Booking in (10 weeks)

Yesterday was our booking in appointment.  The lady who saw us seems nice - which is what you'd expect from a community midwife :D She explained that whilst there were two midwives based at the health centre, she would hopefully be taking most of our appointments for continuity of care.
We went through the questionnaire on lifestyle, health and family history that I had been given at the time of booking and discussed how to proceed with regards to my family's strong predisposition to kidney disorders (6 incidents in 3 generations but doctors still insist it isn't genetic.) We agreed to review where we stood after the mid-term anomaly scan.
She scored some big points with us when she actually listened to what I was saying about my concerns regarding group B strep in our family.  Rather than giving me the party line about drugs given during labour to protect the baby, she acknowledged the worry I carry as a result of my baby sister's extreme prematurity and subsequent death.  I admit, I did feel a little better once it was clear she had heard what I was trying to say.

My height and weight were taken (I've apparently shrunk since the doctor last measured me, lolz) and blood pressure, all of which were fine.  Unfortunately, when the midwife (W) tried to draw blood for the basic screening tests we had agreed to, the vein she was trying to take it from collapsed.  I've always had good veins and this has never happened to me before.  It actually felt quite embarrassing, though I've no idea why (chalk it up to hormones.)
And speaking of hormones: the leaflets that went into the pregnancy information pack we were given included a breast feeding guide.  W asked us if we were thinking to breast feed and I answered that we planned to for as long as we were able.  I got quite teary at this and we had some giggles at my expense before we concluded by making our 15 week appointment (Yay!) and arranging for me to visit vampire nurse for the screenings (Boo!)

After that, we spent a very pleasant afternoon in town with a leisurely lunch at a restaurant we rarely allow ourselves and time shopping for little necessities.  And whilst it may be a little early in the game, I finally conceded to buying a maternity bra. Yes, I may need to invest again later but I have an active job and the girls need better support than they've been getting.  I only wish I had opened the pregnancy information pack whilst we were still in town, where we could have claimed our mum-to-be bounty pack.