Birthing Center update

Today was the tour of the birthing center I've been wanting to check out. Since we were gonna need to leave around noon anyway, Zach decided to work from home to be more efficient, then we picked up Celine, a new local friend who's also pregnant and wanting to get a look at this place, and were on our way. It's about 20km away on the highway, but it's fairly easy to get to. I wasn't sure how many people to expect to be there, but there were about 3-4 other couples. The midwife went through everything in French, and while I got the gyst of most everything, it definitely was nice to have Celine there to help with a few translations here and there.

The center is small, but cozy and very inviting. The environment just feels really nice. To be honest, I've been just about sold on this place ever since I met with Nathalie, one of the mid-wives who works there (and who would be taking over my prenatal care if I go this route). I just called our insurance company to double-check if they will cover a birthing center birth, and after 35 minutes of being put on hold (and just a few weeks after the calling card number they gave us so as not to get charged long-distance rates stopped working, lovely) I finally got a yes. So now Zach and I just have to have the final talk on this decision. As the analytical scientist I think he's still a bit worried about the "what if's" of not being in a hospital.

Last night what sounded like a pretty good storm blew in, with winds howling and the rain coming down hard. By the time we were leaving the birthing center this afternoon it was still raining, but the sun had also come out and as we began our drive back home we saw a full rainbow, both ends touching the ground, just barely disappearing at the top of the arch. The colors were incredibly vibrant, something that unfortunately the camera had a hard time capturing.