midwife meeting

We met with Vicki last night. Ended up taking the boys with us because Josh’s mom has been watching them quite a bit this week, and I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal to take them with. They were a bit of a handful, but she was understanding and had toys and books for them to play with.

She lives in a cute house with all sorts of kitty decorations. Her license plate on her car said "midwyf" and she had a big bumper sticker that says, "Babies love being caught by midwives." She greeted us with a big smile on her face, and immediately we saw 4 kitties roaming around her house. And three turkeys in her backyard! She took us into her office where she has picture after picture of her and adorable newborn babies plastered all over the walls. Turns out she knows the midwife I used with Xavier. Basia was from the Chicago area, and she’s met her a few times. Small world. We clicked very well. She is able to do any and all testing someone would normally receive during a pregnancy, but she is perfectly fine with me opting out of it. She also has access to ultrasounds, via a CNM friend. She was very accomodating when I told her Josh really wants to find out the gender before he gets deployed, and she immediately got out her little wheel and calculated the earliest time we could get an ultrasound in so he would be there. She charges much less than what I anticipated, and is able to bill insurance. She said it depends on how good the insurance is as to whether or not they pay, but I have Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO, and she said they’ve always paid atleast something. She’s generally hands off, which is what I heard about her when I was referred to her. But that’s exactly what I want. She also has an apprentice who is currently a doula. She was very understanding and patient with all of Josh’s questions, because he is a bit hesitant about everything. I think meeting with her last night eased some of his worries, though. When she found out Josh was most likely going to be in Iraq when the baby is born, she was very supportive of that as well, and made sure I would have a support system to lean on and made it clear she would be available for anything I should need.

I’m very pleased. I think I’ll set up my first prenatal visit to be around the second week of April. We should be able to pick up a heartbeat by then. I’ll be 12 weeks.

The boys and I are heading to Target for diapers, wipes, playdoh and children’s tylenol. And possibly a few other things. I can never walk out of Target with just the things on my list.