself. I actually think that my birth plan is very positive compared to the one I made previously and I find it very ironic that a lot of the information on my birth plan is from a site that has been recommended by midwives!
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If I do not want an episiotomy then I shall put down that I do not want an episiotomy. I do have plans on avoiding tearing which I shall fully impliment at the time. It is very unlikely that I will continue to refuse being cut if it is desperately needed!
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Vitamin K oral may not be absorbed so well if the mother herself has low vitamin K levels. I will be taking supplements myself that shall be passed on through my breastmilk. The fact that I am allowing them to give my baby vit K at all should be good enough considering that I shall be non-vaxing.
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What I do or not need in my birth plan is up to me.
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How I birth my baby is up to me. Telling me that I might not be able to catch my own baby because of my own incapabilities does not help.
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It’s all very well giving me information that has been copied and pasted from a site regulary attended by midwives but where is the rest of the information? I have visited the site where I found the option of my husband catching our baby and emailed them to find out their thoughts. I have also emailed midwives to find out about the loopholes.
I have my own midwife (fully qualified and experienced) who I trust completely to let me know what is or isn’t possible.
So, I’d advise those people who think they’re helping to just leave it. If there is something that cannot be done I will find out about it myself. Thanks for trying.
Reaching Out Across The Seas!
She did it to me so I’m doing it back… Hello hbacmama! I hope you’re the one going red now!
She makes a good point about tag surfing, it’s a great way to take a peek into the lives of people living all around the world who have the same interests as you. I’m on WordPress an awful lot and I love browsing everyone’s blogs and hearing about their days.
Onto baby type stuff - I’m 35 weeks today, hooray! Another week down! According to the books, the baby is around 6lbs and measuring about 18 inches. Can you believe that?! And some more fabulous news - we have THE name. After asking Jeff time and time again he finally said today “I thought we had settled on Indigo?” I squeaked “really? Really, really?” back at him as my eyes started to well! Hormones eh?! So yeah, our little baby shall be named Indigo, boy or girl. Which makes things a lot easier! Now I can refer to baby as Indigo instead of baby or bubs or little one or little bugger!
I am quite sick at the moment, it is a stomach virus that I have… I’m not going into labour after all… boy is my face red! The insomnia is also quite persistent and acid reflux is getting worse! All this lying around has been great for my SPD though, it’s only aching during the night now. You know, after all these years trying to get pregnant I never thought I’d say that I wish it would hurry up and be over with! I’ve never been so sick in my life. My immune system has always been really strong, the sickest I’d get was one cold a year but so far this year I’ve had two colds and now this virus. Bleurgh!
Anyhoo, I’m going to retreat back to my sofa and beg Jeff to make me some food…. heeheehee!
Is This The Start Of Something?
I hope not, I’m only 35 weeks!
I’m going to write what I posted on Baby and Bump -
Since I got out of bed this morning I’ve felt like crap.
My mid to lower back is aching, keep having BH’s, I feel sick and absolutely shattered and I don’t know whether my body is flushing itself or if I’ve got a stomach bug. I’m almost positive that baby desended into my pelvis at some point yesterday and is having a jolly good time down there! And he’s (yes I think it’s a boy) turning and twisting around reeeaallly sllooowwwlllyyy and it’s making me feel seasick!! One of my cats was on my lap earlier watching my belly moving, that was quite funny!
And DH is going around the house cleaning and tidying and I feel guilty as hell ‘cos I can’t help (although, he’s much better at housework than I am!).
Well, I’ve been doing some research on early labour signs and I’m ticking nearly all the boxes. Most sites are saying it could be a matter of hours or a couple of weeks. Baby has most definitely descended (spelt it right this time!) as my pelvis is feeling heavy, I feel flu-ish and I’ve had a tiny, weeny bit of a show. My belly keeps feeling tight so I’m guessing the BH’s are getting me ready for the go.
I’ve been waiting for this day for so long and I’ve been moaning about how I’ve been feeling the last couple of weeks but you know what? I feel like crying! I’m not ready for baby to come right now, I want my homebirth dammit! Of course Mother Nature cannot be stopped and if this is it then there’s very little I can do about that! I’m feeling a little bit scared now, which I assume is totally natural and I’m feeling a bit miffed because I haven’t had time to do perrenial massage, I’ve barely touched my hypnobirthing breathing exercises, I haven’t drunk enough RLT and worse still we haven’t really chosen any names!
I really hope that I’m just having an off day and that I’m a little bit sick. Baby is still very active so perhaps this is just all a figment of my imagination… But part of me wants this to be it! Oh I’m such a contradiction!
Watch this space!!!
UPDATE Feeling much better now! Paranoia must’ve gotten the best of me I think, still feeling tired but that’s to be expected. Found out from Mum earlier that there is a virus going around and then Jeff told me his brother hasn’t been well either, so I guess I picked it up from somewhere. I’m still keeping a close eye on how my body is behaving though, perhaps this is the start of something that will happen in a couple of weeks? I feel a bit silly now, haha!
I Have Joined The INSOMNIA Club!
It’s just getting light outside, birds are twittering away and cats are kneading my soft dressing gown… with sharp claws!
5.50am. That’s what time I woke up! Gone 1am was when I finally dropped off. 3 hours is the amount of sleep I had between those times!!
I’ve spent the last couple of hours tossing and turning wondering why I can’t sleep. ‘Is my bladder full? No.’ ‘Has the baby stopped moving?’ (prods and pokes ensue) ‘No.’ ‘Did the baby kick me awake? No.’ All I know is that the constant changing sides trying to find a comfortable position made my hips ache and trying to keep that damn pillow between my knees was making my pelvis hurt more than it should! So I came downstairs, made a coffee (I have one ‘normal’ coffee a day, still need my early morning kick up the arse!) and logged on here. I don’t know what I’m going to do for the next couple of hours! Jeff’s still asleep of course, he’s going to get a shock when he notices I’m not lying next to him. I can’t do anything noisy in case I wake him up so I guess I’ll have to surf the internet for a bit.
If I think of anything else to write I’ll come back…
Just remembered what I thought to write during my tossing and turning moments. I really can’t be doing with going to a physio about the SPD thing. So’s long as I don’t over do it, it’s managable. I realise there could be another 8 weeks to go but I really don’t want to waste anyone’s time. So instead I’m going to try this exercise I have read about. It involves me lying down, knees up and Jeff putting his hands between my knees. I’ve got to try to keep my knees together as he tries to gently force them apart. I read about this exercise a few weeks ago but was skeptical about it until I slipped, nearly going into a split! It hurt for a few seconds but then I realised that my pelvic pain wasn’t as bad as before. So I concluded that the effort of trying to keep my legs together as the slippery ground forced them apart was an extreme form of that exercise and that it worked! Yes, I do go around things the long way!
