Sandy's Surprise -- Unassisted Home Birth

Aaaahhhh, my back! I woke up at 5 AM and it was *killing* me. Just down the left side. It's so weird! I have no idea why! I wonder if the baby is in there chuckling to himself as he kicks me on that side and hears me whimper. He's lucky he's in there and not out here where I could get my hands on him!

Seriously though, I tried to get Tim to massage it and it just burned/ached so bad. Ugh! Good thing I don't have to get up and go to work like a "normal" person!

Add this to the "Zeus" list: Tim likes the name Thaddeus. He said he had always thought it was "interesting". I quickly vetoed that! It makes me think of the gypsy with the rotting nose in the book Thinner by Stephen King. ::shudder::

Although to his credit, he does seem to LOVE the name Levi, which is normal. He also likes Joshua and Noah but I don't think he likes them enough for them to stick and for us to name our son that. I love both names, so either would be fine with me. Why aren't men as easy-going about names as women are?? It would make things SO much easier!

On another note, the base hospital called yesterday. They said that my 20 week ultrasound didn't capture the baby's eyes, lips or heart so they recommended I get another one. But get this -- they said because I had told them I was also seeing a midwife, that the doctor wouldn't order me one! They said to talk to my midwife about getting another one ordered.

So I asked them how the heck the MW was supposed to order one, since she's obviously not a military doctor, and they told me to figure it out (but not in so many words). I was really frustrated, so I told them I was seeing the OBs on base at the same time as my midwife. Nope, that wouldn't work, I needed to pick ONLY them in order to get that u/s ordered.

So I said okay, I'll only see you guys for prenatal care. Nope, I have to GIVE BIRTH in the base hospital for them to order it. So I said, "Fine! I plan to give birth there!" And then they went ahead and ordered it. Tim is currently looking through the handbook and going to call Tricare to see if this is just them penalizing us and being spiteful or if there's actually any truth behind this little policy. It's ridiculous how hard they make it for you to birth at home!

I'm actually thinking of nixing the midwife anyway. Not because I want to give birth in the base hospital (ew!), but because I think I want to give birth at home -- alone. I feel like it's my birth and my body. And I am a really private person, so I don't want someone in the room with me when I'm doing something as intimate and giving birth to my son! Maybe in the future, unassisted homebirths will be more common and we'll have more resources available to us!

Tim is so not comfortable with this, but our midwife gives us a kit in the third trimester anyway, should the baby come before she can get here. And I know how to deliver babies from EMT school. It's really not hard.

In the case of an emergency, we would do what the midwife would do -- infant CPR or uterine massage, and call 911. The hospital is literally 5 minutes away by car, so I know an ambulance would be faster. Anyway, I am trying to get Tim on board but so far he is not going for the whole unassisted thing. I told him hundreds of thousands of people in the US do it everyday, but so far no cigar. Ah well, maybe we can reach a middle ground somehow.

And... 21 WEEK PARTY!!!