Wonderful!

This morning I skipped out of work to go to my first midwife appointment! And I couldn't be more pleased with them. Everyone, from the check-in staff to the midwife herself, was so kind and polite and reassuring.

They had an ultrasound machine in the midwife practice, but apparently it is really old and not reliable, so the midwife tried to hear the baby's heartbeat with a Doppler first...and it worked! At nine weeks! She said it is more typical to hear it with a Doppler at 10-12 weeks. It sounded like a little train going chugga chugga in there--it was so cute! It was in the 150-160 range, which is perfect. She also checked my cervix, and it was nice and closed just like it is supposed to be. Thank God!

The midwife is so nice, in fact, that she said that I can come in whenever I want to hear the baby's heartbeat to calm my nerves (apparently they don't like those home Doppler systems for a multitude of reasons). And she gave me a prescription for a full-on ultrasound with measurements and everything to use whenever I want. Which is good because Nemo wants to be there for any "baby-gazing", as he calls it, so we can schedule it for when he isn't in class. It's not medically necessary, but she that said if I asked, because of my history she would give me one. Like I would turn down a chance to see the baby!

I especially liked the midwife because she was very honest. I don't like it when medical professionals act like everything is fine and I have nothing to worry about. They don't understand that I'm not one of those lucky women. The midwife told me that because we've heard the heartbeat and I've made it past 8 weeks, the risk of miscarriage is very low at this point, but not zero. For some reason I really liked that she acknowledged that. I feel like I can trust her to tell me the truth, which I can't with most of the doctors I have met with in the past.

Anyway, it's been a good day so far. I just have to get through the rest of the day of work and then Nemo and I are off to play bridge with our good friends Mr. and Mrs. E. Wonderful!