I went to see my midwife last week.  She checked to make sure everything was in the right place (it was) and that I was feeling OK (I am).

She also had the results of my blood tests.  I had given some blood last week and they'd sent it to the lab to be tested for any problems that might arise during pregnancy.  An example is iron.  During pregnancy, a mother's body can be depleted of iron by half, since the baby needs lots of iron and can only get it from its mother.  If the test had shown that I had a low iron count, I would have needed to be given a supplement otherwise the baby and I could become anaemic.

I'm pleased to announce that my iron count was (and I'm quoting the midwife here), "fantastic"!  I am happy with this news, especially since I've had criticism from some people because I don't eat meat.  So if it's the iron that the critics were concerned about, well, they can all shut up now, can't they?

Another thing they tested for was gestational diabetes.  Gestational diabetes occurs when a mother can't produce enough insulin (a pregnant woman's insulin needs are two to three times higher than usual).  My results from that test were perfectly normal, so there's one more thing to not have to worry about!

They did some other routine tests as well, all of which were just fine.  It's quite comforting to know that everything's being tested and monitored.  Midwives are great.  So is New Zealand's public health system.