I'm 36 weeks pregnant now. The midwife came round last weekend to talk about having the baby at home. She was meant to arrive between 3.30 and 4pm but she didn't get to us until 6.45pm. I was her twelfth visit. She's a great midwife and looked after me when I was expecting Fington. She's been doing the job for years and is ridiculously experienced and knowledgeable. She really puts me at ease. It's a shame that good people like her are so stretched in their work through lack of support (financial and otherwise). And yet she doesn't moan, she carries on and gets on with her job. When is the midwife shortage going to get addressed I wonder?
Anyway, as husband wrestled the boys into bed, the midwife went through everything I need to know for a homebirth. When I'm in labour and get to the point where I can't talk during contractions then I need to ring the delivery suite and they'll send out the on-call midwife. She'll then get a second midwife or midwife assistant to come out and join her. The only problem is Fington was born very shortly after I got to the 'can't talk' stage. If that happens again we need to call an ambulance.
Continue reading "Planning the homebirth" »
Watching the Cutting Edge program on surrogacy, I was left in two minds: are these women brave or are they mad?
Going through the pregnancy and all it entails: sausage fingers, stretch marks, swollen ankle, no sleep, explosive heartburns... and give the baby away? It is almost like putting your womb for rent, free of charge... Now I personally think that renting it to my own children is an OK deal. They are in for a long life of repayments: lots of public embarrassments, kisses in public, Papa doing the Madness dance at parties, sharing their childhood stories with potentially important girlfriends... Ok, I agree with you, their Dad doing the Madness dance is a very high price to pay, but it is nothing compared to the total cost of Tum Tums during my two pregnancies!
Continue reading "Surrogate mums ... brave or mad?" »
