Of Midwives and Old Wives

Once a week, I make the trek to town for a very special visit: my appointment with one of the midwives.  And every week, as I drive out of the parking lot to return home, I think, "I love my midwives."

They really are wonderful, and I've talked to so many women in this area who also go to the midwives and--just like me--are thrilled with the care they receive from them.  The midwives treat me (us, if I speak collectively for the other midwife-admirers around here) like a real person, and they always take the time to make sure all my questions are answered and any concerns are addressed.  Plus, they usually spend some time just shooting the breeze with me, too; Barbara, for example, always has some anecdote from her own large family to share with me.  It's easy to begin to feel like friends, rather than simply patient/provider.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being seen by Ann, who is wonderfully laid-back and personable.  Here is how some of the appointment went...

I had taken a book as always to read while waiting for her (I didn't have much time to wait, so I only got to read a little bit, but I'd hate to be stranded without a book!).  :)  When Ann came into the room, she immediately noticed the book I was reading (My Jerusalem by Bronwyn Drainie) and struck up a conversation about my time in Israel, reasons for going, language study, future desire to return there, etc...even telling me a story about her Ethiopian neighbors here and the way they used Amharic as their "secret" language, just like Jeff and I use Hebrew when we don't want the people around us to understand what we're saying.  ;-)  She didn't need to spend the time talking about all of that, but she did it anyway, and it brightened my day.

My blood pressure, when the nurse took it, was 140 over 60, a little high for me.  Rather than acting concerned, Ann smiled and asked, "Did you rush to get here?"  And when I laughed and said, "Yes, that's what happens when I have an 8:30 appointment," she laughed, too, and let it go.

My weight was 185 which screams "HIGH" to me, but Ann didn't give one word of rebuke or advice about what I should (celery sticks) or shouldn't (tortilla chips) be eating.  In fact, she calmly said, "Your weight has stayed about the same at your last few appointments."  And that was that.

When she asked how I was feeling, I told her the truth:  I feel better now than I did 10 weeks ago.  Much better.  She was measuring my uterus and feeling the position of the baby, and she remarked about how the baby seems to have dropped because there is more room up near my ribs now than there was the last time she checked me.  "That might be why you're feeling better," she suggested.  It also might be why my heartburn has decreased, and why I don't find myself as short-of-breath as I used to.

"Would you like a cervical check?" Ann asked.  "No, not really," was my answer.  :)  After all, the cervix can be an incredibly misleading indicator of when labor will begin.  Even if I were dilated to 4 centimeters, I could still be quite a few days away from having this baby.  So why check?  Ann completely understood.  It might seem like a small thing, but allowing the patient the opportunity to choose or decline something like that is empowering and reassuring, in my opinion.

When Ann checked the baby's heart rate, it was 138.  "If I didn't know differently because of the ultrasound," I told Ann, "I would think for sure this baby was a boy.  Not only has this pregnancy felt like all my other ones, but also the heart rate has been in this low range, the 'boy range,' according to the old wives' tales."

"That just goes to show," she replied with a grin, "how much those old wives really know."

Indeed.  ;-)

Ann told me that she's on call this weekend; and although I would be glad to have any of the midwives present when I give birth, I would be really glad to have Ann.  I guess that's just one more reason why it would be nice to have this baby on my own birthday.  :)

But honestly, I sort of have the feeling that I won't go into labor for quite a while yet...and that when I do go into labor, it will seem almost unreal.  Actually, quite a bit of this pregnancy has seemed unreal--the timing of it (the month after a miscarriage), the amazing blessing of being pregnant again, the fact that it's a girl!  Maybe it's no surprise that here at the end, nine days before my due date, I still have the feeling of "is this really happening?"  I suppose that if my water breaks or these contractions, that have been present but so irregular the past few weeks, start to strengthen, it will finally hit me that yes, I'm really going to have a baby.  But maybe, just maybe, I won't fully believe it until she's in my arms.  :)

Regardless of when she comes, I am grateful to be giving birth in the springtime.

Just as the earth and the plants are so full of promise, so is my body.

So full?  Yes.  Uncomfortably so!  ;-)

Of promise?  Yes!  A promise that makes me unspeakably grateful...and just a little choked-up.  ;-)