Mon - May 17, 2004
starting the second trimester!
Today's a whirlwind - I'm trying to get a lot of
grading done, pack up whatever I can, and clean the apartment.... not to mention
say goodbye to my Carlisle friends... We're planning to go out for Indian
tonight - to what's supposedly the best Indian restaurant in Harrisburg.
Yum.
I'm somewhat packed - I've been trying to empty out the cabinets and shelves in the apt. so at least everything is out in the open. Consequently, it looks like a mess, and is a little stressful! My office stuff seems to be packing smaller than I'd expected, at least. Maybe I will be able to bring my plants after all.
Pregnancy-wise, I'm feeling pretty good - having about one day/week of feeling morning sickness, but it doesn't last as long as it used to. I'm having trouble getting enough sleep...I seem to wake up after 7 hours. For the past few days I've been living in my new maternity shorts that my grandmother bought me when I visited last week. It's been in the 80s here, and my shorts from last summer don't really fit any more (could be the weight I gained last fall, though!). She also got me a tank top and a long-sleeve linen shirt from Motherhood/Maternity. Here's the tank top - it's so cute! Note: that's not me wearing it, that's the model from the company's website. Too bad!
Anyway, next time I post it'll be from Massachusetts where I'll be shacked up with my husband of almost one year!
I'm somewhat packed - I've been trying to empty out the cabinets and shelves in the apt. so at least everything is out in the open. Consequently, it looks like a mess, and is a little stressful! My office stuff seems to be packing smaller than I'd expected, at least. Maybe I will be able to bring my plants after all.
Pregnancy-wise, I'm feeling pretty good - having about one day/week of feeling morning sickness, but it doesn't last as long as it used to. I'm having trouble getting enough sleep...I seem to wake up after 7 hours. For the past few days I've been living in my new maternity shorts that my grandmother bought me when I visited last week. It's been in the 80s here, and my shorts from last summer don't really fit any more (could be the weight I gained last fall, though!). She also got me a tank top and a long-sleeve linen shirt from Motherhood/Maternity. Here's the tank top - it's so cute! Note: that's not me wearing it, that's the model from the company's website. Too bad!
Anyway, next time I post it'll be from Massachusetts where I'll be shacked up with my husband of almost one year!
Posted at 02:35 PM Read More
Fri - June 4, 2004
1st normal OB appointment
On Tuesday 6/1 I saw my regular OB for the first time
- the one I'll be seeing through to the birth. She's in a group practice with a
few other female OBs, and they share on-call duty at the hospital with another
group practice... so I think there are 6 or so OBs who could be the one there
for the delivery.
a repost from the boards....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
her asst. was really friendly, but i wasn't quite as comfortable with the OB. still, i think she'll be fine.
i got the 20 questions, and gary and i asked her our questions. she also told us some about pre-natal screening, and it was only after we asked her some questions about it that she said she wasn't advising for or against, just giving us information.
we said we were planning to hire a doula, and asked if she and her colleagues in the group practice were comfortable with working with doulas. at first she sounded really positive, said they'd all worked with doulas before and it was just fine. we had felt encouraged because there were flyers for a doula network festival in the waiting room. but then she started saying that we really didn't need one - that the l&d nurses at the hospital are just great and that getting a doula is like having a belt and suspenders on at once. she also said the main purpose of a doula is to give the father a break so he can take a nap, get some coffee, and not feel guilty about leaving the mom. whatever...
we also said we were interested in natural childbirth classes, and did she know of any good ones in the area? she said - it all depends what you mean by "natural" - all the classes teach techniques for a "natural" birth. she recommended we take the hospital's standard childbirth class and that we look into their hypnobirthing class as well. i think we might find a private class and just take a free tour of the hospital.
she did tell me to stop taking the low-dose aspirin the MF specialist told me to take because of my high blood pressure. from what we both understood - the most important time to take it was the 1st trimester as the placenta was forming... now it's formed, and we should be off to a good start! baby's heartbeat was just fine yesterday i asked her to show me how to feel my uterus... and i still can't entirely be sure i feel where it starts and ends... but it's in the right place.
oh, and my blood pressure's been stellar for the last month less to worry about!
...
oh yeah, and she said no soft cheese, not even pasteurized. grrrrr. in the pre-natal info she gave me there was a handout that said the same thing, and a book from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that said only non-pasteurized was a problem
so i guess i'll avoid it if i can, but won't start treating it like a food allergy....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a repost from the boards....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
her asst. was really friendly, but i wasn't quite as comfortable with the OB. still, i think she'll be fine.
i got the 20 questions, and gary and i asked her our questions. she also told us some about pre-natal screening, and it was only after we asked her some questions about it that she said she wasn't advising for or against, just giving us information.
we said we were planning to hire a doula, and asked if she and her colleagues in the group practice were comfortable with working with doulas. at first she sounded really positive, said they'd all worked with doulas before and it was just fine. we had felt encouraged because there were flyers for a doula network festival in the waiting room. but then she started saying that we really didn't need one - that the l&d nurses at the hospital are just great and that getting a doula is like having a belt and suspenders on at once. she also said the main purpose of a doula is to give the father a break so he can take a nap, get some coffee, and not feel guilty about leaving the mom. whatever...
we also said we were interested in natural childbirth classes, and did she know of any good ones in the area? she said - it all depends what you mean by "natural" - all the classes teach techniques for a "natural" birth. she recommended we take the hospital's standard childbirth class and that we look into their hypnobirthing class as well. i think we might find a private class and just take a free tour of the hospital.
she did tell me to stop taking the low-dose aspirin the MF specialist told me to take because of my high blood pressure. from what we both understood - the most important time to take it was the 1st trimester as the placenta was forming... now it's formed, and we should be off to a good start! baby's heartbeat was just fine yesterday i asked her to show me how to feel my uterus... and i still can't entirely be sure i feel where it starts and ends... but it's in the right place.
oh, and my blood pressure's been stellar for the last month less to worry about!
...
oh yeah, and she said no soft cheese, not even pasteurized. grrrrr. in the pre-natal info she gave me there was a handout that said the same thing, and a book from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists that said only non-pasteurized was a problem
so i guess i'll avoid it if i can, but won't start treating it like a food allergy....
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted at 08:57 AM Read More
Tue - June 15, 2004
visits, doulas and moving(?)
Well, about a week ago we said goodbye to my parents,
who visited us on either side of their college reunion. We were also joined by
my grandpa and his wife. It was great to spend time with everyone and show
people around Northampton - a town we're really falling in love with. My
parents brought us some hawaiian treats, including a hawaiian print maternity
shirt, and some macadamia nut waffle mix, which we've now tried, along with the
coconut syrup...yum. Thanks
Mom&Dad!
Last weekend Gary and I went mattress shopping for a 2nd time... looking for just the right mattress :) The tempurpedics are so comfy and tempting, but a big unknown... looking at the epinions , people either love 'em or hate 'em. I'm getting less comfortable sleeping on the futon at night, and pretty soon should stop sleeping on my back, which is the most comfortable way to sleep on the futon (for me anyway!). We may wait until we decide on our apartment situation, though...
Sunday we went to a "Meet the Doula" festival, and we actually chatted with a few doulas, and spent a long time talking to a young woman who was just certified as a Bradley instructor, and is the only one in the area. We talked to her about our concerns about Bradley, and she was really open and thoughtful and put us at ease. I actually felt more comfortable with her than with the doulas we talked to. Anyway, she's running a course from early September through mid-November, so I think we're going to do that.
The first doula we talked to was really more into talking about her integrative body work, and how it would help prepare for pregnancy and help out afterwards. She sounded pretty friendly and confident, but I'm not sure I could be comfortable with someone significantly more new-agey than me. The next one was helpful, but seemed a little stiff - we found out she's only been a doula since March, so maybe she hasn't warmed up yet to marketing her services. The third was tough to start a conversation with, and painful to keep going, so we just exchanged a few back-and-forths, picked up her brochure, thanked her and left. Then there was a panel discussion with three other doulas, and the new one we talked to second. I was more impressed with the ones we hadn't talked to - they sounded more experienced, calm and all with good senses of humor. So maybe we'll give one of them a call... they said they like to hear from people when the pregnancy's between 20 and 28 weeks, so we'll maybe call around a little early. One thing that was very reassuring to hear was that the doulas all said that Cooley-Dickinson Hospital is a great place to give birth - and that the nurses there are really excellent. So in a way, our OB may be right that we don't need a doula...but I still think I'll feel more secure to have someone to stay with us through labor and help us make the best choices, based on her experience (since we know nothing about this delivering babies stuff!).
Moving... so we are getting the rental housing people to do a little to cut down on the smoke transmittal from the apartment below us... and they are also offering us another unit. It would be a little farther away from work for Gary (a 15 minute walk), and the unit is not nearly as pretty as ours... but it would obviously be temporary! Our downstairs neighbors are unfortunately going away again for three weeks on Thursday, and the smoke-related improvements won't be done yet, so we won't have any way of knowing how well they work until around the time we would have to move into the other apartment... don't know what to do at this stage... I put up a poll on one of my message boards and got a 26-to-2 vote for moving. Not to mention our doctor recommends it. Still, it's tempting to be hopeful about the smoke measures working, and not having to move...
Other than that... I'm still sitting around waiting impatiently for the baby to start kicking! I've talked to a number of women online who say week 16 was it for them. Ok, some others said week 22, but I can hope, right?
Last weekend Gary and I went mattress shopping for a 2nd time... looking for just the right mattress :) The tempurpedics are so comfy and tempting, but a big unknown... looking at the epinions , people either love 'em or hate 'em. I'm getting less comfortable sleeping on the futon at night, and pretty soon should stop sleeping on my back, which is the most comfortable way to sleep on the futon (for me anyway!). We may wait until we decide on our apartment situation, though...
Sunday we went to a "Meet the Doula" festival, and we actually chatted with a few doulas, and spent a long time talking to a young woman who was just certified as a Bradley instructor, and is the only one in the area. We talked to her about our concerns about Bradley, and she was really open and thoughtful and put us at ease. I actually felt more comfortable with her than with the doulas we talked to. Anyway, she's running a course from early September through mid-November, so I think we're going to do that.
The first doula we talked to was really more into talking about her integrative body work, and how it would help prepare for pregnancy and help out afterwards. She sounded pretty friendly and confident, but I'm not sure I could be comfortable with someone significantly more new-agey than me. The next one was helpful, but seemed a little stiff - we found out she's only been a doula since March, so maybe she hasn't warmed up yet to marketing her services. The third was tough to start a conversation with, and painful to keep going, so we just exchanged a few back-and-forths, picked up her brochure, thanked her and left. Then there was a panel discussion with three other doulas, and the new one we talked to second. I was more impressed with the ones we hadn't talked to - they sounded more experienced, calm and all with good senses of humor. So maybe we'll give one of them a call... they said they like to hear from people when the pregnancy's between 20 and 28 weeks, so we'll maybe call around a little early. One thing that was very reassuring to hear was that the doulas all said that Cooley-Dickinson Hospital is a great place to give birth - and that the nurses there are really excellent. So in a way, our OB may be right that we don't need a doula...but I still think I'll feel more secure to have someone to stay with us through labor and help us make the best choices, based on her experience (since we know nothing about this delivering babies stuff!).
Moving... so we are getting the rental housing people to do a little to cut down on the smoke transmittal from the apartment below us... and they are also offering us another unit. It would be a little farther away from work for Gary (a 15 minute walk), and the unit is not nearly as pretty as ours... but it would obviously be temporary! Our downstairs neighbors are unfortunately going away again for three weeks on Thursday, and the smoke-related improvements won't be done yet, so we won't have any way of knowing how well they work until around the time we would have to move into the other apartment... don't know what to do at this stage... I put up a poll on one of my message boards and got a 26-to-2 vote for moving. Not to mention our doctor recommends it. Still, it's tempting to be hopeful about the smoke measures working, and not having to move...
Other than that... I'm still sitting around waiting impatiently for the baby to start kicking! I've talked to a number of women online who say week 16 was it for them. Ok, some others said week 22, but I can hope, right?
Posted at 09:51 PM Read More
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Published On: Jun 15, 2004 09:51 PM
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Published On: Jun 15, 2004 09:51 PM