Confirmation: There's a baby in there!

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, I finally had my first midwife appointment on November 30.    I was 10 weeks, 4 days along.  My due date, June 23, 2011.  Even though it has been 20 months since Peyton was born and the examination offices at the midwifery have moved suites, it's like I never left.  It's so nice to return to that comfortable, tranquil, supportive environment.  It was so nice to see one of the midwives that saw me last time, who remembered everything about me, and did Peyton's infant checkup.  There have been a lot of changes.  They've expanded and hired many new midwives and nurses and some from my time there before have moved on.  Joel, the owner's husband, no longer handles all the billing alone, he has a department, and like I said, the facility has moved.  But the important things haven't changed. You still are in charge of your own care.  You sign in, weigh yourself, take your own urine sample if one is needed, and take your own blood pressure.  You are entrusted with your body and your baby.  The midwives are caring and positive.  When we heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time, Laura, the midwife, seemed genuinely excited for us that we were going to be going through this wonderful experience with them again.  She even did a little happy dance.

So after going through all the necessary medical history to make sure nothing had changed, they did my pap, and then Peyton and Zack came back in as they tried to hear the heartbeat with the doppler.  The student midwife who was working with Laura even mentioned something about if they couldn't hear it with the doppler they could bring out the ultrasound.  They didn't have that before either.  They've upgraded.  It took a while of just hearing my heartbeat, but finally we heard one way to fast for mine.  165 beats per minute.  Just like Peyton's the very first time we heard it.  I looked over to catch Zack wiping a tear out of his eye.  I was trying to hold mine in (and my urine...I had to pee really badly and they were pushing pretty hard with the doppler to be able to hear it).  There really is a baby in there.  I'm not just having psychosomatic morning sickness and weight gain.  Speaking of weight gain, I've only gained 1 1/2 pounds so far, which makes me happy considering the food I've been eating with all the nausea has been whatever my brain was telling my stomach it wouldn't immediately return to sender.  And that wasn't always the healthiest fare.

So before my next appointment I've got to keep a food diary for a week to make sure I'm getting enough protein and the next one includes blood work, my nemesis considering my small, rolly veins.  I've been instructed to be ultra hydrated, which is not easy considering the baby is sucking every ounce of water from my body and it's less than 10% humidity outside.  Tonight, as I was posting the pic of the doppler on this blog, Peyton looked at it and said "baby."  Is he starting to get it?  Probably not, but it was darn cute.

I'm still more nervous about having this baby than the last.  Just like my anxieties last time, they have nothing to do with the actual act of giving birth.  I know I can do that, my body is made for it from generations upon generations of women doing it before.  I'm nervous about if the baby is healthy and if there are any complications going on inside of me that I don't know about yet.  The 20 week ultrasound should ease these worries if all is well.  Finding out that one of my coworkers went into labor at 5 1/2 months and lost her baby yesterday really hits home.  Having another coworker, who is clueless when it comes to tact, explain to me, in detail, what happened and how the baby looked did not help alleviate my worries.  Hearing she lost the baby was bad enough to make me cry, do you really need to tell someone else who is pregnant all the other things?  I am also nervous about after the baby is born, how our lives will change, how we will be able to provide for him or her the same as we did for Peyton with the likelihood that I will need to work more than I did with Peyton.  Again, all things that will work themselves out later and I know this, but like I've said before, I'm a planner and a worrier.

So any guesses on the sex?  Everyone seems to think girl.  Not one soul has said boy, except Zack, but I think that's wishful thinking.