beautiful pregnancy & birth

I had my ultrasound to check the status of my praevia today. Exciting news: it has moved completely out of the way! I am very happy about this. In addition, they double checked that this baby is in fact a boy. I am so glad that I got that extra check because they really weren't sounding too sure the last time. Can you imagine if we would have just gone with the first technician's answer of it being a girl?! hahaha... what a surprise we would have gotten in the delivery room :)

They didn't give me digital copies of the photos, just a print out... so I have no cute photos. But, none of them turned out that amazing anyway because this little guy had his face completely smashed up against my uterus. I guess he finds that comfortable... smashed face.

I don't know if I have mentioned this, but my prenatal care this time around is a little different and I love it. At OHSU they have group prenatal care. You are put into a group with other women who have similar due dates and your appointments are all together, scheduled out in advance on the same day of the week at the same time with no waiting in the waiting room. Just go in and head to the conference room, weigh yourself, and go sit and talk with the other mom's. The first hour of the "group" you go meet with the midwife one at a time in a sectioned off portion of the room (she listens to the heartbeat, measures you, takes your blood pressure and chats with you a bit), while the rest of the ladies talk or watch a birth video. The second hour of the group, we can ask questions to the midwife and then they always have some sort of dialogue planned to discuss, it is almost like childbirth class. Today we chatted about pain in childbirth. It was amazing. I love the midwife that runs it and it is great to hear what others think. There are 6 of us in the class and all 6 of us are going for un-medicated births, so that helps in the discussions that we are all on the same page that way.

I feel very calm about the birth of this baby. I have no fears or worries. I know that I will accept whatever happens and however it happens and I am excited about the experience that it will bring. This time I also am going to possibly give birth in the water. Although, if it doesn't end up happening for either medical reasons or because I just don't feel like I want to when the time comes... I am totally fine with that. But, I like the idea of a water birth and at least laboring in the water. The midwife says that it is the easiest and most comfortable way to sit in the position that allows your body to progress at it's fullest... where your pelvis is open and relaxed. I can't wait to see what this labor brings.

If you are up for a beautiful video about birth, take a few moments and check this one out (shared with me by my mother):