pregnancy FAQ

Everyone asks me all the time how things are going with my pregnancy, so here is all you could ever want to know.... FAQ style

1. where will you deliver? Today I had my 15 week check up with my AWESOME doctor. Everything looks great - heart tones, vital signs, measurements, all that good stuff. She is our family doctor who also specializes in obstetrics. The office is a birth center, and she also attends home births. That is my dream, but, Jason, uhm, not so much. So we plan to use the birth center for the final act, but labor at home as long as possible. Jen (our doctor) will be with us at home for the labor and then travel with us to the birth center - or she will meet us at the birth center, whatever we choose. My good friend Deb will be there to act as my doula, providing continuous emotional labor support to me so that Jason is free to just be the anticipatory daddy. I pray and hope with every fiber of my body that this will be an intervention-free natural labor, just as we intended with Maddy. Jen has been attending births for over ten years and teaches obstetrics at the local midwifery college. She is extremely capable and I have absolute faith and trust in her ability to guide us during our next baby's birth. She also can take a peek in Maddy's ears during my visits and diagnose a raging ear infection -- so convenient. Or I can listen to the baby's heartbeat at a well child check - nice! Jason has even come around and genuinely likes my hippie doctor's ways.

2. how are you feeling? GREAT! I stopped feeling awful this week. Hallelujah!

3. are you having a boy or a girl? one or the other, and we'll find out in November

4. what is your due date? November 15th, but I am not tied to that because babies tend to come when they are ready. Maddy was one week "late". I bet November sometime, though, since we have two weeks either way and are still in the same month.

5. are you excited/ready/scared for having two? I try not to think, wonder or worry about it but I am sure it will be life-changing. We are very excited to meet our new baby and for Maddy to be a big sister, of course, but so much will depend on who the new baby is and where Maddy's needs are in another 25 weeks. My parents will have retired two hours south by that time, so that is better than the current 3 1/2, I'm sure their help will be wonderful. At this point i am just trying to savor my one on one time with Maddy and soak up this fabulous stage of her life, her dwindling babyhood as she becomes more and more the independent toddler (of course except for right now she is kind of a feverish ear achey lump on my lap, but you get the drift).

Okay, that is usually all the questions people have, so stay tuned as more happens each month!