Prenatal Visit #1

I had my first prenatal checkup on Tuesday. Everything went very well. I really like my midwife, Sherry. If anyone is interested, here is a link to a little info about her. She actually reminds me in many ways of a combination of two of my aunts.

This was likely one of the most time-consuming appointments, the one with all the paperwork and the physical exam, bloodwork, etc. I found out one of the only negative things about having a midwife draw your blood rather than having it done in the lab at a hospital . . . in the hospital, they do it all the time and are very fast and proficient, whereas midwives don't do it as often and therefore aren't quite as skilled. I had to get poked 3 times in order to get enough blood--Sherry was rather frustrated with herself for not getting it right the first time, so apparently she doesn't usually have much trouble with it. Maybe my veins were just being stubborn. So the inside of my elbows were pretty sore that night and the next day, and I have a nice blue bruise on one arm from that! But that's OK . . . having blood taken really doesn't bother me anymore, it's just nicer when it can be done fast! Anyway, she finally got the 4 full vials that she needed, so that part is over with for now. I'm not sure, but probably I'll have to have blood drawn at least once more during the pregnancy. I'm RH negative, which means I have to have a shot of Rhogam to ensure that the baby will be safe if he/she has a different blood type, so I think I'll have to have my blood taken to check for levels of something, before getting the shot. And I may need to do a sugar test partway through, too. I was happy to see that Sherry has a Doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat, just like what is used at a hospital. We couldn't hear the heartbeat yet, though, which wasn't surprising. When you consider that the baby is only a couple inches long, and the little heart would be about the size of . . . hmmm, I can't think what it would be the size of! But very tiny, anyway!

Hopefully Jim will be able to go to my next appointment with me, and by that time we will likely be able to hear the heartbeat. My next one is scheduled for November 22, the week of Thanksgiving.

One cool thing happened the same evening. I had gone to a "Tastefully Simple" home party at a friend's house, and while there I got talking with another friend who I hadn't seen in a while. She was asking who I was going to for this pregnancy, and it turned out that she also had Sherry for a midwife a few years back when she had her 4th child at home! So it was neat to find out that I actually know someone who has worked with the same midwife. She told me that Sherry is a Christian, which was also neat to hear. I have liked the fact already that she has mentioned her belief that God created our bodies to perform the natural work of childbirth, which is of course what I believe as well. The midwives I saw at Dartmouth with my last pregnancy would say similar things, but they always left God out of it.

Well, I guess that is all that's new in baby-land! Thanks for reading. :) If there's anything that anyone has questions about, that I haven't thought of mentioning in my ramblings related to my pregnancy, please feel free to ask!