Okay, technically I’m only 11w6d, but according to their “schedule” it’s my 12 week appointment. ;)

So yeah, appointment with the Midwife today. You may remember I kind of wanted to speak to her a little further before booking an appointment with the other Midwife group? I had hoped that it would make my decision a little clearer. Ha. Not. Well first of all she was not at all offended or surprized by my talking about switching – she totally understands wanting a Midwife. She said it’s very good to think about it now while I’m early in my pregnancy (I got the feeling that sometimes women think about it late in pregnancy when labor is looming, when they can’t switch, then freak out). She said the Midwives there come highly recommended and she encouraged me to make an appointment to interview them and see how I felt about it. So that part was good.

I asked her about the hospital and the hospital proceedures (since whether I stay or switch, it’s going to be the same hospital, same nurses, even same backup OBs). She did say that the Midwife group, being based out of the hospital, is a much more medicalized group that Midwives at freestanding birth centers (of which there aren’t any around here, just in case you were wondering). She doesn’t know them personally, and she still encouraged me to talk to them myself. She did say that the nurses and OBs at the hospital are like most hospitals… they get antsy if you “take too long” to labor and will try to augment it with pitocin, which leads to much more pain and usually needing pain meds, etc. She said she herself at this hospital has only seen a handful of medication-free “natural” childbirths, so the hospital is not very familiar with the process. She said if I’m willing to be my own advocate it’s definitely doable, but she did paint me a pretty good picture of what to expect. And honestly I pretty much figured that’s how it was going to be. She said either of the hospitals in the area are about the same with those regards, she said if I was wanting a water birth or something I’d have to go further away to find a hospital that allows it (which Den is unwilling to do – luckily a water birth isn’t something I am big on).

She said she formerly worked at a birth center where the majority of births were natural births, water births. She said she had quite an adjustment when she moved to working with the hospital. (And this is a point that sticks in my head – it’s really really unfortunate that she’s not doing deliveries, because she sounds like exactly what I was looking for.)

About the OB she works with… she said that he’s as close to a Midwife as an OB could get, that he’s very laid-back about births, he’s very reluctant to do episiotomies (she said he has a 4% episiotomy rate, which is very low for an OB), and he doesn’t try to rush labor and is willing to just wait it out – if he’s not pressed for time for whatever reason. Now I’ve never met the guy, so I don’t have a personal opinion of him, but if I had to get an OB for a natural labor it sounds like he’d be a very good choice.

There is still the small chance that an OB from the hospital group could attend my birth, which would be what I don’t want. They are all very highly respected OBs, and I’m sure they are excellent at what they do, but I don’t know them, and I’m willing to bet they would NOT be as laid back as the OB at the practice. (They’re probably much more typical OBs.) However she did say that they may be adding another Midwife to the practice in the next three months or so, which obviously would change the situation.

Oy, you see what I mean? It’s very muddy waters!

When I talked to Den on the phone today he said he had another medical aquaintance recommend switching to the hospital group… no one says this outright to Den but I get the feeling that Dr. W. isn’t really highly regarded among other OB-types. And I take that with a large grain of salt – and so does Den – because it’s quite possible they’re reacting to his very Midwife-like slant. He doesn’t sound like a “traditional” OB. Or there could be more to it, I don’t really know.

So I guess the only thing to do now is the interview the Midwife group and get them to answer my questions so I can make an honest comparison and see if I would even feel comfortable switching. At this point I’m going on speculation and hearsay and I can’t make a solid decision on that. After I see how they are, as compared to my current midwife, then hopefully the decision will be clearer. Hopefully.

Luckily Den has been really supportive through this… as long as we give birth at this particular hospital where there are OBs lurking around every corner to rush in and save they day in the event of a catastrophe, then he is okay with whomever I choose to see me through this pregnancy. And that’s really cool. I know he still doesn’t really get why I think a Midwife is better, but the fact that I’ll either have a Midwife working alongside an OB or a Midwife group that comes highly recommended by his doctor friends makes him feel much more at ease. And I’m very thankful for that!!

::

Okay, the rest of the appointment. My weight today on their scale was 139. Which, pre-pregnancy, would have made me thrilled. The midwife did note that I’d lost weight, and she knows I’ve been dealing with nausea, and she definitely didn’t act like it was a good thing but she didn’t seem too concerned either. Shoot I forgot to find out my blood pressure. Oh well. I had to pee in a cup, which today was more difficult. I shouldn’t have peed earlier. (Remember that for next time!)

Midwife came in and talked to me about all the above. She flipped through my chart and said all my bloodwork came back perfect… oh, and that my blood type is A+. Yay! I never knew that before!

She did a listen to my heart, felt my lymph nodes, quick breast exam, palpated the abdominal region (causing gurgles, haha), and she did a pap, blerg. I must say, it was much more sensitive now than it ever was pre-pregancy. (They never bothered me before.) It wasn’t painful, but it was more like… yeah… that’s not pleasant. She said everything looks perfectly healthy and good down there.

Then she tried to hear the heartbeat. And… couldn’t find it. Sigh. So she did a quick pelvic exam to check the position of my uterus… she said it’s definitely tilted back, which makes her not surprized that she couldn’t hear the heartbeat yet. (If the uterus is tilted back, everything’s further away from the doppler and hiding.) She wants me to come back next week to try again, she said usually by 13 weeks a back-tilted uterus will be forward enough to hear it. (Actually what she said was, “Could you come in next week for a quick check?” Yes please!!) It was a little disappointed, but I’m not panicking or anything… I know it’s early still to hear by doppler. And I have an U/S on Wednesday, so that’s good. But she said the size of my uterus is perfect, everything’s growing properly. Just that the little bugger is hiding. (I can’t say I’m surprized that our child would be obstinate and wanting to be left alone. Takes after mom.)

Oh, and when I asked about Proactiv… she said, “I think that has salacytic acid in it…” and I said nope, just benzoyl peroxide. “Oh!” she said, “Then that’s fine!” Yay!!!!

And that was it, back to work I went.