Ultrasound & Birth Centre

On Tuesday we went to have our second ultrasound to check that everything’s developing well with the baby. Again, I didn’t drink enough water (a large bladder pushes the womb upwards so it’s easier for the technician to make all the measurements) so the lady decided to tilt the bed backwards. It was…..interesting………to say the least and a couple of times I felt like I was going to slide off the bed!

Since there is less room this time, our baby wasn’t moving as much as last time. And since it’s bigger, you can't see the whole body in the one shot so it wasn’t as exciting as the last ultrasound. But we did get to see the baby’s hands and feet in great detail, as well as the heart pumping the blood at 153 beats a minute! Look at attached photo of our baby waving to the world.

From head to butt the baby is now a little over 15 centimetres long. And the technician should be able to tell the sex. Although we told her as soon as we walked in that we didn’t want to find out, we couldn’t help but notice when she made a gender specific comment! Even though it was just the once, it did put ideas in our heads.

After the ultrasound we also met our midwife, Alex, for the first time. She was very nice and understanding and I think it’ll be great to have her at the birth. She gave us the option to give birth at the birth centre or the delivery clinic. “What’s the difference?!” I hear you ask. We asked the same question too. Basically, the birth centre offers a setting similar to a home birth. They don’t perform continuous monitoring and provides little intervention. They also don’t offer any hard drugs (e.g. epidural) but will give me a little happy gas to ease the pain. The delivery clinic, just around the corridor, has a more clinical setting. You’ll be hooked up to all the machines monitoring everything and they will intervene and offer drugs when needed. When Alex showed us a room in the birth centre, our minds were easily made up. It looked like a normal bedroom, with a double bed (so dad can also get in) and a huge bathroom with an enormous bath tub (if you want to give water birth a go) and an equally big shower. You also get to have the room by yourself and if you need intervention or drugs at any stage, just say the word and they’ll walk you right into the delivery clinic. So it’s the best of both worlds! I hope I will be strong enough and that the birth will be smooth enough for us to stay in the birth centre the whole time.

Again, the hospital is impressing us with its endless good service and first class facilities. I don't think anyone has been as excited to go stay in a hospital as me! In a few weeks we'll be doing some classes on the birth and breast-feeding, plus a hospital tour. I'm sure there'll be more impressive hospital updates to come.

Bye bye for now......*baby waves good-bye to everyone*

Love,

Viv