First of all, I got my birth beads in the mail today! On one forum (I won’t say which, but you probably know which one if you are into natural birthing) the due date groups exchange birth beads… everyone buys one bead of a natural material for every girl involved in the exchange, then the organizer collects all the beads and distributes them… one bead for everyone. (I chose Sodalite.) So I got my package of all these different beads, most with a little quote or thought attached to them. It’s so uplifting! Later I will string the beads together in a necklace to bring to my birth. I may not WEAR it, but I’ll have it with me as a focus object. I think it will be wonderful to be reminded of all these ladies, all doing natural birth, and be reminded of their positive thoughts and wishes.

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Today was my 30-week appointment. I got there about 2 minutes after my appointment time (8:30), then sat and waited. I got called in at 9:00 and then sat in an exam room for another 30 minutes before the midwife came in. I was getting a little irritated and uncomfortable by that point – I was hungry!

The stats: weight was 156 (I’m up 16lbs according to their scale), blood pressure was 110/60 (same as usual).

While I was waiting for the midwife, the nutritionist came in to check up on me. She asked how I was doing with eating and weight gain, she was pleased. She opened up to that silly little chart and marked down my current weight – it is now exactly on the “ideal weight gain” line. Ha. (Remember last time when I hadn’t gained anything at all and she was all concerned? Yeah.) Luckily this time she didn’t irritate me like she did last time, although I made note that the thing that she’s looking at is weight gain, instead of really asking me what I’m eating. I told her anyways. I’m doing good, no worries.

She talked to me briefly about breastfeeding. She also said that later on in my pregnancy, before I give birth, her or another nutritionist will come in to talk to me more about breastfeeding, show me positions, etc. She said that when I give birth I should make sure to speak to the staff lactation consultant. She said, “Not to badmouth anyone, but sometimes the nurses just aren’t educated enough about breastfeeding.” She told me to make sure they don’t give the baby any pacifiers or sugar water or bottles, that we don’t want to confuse the baby at all and make sure he latches on to the breast. So that was good.

Then I sat there some more until the midwife came in. Unfortunately it was with the midwife who irritated me last time I saw her… but this time she didn’t seem to bother me nearly as much. Maybe I was just in a mood that day, LOL.

Still no actual answer on the meds thing. I am getting QUITE annoyed by that. I don’t mind seeing different midwives if it was at all apparent that they ever spoke to each other and put things in my chart. Hello?! I need more than someone’s opinion each time, I wanted an actual answer! “Ask the ped” is not sufficient. But. She did say that many women breastfeed on celexa and it shouldn’t be an issue. I just don’t know, I’m getting so damn frustrated. Part of me says to just switch meds to zoloft, but then part of me is REALLY nervous about doing that, knowing how bad things can get when I’m not on my meds. Sometimes it takes time to find the right meds, and if celexa really is “my” med, zoloft might not work near as well. And that, frankly, would suck big time. I really wish I felt like they gave a damn about it rather than just shrugging their shoulders every time. (Yes, getting very pissed about this.)

Okay, moving past that. Fundal height was 29cm. I asked her if she could tell what position the kiddo is in, and she said it’s probably too early to tell for sure… but she suspects she feels feet and a bum up high above my belly button, and what is probably is back down my right side. She couldn’t feel his head, but didn’t want to press too hard – it’s probably hiding down low in my pelvis (along with his hands, which like to “tickle” me down there!). After feeling for body parts she took out the doppler and said “Let’s see, usually I’ll hear the heartbeat where the back is, if I’m right.” She put the doppler down over where she felt the back and WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH there it was without any adjustment at all. Haha. So that’s more confirmation that he’s now head-down like I suspected for the past week or two (ever since I started feeling the need to pee every half an hour). I didn’t get a count on the heartrate, but it sounded the same as usual, probably around 150. :)

And that was all for today. Next appointment Feb 8.