16 week midwife appointment

Yup, 16 weeks today, according to my midwife. I consider tomorrow to be 16 weeks. I won't quibble about a day. Hehe. I go to my midwife's office, which is on the ground floor of a huge old house. Her office is the old "living room" with an overstuffed couch and chair and is very "homey". If I have to have out-of-the-house appointments, this is a comfortable place to have them. I have to say though, it sure was nice to have in-home prenatal visits with Ethan.

Colin and Ethan came with me, and really, all we did was sit and talk. There's not a lot to do yet at this stage of pregnancy. I filled out a huge questionaire when I met this midwife (her name is Colleen), so we've been slowly going through that at our appointments. Stuff like how I deal with stress, emotions, how I'm preparing for the birth, how I'm doing through the pregnancy, and what my desires and wishes are for this birth. I love how much time she gives me. Our appointment today was an hour and a half. She also took my blood pressure, did a urine test, palpated my uterus, and measured the fundal height. All good and normal.

I think, and this is a HUGE "think", I've felt a couple little bumps from baby. I've only felt it twice in the past 4 or 5 days, and I'm not 100% sure it's baby, but it did feel different than anything else I feel in that general area. :) Feeling the baby move will be such a reassurance, and really was my absolute favourite part of being pregnant with Ethan. I remember even wishing he was in me after he was born, just so I could feel him move, and also feeling "phantom" movements.

At my next appointment, in early September, I will be meeting with my secondary midwife, Jill. Here in BC, if you have a homebirth, you must have two midwives in attendance. Jill is the midwife who "counselled" me after both miscarriages, and was the one I originally wanted as my primary caregiver this time, but since she is going on holiday in February, she couldn't take me, as my due date is only a week before she will be leaving. BUT, she can be my secondary midwife, as long as I know I'm taking the risk of having an unknown midwife at my birth if this baby decides to come late, in February. I'm willing to take the risk, as I really believe this baby will be here before the end of January.

Hopefully at that appointment, we'll be able to hear baby's heartbeat. Since I only want a fetoscope used, it takes a little longer to hear the heartbeat, but at 20 weeks, I think we will. My midwife with Ethan heard his at around 18 or 19 weeks. So that'll be fun, too.

That sums it up for the latest Hedivan pregnant news.