This week's update!

Just got back from my 36 week appointment and all is well! She actually made my day... quite possibly, my entire week! :)We met the new midwife, who won't be on call for deliveries until August (so we won't have her) but will be doing most of the home visits until then, and she was wonderful. She was a kick in the pants! I feel really blessed to have such an amazing group of women as support during this experience!

Last week I had to to a Group B Strep test. Group B Strep is a bacteria that we naturally produce and about 1 in 3 women have it. It's not unhealthy for us by any means... You probably wouldn't even know you had it unless you were tested for it. It's just not a bad thing... for us. However, if you didn't know you had it, it can transfer to the baby during delivery and cause some serious problems after birth. This is the time when each expecting mother is tested and if positive, they give two rounds of IV antibiotics during labor before delivery. Considering I'm going to be in a birth center without an IV (unless complications arise,) they would poke me once, inject a bag of antibiotic fluid and two hours later do it one more time. That would be it. Well, my test results were negative! Wahoo! So glad I don't have to worry about it... I hate needles and wasn't really looking forward to being poked twice!

Apparently, Max's head is very low, which explains A LOT. ;) Seriously... I'm pretty funny to watch these days. You really don't think about how much you'll miss the little things, like being able to roll over in bed or getting out of bed in the middle of the night. Jane, the new midwife, felt my tummy and thinks he's gonna be long... she said that since his head is so low and she felt all around his torso and his legs, that she wouldn't be surprised at all if he ends up being a 21 incher! Tall like Daddy! :) She also said that he seems to be a perfectly averaged sized baby. That was encouraging! She said that he'll probably be 7.5-8.5 pounds... about average. But, these are all just guesstimates. Even the ultrasounds can say you're having an 8 pounder and you end up with a 10! So, of course, I'm taking this all lightly, but it's still great to hear that she doesn't think he's going to be huge.

All in all, it was just a great appointment. She was very reassuring regarding my birth and my doula, Mary, said she just has a feeling that the birth will be a pretty easy one. After telling my mom that, she said she's been thinking the same thing... That I'll have a pretty easy time. Again, I'm trying not to get too excited about it, but I feel the same way... You never know how these things are going to go, but I just think it'll be a great experience.

In talking with Jane today, I also realized just how interested I am in childbirth. Not just my own, but just in general. I cannot get enough of birthing videos (like the really good ones... not where the cameras are focused up by mom's head.) I think that childbirth is the most amazing and miraculous journey. So, on the way home, James actually mentioned that maybe I should look into midwifery school. I was really surprised that he mentioned this and really excited because I think it might just be the perfect job for me. How cool would it be to deliver babies for a living?! So, I think I might start researching this and trying to get into school when the baby is about a year old. Get my prereq's out of the way either online or in night school and go from there. It's about a six year program altogether, but it would be so worth it.