When I was pregnant with Noah, I didn’t even know that going through a midwife program was an option for me. I knew the hospital I had picked for my appointments and delivery had midwives and I would eventually have an appointment with one when my regular OB/GYN was on vacation, but I just assumed seeing a doctor for regular appointments was how this worked. All of this had been new to me after all and looking back now I wish the different options had been clear to me. Nobody mentioned any other options to me when I scheduled my first appointment and the website which is otherwise updated and filled with helpful information didn’t mention it anywhere. So anyway, my experience with my doctor wasn’t terrible, but I also didn’t get the support out of it I was looking for. I would typically spend more time in the waiting room than with my doctor. It’s not like I needed a ton of extra attention; my pregnancy went smooth with no complications so there were never really any concerns we needed to discuss. At the same time, he never initiated any conversation about things that would be on any first time mother’s mind – like giving birth! And with that he didn’t exactly create a setting where I felt comfortable asking these kinds of questions. In fact, I asked a somewhat controversial question only once, and his response was all I needed to hear for me to decide that I would make any further decisions by myself without discussing it with my doctor.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Heart Beats, Chinese Calendars, and Cravings - Putting Old Wives Tales to the Test
It's been a bit quiet around here for a while but that doesn't mean we haven't had a lot of exciting things happening in the last few months, including finding out that we're pregnant with another little half-Kraut. Now that I'm almost half way there (due date is September 29th) I feel great, but the first trimester of this pregnancy was exhausting. Morning sickness that lasted all day, lack of energy, being extremely tired all day, constantly hungry but no appetite for anything, etc. It wasn't pretty and while I was excited for this baby from the moment I found out, I have to admit I was getting annoyed and frustrated with being pregnant. We had just found a good groove and rhythm that worked for us, but all of that had to be rearranged. I had been the one leaving super early for work to be able to pick up Noah from daycare at a decent time, but I just wasn't able to get up early anymore. When I was pregnant with Noah and tired after a long day at work, there were plenty of days when I just went to bed right after dinner and it wasn't a big problem for our schedule (because there was none) when I went to work late and came home late. Tony has been great and taking over more than his fair share of responsibilities around the house, but life has changed for sure since pregnancy number one and it's impossible to make this pregnancy as much of a priority as I did the first time around. I do feel guilty about that sometimes, but now that I feel so much better, things have been easier and I'm starting to enjoy this journey. I can't wait to meet this new little addition to our family.
On Monday, one of the big pregnancy milestones is coming up: we have the 20 week ultrasound scheduled and if the little one cooperates we'll find out if Noah is getting a baby brother or a little sister. I remember the feeling when we found out Noah was going to be a boy; it made everything so much more real, we started talking about names, thinking about decorating the nursery, and just the simple fact that we could say "he" instead of coming up with some other phrase to avoid "it" made a big difference. Somehow he felt more like a real tiny little person after we found out and I can't wait for that to happen with this baby as well.
Of course everyone knows that you can't rely on old wives tales to predict the baby's gender, but since we're finding out Monday, I thought it would be fun to go through the list to see which ones turn out to be true for me.