Nearly half way

Well, another 3 weeks has flown by, with hardly a chance to update my blog. Life is really busy now that I'm well again and trying to make up workwise and socially for 3 months of being sick. We've also just returned from a road trip to Melbourne where Cassie finally met a bunch of Geoff's relatives. This was long overdue given that she turns 2 next weekend! Cassie is quite a good traveler, but everything takes a lot longer now that we have to make frequent, obligatory stops at parks for her to run around and exhaust herself so that the next leg of the trip will be bearable.

We also spent a few days in Bright, which was nice, although the whole place feels very touristy. We stopped in the same place where we spent 2 nights in 2004(??) when we rode the Murray to the Mountains rail trail. We were even assigned to the same cabin, which was completely unchanged. This was a strange feeling given how much our lives have changed since last time we stopped there.

Everything's going smoothly with the pregnancy at the moment. Apparently I actually look pregnant now (as opposed to just a little bit fat!), as I have had a couple of strangers asking me when the baby is due.

I finally meet my birth centre midwife a couple of weeks ago. Her name is Victoria and she is very nice. I'll be seeing her around once every four weeks during the pregnancy, and then she'll be helping me during my labour, unless it coincides with her annual leave, a rostered weekend off, or another client giving birth. She is only assigned to about four or five women per month, so I hope there's a good chance that she'll actually be there. She came to my house and we talked for about an hour and she did a check up. All this is for free, as it's through the public health system! Why am I paying for that private health insurance??

Anyway, I think it's great to have a chance to meet the midwife in advance. When I was pregnant with Cassie I had an ongoing relationship with the midwife who worked for my obstetrician, but as she doesn't actually attend births this felt a bit pointless. Of course, the obstetrician himself was only there for the last little while.

Meeting the midwife has made me think a bit more about what I hope will happen during the labour. I didn't think about it much last time - for the first half of the pregnancy it seemed too remote, for the last half I was too scared. It also seemed pointless to even think about "birth plans" since you can lose control of the situation so badly, and so fast. I remember our yoga teacher saying "Just trust your body, it knows how to do this. You need to go with the flow", and trying to agree but thinking "Yeah right. Then how come so many women have so many problems".

While that's still true, it probably is important to have some idea of what I want to happen, at least if everything does go right. So:

*I really want to feel confident that the people helping me will give me the right advice for any situation. Hopefully knowing the midwife in advance will help with this. Last time there were a few critical points when I suspect I might have been given the wrong advice.

*I am going to try to remain in some kind of upright position. Last time, I ended up lying down (legs in stirrups). Apparently when you are semi-reclined your pelvic opening reduces by 30% and the angles are all wrong. Of course, you are also working against gravity. All this means it will take much longer, be harder, and you're much more likely to tear.

I think I knew all this last time too but I'm probably a bit more determined this time. I've told Geoff that he will really need to try to make me get up if I have to lie down for any reason (e.g. monitoring or checks). He is going back to fencing training next week so that hopefully in 4.5 months from now he'll have nice strong legs to help physically support me.

*I am not going to have pethidine. Last time I had it and it was utter rubbish. I remember about half an hour later asking whether they'd actually given it too me as I couldn't notice any difference at all. The midwife agrees - she says the main effect is to make you sleepy. Of course, if you're tired you're more likely to end up lying down...

That's all I've decided for now, but there's still plenty of time. If I feel like it, I'll have a water bath, lavender oil, customised music. Why not? It's certainly worth it even if it just makes it a tiny bit easier.