32 Weeks

Last week I met with my Midwife, Candace Plohman, from The Midwifery Group on Main Street. It's abit of a drive from SFU but when I found out I was pregnant I knew I wanted her as my primary caregiver because she was the one who caught Jonas three years ago. At the time she was a student midwife but my last several visits were with her and my husband and I really liked her. So it was very cute when Jonas accompanied me to the appointment last week and was completely involved in the whole check up. He found a child's medical kit and as Candace measured and examined me, Jonas followed along with his own equipment. And then when we were to listen to the heart Jonas made sure Candace had the Doppler turned down low as he doesn't like the sound to be too loud. He also wanted to know where baby peed while inside of mom.

For the duration of my pregnancy I will be seeing Candace's two back up Midwives so I become comfortable with them in case they are with me for the birth. My appointments are now every two weeks this month and then weekly in March.

Candace gave me a questionnaire sheet about prenatal depression to check out as standard practice in this point of my pregnancy. Although I have no issues it did make me think about how quickly this birth is coming up and I have not done much preparation for it. As with most women I think the first pregnancy is much more involved as far as prep for the actual birth etc. This time around I feel like alot of the prep work is with Jonas and my organising and preparing for life after the birth. I am so happy to have another baby and this was definitely the perfect time to have another but I know its always hard to accept that for the months after baby is born I will not accomplish anything for myself and when I really do accept that (as with Jonas when he was a baby) then life with baby will be much easier and smoother. My belief is that the first 2 or so years of life really do set the stage for the rest of an individuals life. If baby learns that it can trust and be loved unconditionally then I think their walk through life can be much easier and fulfilling. Of course parenting will continue for the rest of my life, I think that the beginning is the most intense all consuming part of the whole lifetime role.

So what about preparation for the actual birth? I guess its easier this time around because I have already had a first birth and also because I have learned so much about birth through being a Doula. I am now very confident and comfortable with the whole birthing experience so I guess I am not too worried about prep. I will be giving birth at Women's Hospital because it is where Candace practices and although I loved the homebirth with Jonas, I felt a hospital birth made more sense this time around. I am hoping to take advantage of Women's big tubs that I have heard so much about and its nice to know that I can have a waterbirth if I feel like it at the time. Anyway, my mission at the moment is to kick this horrible head cold that has been coming and going for the past month (its been a really bad one) and then do some birth prep - you know kegels and stuff. Hahaha

Some video of Jonas dancing. Aside from dancing he loves mighty machines like cranes, trains, cement trucks, airplanes, big ships and on and on....