I may just have to keep a running list of annoying comments people say to pregnant women. Or just me, maybe I’m special. (But I doubt it.)

1. “You’re tired NOW? Wait ’til the baby comes! You won’t be getting any sleep then!” – Thanks, I’m well aware that sleep and babies are kind of mutually exclusive. But that doesn’t mean that the tiredness I feel now is not valid! Hello, I’m pregnant. Of course I’m a little tired. I have actually been getting this comment for years now, since I am very fond of my sleep. I like to sleep a lot. And I’d get these stupid little lectures about how everything will change when I have a baby and I won’t be able to do that anymore. What, like I didn’t realize that? Am I supposed to stop sleeping now, just because I won’t be able to some day? I’m just really missing the point of the whole comment, apparently.

2. “You aren’t going to find out the sex of the baby, right?” – Okay, first of all, that’s not even really a question. Or if they form it like a question, it’s one of those barbed questions. Yes, we are – and I don’t care if you’re my mother or someone I see twice a year, it’s MY decision. You do what you want when you’re pregnant, and I’ll do what I want. Why is that so difficult?

3. “Have you chosen names? You have? Oh you’ll change your mind.” If we haven’t changed our minds in the past one and a half years, I highly doubt we’re going to change it now. Not to mention that it took a whole lot of frustration and argument to come up with the very few choices we have now! But yet again, it’s back to not assuming something about me. (And this is different than someone who knows you well commenting based on their intimate knowledge of you. This is someone who barely knows you, saying they know what you’ll do because that’s what other people do.)

4. “Cloth diapers? You’re crazy. You’ll last two days and realize it’s not so fun.” What, so I’ll suddenly “realize” that disposable diapers are the One True Path? Just because you think I’m crazy because no one in YOUR experience has done it, doesn’t mean that’s the only way. I happen to know a LOT of friends who cloth diaper and are very happy with it. And I will be only too happy to show you, later – to be that person you know who actually did it.

Sigh. And I have a heavy, sinking feeling that this is only the beginning.

I have been dragging my ass since the moment I woke up this morning, even though I slept well and for a decent amount of time, and I have been grouchy to the umpteenth degree. Like grouchy… ready to bite off peoples’ heads. I’ve managed to keep it to myself for the most part, except with Den, when I finally snapped and yelled at him for choosing to disagree with me on something completely inconsequential when he KNEW I was cranky. I really feel like I need to stick a sign on me that says, “DO NOT TOUCH/SPEAK TO/LOOK AT THE CRANKY PREGNANT LADY.” I am just sooooo not in the mood for it. “It” being just about any form of communication.

9 weeks tomorrow! Yay! Something to look forward to! And a BBQ on Sunday to look forward to, as well. And then my birthday on monday (even though I have to work). How fun. Good weekend.

Okay, I really need some sleep.

I crave crepes really bad. Have no milk or cottage cheese though, so I may have to run out tomorrow morning for some. I didn’t have the car today (Den was away all day), so I had to just sit here, suffering, with no milk. NO MILK!

Today I… slept. I’d feel bad about that, but I’m pregnant. I no longer feel like a really grouchy bear woken up mid-hibernation. I actually felt quite good today, after I got up. I put the dishes in the dishwasher and ran it, and did a load of laundry so I’ll have clean clothes for the week. These are big accomplishments for me.

I still don’t think I have the pregnancy fatigue very much, but then again I’ve always been the kind of person who needs 8 hours of sleep. And lately getting it has been very iffy… I tend to stay up to late, and Den rouses me every morning far too early. Since I need the car, I need to get up with him to drive him to work.

Some days (okay, a lot of days) I daydream about what it would be like to have two vehicles. It must be soooo cool. But then I crunch some numbers and realize that we do just fine with just one, lol. We could afford two right at this moment, with me working – but I won’t be working much when baby comes, and baby will require more expenses than we have now. I have NO idea how we’re going to manage to get ANYTHING done with one vehicle and a newborn – driving Den to work in the morning will be quite an ordeal, as I see it – but we’ll figure some way around it. I don’t see me needing the car very often, if I’m not working! I’ll be housebound, but I won’t really want to go anywhere with a newborn, anyways.

And now I am REALLY wanting some fresh-baked cookies. Gah.

We have a lot to do this weekend. I don’t get any time off, just my usual saturday and sunday, so I think by monday evening I’m going to be ready to pass out. I’m really glad I got today as a nothing-day.

Oh, and ps, my 9 week belly pic is in the belly pic page. I look a little, errrr, pale. I had just woken up and wanted to take a photo before I ate! lol I can see a change from last week… a little one, but I’m starting to show. Not sure WHAT I’m showing, blubber? But I’m showing something. LOL!

First of all, we are considering your wise words and talking about looking for a cheap second car. I’m really really sad that I won’t be able to get a Prius – but even used ones are going for $15k, and the monthly payment on a loan of that size would be prohibitive with just one income. So we’ll have to settle for something non-hybrid (garrrrr)… I know the Toyota Civics get good mileage, is a decent size, and you can get them for pretty cheap too. We’ll see. Now that Den is talking about starting to play baseball again it is really making me want a second vehicle. (Since to play baseball he needs the truck to get there straight from work, and he doesn’t get back until late, leaving me COMPLETELY housebound all day.)

Anyways, we had two parties to go to today. I got a little bit of sun in the pool (on my shoulders, of course), while I floated lazily around and nearly napped on the inner tube. I was so tired around 1pm when we got there, I was just totally zoning out. Den kept asking me if I was alright, or was I just cranky? No, I said, I’m TIRED!

I ate FAR. TOO. MUCH. And it really doesn’t sound like too much when you think about it: a cheeseburger, some chips, some corn chips with dip, and then a cob of corn. Everyone else ate more. But I am pregnant, and the number two rule of pregnancy is THOU SHALT NOT OVEREAT. (The number one rule of pregnancy, if you are curious, is thous shalt eat frequently!!) We left from there to party #2, where I immediately seeked out the bathroom and threw a bunch up. Ugh. Lovely. And I still felt so uncomfortable… it was almost painful, the pressure.

Of course I AM pregnant, but when you have people you barley know coming up to you at only 9 weeks pregnant looking at my tummy and saying, “Oh my gosh, you’re pregnant?!?!” it’s pretty bad. We did get a lot of congrats though, at both parties. Everyone’s very excited for us. Got to hear some more interesting stories of babies and childbirth! lol! I can’t say I really dislike listening. I like stories. (I just don’t like preaching, which no one did today.)

And now, even though I ate far too much and got sick, I am still wanting to eat some cereal that I bought this morning. Grocery shopping is a dangerous game. I want to eat all of it. Now.

What have I been up to? Well, let’s see.

1) Being tired.

2) Being excited.

3) Car shopping.

4) Crying, because banks are stupid and want too much money.

5) More car shopping, and some actual test drives.

6) Feverish number crunching.

So yes, for my birthday Den said my “present” is that we’re getting me a car. Not “someday,” not “when the baby comes,” but now. I. Am. Thrilled. Well, mostly thrilled. I’m totally excited at the prospect of having my own car again. OMG am I. And having a car before the baby arrives is priceless.

However, as shown in my steps above… we ran into a major snag today. I researched loans and found out no local banks were willing to give a loan for a vehicle older than 6 years. Since we were hoping for something around a 1999 model, this is a major major problem. We cannot pull $4000 out of our asses – and if we were, I would already have had a car.

So today I went car shopping for 2002s and 2003s. I found a couple that were within our price range. A Chevy Cavalier that had some scratches on it – which didn’t concern me in the least – but alas the interior did NOT look at all like what I picture a newer car should look like! It had no power locks or power windows. The upholstery looked cheap, was ripped, and the seatbelt dug into my chest. It drove okay, but it was not the car for me.

I then test drove a 2002 Ford Taurus. I really liked that car. The reason it was so cheap was that it has 116k miles on it, which made Den yipe. But oh man… it had everything… power locks, power windows, remote keyless entry, alarm system, power seats for crying out loud (not something I need really! But cool!). The upholstery was beautiful. It had a CD player. And it was a big mid-size car, plenty enough room for baby and “stuff.” But alas, the Ford Taurus gets pretty crappy miles per gallon, compared to other midsize cars, and that makes me sad. It’s on my list, but we were really hoping for something that could do a lot better on gas.

Some friends pointed me towards credit unions, and I’ve found at least one who will give loans for older vehicles, which lets allows me a lot more leeway in what I look at! I like having options. Stupid banks only care if you’re going to finance a big sum of money. They offer small “personal loans” – at an interest rate of 12%. Grrrr. They can bite me.

So I guess for now I peruse the online listings and wait to see what shows up. All this car shopping is really making me wish we hadn’t gotten rid of the Mitsubishi Galant (the car Den leased before we bought our Mitsubishi Montero Sport that we have now). We love our SUV, and to be quite honest with a German Shepherd Dog an SUV was required. (The dog, umm, ate through a seatbelt or two in the car. He didn’t like being strapped in, and he also didn’t like staying in the backseat. And when you’re driving, having a 90lb dog climb on your lap… not so safe.) In any case, we loved that Galant. Only reason we traded it in was to get a larger vehicle. And we certainly won’t get rid of the SUV, we love it too. But now I want one of each. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for an older Galant up for sale.

So this is my life right now… obsessing about cars. I just want to make sure I get the right one… it’s going to be with me for the next 4 years or so.

I’ve never gone car shopping before, to be honest. My first car was an ’83 Plymouth Reliant that my dad “got” for me (for free – because who wants an ’83 Reliant?) It was boxy and ugly. But it was blue, it had 4 doors, and it was mine. I hated it at first… but I grew to love it over the 4 years I had it. The muffler may have fallen out, the windshield wipers never did work right, the upholstery was ripped up… but it was MY car, all mine, and I loved it.

Oh and of course there’s the worrying about how we’re going to handle two car payments when I’m not working…. but Den has Made The Decision that this is what we shall do, so apparently it will all just work out. And you know… somehow it always does.

I keep wanting to make a post, but every time I open this browser up to write I either get distracted by something else or fall asleep. I don’t have a very good track record the last few days.

I wanted to talk about symptoms.

First, my morning sickness has all but disappeared. At first I thought it was the Unisom/B-6 that was doing it, but then last night I forgot to take my meds, and still no problems. Den even commented tonight that I don’t seem to be sick much anymore. Nope. Not really. Gaggy here and there, but mostly distracted by everything else. I haven’t even really noticed my stomach doing that painful “FEED ME NOW” thing when I forget to eat.

Which all would make me nervous, but I’m having new symptoms. Like a dull ache in my abdomen, and a sensitivity to using my abdominal muscles. I sometimes forget that I’m pregnant – it’s easy to do when you aren’t feeling much – and I turn too quickly or move in the wrong way and my abs throw on the brakes. No can do missy. Be nice to your abs. Once in a while I get a sharp twang in my stomach. Don’t know what it is, but it’s brief. It’s not really painful, just… strong, and out of nowhere. It always catches me off-guard.

Also, the foot cramps. Luckily I have not gotten many bad ones yet – just one or two – but just flexing my feet can and does cause a cramp to start. I’m a pro at immediately altering what I’m doing to flex my foot in a certain way to get it to go away… and so far that is working. But it’s pretty much a daily thing now. I can imagine it’s only going to get worse. (I’ve always had problems with random foot cramps… painful painful foot cramps. On the good side this means I know exactly how to deal with it. On the bad side it means I can probably expect more of them.)

My tummy is getting more and more obvious. At one car dealership I explained that we were expecting our first baby, thus the hunt for a midsize 4-door sedan, and she said, “Oh I thought so, but I didn’t want to say anything!” I’m really really pleased that it all seems to be my stomach… I’m not gaining anywhere else, so instead of looking chubby I’m looking obviously pregnant. I absolutely adore my baby belly. I find myself pausing in front of the mirror to turn sideways and pose and pat the belly. Den loves it too.

As for the boobs… I’m still waiting for the “OMG they grew!” morning, but I’m starting to doubt it’s coming. I think they are growing – very slowly. It’s like every morning I check, “Have they grown? No… no, not really.” But I put on my bra and it seems a little more filled out than it was a few weeks ago. My nipples are still a bit sensitive, sometimes I have an overall dull ache, but all in all I haven’t noticed much with the boobs.

Other than that, I’ve just been feverishly researching used cars and going out to look at some. I think I may have found my car – a 2001 Hyundai Sonata. I never really thought about looking at Hyundais, but it popped up in my price range and it looked nice enough. I took it for a test drive today and it just felt right. The other two cars I test-drove (A Chevy Cavalier and a Ford Taurus)… didn’t. Apparently I’m a foreign car girl. The Chevies and Fords just feel like something’s “off” about them – since my mom worked for a Chevy dealership for many many years and that’s basically all they’ve ever owned, I know from experience that it wasn’t just the Cavalier that left me feeling like that. My mom’s car feels the same way… very annoying. But for some reason the Sonata just “fit,” I could immediately picture it as my car, with my kiddo in the back. There was plenty of room for a car seat, lots of leg room in the back for someone of my height, and it had a nice big trunk. It was comfortable to drive, had all the amenities I wanted (power locks and windows, cupholder) and some I didn’t (sunroof, alarm system). It’s a little beat-up (paint chipping around the handles, some small stains on the upholstery, lots of miles on it), but that is certainly to be expected with the price range we were looking at. All in all I think I’d be very happy with this car. Tomorrow I’m going to try to arrange to have a mechanic check it out and then start the loan application!

There are a few things that really excite me about having my own car: I get the freedom to get up when I want, to go out when I want, without arranging schedules with Den first. I don’t have to make the twice-daily trip to drop Den off/pick him up, which saves us mileage. I can personalize the car a little bit more since it will be mostly driven by me, even if all I do is a special license plate (Spay/Neuter Mass Animal Coalition plate). Den is also very excited to get the SUV all to himself and not have to constantly put the back seats up and down, change radio stations, and rely on me to pick him up from work. This is going to be great for both of us, and I feel really happy that I’ll have a vehicle for when the baby is here.

Adding yet another monthly payment (or two – since insurance will be yet another) is a little daunting, but it’s not like we can’t do it. I may just have to cut back in other areas (I need to find a way to cut back on grocery expenses, HOW do only two people require that much every week??). With a baby coming, expenses are certainly worrisome! I have no idea what to expect when this baby comes. I’m making no plans for work, since I don’t know when I’ll feel up to it or even have the time… I’m going to take that as it comes. We are pretty much a one-income family as it is… my income is so small. It helps – certainly! But it’s only a tiny tiny fraction of our overall income. We’re lucky in that way… both in that he makes enough to be a one-income family, and that we’re already used to getting by with this, so it won’t be a huge shock.

But in the end? I’m pretty freakin’ giddy about getting a car. I really hope this Sonata works out. I’ll be sad if I can’t get it.

I had a crappy dream last night. First half of the dream I end up in this hospital/delivery place and I’m having contrations sort of and they’re all set to deliver me, but the contractions stop. So they say they’ll induce me next week on my due date. And that’s when I realize I’m only 20 weeks along, not 40, and I’m trying to convince them that they can’t induce me.

The second half of the dream was much worse. I’m back at the same place, and they tell me the baby has no heartbeat. :( It was just… terrible. They’re trying to figure out how to get me pregnant again, and I was just totally upset.

I woke up with my hand protectively on my stomach, as if to make sure it was still there. I am so glad I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow – I sure hope she tries to hear the heartbeat with a doppler. I really really want to hear that heartbeat right now.

I’ve been a little out of the loop lately, and for that I beg forgiveness.

I just found out Sara found out her baby had no heartbeat…. miscarried at 8w4d. I just want to cry. Why does this happen to good people? Please go give her hugs, if you haven’t already.

I am, quite honestly, terrified about my appointment tomorrow. My morning sickness has been missing the past few days, and suddenly I’m just absolutely terrified. I really really hope they give me an U/S or check for heartbeat via doppler or something. I need to know everything’s still okay in there or I’m going to freak out.

Because people might be interested. :)

First I read the car’s ad. It sounded good.

Then I looked at the car. It looked good.

Then I drove the car. It felt good.

Then I did research on that year/make/model. Lots of glowing reviews. It’s not the fanciest car you’ll ever own, but people said for the money it’s a damn good car.

Then I did research on that specific car via CarFax. Good report. One small accident in 2002, which was repaired and inspected right afterwards. Two owners. The second owner – who owned it for most of its life – appears to have taken pretty good care of it. Lubed it up, replaced small parts, rotated and balanced the tires, replaced the brakes. The rear brakes were replaced just in 2006, good news for us.

Plus I found out our state has a manditory 30 day guarantee on any car.

So we got the loan app, filled it out, got the purchase agreement, put down a $100 deposit, and I’ll be dropping off the loan app tomorrow morning. Then we wait for approval.

It’s looking like by monday I’ll be the owner of a car!! :shock: I’m excited and nervous all at once. I’ve never bought a car before. My last car was a “gift”. It was a junker, so it was expected to die any day now, but my dad managed to keep it running for 4 years. So I’ve never had a loan, I’ve never went out car shopping, I’ve never picked out my new car. It’s scary! And yet strangely empowering. I did it all myself! Den’s co-signing for the loan, and he set some parameters for what we can afford and what kind of car we should get (ie, no station wagons) and what limits I need to stick to (less than 100k miles on it)… but after that I did all the research, all the comparisons, all the test-driving, all the deciding. And that’s pretty damn cool. To be honest I was very nervous about visiting a dealer by myself and test-driving a car without him with me. I just felt very jittery about it. But when I went and did it… I felt really good about myself!

It’s funny, because I’m 25 and yet I missed out on a lot. Like on that loan app? It asks how long you’ve lived at your current residence and how long at your previous one. I don’t think my answer was what they were expecting: 2 years at current, 23 years at previous. combine that with my age of 25 and, well…. that says a lot about me right there! LOL!

Gotta go pull up a picture of “my” car before I go to bed. ;) Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly with the loan approval.

Know how I said I was concerned because my morning sickness disappeared? Yeah. Apparently baby wanted to let me know he/she is still there. :gag:

And PS, apple juice tastes aweful coming back up.

I actually feel better now that I’m sick.

Well I just woke up from a nap and am cranky as hell, but I’ll try to write this all down before I fall back asleep. (Reason I took a nap was because I was sitting here and just basically crashed… couldn’t function at all.)

Today was my first appointment with my midwife. For which of course I forgot my list of questions. I think I need to print them out and put them in my purse a month ahead of time. Idiot. I did ask about my Celexa, and she said she’s not certain and she’ll have to do some research on that one… there may be reason to switch me to a different SSRI. So that’s fine. Oh, and they can certainly write my prescriptions there at the OB’s office, so I’m all set.

Anyways, the appointment was just taking my weight and blood pressure, taking a urine sample (YAY for letting a pregnant woman pee. I’ve never been so glad to be asked to give a sample. You mean I get to use the bathroom? YES PLEASE!) then asking me lots of questions. Why do they always ask for LMP even though they have the EDD from IVF? What the hell does my LMP have to do with anything? But, they have to have it for their records. I did explain to the Midwife about the leap year thing, but she said within a day or two doesn’t matter so she’s going with what the RE gave them. So my “official” EDD is still April 6. I’m still going by April 5. I am stubborn. (Oh well.)

Gosh, I’m crashing again already. Better keep writing or I’m gonna lose it. Yup, I’m totally spacing out.

Like I said, I forgot my list of questions, and I turn into a total idiot without something written down. I asked about my celexa, but that was it. However, she did mention something that made me quite concerned after the fact. The practice consists of two OBs and her, the RNM. Now I’ve met one of the OBs before, when I switched to this practice – he was the one who had the detailed chat on me about Celexa and pregnancy. I really liked him. Well I found out that he’s not delivering babies at all. She, the Midwife, does some deliveries. The other OB, who I have not yet met but am trusting I’ll like just as much as the other two in the practice, does most of the deliveries. But then she said that he also rotates with some of the OBs from the practice at the hospital. Now it’s a practice I was considering joining, and I’m sure they’re very good doctors, but it REALLY concerns me that I may have someone from some other practice, who I don’t even KNOW, deliver my baby. I am perfectly fine with a practice rotating on-call OBs/RNMs, but I was under the impression that in any practice you get to meet everyone before you deliver so that you’re comfortable with them. So this kind of threw me and didn’t really sink in until after I’d left.

So what the hell do I do now? Well, I have another appointment with the Midwife in two weeks, and I will ask questions then. If in fact I don’t get to know/meet the OBs who “may” be on call when I go into labor, I have a serious issue on my hands. That makes me very nervous, and I do not want to be nervous about labor!

As I see it I’ll have two options.

Option one is staying with this practice, because I honestly truly do love the Midwife and I trust her and I would LOVE for her to take care of me throughout my pregnancy. I like the practice, both the OB I met and the RNM have opinions on things that closely mirror my own… they seem to be very easy-going about things, very understanding. They’re knowledgeable and like to research things like my meds and never give me the brush-off. I mean, today when I walked in the Midwife was walking by and she saw me (I haven’t seen her since May, mind you, and the last time I’d seen her before that was May 2006), and she lit up and said, “Oh congratulations! I’m just so happy for you! So IVF did it for you?? Did they treat you well?” I mean, seriously. She’s awesome. She knows charting, she knows Fertility Friend, and I just immediately liked her from the start.

But if the labor part is going to be an issue, if I DO stay with this practice and take my chances, then I pretty much will want a Doula there with me. If I don’t know who will deliver me, I want to know SOMEONE who will be there, trust them, and know that they will watch over me and the doctors and nurses and make sure my wishes are known and understood. It’s as simple as that. I fully intend to have Denis at my side at all times, helping me through contractions, keeping me focused and keeping me relaxed. I will need him with me the entire time. I will be in no shape to argue with doctors and make sure they know my birth plan – and I doubt he will be either. So the Doula could really do that for me. Having her there would really reassure me… as long as I find one I really like and trust, of course, goes without saying. I just remember Kel’s labor with Eric, and how she had a strange doctor she’d never met before come in and give her an episiotomy without even saying a word to her. I do NOT want that to happen. I do not want to have to worry about these things while I’m in labor – I want to be worrying about getting the baby out. So I think having a Doula there to take on that responsibility will be a wonderful thing for me.

No, it’s not ideal. But neither is option b…

Which is, to switch to the group of all-Midwives that practice out of the hospital. This gives me a major benefit: I would be guaranteed having a Midwife-attended birth. The downside is that I would lose my current Midwife, who I love so much, and I’d have to go through not just the hassle of switching practices, but it’s an “unknown” right now. It’s possible I switch and don’t even like anyone there. I guess I could have an interview there first? So I’ll have to think about that.

It’s going to be a really tough decision. I’ll just wait 2 weeks to get some questions answered and go from there.

So let’s see what else.

Oh yes, my weight came in at a little over 141, so the nurse said she’s going to estimate my pregnancy “starting weight” as 140. 140!! Holy moly! I haven’t been 140 since before I started IVF! I find it highly amusing that my first trimester has been spent LOSING weight… losing all the weight I put on during IVF. (Only 4lbs, but still.) When I put on that weight and got pregnant… I really thought I was just doomed for this pregnancy and beyond. They say the higher you are when you get pregnant, the harder it is to take off afterwards. :( SOMEDAY I would like to get back down to 130. Obviously not now, and not anytime soon, but say a year after the baby’s born… I’d love to see that number again.

My blood pressure was 110/67. Holy moly! That’s so low! And I was at work all day too! She said it was “excellent.”

The Midwife also asked me about different screening options. She said we have the option of doing an ultrasound between 10 and 13 weeks or doing one after 14 weeks, to screen for Down’s, Trisomy 18, and Trisomy 13. Since I’m 10 weeks now I kind of felt like I needed to give an answer. Problem is, I really have not developed much of an opinon about NT screening. I really dislike that it has the possibility of false negatives, and doesn’t give a definitive answer. But of course I’m sitting there thinking… screening = ultrasound I wouldn’t otherwise have. And that, my friends, is a good thing for us neurotic preggo infertiles. So I decided to go ahead and schedule it. Later when I talked to Den I found out he’s very much in favor of screening, either way, so he’s very happy I scheduled it. The scan is on Sept 26, first thing in the morning.

Also scheduled my next appointment, which will be in two weeks on Sept 21 with the Midwife. Next time it’ll be a full exam for me, and she said we’ll try to hear the heart tones! :D

At the appointment they also gave me a bag of “goodies”… mostly magazines and stuff. Three of the things in there are worthy of note:

First thing that fell out was a sample pack of Expecta (DHA suppliment). One of the items on my list of questions was if I could/should take Expecta, since I’ve been taking it since I got pregnant. Guess that was answered! Will keep taking it. :)

Second thing is a pretty thick little booklet about pregnancy and hospital services, from the hospital that I’ll be delivering at. It’s very comprehensive, has phone numbers for every division you might need to contact, a list of when to call the doctor or go to the ER, and all sorts of pregnancy information – body changes, symptoms, nutrition, labor, etc.

What really caught my eye is how comprehensive it is. It mentions several different types of relaxation/pain management techniques. There is a page called Medication under the Labor section, and it starts out like this: “The decision to use medication is one that only you can make once you are in labor. Many woman can and do deliver their baby without medication, but others need the tool of medication. It is important that you feel comfortable with your decision, which should be what is best for you. A successful childbirth is one that you feel good about.” Interesting, right? So then they list the different types of medication used and the pros and cons of each. They do the same for “Medical Management of Labor and Birth” – which lists different medical proceedures doctors use during labor, such as episiotomy, fetal heart monitoring, and induction. Again, pros and cons of each are listed. Earlier in the Labor section there is “Comfort Measures For Labor.” First item listed is Hydrotherapy, where it states, “You can either use the shower or get into our hydrotherapy tub, which is available on a first come basis.” Seriously, a hydrotherapy tub???? OMG! They also mention Doulas in a positive light, and use of a Birth Ball, which they provide in every room. They even have a section in here on birth positions, listing a whole bunch of them.

I am VERY VERY impressed. This is a hospital – a very big, major hospital in the area – but I am super impressed with their women’s center. They obviously have a full surgical OR for c-sections and every kind of medication handy and a hospital full of doctors. But the fact that they have tubs and showers in (I think) all the rooms, provide birth balls, and give info on alternate birthing positions… gives me such a very good feeling. It sounds like it’s just right for me.

The third thing that I have to mention is more of a giggle-factor than anything.

To back-track a little… on my birthday there were all my MILs there. (I technically have two MILs, but my SIL’s mother was there too, heh.) They got talking about birth, and they kind of… well, they went off and running talking about “girls nowadays” and our reading and birth plans and how I shouldn’t do ANY of that. (Apparently, being medicated, alone, flat on your back and terrifed is a MUCH better method of childbirth. Whatever.) I was specifically told “not to read too much” and they ranted for a while about “birth plans” and how girls “find them in books” and how it guarantees you a c-section because obviously you’re too uptight to relax and have a baby “normally”. The attitude stunk and I got pretty upset and left. I don’t think they noticed. The three of them were still all going on about it for a while afterwards. Ugh.

So what do you think was in my little bag of goodies? Why, it’s a cute little pregnancy calendar/info guide. And what is in it? Why, isn’t that a BIRTH PLAN??? Yes it is! A sample little birth plan. Given to me by the doctor’s office.

Oh the next time I get together with the MILs and they mention anything, I am NOT going to keep quiet. Oh no sirree bob. Cause now I have written proof right here that today’s hospitals recognize the benefit of “alternative pain management”… they recognize that not every woman wants the same kind of birth… AND that birth plans are NOT taboo, but simply a means of communication with all the staff you may run into, and may very well be encouraged by OBs.

So yep, that is my report for the day.

Oh, oh, I forgot, one last thing: my car loan was approved, we’ll be signing paperwork on monday and going to get MY NEW CAR!!!