I had an appointment this morning and met with yet another new midwife, Linda. I told her I did not think I could keep up with them all anymore! But she was able to explain things better to me, so I am understanding who is doing what a little better. Right now, Anjli and Margaret are the only two midwives delivering babies, but Linda will soon follow to make three total possibilities. The midwife I met two appointments ago, Helen, is kind of like the other I have met on a couple of occasions, Sarah, who only sees patients in the office, but does not deliver. Linda said that at some point they hope to have a fourth midwife delivering just to be able to spread the workload around a little more or, as she put it, so they "can be midwives and still have a life."
I had to wait in the waiting room for a little while this morning even though I had a 9:00 a.m. appointment, but that was okay because a friend showed up while I was there and we were able to chat for a little while. When I was called back, I peed in a cup (must have been find), stepped on the scale (weighed 143, down a pound from two weeks ago, but Linda did not seem concerned), and had my blood pressure taken (90/60). I was then put in an examination room and sat there reading a magazine for, again, quite some time before Linda came in. I loved her from the get-go. She has a lot of energy and is super friendly, but also has that motherly air about her like Margaret does. Apparently she has known Margaret for years and years, Margaret delivered a couple of her children, and they worked together in Douglasville, GA, for awhile.
Linda went over the results from the thyroid test, and my TSH was 1.73 (up from the 1.36 it measured at the end of May) and Free T4 was 0.90 (up just slightly from the 0.89 it measured at the end of May), which she said looked just fine. As usual, I'll send these results to both Dr. Owen and Dr. J and see what they have to say as well. I asked her about what should be considered normal when it comes to the frequency of Braxton-Hicks contractions because I got quite a few in a row the other evening, a few of which were pretty strong, and of course when I went to read about it online all the sites were scaring me, saying more than four in an hour should result in a call to the doctor. Linda said that is totally bunk. She said that usually happens after a day of doing quite a bit, but there is no harm. She said usually drinking a couple of glasses of water and relaxing will do the trick, which is pretty much what I ended up doing that particular evening, and once I went to bed, I was fine. So I can scratch that off the worry list! I also asked her about what I should do about gluten-free food in the hospital, but, as I somewhat expected, she did not know the answer to that. I was kind of surprised that there was not a place to note allergies on the preregistration form I filled out for the hospital a couple of weeks ago. I am sure they will likely ask that question once I am admitted.
Linda then listened to the baby's heartbeat, which sounded great -- she said it was around 150 bpm. And then she felt for the baby's positioning, and of course I specifically wanted to know where our little girl's head was lying. And the very happy news is that she is head down, right where she should be! I do not think she has really dropped that much, but at least she is in the right place now. Linda even tried to help me feel for either side of the head, but I was having a little trouble making it out. But, hey, if she says the baby is face down, that is wonderful!
My appointments have now ramped up to once a week from here on out, which means I guess I am really headed down the home stretch now! The swab test for Strep B will take place at my next appointment, and of course I am really hoping for a negative result -- please no necessary IVs for me during labor and delivery!!!
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