Wednesday, September 19, 2012

First Prenatal Appointment

So today was our first prenatal appointment. After searching for the building, and then getting lost in the building, we finally found the midwife office and checked in. There was a lot of paperwork to fill out, but we managed. Then we were called back to meet our midwife.

Her name is Tiffini and she is really great. A friend of mine recommended her and I'm so glad she did. She made me feel very comfortable and at ease, which is really important for someone who's going to be hovering around your nether regions for the next 8 months.

In my last post I explained how my last birth experience was less than what I'd hoped for. Tiffini definitely reassured me that my decision to go with a midwife was the right choice to make. We talked a little bit about my last pregnancy and birth, and then she did the exam. According to her everything looks good. We got a few pregnancy information booklets and Tiffini gave us a cute little calendar that has stickers for all of the pregnancy milestones.

We set up an ultrasound appointment for next month to see exactly how far along I am and if the baby is growing properly.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Midwife vs. Doctor? My choice

When I found out I was pregnant with Braedan I looked up OB/GYNS in my area. I ended up picking a young female doctor fresh out of her residency. I loved my doctor. She always answered any questions I had and made each of my visits as pleasant as they could be. She even agreed to have me induced at little early so my mom could be there. I was young and stupid at the time and I'll explain in a later post why elective induction will never happen for me again.

Everything was great...until the day of delivery.

I found myself waiting for over an hour, 9 cm dilated, waiting for my Doctor to come break my water. Apparently that's a task only doctors can do, despite the endless tries by my nurse to "accidentally" break it. When my doctor finally did arrive she came in, checked me, broke my water, and left. She was a busy lady with lots of patients to attend to.

She'd show up again just in time to catch my baby. She stayed long enough to finish and clean me up, and then promptly left again.

I had wanted a lot of things during the birth of my child. I wanted to have immediate skin to skin contact, because I'd read that was good for breastfeeding, and that was something I wanted to do. I wanted delayed cord clamping so he'd get all the beneficial cord blood. I wanted to nurse my baby as soon as possible. I had discussed all of this in depth with my Doctor and she assured me I'd be able to have it all.

I didn't get anything I wanted.

He was taken to the warmer and cleaned up before be handed to me. His cord was clamped immediately. The nurses let me hold him for a minute and then swiftly whisked him away to the nursery. I was too tired and too out of it to fight for what I wanted, or asked why I hadn't gotten it. I'm almost certain they fed him a bottle before he was brought to me to try to nurse. After I was moved to Post-Partum I didn't see my doctor again. I asked for help from the nurses on how to breastfeed but they were busy and couldn't stay long to help me get the hang of it.

Eventually I left the hospital feeling like I'd missed out on something. I still feel that way to this day. We never did master breastfeeding and I gave up.

So when I found out I was pregnant for the second time I had a hard decision to make. Would I go with an OB/GYN and risk feeling like just another patient? Or did I have another option? I'd always heard about midwives, but thought they for natural-water-home-birthing mommas. I certainly don't fall into that category.

I did quite a bit of internet research on midwives. Come to find out they can support hospital births WITH pain management options, or do the natural-water-home-birthing. What stood out most for me is that they seem to be there for the moms, as a support person, not just the person who catches your baby. Not to mention they are there for you after the birth and support breastfeeding in every way possible. I'm also willing to bet a midwife would be all about delayed cord clamping.

I have a friend who is also pregnant and seeing a midwife. I asked her what she thought and she had nothing but glowing recommendations. So, I called and scheduled my first appointment with a midwife.

We get to meet with Tiffini next Wednesday the 19th for our first prenatal appointment. I could not be more excited!

We're Pregnant!

It was a Tuesday morning and I should have been getting ready for school. Instead I decided to take a pregnancy test on a whim. I took the test, expecting to see another negative, and waited patiently. At the five minute mark I took a look and couldn't believe it, there was a second line! It was faint, but it was there. So, I took another test, just to make sure. Sure enough, there was second line on that too. I was using cheap internet tests (they cost me about $.88 each), so I wanted to make sure they weren't defective. So, I took a First Response Early Response test. To my surprise there was a line on that one too! I couldn't believe it! I tucked them away under the cabinet and went to school. Hoping and praying that this was our positive.

When I got home that afternoon I decided to take another test. It just didn't feel real yet. That test was positive too, of course. I was out of my mind at this point. When Rich got home from work I nearly blurted it out, just to get it off my chest. But I managed to keep quiet. I wanted telling Rich he was going to be a father to be special. I managed to keep quiet until Rich left for work the next morning. As soon as he left I was out the door, on a mission.

I bought a onesie, and some iron-on transfer paper. Rich is really into Volkswagen cars, so I decided to revamp their logo a bit. It turned out to be a cute personalized little onesie. I wrapped it up and put it in a gift bag. Then I went to pee on a digital pregnancy test.

I was waiting in the kitchen, with my stomach in knots. I was so nervous to tell him! Not for fear that he'd react badly, but just because this was big news to break. When he came home I told him I finally got him a birthday present, and asked him if he wanted to open it. Here's the video I took...


When I tell him, "That's not it." I hand him the digital test which reads "Pregnant". Needless to say we are both so excited!


Monday, September 10, 2012

Welcome!

Welcome to our pregnancy blog! I decided to start a pregnancy blog after watching a few pregnancy vlogs and promptly deciding that I would be no good on camera. My thoughts come out much better when written. So, here we are.

Let me start off by saying I know the look of the blog doesn't really scream "BABY!" but I did that for two reasons. One, I didn't want a page covered in cutesy pictures of baby items, and second, most of the baby themed backgrounds weren't exactly gender neutral. Since we are way too early to know what we're having I decided to go with something totally different.

Part of me wanted to make this blog because we have family scattered all over who we want to share our pregnancy with. It is going to be so much easier to keep all the information in one place, rather than having to remember who we've updated and who we haven't. The other part wanted to document this happy occasion for my family, and for this baby. I was young when I had my first child, and I didn't take every opportunity to document my pregnancy and the early days of his life. I feel a little guilty about that every day, and have vowed to take a different path with this baby.

I will update as often as I can, and I plan to include pictures (baby bump and all) and the occasional video update. I hope you all enjoy reading about our journey, and thanks for stopping by.

Love,

Megan, Rich, Braedan and Baby