First Appointment

I went to my first appointment today. I've decided to start with the CNM's here in the closest "big" town to me. They are about 45 minutes away and their clinic is attached to the hospital I would deliver at.
These midwives seem really great. I've heard so many good things about them. They are very natural minded, patient, and pro-women's choice.
I met with one today and we went over nutrition, etc. She also let me ask her a lot of questions, mostly about labor and delivery.  I had an awful experience with a nurse at the hospital so I know it's early on, but I told her that I could not birth with her there. I actually felt a little validated after I talked to her about this nurse. Apparently she is very rude and makes everyone cry. So I didn't feel like such a wimp after all. If she makes med students cry too, then there is something wrong with her. Anyway, I'm sad I'm not the only one, but glad that my reaction seemed to correlate with everyone else's.
I was very happy to hear that she's not into drugs and medication. If I go way over my due date she has ideas on how to encourage induction. One of those ways is with a fully bulb.  I also told her I'd try acupuncture and chiropractic and she was totally on board with that too. She doesn't like to use pitocin. But she also doesn't tel her patients what to do. We discussed the fact that over time we have learned that people have to be educated for themselves. I've learned that just from being a doula. Sometimes my clients do things that I wouldn't choose, but I don't judge them because number 1 -it's their body, baby and choices, and number 2, if they don't know anything else, then they are doing their best. For instance, I had one client who had a posterior baby and when I suggested that she push for a bit on her hands and knees, she thought that was the absolute weirdest thing she had ever heard, and wanted to lay on her back. Things were just fine and that is what she felt comfortable with. Anyway, so that goes for everything!  I once told a client how scary I thought the drug cytotec was for inducing labor and that it made me really uncomfortable and nervous, but she still chose it. That is up to her and what she feels she needs to do. I don't control people. :)
Anyway, it was fun talking to her. Sounds like she will do anything she can to help me in whatever way I want. She said she's delivered plenty of babies on the toilet. So it's nice to know that I won't be stuck in a bed on my back.
Then of course I went and got blood work done. Fun, fun.
I almost asked for drugs for morning sickness, but I didn't. I decided that since I wasn't throwing up profusely and lacking nutrients, I would stick it out.  Yuck. It is not fun. I'm grateful to a husband that has done all the laundry and dishes since I'm on the couch most days all days.

Morning Sickness has hit...

I'm a little over 5 weeks and I'm feeling the sickness coming on.  I have the blessing of feeling sick all day long. I wake up and go to sleep feeling nauseous. I can't wait for the sensitive gag reflex that kicks me into dry-heaving fits. Here goes nothing.
I did go to the store to stock up on snacks. I also bought Vitamin B and Ginger Pills. Along with my essential oils, I hope I can find some relief in all of this!

Positive!

Happy New Year! We are expecting again. This will be our third baby and I'm so excited.
Here's the scoop.
I had my first babies close together. J came in March of 2007. Then I was all of a sudden pregnant again in September 2008.  It was quite a surprise since I thought I was following my cycle pretty closely. Obviously not closely enough. I was really scared at first to have another baby so soon, since having a first baby proved to be hard and exhausting for me.  Try as I might, we couldn't teach him to breastfeed. Nothing came normally. I tried everything. Finally when the Children's Hospital Therapist told me that my child just did not have a good sucking reflex, I caved in and allowed myself to feel okay about pumping and feeding him with a bottle. I did this every two hours for the first four months of his life.  Day and night.  So when I was pregnant two months later, I was a little overwhelmed. But I soon was comforted in knowing that I could do this again. I had time to prepare and a good tempered first baby.  He came along in June 2008 and was a blessing. He nursed right away and things weren't as hard.  I know now, why he was sent to our family so quickly.  He has surely been a blessing and I think it is wonderful, and SO good for my first child to have a playmate so close to his age. They are the best of friends and they are only 3 and 2.
SO... I decided that a good time to have another baby would be when my youngest was 3. I didn't want them too close together or too far apart.
I had my IUD removed in August and hoped to be pregnant as soon as possible after that. September came, not pregnant. October, not pregnant, November, not pregnant, and then December. We really didn't have to wait/try  for too long.  I had an epiphany in December. I decided to pretend like it was September 2007, and without going into any details, we were pregnant! Funny thing.
Although I did not know we were pregnant right off. I took a pregnancy test the first day that I skipped my period. It was negative.
Four days late, my cycle still had not showed up. I had a houseful of family members on New Year's Day. You have to know that I have a great relationship with my sister in laws. I don't keep many secrets from them. So they all knew that I wanted to be pregnant. In fact, one of them had also been wanting another baby and we kind of went through this together, but she was already pregnant. So she had been asking for the update every month too.
Well, the topic of conversation came up. If I knew any news this month. I told them, no. I told them the pregnancy test was negative. Then I mentioned that it had been four days and I still hadn't started.
They begged me to go take another test! They offered to buy me more tests since I just had one left. I laughed and said that I wouldn't because knowing my luck, I was supposed to start in the morning.
But only and hour or so went by and I just got too curious.
So I snuck into my bathroom and took another test.
At first nothing. Then, it looked like a faint pink line was appearing. My heart started racing. I couldn't believe it. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? hahah. I blinked and blinked. I thought I was going to cry. It was so faint that I didn't know what to think. I walked out to the family room, looked at a couple of sisters and told them to hurry and c'mere.  I think tears were welling in my eyes. :)  So of course they all ran back. They looked at the test and shreiked, "You're pregnant!"  And we all started hugging and I started crying. Then my husband came in. hahah. Poor guy.  But he was excited and in a little disbelief.  Pretty soon all the brothers-in-law were in my bedroom. Hahaha. Told you we were a close family. So they all told me congratulations. It was a big "Positive Party."
That was my first experience with having so many people there at the moment of truth, and I must admit that it was pretty darn fun. Maybe I'll do it next time too. J/K.
So there you go! We are expecting...due September 7th, but planning on September 21st ish. Which will disappoint my down-syndrome niece extremely, since her birthday is September 7th so I am now to have a baby on her birthday. :)  Poor girl reminds me everyday. But I do like that she says I'm having a girl. We'll have to see!
We are excited.....now to face the morning sickness. Yuck!