Meeting the Midwife

I had my first appointment with the midwife today. It's a good thing Mark didn't try to take time off work because she was running almost 40 minutes late. Her name is Irene McClure but she said someone named Mackenzie normally runs the clinic so it might not be her I see next time.

These appointments are obviously geared towards someone who doesn't know the first thing about anything, at least she wasn't too demeaning when she realized I knew a thing or two.

She did seem slightly unimpressed when I told her I was worried about the state of British hospitals. I think she was hoping I'd be willing to have the baby at the Rankin Maternity Unit in Inverclyde... but they don't even have a doctor on staff there! (So that was an emphatic no from me.) She says that Paisley has recently been upgraded so I shouldn't be worried, but I had her book us in for a tour of the hospital anyway. Tour is on June 24th. I'll definitely be taking pictures. They'll just have deal with it! The only real plus I saw for Paisley as compared to the other Glasgow hospitals that is that while Paisley has about 3000 births per year the Southern General has more like 6000. (She compared it to a production line.) I do wonder whether more women go to those hospitals because they're BETTER hospitals in some way. I guess I have 8 months to investigate! Oh there was one other plus: You get 2 scans if you go to Royal Alexandria Hospital - Paisley(RAH from here on out) compared to only one at the Glasgow hospitals, and you know us. We're all for finding out if this little meatball is a boy or girl!

I have a few books and multiple booklets now. There's a folder with all my information in that I'm supposed to take everywhere with me... I think I may wait until I'm at least a few months before I start worrying about attaching it to myself! :)

The only thing medical they did was to take my blood pressure and it's a normal 118/78.

I'd like your opinion though. Irene told me not to eat peanuts or peanut butter. A few years ago the Department of Health was saying not to eat peanuts when pregnant because peanut allergies may be triggered when tiny amounts of peanut protein cross the placenta, however recently the FSA has recommended that the DOH change its advice because there is not enough evidence showing that avoiding peanuts will affect your child's chances of becoming allergic to nuts. What do you think?? Did you avoid peanuts? Should I avoid peanuts? I don't have any food allergies at the moment.