Saturday, October 28, 2006

Collecting


Somebody stop me, I'm having way too much fun! (this is just a portion of the stash)

Thursday, October 26, 2006

16 and 17 weeks




















I haven't felt any movement yet....but should be any time now!

Monday, October 23, 2006

The Midwifery Option

Since I've gotten some questions about using a midwife, I thought I would address the most common questions/myths surrounding the choice I've made. All of the following information is paraphrased from this book (which is amazing and I highly recommend it):

1. To have a midwife, don't you have to choose a homebirth?
No. Midwives in Ontario can attend to you at birth in either a hospital or in your home. They do not pressure you into either decision. However, midwives are the only trained professional that can attend a homebirth.
2. Do women who choose midwives care about the experience more than the baby's safety?
The work of midwives has repeatedly shown to have a positive impact on the mother's physical and emotional health, as well as the baby's. Midwives are also present and focused with the labouring mother throughout the entire birth (not leaving to see other patients) so that they can pay attention and detect any problems early on.
3. Do women who choose midwives not understand the risks involved in birth?
Midwives offer a great deal of information to their clients so that they can make informed choices about everything from the birthplace to medical intervention.
4. Aren't midwives only for women who can handle pain or have easy labours? Don't they refuse to let you have drugs?
Births with a midwife are still painful! While midwives can't eliminate pain, they are fantastic at helping women manage it without medical intervention. Midwives can also arrange for pain relief to be provided if the client requests it, or if it will help a long labour progress.
5. I thought midwives were only for hippies. Will they make you sip herbal tea and chant?
Midwives do advocate for natural remedies and pain management, yet they are also informed about conventional medical approaches and leave it up to the client to follow her own philosophy.
6. Are midwives expensive?
In Ontario, midwifery is covered by our provincial health plan. When I chose my midwife instead of my doctor, the government pays the midwife instead of the doctor.
7. Can you still get tests with a midwife?
Midwives can order a wide range of tests, covering everything likely needed in pregnancy. If a non-routine test is needed, a midwife can arrange for a doctor to order the test.
8. Midwives are less experienced than doctors or nurses though, right?
Prenatal care, labour and delivery, and post-partum care are a midwife's specialty because they are her only area of practice. They are experts in "normal birth" (my own midwife has delivered over 1000 babies!)
9. Do midwives and doctors respect each other?
Some doctors still misunderstand or question the idea of midwifery as a profession, but many doctors are advocates of midwife care and routinely suggest it to their patients (some doctors are clients themselves). Many are colleagues who respect each other's skills.
10. "If I (my sister/my wife/etc.) had a midwife, the baby would have died."
This statement is tricky because it's very personal, but the bottom line is that midwives have skills that allow them to cover a variety of situations, and they also monitor how the birth is progressing so that they can transfer care to a physician if it looks like medical intervention may be needed. For a homebirth, midwives bring most of the equipment you would find at the hospital, including oxygen, drugs that will slow excessive bleeding, and resuscitation equipment for both mother and baby.
11. What if you need to have a c-section?
Canadian studies have shown that midwifery clients are less likely to have a c-section than those who choose a physician-assisted birth. To be fair, the midwives have the odds stacked in their favour because they do not specialize in high-risk clients. If, as the labour progresses, it becomes obvious that a c-section is required, the midwife will transfer care to a physician so that the mother and baby will get the care they need.
12. Do midwives really know how to deal with problems in pregnancy and birth?
Although their specialty is in normal birth, that doesn't mean they are unfamiliar with identifying complications. In Ontario, midwife training is regulated and the standards of care closely monitored. They know their own scope and when to transfer care to a physician.
13. What do you mean they offer post-partum care?
After the baby is born, the midwife will visit you in your home within 24 hours, and for many other days in the first 6 weeks to make sure everything is going well, including breastfeeding.

I'm really excited and comfortable with my decision, as is Justin. I feel supported and well cared for. Everybody has to make their own decisions about what kind of care they will choose, and for me this fits best with what I want and the options I'd like to have. If anyone has any more questions, please ask!

15 weeks




















I'm past 16 weeks now...sorry for the delayed photos!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

I'm becoming one of "those" women

So you know those pregnant ladies who walk around clutching their lower backs as if the weight of their big bellies is going to snap them in half? Yeah, i already feel that way!

My belly isn't huge or heavy yet at all, but the past few days I have been having some significant lower back pain that makes me a) feel really old, b) feel really ridiculous, and c) walk kinda funny.

Hate to imagine what I'll be like 5 months from now!

Monday, October 09, 2006

14 weeks 3 days...yikes!



I had to post mid-week because the growth is just happening so quickly! I could be the Thanksgiving turkey!

Friday, October 06, 2006

14 weeks

I went to the midwife on Thursday and got to hear the heartbeat! It was pretty amazing. Everything seems to be going well!

Monday, October 02, 2006

13 weeks - whoa! what happened?


Moo

All I drink is milk.
All day, every day.
I think I need to invest in a cow.