Baby Waldock Update

As of tomorrow, we will be 33 weeks along, so we (or I, at least) are beginning to count down the days. This pregnancy really has gone quickly... probably because we have been so busy with traveling and visiting churches and all.Rachel and baby girl Waldock at 30 weeks

Our sudden change in plans last month also changed our plans about where this little one is to be born. All of a sudden we were scrambling to find someone to deliver this baby! As I began to call around , I quickly discovered several important things:

1. Most OB/GYN offices won't accept new maternity patients after 20 weeks. I was already 28 weeks along when we realized that the baby would be born in the States!
2. The one doctor's office I found that would accept me as a patient would not allow me to choose my doctor, and because my prenatal appointments (the few remaining) would be on a rotation basis with the various doctors, so there was a strong likelihood that someone would be delivering our baby whom we had never met.
3. The birth center (with midwives) in N.C. that some friends have had really good experiences with no longer delivers babies.
4. Midwifery (with the aid of a doctor on hand) is legal in VA, but not in N.C.
5. There are no birth centers near where my parents live in VA, so if we were to go with a midwife, it would have to be either in the hospital, or in the home.

After quite a bit of deliberation and looking around, we finally decided to have a home birth with a Virginia midwife. Yes, we are currently living in N.C., but we are only 2 hours from my parents' house in VA, so we are planning for our little one to be born there. We will head up to stay with them about a week before the baby is due (both of our other children have been slightly early), and stay there for about a week after she is born.

It will be interesting to have a home birth after having two hospital births. But both other babies were born completely naturally, so we didn't have anything done in the hospital that wouldn't be available at home.

We have found a very good midwife in VA who is very professional and is even a Christian! She says that all seems to be going well with the little one. Baby's growth is right on track, and she's head down, ready to meet the world in just a few short weeks.