"Hello Mrs Adams, Your Majesty" a brown haired, blue eyed lady greeted us as we walked into her office, after we had been directed by a member of staff. "My name is Emma; and I am going to be your midwife throughout your pregnancy" she advised.
"So you will be there at the birth as well?" Ben asked.
"Yes" she replied.
"Sorry he's inquisitive" I advised as I nodded towards Ben.
"Oi!" Ben said as he looked hurt.
"It's ok," Emma said which made us both look at her. "Most first time fathers are," she added with a small smile. "Yes Your Majesty" she directed at Ben. "I will be there, but I will also do appointments in the community to watch over Mrs Adam's and the baby's condition" she explained.
"Ok" Ben replied as he nodded.
"Right" Emma said as she opened the blue folder that was in front of her. "As Doctor Cameron will have already mentioned" she started. "This first visit will be roughly two hours long," she added. "This is only due to the fact that we have a lot to discuss so I can paint a picture of how you want your pregnancy and birth to go" she said as she picked a pen up.
"Ok" I replied. "What about the other appointments?" I asked.
"As this is your first baby you will have ten appointments but they won't be as long unless you have something that you really want to discuss in depth" Emma answered.
"Ok" I repeated.
"When do we make them?" Ben asked eagerly. "Because I want to make sure that I am there," he stated.
"You make them at the end of each session" she stated.
"Ok" Ben said and I watched him start to get nervous.
"Ben calm down" I said as I took his hand in both of mine and started to squeeze it
"Sorry" he apologised as he looked at me. "I just want you both to be ok" he said sadly.
"And we will be," I said confidently.
"Most pregnancies go without a hitch, Your Majesty" Emma added. "So you all are perfectly safe with me, I have been a midwife for twelve years" she said proudly. "Let's get started," Emma said. "This is your maturity pack; inside of this we will document you and the baby's progress" she said as she tapped the blue folder in front of her. "It also has numbers in case you need to talk to anyone; day or night" she explained. "For the both of you" she said looking from me to Ben.
"Ok" we both said together as we both started to try to get to grips on everything.
So after a very lengthy conversation (which Ben wrote most of it down) things seemed a lot more real now. I now had to take folic acid and vitamin d supplements and watch everything that I was now eating as it could be harmful to the baby. Thankfully as soon as I found out I was pregnant I had been watching what I had been eating, especially after talking to Doctor Cameron and looking at the internet. To be honest I felt like I ate quite healthy anyway, so the diet change wasn't so much of a culture shock. What I didn't like however was the fact strawberries were now giving me vomiting and causing me morning sickness even worse - something that Ben found very humorous given how much I love strawberries.
My lifestyle was also looked at as well as I now had to watch what I was doing; I could still go swimming, take photos, paint and draw but apparently I now couldn't lift things or do anything that would put strain on my body as it could affect the baby. Ben then confidently told Emma that he would make sure that we were both ok and that he would make sure that I didn't lift a finger. I threw him a look and shook my head - this was something that we would need to discuss. There was no way that I could just sit idle until the baby was born!
I had got my blood test results back and Emma said that me and the baby were perfectly normal; which made me and Ben both sigh with relief as we had both been worried. I also received more information on staying healthy; and I was also given fact sheets with general exercises that I would need to do like pelvic floor exercises.
Emma also went into a full explanation of how our baby would develop throughout my pregnancy; and of course Ben had loads of questions. I just let him ask them all; some of the questions I wanted to ask as well but I let Ben be the excited and eager father. However I couldn't resist laughing at him when he pulled a notepad out of his pocket with questions. He simply answered that he didn't want to forget anything.
It was also explained how antenatal classes and breastfeeding workshops worked and we booked the first couple of sessions in; of course so Ben could be there. I could help but smile again at Ben when he told Emma that he didn't want to miss anything.
After some discussion me and Ben decided that we wanted to have our baby at home; it wasn't anything to do with people watching us or anything like that. I just wanted it to be private and intimate; I knew that the world would be waiting with bated breath when they knew that I was in labour. So it sounded nice just to be able to have the moment of our child coming into the world without the pressure of knowing that everyone was watching and listening for the arrival.
I actually was quite proud of Ben; yes he had only found out recently that he was going to be a father; but he had taken to it really well and he was making sure that he knew everything so he could support me. This made me love him even more; and after everything that had happened between the pair of us I was confident of one thing - I couldn't get through this without Ben, as I needed him just as much as he needed me.
