Fetal Felicitations!

Doc. R. has confirmed...we be gestating!!! Though not as far along as I'd thought... only 6 weeks 2 days. Ultrasound says expected day of arrival March 7!! I think, therefore that conception occurred shortly after our visit to Barney, the shrink. Guess that was money well spent, huh?

So to answer my burning questions.... food must be cooked, so don't worry too much about deli if it's not raw. I shant worry too much about toxoplasmosis, either. It's very rare (and more common to get it from undercooked meat), and I can't get it just handling/ grooming the kitties. Any kittybox cleaning/ gardening needs to be done with good gloves and copious handwashing afterwards. And my BP was a little high: 114/88... just something to keep an eye on. No advice to refrain from stressful sibling debates, though. I should, also forego smoothies in favor of actual fruit (damn!) unless I make them myself (due to added sugars). I have been instructed to not add too many calories to my diet since I'm already overweight. I'm not feeling the urge to gorge myself so no problem there.

So the next step is to check out the birthing facilities at the local community hospital I think I'm going to use, and if it's acceptable then make an appointment with an OB Dr. R referred me to there. Unfortunately, she no longer delivers babies herself. This is rather disappointing since I've been seeing her since I was 18, but I guess I'll get over it. We also have to decide which, if any pre-screening tests we're going to have done at that time.

I could go to one of the two mega-big regional hospitals that are on my healthplan but they're both 30 - 45 min. away depending on traffic. The littler hospital is only 10 min. away and has passed the critical Grandma (an R.N. who has worked in the area for 30 yrs) 5 star reputation award. Appointments and classes will be more convenient, too. They might not have the super-duper high tech neo-natal intensive care unit on site but they do have surgical facilities and we can always transfer to one of the big trauma hospitals if something does go wrong. I know I'd talked about doing the waterbirth thing but my cousin informed me that contrary to their website, they have had a few births go bad, which did require ambulance transfer to the hospital emergency room (just down the road), and there was at least one infant mortality as a result. Besides, I doubt my insurance would've paid for it.