Midwife Visit and Updates

I went to see Carolyn, the midwife today. I have to say that the visit went really well! I opted to go by myself this time and then Jessie can attend my appointments later on when I actually do get pregnant. After talking to him about it, I think we are definitely going to opt for the homebirth and choose her to be our midwife. I have spoken with a few other midwives, but she was the only one who offered a consultation. She seemed so organized and nice. We see eye to eye on a lot of things, which I sort of expected. Natural remedies. Cloth diapers. Breastfeeding. Etc. She asked about my experience with the hospital. I told her a little about it. She says it sounds like they took advantage of me being so young, and that the same thing happened to her. She was a teen Mom. She said that she believes being a young Mom is a great thing! She agrees with me that that is how God made our bodies, to give birth young. She said she loves being a young grandmother too, because now she can go zip lining with them and all sorts of active things. We talked about natural ways to help with conceiving. She mentioned a red clover infusion and natural progesterone cream, which they apparently sale both at Earthfare. She told me that I need to switch the prenatal vitamins to something that is whole food based instead of vitamins that were made by a formula company. I didn't even think about that! We also talked a little about ultrasounds and she informed me of the safest time in pregnancy to have one, and why I wouldn't want to have one early on. I met her assistant, who is a sweet, younger lady, who also wished us Happy Baby Making! And then she showed me around. She said we would have two options: We could do a birth at home. And they would come to our house when we got into the mid stages of labor. Or we could give birth at the center. (It is an attachment to her house. It has several rooms, a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, etc. Very small and homey, with a nice tub and birthing balls and such.) You only stay for 4 hours afterward, or if you give birth in the middle of the night, you can choose to stay the night. The only thing that I was sort of iffy about is that Samantha can not be there during the birth part, without another adult present, besides Jessie since he is the Dad. She says that way if she gets scared, there will be somebody who can take her. I do not want anybody else there besides Jessie. But I don't want to leave her out! I don't know what to do about that...When I do get pregnant, I may try to see what our other options are. She said they offer classes for first time parents or parents who are going for a homebirth after a hospital birth. She sent home a folder full of information for me to look over. (I am going to do that when Jessie gets home.) All of her visits are about an our. She said it is so she can get to know you and you can talk about what foods you are eating and what foods you should start eating for that stage of development in the baby. Or how you are feeling and natural ways to make the feelings go away. That sort of stuff. The best part about it is, she takes payments and her services are extremely affordable! It is only $2,700 for all the prenatals, delivery, and post partum-which includes help with breastfeeding and such.

Another thing, while I am thinking about it, Jessie has really hopped on board with this whole organic thing! I have been buying mostly organic since we moved out of my Moms, but there are some things like his lunches and drinks that are not organic because he wasn't concerned about switching his diet to fit that. But out of nowhere Monday, he wanted to go to Ingles and get some ORGANIC lunches! He is going to start eating salads, so we got lettuce, onions, croutons, baby carrots, and ranch-ALL organic! I didn't even know they sold organic sauces!(We compared ingredients in the organic and non organic ranches and his eyes got big. He was like..."What have I been eating?")

He was so strict about what we bought, he said that we could not have dinner rolls because it had enriched, bleached wheat flour in it. And instead of asking to buy Arizona tea like we normally do, he opted for organic green tea. He even said we can check out Earthfare to compare prices. (Some stuff, like chips and such that we can't find organic at WalMart will be a lot easier to find there. I really have to search at WalMart for healthy, organic alternatives.)

After Ingles, we went to the local fruitstand, which Samantha usually enjoys. He found several fresh fruits that were grown in the area. Some were grown in Florida and shipped up here because of the colder season, but he says none of it is sprayed with pesticides. :)

Also, both of my recent speeches went over very well. I definitely want to continue to do that as my main focus at the center. Both the audiences that I spoke to were very receptive and several people have already told me that it touched them or made a real difference for them. It also made a real difference in Jessie. I spoke in front of him for the first time on Sunday, and I can see a difference in how compassionate and loving he is. He is different in so many ways, even being more careful with money and such...I don't know what my story has to do with that, but he said it made him realize he needs to change. Anyway, getting off topic...here it the link to a post I wrote on my last speech at Rocky Face Baptist Church: 

http://hernameislucymarie.blogspot.com/2013/01/human-life-sunday-at-rocky-face-baptist.html

Lastly, here is Sam's recital outfit for June! They are preforming to the song, "I'm Cute" by Animaniacs.