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Babies everywhere!
Aug. 25th, 2011 09:09 amI'm so elated for friends who had their baby girl yesterday! Having gone along with them a bit on this journey through unexplained infertility, it is just awe inspiring to see them coming out on the other side. It seems only yesterday that I was hanging out with them one night and got to watch first-hand the process of fertility injections. I came home that night and told Brian that I just did not want things to get that bad, that I could not see myself doing that (they had been on this journey longer than we had). Little did I know we'd be in the same boat months later (after over a year of perfectly scheduled, medically 'supervised' trying). It took 2 cycles of injections and IUI to finally grow our little Dianoga. So many couples deal with this issue and not many talk about it. It can be a frustrating and isolating place some times. Despite there being nothing wrong with either of us, it just wasn't happening until we artificially upped the odds using modern technology. I'm the kind of person that doesn't take aspirin for a headache, so the invasiveness of this process was new to me. In the end, it was a matter of how much I wanted to have my own family. I am so thankful for the resources we had available to us (insurance coverage, work flexibility) and the support from close friends and family through this whole journey. I still can't believe that we are where we are right now.
In a more mundane and positive area, I had some downtime yesterday and scheduled our babe-related classes. We won't take them until later in the term, but I feel better getting them on the books and out of the way: one less thing to do. THP will reimburse the classes for birth preparation (we're doing a 1-day, all day) and for breastfeeding (only 2.5 hours). In addition we're taking an infant/child CPR class that's about 4 hours long. I haven't taken CPR since high school gym class, and before that since the babysitting training course at Waltham Weston Hospital when I was about 11 years old. I am guessing given the City of Everett's stellar school system circa the 80s/90s (when the High School almost lost accreditation) that Brian has never taken a CPR course. That will be in November, and the other two in December (they suggest taking them a month before delivery so it is fresh in your head).
Next month we're attending a 'meet the MDs and midwives' for the practice which will be held at Newton Wellesley Hospital, where I am delivering. Though I have an MD selected (the GYN I've been seeing for years) and have worked with a couple of the midwives, they suggest you meet everyone because you never know who will be around when the time comes. They do a little meet and greet/Q&A and then a virtual tour of the hospital. I guess the hospital does actual tours 2 days a week separate from this (they were going to provide details on how to set it up at the birth preparedness class in December, but the hospital website had details on it as well). They are my local hospital and I am a strong proponent for local community hospitals where appropriate, so I'm glad to deliver there. Friends have had wonderful experiences there for the most part.
The house stuff is kind of weighing on me. I know that in reality the limited lead in our home is probably OK and probably won't hurt our baby, but I'm annoyed that the contractors won't call us back to come out and give us a quote (in this economy, you would think that they would want our money). Decorating the babe's room is something I'm gradually working on, still in the 'getting stuff out of there' phase. There seem to be no lack of safe (no drop side) cribs on Craigslist, and there are a couple of simple ones I like at Ikea. Organizing/decorating is something I'm good at and enjoy doing anyway, so it will be fun to play around with things once we have a bit of a blank slate in there. Soon.
We will also have to jump into the daycare search next month or the month after. It is early, but places can only take so many infants and they fill up fast. You have to find what you like and get yourself on a waiting list, 'they' say 6 months or so in advance. Nutso. We're looking for a place in Waltham where Brian would do the drop off and I would do the pickup. Waffling between home-based or center-based. Home-based has the advantage of being potentially more flexible, more homey, and less expensive. Center-based would presumably have more structure/academic activities going on and more kids that ultimately we'd want her to benefit from, but it's not just necessary at this infant stage. It would be easier for us to find a center-based place that she'd just stay in - if we find a home-based one we'd only need to move her later to a center-based one (least of all for preschool). Decisions decisions. As usual, I have a little google doc started to organize all of these kinds of things.
In a more mundane and positive area, I had some downtime yesterday and scheduled our babe-related classes. We won't take them until later in the term, but I feel better getting them on the books and out of the way: one less thing to do. THP will reimburse the classes for birth preparation (we're doing a 1-day, all day) and for breastfeeding (only 2.5 hours). In addition we're taking an infant/child CPR class that's about 4 hours long. I haven't taken CPR since high school gym class, and before that since the babysitting training course at Waltham Weston Hospital when I was about 11 years old. I am guessing given the City of Everett's stellar school system circa the 80s/90s (when the High School almost lost accreditation) that Brian has never taken a CPR course. That will be in November, and the other two in December (they suggest taking them a month before delivery so it is fresh in your head).
Next month we're attending a 'meet the MDs and midwives' for the practice which will be held at Newton Wellesley Hospital, where I am delivering. Though I have an MD selected (the GYN I've been seeing for years) and have worked with a couple of the midwives, they suggest you meet everyone because you never know who will be around when the time comes. They do a little meet and greet/Q&A and then a virtual tour of the hospital. I guess the hospital does actual tours 2 days a week separate from this (they were going to provide details on how to set it up at the birth preparedness class in December, but the hospital website had details on it as well). They are my local hospital and I am a strong proponent for local community hospitals where appropriate, so I'm glad to deliver there. Friends have had wonderful experiences there for the most part.
The house stuff is kind of weighing on me. I know that in reality the limited lead in our home is probably OK and probably won't hurt our baby, but I'm annoyed that the contractors won't call us back to come out and give us a quote (in this economy, you would think that they would want our money). Decorating the babe's room is something I'm gradually working on, still in the 'getting stuff out of there' phase. There seem to be no lack of safe (no drop side) cribs on Craigslist, and there are a couple of simple ones I like at Ikea. Organizing/decorating is something I'm good at and enjoy doing anyway, so it will be fun to play around with things once we have a bit of a blank slate in there. Soon.
We will also have to jump into the daycare search next month or the month after. It is early, but places can only take so many infants and they fill up fast. You have to find what you like and get yourself on a waiting list, 'they' say 6 months or so in advance. Nutso. We're looking for a place in Waltham where Brian would do the drop off and I would do the pickup. Waffling between home-based or center-based. Home-based has the advantage of being potentially more flexible, more homey, and less expensive. Center-based would presumably have more structure/academic activities going on and more kids that ultimately we'd want her to benefit from, but it's not just necessary at this infant stage. It would be easier for us to find a center-based place that she'd just stay in - if we find a home-based one we'd only need to move her later to a center-based one (least of all for preschool). Decisions decisions. As usual, I have a little google doc started to organize all of these kinds of things.
