What ’should’ be my last midwife appointment.
Yep, earlier this afternoon I went to the clinic and saw Carol. Once again, my BP is normal, Indigo’s HB is normal and strong. S/he isn’t quite back to back… rather back to side, the same position s/he’s been in for weeks and weeks. I mentioned the contradictions between baby positioning and SPD exercises and she agreed that Indi’s not likely to turn before labour now and it’s more important that I’m comfortable and not in pain at this time.
She had a good feel of her/his position and size and has booked me in for a scan tomorrow morning! Her guesstimate of Indigo’s birth weight is 9lb and she said they usually ask women to go have a scan when it seems their baby’s going to be rather big. I could’ve declined obviously but it’s something to pass the time! 
And it’ll be nice seeing our little one inside me for one last time. It doesn’t make any difference what the scan says, I’ll still be having a homebirth with no pain relief… I’ll take their weight predictions with a pinch of salt, after all, they told my sister-in-law that her baby would be 14lb and after a cesarean she ended up being just 6lbs!!
Anyhoo, I’ll be back tomorrow morning to let you all know how it went. I really hope they give us a picture again! Fingers crossed!
Oh, and I’ve got a new page… a weekly calendar! It started of being a two week plan but I got stuck for ideas! If you can think of anything (not too strenuous!) please let me know!
Midwife Appointment Today (& a couple of bump pics)
Today I saw Paquita, another lovely midwife that I’ve seen once before. Julie had spoken to her briefly about my wishes and she mentioned it to me, making sure I still want a homebirth and zero drugs. Everything’s still normal and ok, well apart from one very minor thing but I’ll get to that in a minute.
My BP is normal, Indi’s heart rate is also normal and strong. I remembered to record his/her heartbeat on my mobile phone today, the quality isn’t very good but you can definitely make out the thump thump thumps! Then Paquita had a feel of his/her position and said… “It seems to be back to back”. Oh no!!! I knew it! She suggested doing the hands and knees position to try and ease Indi into anterior and I mentioned visiting Spinning Babies. So you can imagine what I’ve been doing all afternoon and night!!
Just as we were about to leave Carol came into the room (Carol was my original booking-in midwife who has been away for the past four months on another job). Unbelievably she recognised me! She couldn’t believe how big I’ve gotten and then went straight into talking about my opposition towards any drugs and the fact that I want to birth my own baby and have as little intrusion as possible! It seems the midwives have been talking about me… I must be a freak or something, haha! She didn’t have any aggresion, just wanted to make sure that I was sure, all the midwives have been totally cool about letting me go it alone and I’ve reassured them that I do want their presence ‘just in case’. It was nice seeing her again and even nicer that she remembered me, perhaps in a town like this it’s not easy to forget the hippy girl with a long haired husband, 17 cats and a dog! I told her that if she ended up being the attending midwife that we now have two rooms downstairs instead of one and that the animals will be kept seperate from her… much to her relief!
Anyway, all in all it was a good appointment. I’m glad Paquita told me the baby’s position, now I can work at trying to move him/her. Of course this may not work but I have to give it a go!
Oh, and just for kicks here’s two pictures Jeff took when we went for a walk with Skylar yesterday - 39 weeks today (well it’s 2am, that means it’s Thursday now!).
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.
Today’s Midwife Appointment
Today’s appointment went fantastically! Although it could’ve gone in another direction (nearly went to see a midwife who seemed grumpy and uninterested) but fate stepped in and pointed me in Julie’s direction!
Blood pressure was checked - all fine, heartbeat checked - all fine too, 142bpm this time, baby’s position checked - head down, anterior but not engaged yet, still measuring 2 weeks ahead of time but no biggy. IF I do need to go for a scan it won’t be until I’m 40 weeks, otherwise they’d have me there every couple of weeks - no point in that.
We had a chat about what previous midwife said regarding scans and so on and you’ll never guess what she said? “Even if the baby is big what difference does it make?”. I was so happy hearing that and she said that the hospital can recommend not having a homebirth for a big baby but I don’t have to take their ‘advice’.
Everything she was saying was on my wavelength, she loves homebirths and didn’t treat me like just a patient. She talked to me about choices, basically told me I’m in charge (which I already knew ;)) and has booked my 36 week appointment to see her specifically, at home no less! Ok, so it’s mostly because she wants to go through lists and have me sign this risk factor form (which she herself said was ridiculous) but she didn’t have to do that. I’ve got her phone number too, really hope baby comes during the day so I can request her as my midwife (there’s at least 10 assigned to this area). I know the chances of that happening are slim but I can hope!
Seeing her reinforced my decision to work towards a degree in Midwifery in the future. I have barely enough qualifications to start though, so I’m going to speak to a careers advisor and see if there’s any way to get in without 3/4 years of studying beforehand. Obviously my baby is going to come first and I won’t be doing anything until I feel confident leaving him/her for a couple of hours… I could start a one-night-a-week course in September doing English but baby will be just 5 months old then and I’m not weaning that early, no way! (And I can hear the “It’s only one night a week!” exclamations but it’s for three hours and I don’t believe in using bottles, OK?!
Right, so I’ll be seeing Julie at home on the 20th of March. Perhaps I’ll be able to talk to her more about my wishes for the birth… we’ll see!
Today’s Midwife Appointment
We went in at 1.40 pm and didn’t get out until 2pm… longest appointment yet!
Didn’t have the same midwife as last time but this one was a student midwife and she had her senior standing by. She asked me how I was feeling so I said about my aches and pains, not thinking anything would be done about it, but she then asked where I was feeling them and when - walking, turning over in bed, bending over, housework etc… yes to all! So off she went to get her senior, they gave me a leaflet and said if it gets any worse within the next week I shall have to be referred to a physiotherapist and use a support belt. SOMEONE LISTENED!!! Hooray! Turns out it is SPD (Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction), I’ve been saying that since the 1st trimester when it started getting painful on walks with Skylar. Anyway, they know now and I haven’t been fobbed off with “they’re just usual pregnancy pains”. I knew it couldn’t have been normal, not many of the other pregnant girls on the forum I visit complain about these kind of pains.
Next Louise (the midwife) measured bump, felt around for a bit to see where baby was lying and listened to the heartbeat. Because she was a student she used the old-fashioned Pinnard horn before using the Sonicaid for practise. After being prodded for 5 mins I think baby was a bit miffed because Louise got a huge kick in her ear using the horn! We went back over to her desk and she started filling out my notes. It turns out that baby is measuring 2 WEEKS larger than s/he should be! So now I have to go back next week to see if there’s been anymore growth and if there has I have to go and have a scan… oh dear! I found out today that my sister-in-law had to have a caeserean section because she was measuring larger but the baby was only 6lbs in the end. Well they can bugger right off if they think the size of the baby will scare me into having a c-section, it can be a 12lber and I’ll still refuse a knife near me… unless there is a genuine emergency of course.
So apart from having SPD and a potentially large baby everything is fine. Baby is head down but not yet engaged, heartbeat rate is 144 and my blood pressure is normal - 104/62. OH, forgot to say - I’ve got stretchmarks! Ah well, knew they’d get me in the end, haha!
Two books came for me in the post this morning - HypnoBirthing and Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. They’re both all about natural, drug free births so I must find some quiet time to read them. It’s a bit hard to relax when you’ve got cats and dogs running back and forth! Jeff’s been signed off for at least another two weeks, it’s really lovely having him around 
Oh, we took Sky to the beach yesterday. Absolutely beautiful but bloody freezing. I was in a lot of pain when we got back but it was so worth it, I needed to get out!
Midwife Appointment Today…
… And it was soooooo much better than last time! The midwife was really nice, listened to everything I was concerned about and didn’t rush us through at all.
Told her that I wanted to have a homebirth instead of birthcentre and she reacted positively. She said that there’s no point in talking about it until I’m at least 35 weeks and nothing would be arranged until at least 37 weeks, just in case baby comes sooner. She told us that a homebirth is exactly the same as birthcentre risk-wise, which I already knew but I’m glad she said that for Jeff’s sake.It’s so great that the midwives around here actually *prefer* homebirths, living in this area has it’s perks then.
Baby is doing really well, 136 heart beats per min, which has come down a lot since last time. At my last appointment baby measured a week smaller than I actually was, today s/he measured a week larger! Grown a lot then! When I lay down the midwife was quite shocked, she said she could actually see where the baby was. I’m not surprised, the amount of times I’ve had a head or butt jutting out of my abdomen! She didn’t write down the position baby was lying in because s/he kept moving away from her prods!
My blood pressure has come way down - 130/68 down to 90/60. I knew the couple of dizzy spells meant something! She said “nice and low” so I’m happy.
Baby’s been moving around so much today and yesterday. I was wondering why and one of the girls on Amity reminded me about the full moon. Her baby was moving around a lot too! I can’t wait until all us pregnant Amity mama’s start giving birth, it’s a wonderful little (haha - huge!) community there, I’ve never felt so… what’s the word… comfortable? Happy? Accepted? Yes, accepted.
Anyway, next midwife appointment is on Feb 20th, 32 weeks by then!
HEARTBEAT!!!
Well, we had the midwife appointment earlier. It seemed really rushed and wasn’t with ‘my’ midwife - apparently she’s off for the next 3 months so I’ll be seeing different midwives up until I’m about 38 weeks! That’s a bit worrying to be honest, I don’t know why but I feel a bit uneasy not seeing the same midwife for the rest of my pregnancy. I quite liked Carol and she was really open-minded. The midwife I saw today was obviously still on holiday time! She said that I wouldn’t be able to feel precise nudges & kicks until I’m further on but I do now (Jeff has felt different bodyparts too (we can’t tell what bodyparts they are exactly but when you feel something small and knobbly you can guarantee it won’t be the head or bum!)) but because she was so rushed I didn’t say anything, I also didn’t mention the pains I get if I walk for too long or over uneven ground. Maybe next time…
Anyway, on to the good part - we heard baby’s heartbeat! She found it straight away, no problems at all. He/she moved when I laughed and then kicked where the midwife was pressing! Baby’s h/b rate is 158, which is slightly above average but ok apparently. So if you believe those old wives tales, a high h/b rate means I’m having a girl… we shall see!
My blood pressure has risen from 110/50 taken in October to 130/68. I presume that’s good because nobody said anything. Baby was lying head down, but I doubt he/she would stay in that position, quite a mover this one! And the fundal height measurement had me at 24 weeks exactly. I asked the midwife if that was ok (because I’m 25 weeks tomorrow) and she said it’s fine just as long as it’s not too small and that I should grow 1cm per week.
So, apart from dizzy, rushed midwife everything went well in the 5 mins we were there. My next appointment is on 23rd Jan at 13.30, blood has to be taken then… oh dear!
