Pregnancy Journal: Week 8

It's week eight and I feel great!  Last week, I spent Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday on bedrest.  It was rather boring and even a bit difficult to do, but also very necessary.  The girls LOVED the extra tv time and laying in bed reading books with mama!  Andrew took Thursday off from work to make sure that I stayed off my feet.  He took excellent care of us.  He waited on me hand and foot.  He fed us, cleaned the kitchen, cared for and played with the girls, grocery shopped, etc.  Friday afternoon, I was released from bedrest, but still put on no lifting restrictions.  Andrew has continued to do much of everything around here...at least everything that has anything to do with lifting, including grocery shopping.  This is a big deal because he does not like to grocery shop, but he has been doing it without complaint.  I always feel like I have a mile-long to-do list, but I have had to put much of that on hold this week while I take the extra time to rest and grow this baby. 

Last week, we met with a midwife that is about 45 minutes from us.  We liked her and decided to go with a homebirth.  As this week progressed, I started wondering if I had made the right decision.  I liked her, but I hadn't interviewed anyone else.  On a whim, I contacted my sister's midwives.  They are located about three hours from us, so I knew they would not be able to assist me, but perhaps they could refer me to someone.  They did.  They let me know of a birthing center that is right here in our town, only ten minutes from our house and four minutes from the hospital (should baby or me need to be transferred).  They offer homebirths, birthing center births, water births, etc.  We toured the place yesterday and met with the head midwife.  I liked the first midwife as well as these, but this place seems more practical.  It's closer, it's cheaper, they take my insurance, they have more birthing options, etc.  So I feel comfortable that we'll be going that direction.   While we were there, the midwife attempted to hear our baby's heartbeat, but being just barely eight weeks, it was still too early.  That didn't surprise me.  We never heard our girls' heartbeats until after 10 weeks, but it was nice of her to try.

This week I have started to feel more pregnant.  I haven't actually been sick, but there have been several times that I was sure I was going to be.  It's not a pleasant feeling at the time, but it makes me feel a little more reassured during these first few critical weeks.