August 10th Midwife Appointment & Hiring A Doula

Shortly after my last post, we began the process of hiring a doula. We began by finding profiles online in addition to the two reccomendations we'd received from the midwife. Once we narrowed down the list to 15, I began the initial phone interviews. This took 2 days and narrowed it down to 3 doulas, whom we arranged to have face-to-face interviews with the following week. Ironicly , the one doula whom I had favored from the very first time I read her bio and still favored after the phone interview, turned out to be the doula we hired! All that wasted time! ;-p Her name is Donna Hayes and she was a Labor and Delivery Nurse before becoming a doula. We found that her experience and personality were a perfect match for Luke and I. As part of her job, Donna attended our last midwife appointment with us and just today made her first prenatal visit to our home. She has also offered us the use of her "library" and we already have 2 of her books on loan. We are very pleased with our decision.

As for my August 10th midwife appointment, all went as usual. My weight gain is back to where it should be and my blood pressure is still good. Also, I took my glucose test just before the appointment and didn't hear anything back, which should mean that it came out normal (no gestational diabetes!!!). But on a side note, the nurse who took my blood must have been new because I've always been told what easy veins I have, and she not only didn't get the vein, she then proceeded to wiggle the stupid needle around under my skin "trying to find it" because "it was moving"!!! She didn't stop until I suggested that she try my other arm where I'd been stuck so many times during fertility testing that there is actually a tiny freckle-sized dot telling her where to aim! Needless to say, I was sore for a while afterward. :-(

As for anything else new....
Ethan's movements are pretty nearly constant now. He does take naps, but most of the time he is MOVING. In fact, he's so strong now that even Luke can see him pressing against my belly. It's like something from that movie "Alien". Which reminds me that starting tomorrow I am supposed to count and record how long it takes Ethan to make 10 movements. I am supposed to count for 1hr each day starting whenever I feel that he is awake.
Also, as you will see in the following pictures, my belly is now so large that I have actually outgrown a couple maternity tops! And in comparing my belly pics I've noticed for the first time just how much other parts of me have grown as well! Was I really that skinny before??? It's amazing what perception does to your self image! Suddenly, I'm thinking "dang I looked good!" LOL Trust me, that's not what I thought at the time!
And last but not least I am uploading the long-awaited Week #20 (June 20th) ultrasound pics. Enjoy!