Still Looking Good

We had another ultrasound yesterday morning. The baby's movements and heartbeat all looked great. They watched to see if he was doing his "practice breathing" in there, and he was doing it quite a bit. Pretty much, it's just his little abdomen expanding and contracting, but it was sweet to see. They said that this is a good indicator of overall well-being, so things still look good. They only measure his weight every three weeks, so hopefully we don't make it to the next one of those. :)

After our ultrasound, I went to our weekly prenatal appointment. Everything looked good there too. We listened to his heartbeat again, and it sounded great. I got to talk to the midwife a lot about what the details of our hospital birth would look like, and in a lot of ways it was reassuring. Their job is to be prepared for the unexpected, and it became even more clear to me that this is why they feel that a hospital birth is best. If problems were to arise, it would be best to have doctors nearby and/or the NICU team if necessary. I am still praying that we will have a problem-free delivery, but I appreciate their preparedness.

My only lingering concern is that my "risk factors" would play into how my midwife handles the progression of my labor. Every woman labors differently, and one thing I was excited about with the birth center is that I knew I would feel less rushed or like I was having to give birth on someone else's schedule. I think each of the midwives at the birth center (there are about 8) would probably handle this issue differently, so we are earnestly praying for a midwife who can find a good balance between our safety and my body's natural laboring process. We would love it if you would pray with us.

On another note, things are really starting to come together on the home front. Our kids' room decorations are about halfway done, we have all our nursing and diapering gear back out and mostly organized, there are a couple of meals in our freezer, our birth bags are mostly packed, and we've got car seats and places for everybody to sleep. There is definitely more to do, but it is so nice to feel like we've actually got a good handle on our to-do list for bringing baby home. Thank you to everyone who has prayed and helped - you guys have been awesome. We can't wait to meet our precious baby boy, and we can't wait for him to meet all of you too!