16 Week Doctor Visit

I had my 16 week prenatal visit today. I didn't see the Nurse Practitioner I was originally scheduled to see; instead, I saw a very sweet nurse and an NP-in-training who is also 15 weeks pregnant and who seems very eager to be an expert OBGYN Nurse. (Make sure you infuse a little sarcasm into that last clause as you read it.) We had a really good discussion in general, and she was great about answering some questions I had and helping me organize business-y matters I need to be thinking about over the next few months. But, I almost sent her running from the room when she asked me if I had started thinking about childbirth classes and I said I had been thinking about the Bradley method of childbirth. My friend Beth emailed me about it recently, and therefore I have been thinking of those classes, but I'm still undecided, and Matt and I will most likely attend the classes given this coming fall by a Nurse at RWG. Apparently, though, some of the OBs at my doctor's office have had unpleasant experiences with women who have taken Bradley classes, (I can only imagine what the NP-in-training meant by that) and they are not supportive of that childbirth method. The NPIT was adamant about getting that message across.

I feel frustrated by that attitude, but also by the attitude of the non-traditional birthing communities - not as a whole, of course, but with the tendency in both camps to be so extreme in their views. I feel like practitioners on both sides can be quite dogmatic about their way of doing things, and I find myself somewhere in the middle: supportive of natural childbirth, interested in reading about the Bradley method, gettin' my prenatal yoga on, not wanting to be constantly held down by a fetal heartrate monitor and I.V., but also being very supportive of the hospital environment and the expertise of the doctors who work there. Dr. Neyman said that we could do intermittent monitoring, a heparin lock rather than an I.V., and that I could choose what position I would like to deliver in; I feel like she's right there with me in the middle ground, and I like that. But I also left today's visit feeling very committed to writing up a simple birth plan to have on file and to bring with me to the hospital in case she is not on call when I go into labor. There is some tricky territory to navigate in this whole birthing business, and I can't even decide what diaper system to use, much less who is "right" in this whole debate that pits traditional hospital births against less conventional birthing methods.

Most importantly, though: I heard the baby's heartbeat again, and I was so thrilled. I just wanted to lie there and hear it for hours. It was in the 150s this time, which the nurse assured me is a normal variation from the last reading. My blood pressure and urine sample were just fine. Only four more weeks until the big ultrasound!

Django and I are off for a walk to the farmer's market that just set up shop near our house every Wednesday. We are both looking forward to next week when Matt will be out of school and can come with us.