Don't Need No Sonogram

Last week, baby daddy and I went to our first appointment with our midwife.  They are associated with a natural birth center in the area, and we picked this practice because we felt that a lot of their philosophies about health matched up with ours. The center's primary midwife was accompanied by two of her students.  We sat on a couch in one of the luxurious birth rooms and talked about my medical history and eating habits. The brunt of the conversation surrounded which medical procedures and tests we wanted to opt in or opt out of during our pregnancy.  This included blood, urine, and genetic testing.  I opted out of a lot of the genetic and extraneous tests, because false positives for a range of birth conditions and diseases could stress us out.  Sean and I have already talked about what we would do if our baby was born with a condition or disease, and since we're not going to make the choice to abort our pregnancy, we prefer not to have that stress complicate the situation.

Then, I got onto the birthing bed so that they could do an assessment.  With their hands, one of the midwives found the bottom of my placenta and then used a tape measure to determine the size.  Based on that, she made the determination that I was 12 weeks along (today I am 13 weeks, 4 days).   Then, they brought out the fetal doppler and we listened to the baby's heart beat.  Though we didn't get to go home with any new sonogram pictures, we got to listen to our baby's heart beat.  The sound is reassuring, and I can understand why at-home fetal listening devices would be popular.  But, I'm okay with hearing it once a month.  I know that our baby is doing well.  Incredible the things we can do without all of the fancy technology.

It seemed that the women's center we were previously attending was going to schedule us for a sonogram or ultrasound every visit.  And, it was an option to have these done routinely out of the office while we were attending the birth center.  I asked the midwives if they thought any of the ultrasounds were necessary.  They recommended the 20 week ultrasound, which is also the check up where we'll find out the sex. 

We're thinking that I am growing a little Libra girl, but there is a group of us hoping for a Virgo girl.  I'm a Virgo, and baby daddy is a Libra.  Since my due date is October 16th, we're likely to have a Libra, which means that we'll have to save up lots of money for expensive clothes or expensive cars.  Libras like pretty things.  Virgo Mom here is likely to tell them to get a job, but Libra Dad is likely to pay off their credit cards on the sly.  Despite our jokes about the astrological makeup of our baby, the bump is growing, and we're gonna love this child to pieces no matter who he or she is.