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Friday, January 06, 2012

A busy day

Today was kind of a busy day. I had my first prenatal appointment in the morning—I chose a family physician this time and I think that was a good choice. With Rachel I went to a regular ordinary obstetrician, which was fine—I just couldn't shake the feeling that I was on an assembly line of sorts since delivering babies was virtually all that doctor did, which is fine. His office is across town, though, and there are other perfectly good doctors right here.

Furthermore, the clinic I went to today was pretty awesome. I may have been there forever but first appointments always take forever, don't they? The cool thing was I had an ultrasound (to verify my due date since there was some question as to its veracity) and did some blood work. Right there. I didn't have to take my doctor's orders to another location (technically in another city) for those things. That part was really nice. You'd think an obstetrician's office—especially one that's virtually in a hospital—would be equipped with an ultrasound machine since most pregnant women I know get at least one ultrasound.

But, anyway...there was an ultrasound machine right in my examination room today so I got to see the little jumping bean with my own eyes, which is always a little surreal at this point because I can hardly tell I'm pregnant at all. I will never understand how a stranger can poke my tummy a few times and say, "Yup, I'd say you're measuring right around twelve weeks," and then have the ultrasound prove them right. Granted, those strangers are usually doctors...but no matter how much I poke my own stomach I can hardly tell anything is different at all. I don't get it. And that's just one of many reasons why I'm not a doctor.

So I walked out of my appointment today feeling a bit like a human experiment (urine sample, pap smear, ultrasound, blood work) but completely finished (until next time) and with a new (and slightly closer) due date: July 18th.

That means that I'm just days away from saying goodbye to the first trimester. I hope the second trimester brings back my energy because I didn't get a nap this afternoon and it just about killed me. No joke.

Instead of napping we went to visit my friend Emily, who went to Russia with me (eight years ago) and who is here visiting her in-laws.



It was fun to visit with her and commiserate about having husbands in graduate school and watch our littles ones play. Emily had a little girl a few months ago and my girls adored her. Rachel held her for a bit (while sitting on my lap) and Miriam came up and started giggling and hugging and kissing and dancing for her. I didn't think anything of it until Emily said, "So, are you ready for this?" and then I got a little bit nervous about the future.


Protecting Miriam from Rachel was all I did for months. The thought of protecting baby #3 from Miriam and Rachel was a bit overwhelming until I watched Rachel interact with Emily's baby longer. I think Rachel might turn out to be...helpful...this time around. And not just in the "fetch me a diaper" sense, but in the "sit here and gently bounce the baby in its bouncer while Mommy goes to the bathroom (and please keep Miriam from sitting on the baby if you can, thanks)" way.


That's why Emily said she's glad she had a boy first because, aside from acknowledging that he has a sister, he's pretty content to just ignore his sister. My girls sure had fun with him though—they played with toys and had snacks and, in the end, settled in for a game of cats that involved a whole lot of licking. Miriam licked people (mostly Emily's son) and Emily's son mostly licked the floor (which was kind of gross). Rachel licked no one but sure had her tongue hanging out of her mouth a lot.


Hanging out with Emily again was fun but I was so exhausted by the time we got home that I crashed in bed until Andrew had dinner on the table. He's a trooper!

4 comments:

  1. July 18th was James's due date, too!

    Isn't Rachel's bday on the 20th? Maybe she'll have a baby for her birthday.

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  2. Sounds like a fun, albeit long and tiring, day! Good for you for doing something a little unconventional and choosing a doctor that fits your needs. I don't like the way that women get treated at most OB offices either. I've seen a midwife for all my pregnancies (the last 3 were at home even), and I love it -- my favorite part is that they come to my house for check-ups. =)

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  3. I think you had Dr. Baxter with Rachel, right? Well, I'm not going to try and change your mind to go back to him, even though I am with him still, but he does have an ultrasound machine in the office now, so you don't have to go anywhere weird for that, but you do have to go elsewhere for blood work. Which seems weird to me since they have a hospital attached to the office, and they do take blood there since I've had it done there before... Oh well. I'm not pregnant so I don't need to worry about that. :)

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  4. Yes, Rachel's birthday is the 20th. When we told her she'd get a baby brother or sister for her birthday she said, "Is that all?"

    I'd love to try a midwife but have no idea how to go around finding one...maybe next time. :)

    And, thanks, Geneen for the heads up about Dr. Baxter's office—that was our doctor with Rachel, and he was fine, but I think I like this doctor, too. :)

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