First Midwife Appointment

Originally written on March 21, 2012

I met my midwife today. Yup, that’s right, I changed from an OB to a midwife. Not that I didn’t like Doc. S., or my first pregnancy experience, it’s just I want to try something a little different for our second baby. Plus, since we’re on the eastside now we figured we should choose a physician and a hospital closer to us (I’ll be delivering at Evergreen). And so far I really, really like my midwife. We will call her M (no, not James Bond’s M of course).

Our first appointment went splendid. I really like the staff, and as I said I really like M. Everyone was really welcoming and were really easy to talk to and open up to – something I think is important during pregnancy. You need to feel you can trust and talk to those who are caring for you about everything relating to your pregnancy or can relate to it. The question M asked us that Andrew and I liked best was “what do you want to be different about this pregnancy and delivery compared to your first one?” At first I had no idea what to say, but M helped us both think through a few things and come up with answer. I also liked how she answered my question: what’s the difference in what an OB and a midwife do and what are the main differences in their philosophies? I’ve read answer for this, but M answered this is such a clear understandable way.

During the appointment there was an attempt to hear little Cub’s heartbeat, but as M explained, it can be really hard to hear it with the device she was using. The Doppler she was using cannot hear a heartbeat behind bone, and this early in pregnancy the baby is typically behind the mother’s pelvic bone. I was a little discouraged that we didn’t get to hear Cub’s heart. My logical side of my brain totally understood why, and that there was nothing to worry about. But my pregnant side of my brain was yelling “is my baby okay?!?! Why can’t I hear my baby’s heart beat?!?!”  But then she pulled in a portable ultrasound. ^_^

We got to see Cub for the first time today. ^_^ Our little blob of a baby even wiggled around for us! Oh it made me so happy to see Cub moving around, because a moving baby is a baby who is doing well. This also made M suspect I am farther along in pregnancy than counting the days since my last period shows (by counting we just started week 9). So next Tuesday we have an appointment for an ultrasound where they do all the measurements to figure out a better guestimation for when your little one is due. We did this with Kayley too, and my due date shifted by almost a week and a half. Of course then she was stubborn and came nearly two weeks late. We’ll have to wait and see if Cub will be stubborn too. 

Our little Cub

All that to say, I am so happy that we saw our baby today! And we have this picture too. I look forward to meeting with M more as we get farther along in my pregnancy, and seeing how Cub grows and develops. I can’t wait to see Cub again on Tuesday!!! ^_^