I found one!

So after my three interviews I've settled on a midwife - Sherri Price! She is great! I knew even just from our 2 phone conversations (first to make an apt for an interview, second to change the date of that apt) that I probably would end up liking her the best! She was very interested in how I was doing even though I wasn't her patient yet.

We met with Sherri first on Thursday afternoon at 5. We had a nice hour long visit with lots of chatting and Rob and I were both really comfortable with her. She told us about her and her 20 years of midwifery experience and most importantly we just clicked!

Rob was ready to have me cancel the other 2 apts since I liked her so much but I just felt like if I went ahead and did the other interviews the worst that could happen is I'd be more convinced that she was the one for me.

Thursday at 8:30 pm we went to the Better Birth birth center and met with Suzanne. She gave us a tour of the birth center which is a beautiful facility and I was curious to see it even though I knew I wanted to go the homebirth route. It was a different kind of interview - more... official? We reviewed my medical history and she said she saw no reason why if this is what I wanted I shouldn't be able to do this. We asked her our questions... she was very nice and I think the midwives there are all very experienced and any of them would do a good job but one of the benefits I'm looking for in a midwife is that I will be building a relationship with this person throughout my whole pregnancy and then they will be the one to be there to support me in my labor and birth. Going with a practice where you rotate through a group of midwives isn't my first choice for this pregnancy.

 

They have a beautiful bed, awesome jetted tub, and kitchen stocked with drinks and frozen food and snacks for mom and other people there while she's laboring...

Friday at 5:30 we met with Heather Shelley at the birth center she runs in Pleasant Grove. Again, we toured the facility even though we let her know we were planning on birthing at home. It was a nice place - a much older home compared to the brand new Better Birth facility but still looked like a great option for someone who is looking for a birth center. Heather was very nice and we asked her our questions and chatted a little and once again I just knew we weren't clicking as well as I had with Sherri.

After that I just felt excited that it was over - that I did it! I looked around, did some interviews, and get to have this amazing person as my care provider!!! I left her a message yesterday (Saturday) and I'm hoping I'll be able to go in for an appointment this week or very soon and hopefully we can hear the heart beat on a doppler or something! I've had some cramping this weekend which I know is totally normal but it just reminds me of my miscarriage and makes me worry!!

So yes, we are planning on a home birth. I'm sure there will be lots of you who think I'm crazy and I will say 10 years ago I wouldn't have believed I would do this and now I can't imagine it ANY OTHER WAY. The education and exposure I've had has led me to choose this and I know that this is a great option for us and I hope I can share with you guys some of the things I've learned over the next few months! If you think I'm nuts I'd ask that you have an open mind as I share some of what I've learned and if you don't think you can be supportive feel free to stop reading my blog now because I'll probably be bringing this up from time to time!

Right now I feel like I can't get ENOUGH of birth books - I'm kind of obsessively thinking about giving birth right now! I can't wait! I feel so lucky that I have the chance to have another baby and know it's going to be another awesome experience like it was with Robby! The books I've read recently that were very informative:
Gentle Birth Choices
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth

I really recommend the second one (Thinking Woman) - I wish I could quote the entire intro to explain to you guys why I think a homebirth is such a good option for me but that would take a long time (and maybe be illegal?) but it is great.

Search for a midwife

I am 10 weeks now and feeling really good! Besides having a dumb cold all week that is. I'm not really nauseous and I want to take a nap most days but it's not like I can't get out of bed.  I was really relieved after seeing the ultrasound and then felt grateful about not having bad pregnancy symptoms but the longer time goes on and I don't feel that "pregnant" it makes me wonder a little and wish I had a doppler so I could just check for baby's heartbeat again!

While I haven't decided on my care provider yet I have three appointments set up this week with midwives and I'm really excited about them! And maybe one of them will let me use their doppler for a minute to put my mind at ease. I know my uterus is tipped so the baby is farther away from the surface though and it still might be a little early to hear anything but we'll see.

The midwives I'm meeting with are:

Sherri Price
Heather Shelley
Better Birth midwives


I'll update you all after my interviews!

ONE Baby!

We were thrilled to have our ultrasound on Monday show there is ONE baby with a good strong heartbeat growing in my tummy! We would've been really excited for twins but mostly we were just relieved to see a heartbeat!!!

We survived our trip back east and traveling home and then it was just 2 days left before the ultrasound! It was nice to be so well distracted before hand. I didn't realize how NERVOUS I was until we were sitting in the waiting room for a longer than usual wait and I started feeling pretty sick to my stomach.

For those who don't know I had a miscarriage and so my last ultrasound experience ended in looking for a heartbeat and baby and finding a barely there 6 week old fetal pole that had stopped developing. This made me feel pretty nervous and anxious...

We sat for 15 minutes in the waiting room... then probably another 5 with that sheet thing draped over me waiting for the doctor to come in.... I joked to Rob I was going to take the ultrasound probe and just do it myself!

As soon as Dr Foulk began the ultrasound I saw the baby instantly... and a few seconds later he held it still and I could see little baby's heartbeat fluttering!!!! RELIEF!!! I just was so happy I forgot that we were looking to see if there might be more than one baby! He measured the little guy and we got to listen to his heartbeat - so amazing! Then I asked, "so we only see one baby in there, right??" He said yup and scanned side to side to make sure there wasn't anything else in there.

They gave us three printed off ultrasound pics and a little card signed by all the workers at the Fertility center, it was very nice. Dr. Foulk said I "graduated" to my OB or care provider and when I settle on who my midwife will be he wants to send them a letter with some background on what happened.

 Listening to the heartbeat... 177.33....

 It was so amazing to see baby's legs and arms kick and move around!!

 It says he's measuring 8w6d which is 2 days bigger than based on my due date which doesn't change anything in my opinion it's just great to see he's a good size!! Looks perfect to me!

We had to race straight from the ultrasound apt to Heber for my acupuncture apt - on the way, before we lost service in the canyon, we called a few people and sent a bunch of texts to spread the word. We called Robby first - my sister in law, Becca, was watching him at her house so we called and asked for him and I told him, "Mommy has ONE baby in her tummy!" I was worried he'd be disappointed since he kept saying he was hoping it was TRIPLETS (which would've been quite the unusual thing since we only put in 2 eggs!) but he seemed happy right away. When we came back from our apts to pick him up we walked in the door and from across the room he shouted happily, "MOM! You have ONE BABY in your tummy!!!" So I was glad he was happy!

When we got home we found Taba, my sister, had left us a fun surprise to celebrate in the fridge - some Martinelli's! So we cracked it open and took some pictures to mark the occasion!

I was sad I didn't get a chance to blog about it the last 2 nights since after Robby's gone to bed I've done nothing but work until I'm about to pass out! 

Speaking of passing out, I have definitely been more tired but not completely exhausted. I've been more nauseous but not throwing up. At first I was wishing I was more sick so I would feel more reassured but after seeing baby's sweet little heartbeat I can just be grateful I haven't been more sick!

The one thing I've got is a (what feels to me!) a giant tummy already. I was thinking twins would've made a lot of sense but that's ok! I stuck out right away with Robby too (and feel the same way symptom wise as I did with him too - does that mean it's a boy? we shall see!) so I'm trying to not worry about it but I'm already finding I look awkward in all my clothes and don't know what to wear! It doesn't help that when I was reading on some pregnancy site that at 8 weeks "you probably have a bulge but it's just water retention." Boo. It's just not as fun since I worked so hard to lose all that weight earlier this year but it's DEFINITELY worth it!!!!!!

Oh well! It doesn't help that not only am I not sick or throwing up but I feel like I'm starving all of the time!!! At every meal I feel like I'm eating at least double and am hungry every 2 hours... I decided if I'm going to be eating so much food to just try not to eat so many treats! Because I think you should listen to your body but that doesn't give me an excuse to fill it with junk... so wish me luck! Since today Doritos were sounding amazing... and Panda Express...

All in all we are just SO GRATEFUL and SO EXCITED!!!!

And now it feels like I can just breathe a little easier and I'm starting to get deeper into my search for a midwife! And can plan on taking a childbirth class - this time I get to take one from my wonderful sister in law, Becca, who is a doula, and I've been lucky enough to be at 2 of her homebirths and this woman knows how to give birth!!! She's teaching a round of childbirth classes this October at her home in North Orem if anyone else is interested let me know!!!

Once again thanks for all of you guys' support you are awesome!!!