The First Prenatal I am 8 weeks pregnant today and just went for my first prenatal. I am planning another home birth, so I went to the same midwives as last time, Laurie and Nancy. They have their office in a small building, on the second floor of a 'Natural Health Clinic', whatever that may mean. It is a very unmedical environment, their office is one big room. One wall is full of books about pregnancy and birth. Then there is a desk, a few chairs and a low bed, on which they do prenatals. The walls are covered with pictures of babies and with birth announcements. They also have a lot of toys, which is very helpful if you have other kids. In the corner of the room, there is a screen and behind the screen there is one of those tables, on which they do PAP smears, for physicals and at the 6 week checkup. Around 11:30am this morning, I got all the kids ready and piled them in the car. Especially Tara (3yo) was very excited about going to the midwife again. 'Is the baby coming out today?' I explained about the baby having to grow for a long time before coming out, but she didn't seem too convinced :-) We arrived only a few minutes late and when we came in, we saw a very pregnant women with a toddler on her arm come out. I was kind of jealous about her nice big belly, she clearly was mentally counting all the kids around me :-) We smiled at each other, being connected by using the same midwife and both planning a home birth with her. We went up the stairs and invaded the room. Kids took off their shoes and coats, I hugged Laurie. It was great to see her again! The kids immediately started playing with the toys. They had added a nice wooden doll house and a brio train set and that kept them busy for a while, so that I could talk with Laurie. We chatted about the last year and how things had been going. We are way more settled now than we were last year. Last year, we moved to here from the Netherlands when I was 16 weeks pregnant and it took us a while to find a house, so we lived first in a hotel and then in a furnished rental for a while. This time we are just normally living in a house and not planning on doing anything so stressful as moving around during a pregnancy. We talked about my diet and calculated my due date. It was the expected January 5 date. I also told her that this time I wanted to keep everything low key at the end and I didn't want to do anything to try to get labor going. Last time we had to travel to the Netherlands soon after birth, because of some immigration issues and that had turned out to be very stressful. So this time I really want to let this baby come whenever he/she is ready and not do anything to promote labor. Unless of course I would go very far overdue, but most likely I won't. Then we did all the normal prenatal things: weight (137 lbs), pee stick, blood pressure and feeling the uterus. My blood pressure was higher than usual (118/80), but she wasn't worried about that. She told that most likely it would be OK next time. She could palpate the uterus already, which I hadn't expected at 8 weeks yet. I myself can't feel it, but she showed me where it was. Still wasn't able to feel it though, my own hands just can't get in the same angle as somebody else's hands can. But I am sure I will be able to feel it soon! The uterus size was exactly right for 8 weeks, so that was nice. While we were doing this, the kids had found a play stethoscope and kept listening to my and each other's belly with it. Very cute. That used to be a favorite activity during our prenatals last time too. After all this, she also took some blood, for some prenatal blood work. Cees (8yo) was very fascinated by this. By now the kids started to be more unruly and especially Jane (2yo) started her normal climbing / jumping activities, which can be quite disruptive. There also started to be more and more fights about the wooden train tracks, so it was good that it was almost time to finish up the appointment. We talked about payment options, and I found out that she was certified as a CNM last year and that our insurance now pays for her services!!! That is great news, last year we needed to pay everything ourselves. I was really happy to hear that. I mean, we were prepared to pay for it again and it would be worth the money, but if insurance pays, that's even better! She also gave me a folder with all their handouts about nutrition, prenatal testing and some exercise ideas. Don't think I'll have time to do the exercises though, with all the little ones here, chasing the kids will be my exercise! Got the kids ready to leave. Tara complained that the baby still hadn't come out. I think she was hoping for a birth during this prenatal :-) We said goodbye to Laurie and went back to the car. Our timing was perfect, we had been in there for exactly an hour, which is the normal time for a prenatal at these midwives. It was a good prenatal, it was really nice to see Laurie again and renew our acquaintance. The only thing was that my husband couldn't make it to it, while I had hoped he would be able to. One of my on line friends was due yesterday with her 11th kid, but hasn't delivered yet. She is planning a home birth too. I am looking forward to reading her birth story. Another friend got induced yesterday and delivered her 4th son. Lots of babies everywhere! I am still feeling really tired and very nauseated, which is not surprising at this stage in pregnancy. Although I seem to feel better if I eat all the time, which is unusual for me. I am not sure whether that is better than the not-eating type of nausea though! :-) Page design by mabear | Send email to Karen | Page last updated: Dec 29, 2001