Check-in and Check-up

Today was our final appointment with the midwives. I will miss them. They have been so great through the pregnancy, birth and postnatal care. I don't think I could have gotten through any of it without them. the personal treatment they provide is so much above and beyond what I feel an OB could have given me.
I strongly urge everyone to consider midwifery with your next pregnancy. Here are some of the benefits (this may differ for my friends south of the border, but this is what I received):

• longer prenatal appts (avg of 45 mins vs. 15)
• first 3 postnatal appts (days 1, 3 and 5) are in-home; no having to pack up your newborn and go anywhere
• available via phone 24 hours a day. On average it took them only an hour to return my calls. And I called ALOT after Keira was born.
• birthing is ALL they do; OB's are first and foremost trained as surgeons. Midwives spend 4 years studying pregnancy and childbirth only. Most drs spend much less time studying it.
  
• care is through informed consent - all decisions are ultimately yours. You can request or turn down any testing, treatment or plan. They simply provide information and it is up to you to decide your own treatment.
• can handle both home birth and have hospital privileges (we opted for a hospital birth).
  
• can order any routine testing and give prescriptions for the majority of standard prenatal and postnatal prescriptions.
  
• will consult with doctors if you wish or your personal experience demands it (for example, we had an OB consult at the birth since meconium was found in the amniotic fluid; the dr. was there when Keira was born just in case there were complications. my midwife still caught her though). As well, I have had 2 doctor consults postnatally (I will update my health one day on here). I have never felt in better care.
• there is a BC midwifery association, and they are overseen by the BC College of Physicians. They are regulated and mandated by the provincial government, just like doctors are. So if you have issues, there are avenues for you. As well, they must be properly trained and certified.
  
• It is covered by our medical health plan, just like an OB.
• after I was released today, I was offered copies of all my medical documents, for my personal records. As well, they will forward the whole file to my family doctor. I have never had a dr. offer this to me. I felt very in control of my own health with them.

Now that I am off the soapbox, let's get back to what you all want. An update on Keira!

Our chunky monkey continues to grow at a rapid pace; the midwife said she is what they call a "thriving" baby. At her appt today she weighed 11lb 10.5 oz!!!! This is an avg. of 27grams a day. They like to see 15grams. She is just over 24 inches long and her head circumference is 15 inches. Her lungs, heart and chest all sounded good.

As for me, I am only 5lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. Now, this is nearly 15 from where I was at my wedding, but still, I am pretty excited about that. Thank god for breastfeeding!

I will leave you with a recent picture taken by my best friend Amanda. It's my new favourite picture of her!


And a quick shout out to all our new loyal readers, thanks to the birth announcements we sent out. I hope you enjoy the blog!

Keira is 9 weeks, 3 days old