I can't believe how behind I am with my posting. I'll try to catch up a bit. On Thursday 7th June we had our 24 week midwife appointment. It all went very well and was quite brief apart from Sharon only getting my fundal measurement to 22 weeks. For once however she didn't panic and even said that she remember me being the same with Luna. I said I was the same with all of them but I don't think she listened. Apart from that everything was fine. The baby had a good strong heartbeat. The last blood tests were fine. And of course the children were well behaved.
I have got more blood tests next time I go, which got me to thinking how bloody fed up with having my blood taken I am. I don't really know what the point of the blood tests probably to check my iron levels again to ensure I'm 'safe' to have a home birth! I felt quite rubbish about having more blood taken. I feel like a pin cushion. All I ever go to the surgery for is to have more blood taken and it wouldn't matter to me what the results of them were because I know I'm fine and I will have a home birth even if the results came back saying my iron levels were zero because I have no intention of having a hospital delivery! So essentially I'm having my blood taken as a 'precaution' every 4 weeks to shut Sharon up and stop her moaning! Why on earth am I being so submissive? I really don't want to feel obliged or bullied at any point but this is making me feel a little bit out of control! Nigel and I have decided to discuss what options we have.
I was lying in the bath on Thursday night thinking about the various possibilities that could occur during labour. Concealing it from the health services could be very tricky.Supposing I go into labour on the day of an anti-natal appointment. I'll have to phone and tell them! Or supposing I go overdue and they start talking of induction and daily appointments to check the babies progress! Also, we had sort of preliminarily decided that when I went into labour we'd call the hospital and say labour had begun but tell them that very little was happening and so don't worry about visiting us yet. We would then phone them later and say 'Oh it all happened so fast that we didn't have chance to call you back!' But what if I have another labour like the one with Luna, which lasts for 23 hours. At some point a midwife will 'pop in' to check all is well and I can hardly pretend I'm miles away from delivering if I'm not! Hmm. Makes me wish I'd never involved the maternity services at all!
On Friday 8th June our very good friend An had and NCT open house. Although we don't live in the same borough she has 6 children of her own which of course means our children have a truly super time playing while we're there and she is a good home ed friend and I love to support her where possible. The subject of maternity services always seems to crop up as 3 or 4 of the regular Moms there are pregnant. I had an opportunity to discuss the type of delivery I would like and it made me realise that I'm not daft and I'm not alone because plenty of people believe the best option is to deliver unaided. 'An' even said that if we needed support she would come along and help us deliver! I really feel like we have no need to visit the surgery anymore now because An is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth. Especially the alternative sort that I'm hoping for!
We've been reading a book that An recommended called 'The Power of Pleasurable Childbirth' which talks about one woman experiences of childbirth, both assisted and unassisted. It is really interesting and is certainly food for thought! She actually sacked her midwife days before she delivered her second child! Hmmm!