Hospital Tour and 9 Week Belly Picture!

At exactly 9 weeks for us, Anna Jaques had their quarterly birth center tour.  While leaving the house after getting home from work to be somewhere at 7pm (gasp!) seemed like a monumental task to me at the time, it wound up not being too too bad and as we weaseled our way into the first tour group, we managed to be done in just over an hour which was good.

Our tour group was actually led by my regular OB who I've always liked even though I'll be transferring into their midwife practice instead for pregnancy and birth.  It was good to be led by one of the docs though because my fears of being forced into things I don't want or docs that want you to do things just because it's easier for them kinda make me crazy and she was able to more or less put those fears (or most of them) to rest for me which was very nice.

The facility itself is still more 'hospitally' than I would prefer personally, but less so than I was expecting and enough that I felt okay there which I think was a relief to Jeff who I know had doubts about home or birth center birth.  He, like most people who are not me, is comforted by the presence of doctors and bright lights and sterile looking environments.  So I think the tour was a relief to both of us - me feeling like I won't die having to go there, and him grateful for this fact.  :-)

They have a 'tub room' with this big tub with jets that you're allowed to labor in as long as you want though they no longer do water births which is disappointing to me.  I asked if the tub was basically first come first serve and she said they average 2-3 births a day there and so it's not usually an issue which is definitely awesome.  Each room has a rocking chair and a 'sleep chair' that folds out into a cot for daddy (or grandma if daddy doesn't want to sleep on the cot hahaha), and each room has a private bathroom with shower which is also nice.  Oh and the rooms are all single - they don't double you up which I know used to be how it was back in the day and for which I am super grateful.  They also staff lactation consultants to aid with breast feeding which will come in super handy I'm sure.  The one thing I've heard resoundingly from mothers is they were shocked at how difficult something as seemingly as natural as breastfeeding can be until mother and baby get a routine and get the hang of it.

So in week 9 you can see baby has cute little fingers, has grown to the size of a medium green olive, and while the fingers are still webbed for the time being, baby already has fingerprints!  That seems colossally amazing to me.  Slowly but surely we are chugging along to the end of the first trimester..just a month left to go now and I can't wait.  Baby is still making me sick each morning at least once and ocassionally throughout the day as well.  I am still super tired most of the time.  I am ready to have energy and stop being sick!

Next Wednesday is our first ultrasound appointment, and while it will be too early to determine gender, we should be able to check growth to make sure baby is growing on track and get a positive heartbeat which I'm sure will be a nerve-wracking few seconds until we see it.  Right after the u/s, we have our first midwife appointment.  Since our first appointment was with a nurse, I am definitely looking forward to meeting the midwife.  I saw her at the open house but did not actually meet her at that time with things being as crazy as they were but from a distance she seemed nice enough and hopefully we will connect at the appointment.