met with the midwife for the first time last night. i really wanted to meet with her about a month ago but i was waiting for a time when dave could go along since he wanted to be there. then, it turned out that he had to work late and attend his first deacon's mtg. so he didn't get to go after all.  i was super emotional about this and cried all the way to the appt. and called and harrassed david for being unsupportive, which was not nice, considering he already felt really bad about the whole situation. that was lovely. i finally got it together right when i arrived.

anyways, everything went really well and i feel confident now that this is the route that i want to go. i was a little apprehensive going into yesterday because i felt like maybe i should just forget this midwife idea and go to my regular doctor.  i already knew this going into last night, but going this route, i'm able to save a lot of money. one way i found out last night is that they can forego a bunch of tests that would most likely be mandatory at the doctor and are optional based on my opinion here. tests for all kinds of STDs, etc. that amounts to over $1000 savings. since i know we don't have these STDs (praise God!) then we don't have to get the tests.

all this money savings is very important because i don't have maternity benefits. however, i don't want anyone to misconstue this and think that i'm not giving my unborn child "good" care based solely on saving money. i would probably have gone to the midwife whether i had insurance or not. i just feel that it's a good choice for us based on various reasons which i will not go into since it would take a lot of time and many people probably wouldn't agree with me.... the money savings is just an added benefit.

i've also been worrying about some "pains" (i'm not sure if this can really be classified as pain...maybe discomforts would be a better word) that i've had and some other strange symptoms i had last weekend while in ohio, but was assured that it's probably all normal.

we could not hear the heartbeat last night, but she said she's only ever heard it in 2 women at this stage of their pregnancies, so i should not worry. probably when we go back in february we will be able to hear it. dave's planning to go then, so that will be good, we will both get to hear it together.

i also had a blood and urine test last night and she said that i have to have my urine checked every time that i go to be sure i don't have a bladder infection without symptoms, since i had some infections as a child and may be predisposed for that...since that can cause preterm labor.

she also confirmed what i already thought...that the due date is july 28th. she said i could get an ultrasound from a radiologist that she recommends in carmel to know the date more exactly but that if i'm ok with going with my own suspicions about the date of conception then she is too and i don't have to have the ultrasound. there's only one other time in the pregnancy that she might recommend an ultrasound...if i go all the way to 42 weeks to make sure the baby is not in distress and decide if we will continue to wait or if i would have to be induced. so....hopefully we will not get to that point.

in conversation i also found out that the midwife and her husband and children used to go to our church. they went to costa rica once and were/are friends with a lot of people that we know from church. i thought that was a really neat connection. they now go to church in lebanon with a couple people i used to work with at GRW. :)