A few individual facts

One month from today, February 22, is my due date and I can barely put my socks on.

I have been wearing one of 3 pairs of shoes every day, none of which require bending down or tying.

The childbirth classes are informative, I am finally becoming desensitized to watching birth videos from the 80s.

Bringing a selection of decaffeinated hot teas to a birth center meeting will endear you to the group indefinitely.

Last night, I tried to make extra dinner to put in the freezer for post-baby-arrival, but then we ate it.

The baby room is almost complete but we still need to pack the hospital bag and install the car seat.

We had a lovely baby shower last weekend and had so much fun. I cried in front of everyone when I read the cards.

Birthing classes

Last week, we began our childbirth classes at The Birth Center. It's been interesting so far, and I'm alternating between looking forward to the labor/delivery process and trembling in fear. I take refuge in the fact that people (including many of you!) do it every. day. and if they/you can do it, then I can too. Right?

We're planning on a natural childbirth, without pain meds or medical interference at all, ideally, so there's that too.

As a part of the childbirth classes, there was also a breastfeeding class which was very informative and useful. I'm feeling more prepared as we get closer to Delivery Day, but I also can't help feeling nervous! Luckily, we've got some relaxation techniques we've been working on, and whenever I feel tense about it, I try to take some deep breaths. It's helping so far.

Happy Holidays!

The holiday season has been a whirlwind already, with a week-long trip back to the midwest. We learned from our last driving venture to spread the trip out a little more and the longest we drove on any given day was 5 hours. Toward the end of that, I was feeling pretty uncomfortable, even though we stopped often for breaks. Thankfully, I think that's the last long pregnant trip and I can start posting again!

We've been working hard on getting the house together, and Cree has been doing amazing things to the walls in the baby's room. No, you can't see any photos until it's done! But soon, I promise.

This month we started our biweekly midwife appointments. We've also signed up for our childbirth and breastfeeding classes, which begin in January. This is week 32 (!) already, and I can't believe that it's gone so fast.

Last, but certainly not least, our friends Tropi and Kelly had their beautiful little boy, Ethan, on xmas eve!

Baby appointment

We had our first appointment at the Birth Center on Friday (Cree's bday!). They were very nice and gracious about us being late and it went smoothly. We were there for about an hour or so and talked about family history kinds of things, as well as other prep stuff. I had a quick exam and that was it! They have a lending library, and offer yoga classes, and other kinds of stuff in the group space there.

They have 6 midwives and while we won't know who's on call the day the baby comes, we'll definitely have a chance to meet them all by that time so we can be comfortable with whoever it ends up being.

I had to make a separate ultrasound appointment at a hospital for the "anatomy scan" which will tell us the baby's sex. It took me a minute to understand what an anatomy scan was, I was thinking MY anatomy! So funny. Anyway, that's set up for October 24th, so we can assign the name then. I have been calling the baby "It" or "The Kid" pretty routinely, so it will be nice to have a name to use instead.

The Seminar

We went last week to our "Introductory Seminar" at The Birth Center. We were a few minutes late, but thankfully several other couples came in after us. It was pretty packed, with about 20 couples there -- we were definitely the only queers, but the midwives carefully always said "partner" which I appreciate. I also am pretty sure that everyone else lives somewhere in the suburbs, and one couple said they were traveling an hour and twenty minutes to be there, which I thought was a testament to how much they wanted to be in a place where they had some control over their experiences.

The seminar was very interesting, they offered a solid explanation of their philosophy, unplanned transfer rate (to the hospital: 15%), c-section rate (10%) and all those kinds of things. It fell right into line with what we were looking for, so now I just need to call and verify that my insurance covers everything I think it does. Woo!

The birth center

We made an appointment at this birth center in the suburbs. It's only about a 20 minute drive, which is at least how long it would take to get downtown to the hospital, and it's definitely going to have easy parking. It's also right across the street from their backup hospital, for those of you who worry.

We are going to an introductory seminar next week, and then we have an appointment the first week of October (on Cree's birthday!).

I'm really excited about going here, the people on the phone were very warm and friendly, and they sent us out an information packet which only helped us know that we made the right decision. On top of all that, it's covered by my insurance, which I'm thrilled about. I am willing to pay outright for quality midwifery care, but it's even better if my insurance can do so on my behalf.

Doctors are a pain

Well, not all of them. We went to this really great one before we moved -- everyone in the office was really friendly and helpful and the doctor herself was really nice and actually acted like she was excited for us. I don't know if it's an east coast thing, but our experience here was definitely not as easy.

I first thought I'd just go back to the office I went to when we live here before. I made the appointment, and we waited 45 minutes in the waiting room without so much as a sheet of paperwork to fill out. We had a short conference where we decided that we'd rather not deal with it, so we left.

Then, I called this place that was recommended by a couple of friends who go there (one of whom is trying to get pregnant now) and the lady who answered the phone made it seem like this exclusive club: "We don't take people past 16 weeks" and when I tried to move my appointment from Friday to Tuesday during the call: "Are you sure? Because you can't change it again or else we can't take you." It made me feel really welcome and cared for.

Then I watched The Business of Being Born, which I'd definitely recommend for anyone who is planning to or wants to have a baby. Or even if you just care about someone who might have a baby someday. The film, combined with my recent experiences at doctor's offices helped us decide to again pursue looking for a birth center.