(Almost) Halfway There!

On Thursday I will be 20 weeks. So halfway there! Today I went to the midwife and we had a great appointment. I may have to give up my dream of having a birth center birth in my city, because it looks like there's a big possibility of it not being completed in time. I called the birth center farther north and will schedule myself there, but if it's snowy, I'll probably end up having a homebirth because I'd be much more comfortable there than, you know, giving birth on the side of the road (which is entirely possible, since my first labor was quite short, and if we're held up because of bad weather, which is entirely possible based on the weather we experienced last year...). Plus I've already had a homebirth, so it's not like it's an idea I'm not at all comfortable with anyway.

So, the appointment went really well, and Constance (the midwife) was able to hear the heartbeat with the fetoscope, which was great considering I'm not yet 20 weeks. My blood pressure was extremely low- something like 80/46. I was impressed with how low it was. So far, I've gained 7 pounds, and my fundal height was 22 cm (so, a little bigger than average, but I'm a 3rd time mom and I have bigger than average babies anyway). I'm feeling pretty good other than a ton of braxton hicks contractions that I'm getting several times an hour. Constance said if they got to be too many, just lie down for a while on my left side, and I really only need to call if they feel labor-y. That's kind of what I figured anyway.

The girls really enjoyed going to the midwife with me, and were excited about telling her that the new baby is a boy. They got to listen through the fetoscope, too, which they enjoyed. It's a lot different than listening to the doppler, but it's more fun, too, since you have to put on your ears.