First ultrasound today...

and it was amazing!  My doc found the baby right away, and the heart was beating at 160 beats per minute.  We could see the little hand paddles.  I measured right on track, 8 weeks 2 days.   1.8 cm.  The look on Steve's face was priceless, and I teared up just a little.  I feel like it is waving "Hi!" to us...

Midwife interview #1...

She was an adorable, tiny little thing.  Not too many people are shorter than I am!  She seemed warm and I liked her immediately.  She spent an hour going through her materials, which answered most of my questions.  I only had a few left.  The things that impressed me the most were:

-6% hospital transfer rate for first time moms, 3% C-section rate.
-100% success rate in turning breeches.
-Super knowledgeable about nutrition and herbs - she believes nutrition can make a huge difference in preparing for delivery and avoiding complications.
-Takes on only 3-5 clients per month, so the likelihood of missing my birth is low.
-Works with a local OB who sounds really birth friendly - he delivers twins and breeches naturally!
-Has a great relationship with my insurance company, and can get in-network approval.  This means that instead of her $5,500 fee we could pay nothing or just a little bit.

So I am keeping the appointment with midwife #2 next week, just for comparison purposes.  I feel like I want to make a fully informed decision and not be able to second-guess myself.

Told the family last night...

It was an elaborate set up.  My parents and sister were here from Sweden, Steve's sister was here from North Carolina, and we invited Steve's parents and brother and sister-in-law (with baby niece) under the guise that it would be nice to get everyone together.  My father in law said that he might be too busy with work, so he had to be strong-armed.  John was too busy working on the house, so Steve had to put some pressure on him.  Luckily everyone made it! 

We had dinner and then had a slide show of our vacation pictures from Sweden.  Towards the end the slide show started freezing and Angela said that she had to take Sara home.  I freaked and begged for 5 more minutes.  After probably 10 attempts, we got the slide show back up and raced through the last pictures to the picture of the digital test.  Angela jumped up and screamed, "I knew it, I knew it!"  My mom cried.  I cried.  Everyone congratulated and hugged us.  It turned out great!