Midwife and Pooka's Heartbeat

As part of the process of natural water birth, Erin will have a midwife to help and guide her through pregnancy, labor, and birth. More details on midwifery can be found here. Just like a having dependable doctor, a good midwife is imperative to the birthing process. Once we learned that Erin was pregnant, we did a search for a midwife and found one that we liked with good experience. Over the past few days, Erin and I have learned that our midwife no longer has privileges at the hospital, and we will not know who Erin's midwife will be until a new a midwife is hired and retained by the hospital (which will take a few months and run into Erin's due date). While disappointed, we are still encouraged. Erin has been seeing another midwife for her regular appointments, and that midwife has been helpful for the most part.  In addition, we will be touring the hospital in a few weeks and will make a decision thereafter to move forward with our chosen hospital or choose a new hospital and midwife. As a dad-to-be, these sudden changes make me nervous, but I'm reminded through this process to build more patience and be a positive support to Erin.

In other news, Erin and I checked in with our "temporary" midwife today and we had the opportunity to listen to Pooka's heartbeat! As usual, Pooka doesn't like poking or prodding, and the midwife had to move her device around quite a bit to hear the heartbeat. Nonetheless, Pooka's heartbeat is normal and Erin is progressing right on track in terms of gaining weight and staying healthy. Our next appointment will be in 3 weeks, where Erin will get a few more tests (glucose test and sickle cell screening) and the midwife will be able tell us where Pooka's body parts are located in Erin's womb.

In a few days, I'll post a few more thoughts on the Bradley class. One of the unique features of the Bradley method is that it focuses on husband-coached training. During the labor and birth process, I will have a critical role in supporting Erin and being her advocate during labor. More on that later.

Oh, here a few more pics of mom-to-be!