Lamb and Rice

If you're thinking this sounds like a nice casserole I whipped up this weekend, you'd be thinking wrong. This is the flavor of dog food Fonzie eats, and now, apparently, so does our daughter. All of the sudden, she cannot pass by the dog dish without stooping to snag a handful for herself. A little snack for the road. If not caught in the act, she cruises around the house, happy as a clam, munching the little pellets out of her grubby fist.
Her fondness for this particular food group is obviously disgusting, but also bizarre and confusing. This is the kid who throws even foods that she likes onto the floor, the kid who rarely finishes a meal because she has better things to do, like leave random small objects tucked into the toe of my shoe. What person in their right mind would disdain macaroni and cheese or even cookies, and then trot on over to the germ-filled dog bowl and happily chow down? I don't get it, unless she feels she is owed, due to the generous amounts of her own food that she has willingly shared with the dog. Perhaps she feels she is evening things out a little by helping herself to his meals.
Anyways... Weird, but I'm not sweating it too much. I say, "Aacky!" and try to get it out of her hand when I catch her at it, but I haven't gone so far as to do a throat sweep to remove the chewed-up particle before it slips down into her stomach. I mean, the dog seems to thrive; how bad can it be? It is Purina. Proven to give your pet a longer life! Or is that Iams?
So, on a different note, I am now officially in my second trimester! And, in an amazingly textbook turn of fate, I really do feel much better! As of last week, my incidents of gagging have been few and far between, and other than a little tiredness, and the bursting of my pant waistbands, I feel basically normal. I can't believe I'm a third of the way there... By the end of the summer, there will be four of us.
I have an appointment on Thursday, when I will be about fourteen weeks, give or take a few days. I probably won't get an ultrasound, I'm thinking. By this point they should be able to hear the heartbeat on Doppler, right? I've been trying to think up a reason (strange ovary pains!) for the doctor to go ahead and take a peak around in the 'ole uterus again. I want to see how big the baby is now. Last time I saw it it was... what? A fig? Now it is three inches long, weighs an ounce, and is roughly the size of a jumbo shrimp. (Why do they always compare it to foods? I think it's a real pregnancy milestone when the prenatal books stop referring to the size and shape of your fetus in terms of fruits and appetizers.)
Also, I have began again in earnest my reading of the various library books on birth and babies. And I made a decision: No home birth for me, I'm not quite that willing to trade comfort for technology, but I do want a doula with me at the hospital. A doula is basically a woman who is there to support you emotionally and physically, who will deal with the hospital staff for you if they are being intrusive or trying to push measures on you that you don't want yet, or at all. She takes some of the pressure off of the husband or birth partner, so that he can provide emotional support while she handles a lot of the verbal "coaching" and also the more physical aspects such as massage and counter pressure. She stays at your side through the entire labor.
A doula has to assist at ten births to become certified, as well as go through a training program. Many of them also do postpartum visits, in which they help with the housework, laundry, or watching older children so the mother can rest. All studies done about doulas have shown that women who give birth with a doula tend to have shorter labors, request less medication, receive fewer interventions, and report less pain during birth than women without doulas. Sounds pretty good to me.
I wasn't really sure if I could even find one in this town, though, which is very medically oriented in the tradition sense- lots of hospitals, tons and tons of doctors and specialists, but only two nurse-midwives, no birthing center, and no doulas that I knew of. Through Internet research I did find the names of a few women in our area, though, so I have sent emails and am excited to hear back from them.
Also, I know doulas aren't covered by insurance (even though I think they should be, as a form of preventative care to help you avoid expensive procedures like epidural or iv drugs, but oh well!) So I'm very curious to see what their rates are! Also, if any of you have any knowledge about doulas, please let me know what your experiences were like.