Category: Kate

I went to see my midwife yesterday, for a prenatal singing class. What, you ask, is this, and why, you wonder, is the world’s most tone deaf person ever (with the possible exception of my mother) doing such a thing? Is she hoping to so torture the poor child that she’ll come out early? Well, it’s a French thang, but one that I’m finding useful: lots of vocalization and breathing technics for the birth, plus some very pretty lullabies that I promptly forget.

Before class however, I had a quick chat with my midwife about my latest lab results- mostly normal with a small increase in protein in my urine. Then she took my blood pressure- 13/8, starting to climb a bit. Today I went to the hospital to see the midwife there, and update her on my results, and we did another blood pressure check, lying down over 20 minutes. All were at least 130/80, some going up to 147/95. So, more blood tests and pee samples for me, and another hospital appointment Thursday afternoon.

I went to the hospital Tuesday to see the MD, and Wednesday to have another ultrasound. I happened to get an appointment with the one (very nice) MD who is *completely* opposed to homebirths. She compares them to driving on the highway at 250km/ hour without a seatbelt: sometimes nothing happens, sometimes it’s a disaster. I understand her perspective, and it actually makes me feel more confident with her advice.

She felt that my lab results were completely normal, and to make sure, handed me another slew of tests to do. We did a long monitoring of my blood pressure and the baby’s heartbeat, both of which were fine. Then Wednesday we did another ultrasound, during which she checked the baby’s growth (3kilos already! but only at 50-75% on the scale), the amniotic fluid, and my arteries, all of which were completely normal. She felt that my high blood pressure could have been due to being tired, but was nothing to worry about. Neither the baby nor I have any signs of hypertension, liver problems or gestational diabetes. Her advice? That I should not make any decisions about where to give birth based on these test results, which I read as her not wanting to give me the OK to have a homebirth, but having no medical reason to stop me.

So… more blood sucking today (to check for diabetes) and then appointments on Monday and Tuesday with my midwife and then a hospital midwife. Eddy is feeling a little more stress at the idea of a homebirth, so I still can’t say with certainty what will happen, but we have time to decide- nobody thinks this baby is coming early!