Baby Update

As I've said before, I think my ticker above is a little ahead of where I actually am in gestation.  However, after being measured at the doctor, it may not be as far ahead as I thought.  We have our first ultrasound on February 5.  I can't believe it, but we should be able to tell the gender by then!  

I feel sad sometimes that it's taken me this long to get my "pregnancy caretaker" ducks in a row, but at the same time we get to know (hopefully) what our baby is the first time we see him/her.  We visited 2 different midwife birthing centers and were very pleased with both, but we preferred the second.  Through fighting and planning and stressing we probably would have been able to eventually get our insurance to pay for it but I still was not feeling 100% peace about the whole thing.  

After much research, I really felt like a birthing center would be a whole lot more conducive to the birth that I wanted to have - this post explains a little more.  I was still glancing at hospitals in the area, but didn't really like the options they offered.  However, while we were in Florida, my mom noticed that Greer Memorial (the brand new Allen Bennett Hospital) had jet whirlpool tubs that mothers could labor in... that caught my attention.  

When we got home, I set up a tour and began to chat with my doula friend, Angel.  I asked her if she knew of a family doctor that would help me birth naturally.  OBs are great, but they're traditionally only for high risk pregnancies and tend to be a whole lot more expensive - not to mention they're usually part of a large practice with rotating OBs and I wouldn't have a personal relationship with only one doctor.  Angel recommended Dr. Stafford and so I immediately made an appointment to meet him.  After I got off the phone, I thought, "Oh, wait... he probably doesn't deliver at Greer Memorial."  So I called back and asked... you guessed it - the receptionist replied, "Dr. Stafford only delivers at Greer Memorial."  

HOLY PROVIDENCE, BATMAN!!  What in the world are the chances that the random family doctor that I want would ONLY deliver at the awesome hospital where I wanted to deliver?!  I ask you...

So Jim and I went to meet Dr. Stafford last Wednesday.  He was awesome.  He told us that he was "the best of both worlds... the closest you'll get to a midwife, but he couldn't do anything about his gender".  I also told him that I did NOT want a c-section unless it was life or death.  His response?  "I don't want you to have a c-section!  I don't get paid if you have one!"  I really liked him.  We talked for a long time about the birth that I wanted and he was extremely positive, but realistic.  He's delivered hundreds of babies naturally and has a very low c-section rate.    

By the way, at the tour of Greer Memorial I was very impressed, too, with the freedom that I will have to move around, eat, drink, labor where I want, have the baby given to me immediately after birth, no IV, plus the awesome jet tubs (I'm excited about that part, can't you tell?).

Come June 22-ish, I'm ready for all of my plans and back-up plans to go flying out the window but for now I'm hopeful and prayful that God is positioning us to shoot for a healthy and natural (albeit, excruciating) delivery of our little Raspberry.  

Sheesh!  What in the world have we gotten ourselves into?!  I can't wait.