12 weeks

Today I had my second midwife appointment, and baby and I are both doing pretty well so far. I was officially 12 weeks along last Friday, and aside from a 24-hour bout of morning sickness, this pregnancy has been much easier on me so far. With Elliott I was super duper sick for the first five months or so, and I haven't really thrown up this time. I have felt very, very tired and lazy, and I get teary at silly things on the tv. I look more pregnant in the evenings than in the mornings, but so far I can get most of my pants to button up still.


Elliott seems to be pretty unfazed by the whole ordeal, although I am considerably less fun to play with because of the baby in my tummy. Sometimes he plays along and says he has a baby in his tummy too.


According to the pregnancy books and websites the baby is somewhere between the size of a lemon and the size of a peach. My only cravings are cheesy foods and cold snacks (popsicles, coconut snow cones, ice cream).

I decided not to use the hospital here and sought out another midwife, making the hospital I will deliver at about 50 miles away (yikes). I love the midwife and am happy with my decision, but have found that the hospital we had Elliott at was a lot more crazy-hippie-friendly than the hospitals in Tulsa are. I toured our hospital's labor and delivery floor and immediately outed myself as a weirdo, I guess. When the nurse who gave the tour explained that about an hour after birth they take the baby to the nursery for a bath and normal procedures I immediately objected.

"I don't want my baby taken out of my room."
"Oh, well we just normally clean them up and get you settled in the post-partum room..."
"I understand, but I don't want my baby taken away from me unless there is a medical need. Can't you do the bath in our room? Or just wait?"
"....(uncomfortable look)...We'd have to check."

Apparently no one really questions hospital protocol here. Of all the hospitals in the Tulsa metro area, this one is the only one with a tub to labor in (a proven method of coping with labor pains) and the lady said in all the time she had worked there she had only seen two people use it. In Ann Arbor, the rooms with the labor tubs were so coveted that they recently remodeled the whole labor and delivery unit so there would be more tubs available. Aside from that, the unit was lovely and I think we can make it work (so long as I can survive the drive there).