Adding to our excellent year

I didn't include this in my 2009 retrospective post; the time wasn't right just yet, and there were still a few questions hovering in the air. Now I'm happy to post that the Family G is going to grow by one member in late summer this year! :) I'm just about to enter my 12th week of pregnancy, and we had our first appointment with our midwife yesterday afternoon.

The appointment confirmed that there's a little person in there with a strong heartbeat (in the 170s--fast for a full-term baby, but right on target for week 11) that we were able to hear by Doppler. We're switching pretty much everything up this time regarding my prenatal and birth care; I decided to go with the Midwives at the University of Michigan hospital this time around, rather than last time's OB at St. Joe's. This was my decision . . . nothing to do with insurance or anything like that. It definitely feels right so far, and I'm pleased that I haven't had any ultrasounds yet (they're usually medically unnecessary in the first trimester) nor any pressure for any other prenatal tests. Over the last few years of teaching and learning and seeing almost 20 births, I've learned that a less-medicalized type of care is definitely the best fit for me, and, if you look at the big picture, that's the midwifery model. (Of course, each individual care provider can see things differently.)

Our midwife didn't have any reason to believe that there's more than one baby, and so we're moving full steam ahead on planning for one person to join us in late July/early August. The midwives have my due date at July 29, but it's August 1 by my calculation. Hopefully those few days won't matter in the end, but we'll see . . . I'll be doing everything I can to avoid labor induction this time, to say the least.

This pregnancy has been tough so far, but it feels like I'm turning a corner. December was a challenging month of nearly constant low-grade nausea and lots of fatigue. The chronic yucky feeling was starting to chip away at my resolve! The last few days, though, have been significantly better, and I'm feeling like my old self again. :) I'm still going to the gym 2-3 times a week (well, I didn't over the holidays) and I plan to keep that up the whole way.

I'm currently booked to work with a doula client for an early May birth, and I suspect that that might be the last client I take this year. I'm pretty certain I could handle a short 6-hour or medium-length 14-hour birth at eight months, but not one of the 28-hour marathons. And, since you never know . . . I'll play it safe.

Maia's as aware of the new baby as a three-year old can be. The extent of that is really, really limited right now, obviously. We'll see how that progresses over the next few months! All in all, we're very at peace with and excited by this development in our lives, an it's a lovely way to cap off an excellent year.

That's all for now. :)