felt like home

I am only being semi-dramatic in saying that, but, seriously, the OB MBL and I met with yesterday was awesome. I haven't shared a whole lot (yet) on here about our birth plans, but basically I made the crazy decision to have our baby near where my parents' live. This decision was made after realizing that MBL may not be able to be around as much as he was after Piper was born and, if I have another c-section, I will need some serious help taking care of Piper (and the new baby). My sister lives close to us, but has three precious kiddos of her own and she is the only family nearby. So, after looking at the hospitals near my parents and realizing how awesome it would be to have two extra adults to help me, we decided to deliver near them.

It's a great plan, but it means that I need to establish care with an OB near them so that I actually know someone in the area capable of delivering my baby. So, I did some goo.gling and discovered there was a practice in the area that does a great job of supporting VBACs. I made an appointment so we could meet with them over Christmas break and that's exactly what we did yesterday. It's a practice that has both OBs and Midwives and they explained to me on the phone that the first appointment is always with a midwife and any following appointments will either be with the rotation of midwives or OBs (whomever I choose to see). The midwife was incredible. She was attentive and funny and so personable! When I explained to her my low fluid she listened carefully and even offered to make sure my bag of waters hadn't ruptured, but she added, "It means having to stick a speculum up your hoo-ha which isn't much fun at 20 weeks." As soon as she said the term "hoo-ha" I knew I had found the right practice. And, so, as dramatic as it sounds, going there felt like going home meaning that it feels like the right place to be receiving care. When MBL was teasing me about using my doppler and getting easily scared about something going wrong, the midwife assured me that the last thing they want is for me to be scared about anything, so they want me to call if I ever have any concerns. Music to an infertiles/scared preggo's ears!! The great thing is that all of their VBAC practices are perfectly in line with what I am looking for and I just really feel that they will be able to offer me the delivery I want. Oh, and I promise I will be talking about that very soon!

Now on to even better stuff... Today MBL and I got to see baby boy again. Due to the fact that we were out of town at 20 weeks, my doc went ahead and gave me an order to have an ultrasound done wherever I could get in. It just so happened that the MFM department of the local hospital could squeeze me in today. And, as a bonus, they not only checked my fluid level (the real reason for the scan), but gave me a full level II scan! It was done by both a tech and the doc and it was probably the most thorough ultrasound I've ever received. We told her that we were originally sent for the scan due to fluid and after 10 or so minutes she told me that even though she hadn't done the official measurement yet, she could tell that I did not have low fluid. She said my fluid looked normal today! And, after getting a lot of the images and measurements she needed, she finally took the official AFI and it was 11cm!!! I really wanted to see the number be above 10 and it was!! I actually started to cry. I have been drinking a gallon of water a day, so it was definitely nice to see some improvement. When the doc came in and looked at my fluid he said it looked great and that really true AFI measurements can't be done until after 20 weeks. He also said that it can be difficult to get a good measurement when there is (my) bowel in the way, which there was today and during my two scans with my OB. He basically released me from having to see him again and said I should have an uneventful pregnancy. Considering this guy is the go to guy for high risk pregnancies, I'm inclinded to trust what he has to say. I'm still going to stick with drinking a gallon of water a day and I still want my OB to follow up with me until at least 28 weeks, but all in all I'm going to relax again. I'm even going to start running again (but I'm going to make myself drink 2 extra 20 ounces water bottles after those workouts). We are so thankful for this news!

Have you ever had that a-ha moment when you met the "right" doctor? Do you feel like you receive good or superior medical care? What makes you feel that way?