A Visit With Our Midwife

I had a wonderful experience with my pregnancy and with the birth of my daughter. I found a marvelously well informed and experienced midwife to attend my unborn baby and I. We planned and achieved a fabulously peaceful and intimate home birth. Through the course of my pregnancy and in the early weeks after my daughter’s birth, we developed a great relationship with our midwife; she really feels like family. I occasionally make an effort to drop by her home and office just to say hello and so she can see how much my daughter (and son) has grown and … Continue reading

Our Daughter’s Birth

My contractions were coming hard and fast. I had only been in the birthing pool for about ten minutes when I had the incredible urge to push. While maintaining my breathing, I started to push. At first I pushed very cautiously with short gentle pressure, but the urge to push was not subsiding. I moved into a squatting position, my husband, our midwife, and her nurse were around the birthing pool, but I was not really aware of their presence because I was focusing on my contractions, my breath, and pushing. The period of transition was not what I remember … Continue reading

Our Sixth Prenatal Visit

This may have been the longest three weeks that I have experienced in quite awhile. I have been a little anxious for this prenatal visit given my last prenatal visit and my excessive weight gain. I have been meticulous these last three weeks about my diet, writing everything done in my food journal. Hopefully the scale will speak for all of my hard work! We arrived for our sixth prenatal visit a few minutes early, I headed for the carriage house bathroom with determination because I really had to go! Once again my urine was spot on (all the colors … Continue reading

At the Midwife’s

When our first child was born a few years ago — and what a wonderful son he is — we employed a midwife for our care and the delivery. This was a remarkably fortuitous decision as hospitals have always made me uneasy. In contrast to the sterile hallways and the smell of bleach (something that has always put me off) we were able to spend the labor and the birth in a home with a nice bedroom, plenty of room to move, and zero pressure to do anything we didn’t want to do. I cannot tell you how wonderful it … Continue reading

Our First Meeting with the Midwife

Once I found the midwife that I wanted to attend me and my pregnancy, I gave her a call to see if she would take me on as a client. I introduced myself and told her that I was seeking a homebirth after having a birth center birth with my first child. I added that she knows my mom. She got really excited when she realized who I was because she had recently talked to my mother about my husband and I trying to get pregnant and potentially moving back. Then she asked my due date. I told her sometime … Continue reading

The Ultrasound

As soon as our third prenatal came to a close, we were on our way to the ultrasound clinic where we were meeting our midwife. We had been excitedly awaiting our ultrasound date for three weeks (what a great birthday present for my husband; to see his unborn child via ultrasound!)! Upon arrival we quickly filled out the required paperwork and waited for our midwife to arrive and for the ultrasound technician to get the room prepared for our ultrasound. In a matter minutes we were ushered into the ultrasound room. Both my husband and I noticed right away the … Continue reading

Eighteen Weeks

As I enter my eighteenth week of pregnancy, there are a lot of things on my mind as well as events that are getting closer and closer (more quickly than I anticipated). I remember the eighteenth week of my first pregnancy very well because my husband and I used our spring break to travel back to our home town for a little vacation. That was the week that I chopped off my long curly locks. I also bought my first pair of maternity jeans at gap maternity during my eighteenth week (we did not have a gap maternity in our … Continue reading

Prenatal Visit at Sixteen Weeks

Prenatal visits are a generally accepted practice during pregnancy and rightfully so. Prenatal visits (especially with a midwife) are a great way to correct and/or affirm nutrition, exercise, and overall progress. The frequency of prenatal visits varies depending on the health care provider and the risk involved with each particular woman and her pregnancy. Prenatal visits are a rather joyful event. My midwife (she is absolutely fabulous) schedules prenatal visits every three weeks until the last two months of pregnancy. Our most recent prenatal visit occurred at sixteen weeks. Many things happened during this prenatal visit. First we went over … Continue reading

Blood Work

This may seem silly, but I absolutely abhor needles. The mere thought of blood being drawn from my veins leaves me cold. There are certainly much worse procedures to have done and I know that there are people that endure needles and much worse almost daily. God bless those people and thank God I am not one of those people. I remember going with my mother to her prenatal appointments as a child. There was the amazing part of hearing the baby’s heartbeat. Then there was the horrifying part of my mother having her blood work done … I couldn’t … Continue reading