Last appointment

Today was Appointment 3 out of 4 of my once a week appointments. I pretty much get rotated through whichever of the doctors is on call now - Stevens, Hardie, or Hatfield. Dr. Hatfield is the only female, and my regular doctor, but whoever is on call at the time will deliver Lilah when I go into labor. I saw Dr. Hardie today, and I really like him. He's a very thin man with a long, white ponytail. He laughs a lot and is really laid back. I still like Dr. Hatfield better, because Dr. Hardie is so quick and matter-of-fact about his exams. He had Lilah's position and heartbeat done and charted before I knew what was going on!
He wanted to know my birth preferences (Daniel had to pipe up with, "Don't worry, she has a list."), so I told him that I just wanted things to be able to progress as naturally as possible, as long as everything was going well. He said that he had no problems with no IV or monitors, and would tell the nurses that as soon as he made rounds, if he was on call when I came in. Apparently, the nurses can get a little feisty if things aren't allowed to be monitored and controlled. If pregnancy has taught me anything, it's that it is completely unpredictable and subjective from one person to the next.
He asked, not knowing the sex, if we preferred to circumcise our baby if it was a boy. We both emphatically said, "NO!" at the same time. His eyebrows went up, and he said, "Good for you. Even the most hardcore hippies these days want their boys circumcised." I told him about my experience in nursing school watching the circumcisions, and seeing the poor little babies strapped down and screaming, all while the doctor was slicing away at their tiny penises and saying, "It really doesn't hurt them. They just don't like being strapped down." I watched those little faces turn red from screaming and screw up in pain, and I swore I'd never do that to my baby. If he minds that much when he's older, he can have it done when he's old enough to decide for himself. Dr. Hardie said it was one of the only medical procedures this practice won't perform, because they firmly believe it's child abuse. He said he's even seen a few performed later on in life for various reasons, and they're usually avoidable. Even with phimosis (a condition where the foreskin can partially close up over the urinary meatus [the "pee hole", for lack of a better explanation] and makes it difficult or impossible to urinate), steroid cream and estrogen can open it back up and correct the problem in most cases, he told us.
Sorry for the penis rant. Anyway, he said we'd make the last appointment and hope not to make it until then. He asked if I'd lost my mucous plug or had any bloody show (gross, I know, but pregnancy isn't always magical), and if I was having regular contractions. I told him yes, yes, and yes, but only for half-hour periods. He said my body's all set, and he'd hope to see me at the hospital any day. I sure hope he's right!