Concerns and Fears *getting really close*

thats great! you did a great job standing up for yourself and that's can be such a tough thing when it feels like everyone is against you. i think it's a wonderful accomplishment.

kathy

 

Well, considering Friday, baby will be full term, I'll try to let you breathe soon.

 

yey for you!!!!!!!!
That's awsome you found another midwife! I'm so happy for you! Can't wait to see the little sweety! When did you find you that it was a girl? (read that in another thread)

 

I found out about 5 or 6 weeks ago, at our last ultrasound. I told the baby to lay where her heiny would be easy to spot. And she flipped over that night, head down. The next morning, the technician says, "And there we can see it's a girl." It was plain as day.

 

lol, that's so cool!
Leane did just the opposite....when I went for my 19 week ultrasound, she was facing the technician the whole time the the measurements were being taken, but then when she asked if we wanted to know, Leane flipped right over!
She said that there looked like there was too much to be a girl, but not enough to be a boy.......now what was I supposed to do with that?
It sure is awsome having a daughter, though! You're going to love it!

 

Okay, new update...haha...

The midwife I spoke with yesterday called me today to discuss taking my care. Apparently another concern of Beth's (my first midwife) was that many hospitals don't have beds that fit people my size comfortably. Why she didn't bring this up with ME, I don't know. But she was certain the UW did. Again, why this couldn't have been discussed as a "if we have to transfer..." issue, I don't know.

Well, apparently, this midwifery practice is BOOKED SOLID. They (all four of them) will take my care, but I will have to have a birthing center birth. I was sort of leaning this direction anyway because our bathtub is insanely small and we could save a lot of clean up hassle and stuff just doing it there. However, in some part of me, homebirth just still seems like a great option.

So tomorrow, I have another consultation with yet another midwife in northern Seattle. If she feels comfortable with me and offers me a homebirth, I might choose them over these ladies. A bit of this is also convenience because this midwifery practice is about 30 minutes away when the main road to it is clear, and the main road to it is NEVER clear. So it takes over an hour to get there. That's a bit disconcerting to me.

So, we'll see how this goes tomorrow. I have a consultation in the morning with the North Seattle practice, and then another one at 4 with another midwife at the Kirkland practice. I'll then call them both Friday morning to let them know what's going on and which I choose.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. At least you're ok with the birthing center idea....put it this way, you don't have ANY clean up to do at all.....that's always a plus....
I wouldn't worry too much about the practice being an hour away...labour doesn't generally happen in a few minutes, lol .............as my doc put it, I could have driven across the province when I was going to have Leane, and it wouldn't have mattered, really. Although, on the second baby, all bets are off....lol

 

My concern is more for appointments until the birth, and the convenience factor...Because Brian wants to attend appointments too, but if the appointment's at 6 pm and he can't get off of work until 5.30, we won't make it! And it's so important to me that he be involved and approve of the MW. This is afterall, an event for him as well.

 

ahhhhh, ok. In that case, yeah, it sucks they're so far away...

 

midwife do the clean up in home birth. i've not discoved a spot of blood in my home and i know my hub didn't clean it up. it's part of the home borth experance.

about the tub...you can rent an aqua doula tub (google it) here's a pic of mine from sunday. it's huge!



this was my mw's tub, but i know that you can also rent them and seeing as you're in seattle, i'm sure there's no shortage of birthing tubs lol


i'm hoping you get the homebirth you want (((hugs)))

 

oh *feels dumb* I didn't realize that...guess it was kinda obvious, eh?

 

My concern with renting a tub is our money situation is REALLY TIGHT. We can't even really afford a doula, which I'm okay with.

After tomorrow, we'll see where we stand and decide from there.

 

Sounds like the birthing center may be the best option.....everything just seems to be pointing in that direction....with the exception of the distance factor, of course. I really hope things go well tomorrow

 

Well, I think I might have found my midwives and birth center!

After talking with Brian, who despite being VERY supportive and knowledgable about homebirthing all of this time, we decided that a birthing center birth might be best. He's apparently been squeamishly reserved about the whole thing but wanted to remain supportive of what I chose for myself. How sweet of him. But to be compromising and because I loved these midwives so much, I said that if I chose them, I'd chose a birthing center birth. Anything that's not a hospital.

Well, today, I got a call from the birthing center. They're worried because I'm so close to full-term (TOMORROW!!!) and haven't had a real appointment in almost three weeks. They want to see me TONIGHT and do the GBS test as well as catching up with Brian and showing us some good care.

I'm still going to the consult with the north-side midwife, at Brian's bequest to keep our options open. But so far, I've absolutely loved every single correspondence with these midwives as a whole. Instead of never knowing when a midwife would get back to me after calling the office manager (like my last place), I got a call back within 10 minutes. They've made a point of calling my last midwife to ask about my care for the last 8 months, her exact reasons for dropping me, concerns they had, etc. And now, they're excited to get care started.

The midwife I met with was actually a bit concerned that even though this is my first baby, I might go a bit sooner than 40 weeks because of the stress levels I've had throughout the pregnancy. (Search forums for my posts on money, moving, brian's mother, her death, the car accident, planning the wedding, being stalked, etc...) And her only major concern was actively managing third stage labour. And as far as that goes, she says we'll just inject pitocin right after the baby's born to make sure placenta comes right out, and then she'll monitor me a bit more closely for a bit longer. And I didn't even know that might be a concern with my last midwife.

*hugs to everyone* What a great day!

 

It sounds good, HF. Blessings to you and Brian and that sweet little baby in ya. Almost time, I can't beleive it. I remember your "I'm nauseous." post like it was last week.

 

awww I'm so happy to hear that. You've had one stressful pregnancy, but you've been doing a great job of handling it....whatever doesn't kill us only makes us stronger....(cliche, but it's still true)
I'm glad to hear that things are finally going your way!

 

Okay, so after two more meet and greets today (one with the kirkland and one on north-end seattle), we decided to stick with the Kirkland midwifery team. We get the great care of not one but two experienced and smiley midwives as well as their two assistants (one of whom was with us with our previous midwife as a student).

Brian really liked the birthing center as much as I did, as well as the midwives, I think. He seemed comfortable in the birthing suite we met in. And everyone was just very relaxed.

My picking them sort of came down to a prevention issue that the other midwife today was really a bit too relaxed about for my taste. Yes, I'm wanting a bit of prevention...haha...The Kirkland midwives do a bit more of an active management in third stage, while the north seattle lady only chooses intervention if it's desperately needed. And I'm actually a bit worried about heavy bleeding (as my periods always were so heavy that they scared me sometimes). So picking them came down to that issue, and a bit more because there was more support there. The north Seattle midwife was a lone lady with no aide or anything. So I liked the idea of having tons of support....

So, now paperworks been filled out, I had my GBS culture and a blood draw, and an appointment for next tuesday morning...And maybe we'll have this baby soon. YAY!

And Maggie, I know...Those posts do seem like yesterday....nine months is a drop in the bucket...haha...

 

I'm so happy you found someone you feel comfortable with! Now you can focus on your last few weeks (or days!) and get those baby vibes flowing.

Have a nice birth!

 

Okay, so I figured a small update was in order.

I just came back from the first midwife appointment with the new midwife team. Mostly, we just went over my birth plan (approved, signed, and photocopied) and signed some paperwork.

My GBS test came back positive. So, during labour I'm going to be getting some antibiotics. NOT penicillin, as I'm allergic, but some other form that lasts 8 hours, so I might only need one shot. Hallelujah.

Blood pressure, swelling, urine still normal. YAY! First time in my life I qualify as normal for anything.

Then they checked the baby. Took them a while to find out how she was laying. They thought her head was down, but weren't sure, so they kept checking. Finally, the midwife feels further down and says "WOW, baby's really low. I didn't realise how low her head was!"

Oh yeah, I know how far down her head is...Feels like I'm walking with a watermelon between my legs. So everything seems great. She's a normal full-term baby size as far as they can feel, and while they don't think she'll come too soon, I'm HOPING! My back hurts, my hips hurt, I can't sleep, and I'd like to meet my baby! lol...

So, more babyvibes, mommas! We're almost there!

 

i missed all the updates, had to catch up just now

it sounds as though things are turning out great! i'm so happy for you. does the birth centre have a tub you can labor/deliver in?