My first midwife appointment.

I keep forgetting to update this thing...

I went to my first appointment with a midwife group here in TN. I really wanted to do a home birth, but it looks like that is just not going to work out. I'm sure my family can have a HUGE sigh of relief. My insurance does cover home births, but all of the midwives that deliver at home around here want most of the money for the birth down before they deliver. The reason for this is because the insurance companies take their time paying them. Since they do not deliver nearly as many babies as doctors and midwives in the hospital, they need their money. We just do not have the extra money to pay for the birth and wait for up to a year to get it back.

I had such a hard time finding a midwife! Around here there are no birthing centers. There are no hospitals that have a water birthing suite and only ONE that even allows midwives to deliver. So we are going with them. Our hospital that we will be delivering at is about 45 minutes away. But I want a natural birth and I want a specific birth plan. I know that midwives will be much more supportive in my decisions. Mike might even 'catch' this baby. He's debating it :) If not, maybe I'll deliver the baby. How exciting would that be? For those of you concerned, we WILL be in a hospital with nurses and midwives right there. Everything will be fine :)

So I met with my midwife. She seems very nice. She was loving on Jacob and talking and playing with him the whole time we were there. She talked me through everything and even gave me a hug before we left. I still have to meet with 4 other midwives in her group, but I'm praying she will be there for the delivery.

I'm a little concerned because when she did the internal exam with her hand and felt the baby she thought I measured about 7 weeks, although I was 10 weeks at the time. She told me not to worry, that an ultrasound would better date the pregnancy. So in two weeks I am scheduled for an early dating ultrasound. I'm really just trying to stay calm and think positive. I can never have a normal pregnancy! There is always some type of scare! On the brighter side, I am having no typical signs of miscarriage.

Jacob is learning new words every day! He's even pointing at different animals in books and saying what they are. Kitty, Doggy, Ducky, and Bear are some of his favorite words to say. He knows where many of his body parts are and he is OBSESSED with bellies. He is constantly lifting up our shirts, pointing at our bellies and saying "Belly!". It can be quite annoying at times...

He is learning how to use a spoon and fork. If you try to feed him with one, forget it. He screams and refuses to eat until you give it to him. Talk about Mr. Independent.

My goal this week is to charge our video camera so I can capture a lot of the funny things he has been doing lately. Especially the dancing. I won't even try to explain it, you'll see it when I post it :)

We'll be down for Christmas! I think we'll be down December 20 (or 21st?) and staying until te 28th. I'm not positive on the dates, I have to get with Mike to be sure.

For Thanksgiving we'll be eating dinner with our friends Mandi and Steve and their family. It was very nice of them to invite us. It will be my first Thanksgiving without my family so it will be nice not to be alone eating chinese.

Love you all and talk to you soon!

And just for giggles here is a picture of Mike passed out on the couch... giving birth to a cat.

Election Day!

Earlier in the week Mike and I did early voting. Jacob went too, but unfortunately he's too young to vote. That's too bad too, because this kid probably watches more news than some adults.

Here's to hoping Mr. McCain miraculously comes through!

PS: Don't you just love our patchy yard??

I thank God for my life

And for the stars and stripes

May freedom forever fly, let it ring

Salute the ones who died

And the ones that give their lives, so we don`t have to sacrifice

All the things we love

-Chicken Fried, The Zac Brown Band

Happy Halloween

A couple of weeks ago we visited a pumpkin patch about an hour away from our home. Jacob had a really great time! It was very kid friendly. They had a little petting zoo with all baby animals, a corn maze, hay ride, a corn crib (it was almost like a huge sandbox, but it was filled with corn!), and all other kinds of neat things. He loved looking at the ducks and quacking at them! He also got to feed a goat and and had a baby cow chew on his pants! His favorite part had to be playing on the antique tractor. We could not get him off of the thing!

For Halloween we decided to have Jacob be Obi-Wan Kenobi. All I did was turn the Friar Tuck costume I made him for the Renaissance Festival into a jedi robe. Good thing when I first made it I left the hems really big just in case it needed to be taken out later. He sure has grown a lot since then! I also made him a v-neck shirt and put a long sleeve brown shirt underneath. Brown pants, boots, light saber, Darth Vader candy bucket and voila! Baby jedi!

Mandi, Steven, and Genesis met us up at the 'town square' where all the local shops were passing out candy. Genesis was dressed up as princess Leia. They were so cute together! We got a few pictures, but they weren't being very cooperative :)

After we were done collecting all the candy (for Mommy & Daddy to eat!) Jacob met some much older kids. One was dressed up as the Grim Reaper and the other was also some sort of Jedi with a light saber. Jacob even battled one of the kids with his light saber! It was hilarious! He was very weary of the boy dressed up as the Grim Reaper. He had a painted on scary face and Jacob was just not sure of him. All in all we had a pretty good time!

Just for fun here are a few pictures from Jacob's first Halloween. He was only one month old and oh so tiny!!