Update On Me

I had a midwife visit last Wednesday, and it went very well. I really appreciate that they take all the time they need (1.5 hours this time) and are very friendly and patient with my deafness. I got to meet another midwife-in-training, and I hope she's able to come for the birth.

They gave us some paperwork. Foods that have protein, emergency list - if I should call the midwife NOW or within 24 hours. A consent paper and then a financial agreement. Everything is in order and we made the first payment of $500. I do need to work harder on adding dark leafy greens, but they're pretty happy with my water intake and protein consumption.

My blood pressure was 111/74, a number I'm happy with. The assistant actually took my blood pressure twice because I was laughing about something else during the first take, and that can raise the numbers a bit. I can't imagine that happening at a doctor's office - a retake or laughing. :P

We also got to hear the heartbeat. They weren't sure how they could make me "hear" it. I could hear the sounds of the doppler machine... but how could I tell what was what? Well, the assistant brilliantly thought of tapping my arm when the machine was actually catching the beats. It worked great! It's just a little under 150 beats per minute.

They also felt for my uterus bump. The assistant started below my belly button and was working her way down without finding it. So the midwife took over and found the baby nestled very low, as you can see in the above picture. Most of my belly is NOT baby! :P

I'm officially at 17 pounds lost, but it didn't raise any flags with the midwife. I'm doing my best to eat all she wants me to, there's been no puking, blood pressure is good, heartbeat is good. The baby diet... how come nobody ever told me about it? ;)

And as you can see from my arm, I had to go in for a blood draw. I think I'd rather go through labor than do that again! After talking with some friends, I realized my issues stem from when I was 5 years old. I had to get a blood draw and I only remember them pinning down my arm and inflicting pain on me. Now that I have a more adult perspective, I'm willing to bet my parents had the blood draw done because I had suddenly lost the hearing in my right ear, when before I was only deaf in the left ear. I basically woke up one morning and complained to my mom that everybody sounded like they were speaking Spanish. So you have a little girl who can talk, but no longer understand what everybody else is saying... how do you make her understand what's going on with the blood draw? Plus my mom was trying to juggle a 3 year old, 1 year old and was pregnant with my brother. Realizing the big picture helped, but I was really emotionally drained for the rest of the day.


In other news, Pops is in the hospital with pneumonia. They're going to try to take him off the ventilator tomorrow. And thankfully it doesn't look like his heart is complicating things.

But I realized that even if he does die... I have no regrets. I have the sentimentally dear things, the quilts made by my great-great-grandma and my great-grandma's sewing machine. He's got a quilt from me, he's gotten to meet and know my husband. He knows about the baby too - I'm glad I didn't wait to share the news.

He better pull through... he's got a great-grandchild to meet next year! :)

Leah