We had our midwife appt this week and it went really well. The measurement of my uterus looks normal so we assume she is growing just fine. Her heart sounded good and after feeling around my belly she told us that she thinks the head is down and butt on my upper right side (as I've been saying for the past month...). So she hasn't really moved in the last month and is ready to dive head first into her new world pretty soon!
We picked a doula this week. She is fairly new, but we have heard good things about her from our childbirth educator, who is also a doula. Our doula recently had her second baby and used our same midwife, childbirth educator, and birthing center, and then decided to become a doula herself and shadowed our childbirth educator. So we are very comfortable with her (well I'm the only one that has met her so far) since she has similar experiences and training that we will be familiar with.
We are slowly finishing up preparations for Ariel's arrival, which the midwife kindly reminded us could be anywhere between 37 and 42 weeks - meaning there only remains <3-8 weeks. Scary. SO. Soon. Hopefully my body and Ariel are understanding that my finals are between 4-6 weeks from now, so she just needs to stay comfortable for another month or so. The crib should be ready soon - the final items have been ordered and should be arriving in the next week. We have the first set of cloth diapers to try out, but will likely need to buy a few more once we figure out which ones we like the best. We still need to figure out our system for rinse/wash/sanitize/dry... I have barely thought about breastfeeding, and am not even going to worry about pumping until fall quarter starts (unless most of my classes are online again!). Next thing to do is the birth plan before/when we meet with the doula in a couple weeks.
I must say that Ariel is already spoiled. All of her aunties, uncles, grandmas/grandpas, blood-related and other, have given her so many supplies, clothes, etc. that half of my room is filled with her stuff now. She has so many cute outfits, and Hieu does not hesitate to buy her everything I think she might need. Ariel is so blessed and loved, and no one except for God even knows her yet!
