midwives and heartbeats
So I met with M yesterday, and decided to hire her as my midwife. I felt very comfortable with her, and loved that she had a background in political theory because homebirth, to me, is a political action. I’m really excited about working with her. I am a little sad to let my doc go, because I do really like her, but I know due to her liability insurance that there’s no way to continue care with both. And, let’s face it, the doc delivers in hospitals. An idea that seems more wrong to me with each passing day.
I ordered a birth tub (kiddie pool) the night before last. Some coral reef something or another that was sold out on pretty much every website and so when I found one I snagged it NOW. Thought about renting a "proper" tub, but damn, they are expensive, and who knows if I’ll even spend much time in there. Marinah said to crank the water heater, and that she’ll just constantly boil water anyway because "she’s a midwife" which made me laugh.
A few weeks ago we bought a cheap stethoscope becuase supposedly, the baby was big enough to hear the heartbeat. That didn’t work out so well, and the thing had just become a frustrating little tool that I repeatedly tried to use while never hearing ANYTHING except my own stomach goings on (which are frightening, really). But the night before last, I got lucky. And I could totally hear the heartbeat, and it sounded really different than the doppler thing. It just sounded like…a heartbeat. And I listened to it for a long time before the baby turned somehow and I could no longer hear it. Suffice it to say, the $12.95 was finally worth it.
