With my second pregnancy, I got luck-of-the-draw another new (to me) doctor through our local Indian Clinic. He was very sweet and talked with me a while before asking me to disrobe for my exam. He is now the Director of Medicine at that clinic!
With my third child, my mother recommended her doctor to me. He was another Family / OB specialist, though much younger than my first doctor. He was a wonderful doctor that supported my hippie naturalist ideals.
So here I am, pregnant again. I've gone back to the Indian Clinic only now... they have midwives! They are actually contracted through a state college locally. I will not always see the same one as they have 3 or 5 contracted there. (I'm not sure which.) Last time around, I had to go a few towns over for my final month of appointments as well as for delivery. We made the trip just fine, but I was relieved to find that when seeing the midwives, birth is done at a local hospital.
I had already gone in last week and done all my tests and medical history. This time I got to meet one of the midwives. She was great and just about as pleased with me, too! There was a PA-in-training there as well. When I said I was excited to have a midwife, the PA asked if my other births were midwife births. I responded that no, I'd never had one. Diane corrected to say "She has had midwife births without a midwife." Love it!
- There was some question as to whether I might be 1 month or 2 months along. She checked my uterus and called me skinny! (I am not skinny. I once was, but not now.) She had to double check internally and decided I really am just 5 weeks. My uterus tilts forward, which is why she was unsure at first. That means I'll show early, right? Cool! :-)
- When I used the Indian Clinic previously, I had to finish up my final prenatal care at the Indian Hospital which is 3 towns over. That is also where I had to go for delivery. It wasn't really a problem, but I was relieved to find out that I would NOT be doing that again.
- I gained 35 pounds with my last pregnancy. She said that was text-book perfect. I should do fine this time around as well. Except...
- She said there can be some concerns with breastfeeding through pregnancy, but given my history of healthy pregnancies, babies, and my health-consciousness, it should be fine for me. She does, however, want me to eat every two hours. It sounded kind of crazy at first. She just wants to make sure I'm nourishing the new baby and myself in addition to Sasha. You know what I've notice, though? I'm hungry every two hours! We'll see what eating every 2 hours does to my weight gain. I'm trying to be choosy about what I eat, adding mostly protein.
- The B-12 I'm taking could be helping with nausea, which could explain why I don't have much issue so far. As I write this, however, I'm feeling sick to my tummy. Still, add that to your list of possible morning sickness remedies. I take 2500mcg B-12 sublingually.
- Pregnancy hormones cause you to hold onto carbon dioxide. All people should put their shoulders back and take several deep breaths a couple times per day to expel all extra carbon dioxide. She was amused to hear that when I sing it helps. It is the same principle.
- They will be checking the nuchal translucency (early test for possible Down Syndrome) sometime in the next 4 weeks. It will actually be done at the college rather than the clinic.
- I had been told be the prenatal nurse not to lift over 20 pounds. Sasha weighs 26 pounds. Diane (the midwife) was understanding. She gave me some ideas on how to avoid lifting Sasha, but understood that we do what we have to do and sometimes there is just no way around it.
I'm looking forward to my ultrasound. I'm looking forward to my next midwife appointment. I am not, however, looking forward to my 3 hour glucose test. I already failed a 1 hour test. I'm still very excited to be pregnant and clinging to that beautiful ray of positivity in our lives during a difficult time.
