Midwife appointment - 35 weeks!

Wow! Where the heck did that time go!  I'm only 5 weeks away from my due date and could have this baby at any time between now and then!  I can't believe it!  I think for the most part we are ready!  It's just a waiting game from now until then!

I had a great midwife appointment today (as usual).  I just love the clinic I go to and the midwives that practice there so much!  They are all so incredible!  In case you are not familiar with midwifery I'll give a little background with how our clinic works.  You as an expecting mother are assigned a Primary Midwife, this is the person that is responsible for your care and "will" attend your birth.  She is the midwife you see for almost all of your visits.  You are also assigned a secondary/tertiary (is that the right word?) midwife.  You will see them over the course of your visits at least once but usually more than that.  If they are available the time of your delivery ie. they are not in clinic or at another birth, etc.  they will be the next midwife called to be at your birth.  Midwives typically work in pairs and the secondary midwife is called just before pushing begins so the primary can be available for the mother and the secondary is available for the baby.  They really do have a fantastic system although last time around, there were are few little glitches in our "plan" and we ended up with two midwives we didn't know after calling about 3 other midwives.

Anyway, today I met with my secondary midwife for the second time and she is just fantastic!  So helpful with any questions we might have (which surprising, we don't have many of this time around!  It's impressive how much you really remember from being pregnant the first time around).  She's so informative and I just always get the feeling that she loves what she does!  She explained again our choice in the baby eye gel and the vit. k shot that has become the norm. for newborn babies in North America.  She discussed when we should be calling them if/when I go into labor.  We talked about what happens to me because I am GBS+ and the IV antibiotic I will have to have because of it.  She talked about the fact that because I am GBS+ I may be induced if my water breaks but labor doesn't start on it's own, etc.  We talked about a lot of great things!

Of course she also takes my blood pressure, measure my fundal height, listens to baby's heart beat (which is beating strong at 150 BPM).  She uses her hands to find the position of the baby - head down low, back to my right side.  And that's it!  That's my midwife appointment.

My mom came with us today.  Of course, she'll be present for the birth of "baby brother" so I think it's always nice the she get's to meet the midwives that will probably be there as well for the birth.  That way theres no awkwardness the day of!

I really do love midwifery and can't say enough about how much it has taught me and makes me really appreciate and love my body and my capabilities as a women!  It's incredible!

I'm getting so excited now!  In all honesty I can not wait until I go into labor and of course meet this wee babe! :)

Thanks for reading!

Do you have any stories of midwifery you'd like to share?  Feel free to comment or e-mail me at gethealthymomma[at]gmail[dot]com!  I love hearing from my readers!