Hands Off

By Emily

Our first midwife appointment was a few weeks ago and it went well. We met one midwife who works in a team of four. We'll get to know two better and eventually meet all four and then at the birth we get whoever is on call. Assuming we like all the midwives, this shouldn't be a problem. At the appointment we discussed Jackie's medical history and answered some questions. The midwife took Jackie's blood pressure and that was the only medical thing that happened. She didn't even look or touch Jackie's belly/body! The Dutch system appears to be quite hands-off which is taking some getting used to. It does lend itself for me being more involved in Jackie's birth which I am seeing as a wonderful thing!

Last week Jackie had to give blood. SEVEN whole vials!! I went with her to the lab and surprisingly I felt ill and got sweaty from watching!! We don't know the results until mid March when we go back to the midwife and they are just testing for routine stuff.

Our next appointment is our first ultrasound on 18 Feb!! We are looking forward to actually seeing our little baby and hopefully hearing its heartbeat. I have to mention that J's belly is already showing and she's only 10weeks 3days - I keep telling her she has twins in there! Or just a giant viking baby:-)