37 weeks – now with belly shot!

It’s hard to believe we are almost at the end of this pregnancy. S is full term as of today – if he came now, all would be well. I reached another milestone today as well. It was my last day in the office. I’ll be working from home through next Friday (12/18), but I won’t be back in the office until my maternity leave is over. Did I tell you how great my maternity leave is??? I’m out 12/21/09 – 5/14/10! They have to hold my job for that time, and I will get paid the entire time. Not all at 100% of my salary, but still. I am so so happy to have that much time with my new baby. California is not too shabby on the maternity leave front. Also, DW is getting a 6 week “paternity” leave as well, starting 12/21.

My parents will be here a week from Friday and S will be here a week from Monday. Total craziness!

Belly shot!

36 weeks

I had my second appointment with my new OB today and it went well. Nothing new to report – just weekly visits until baby arrives. We did end up keeping our same date and time for the delivery (12/21 at noon). I can’t believe it’s less than 3 weeks away. I’m both excited (to meet my baby) and anxious (about the surgery, recovery, breast feeding, etc.).

I continue to be extremely uncomfortable most of the time. My back has started hurting again and I can’t be on my back for more than a couple of minutes before I start feeling light-headed. I have been taking lots of baths, which really helps with the discomfort. Too bad they are only warm and not hot, but still, it feels pretty great. It’s been nice with our new tub, too! It’s huge compared to our old one and has arm rests for reading. Luxurious!

So far, the kittens are doing pretty well with the Christmas tree. Looks like we can keep it up this year! We’ll decorate it this weekend. Let’s hope that doesn’t spur them on in their tree shenanigans. We moved the glider into the bedroom to make room for the tree and my youngest kitty, Casper, has taken to getting in my lap to rock. It is really adorable. He is going to be most displeased when S arrives and gets that honor.

OB shenanigans at 34 weeks

Remember how I was considering changing OBs a few weeks ago? I so should have! At Friday’s appt. they told me that my insurance was contracted through the doctor that left (several months ago) and the remaining doctor is now out of network. They tell me this 5 WEEKS BEFORE MY SCHEDULED C-SECTION! So we were left scrambling trying to figure out what the hell to do. A surgery and several nights hospital stay could break us if we did this out of network. Oh, and I saw that they haven’t billed anything since 6/15, meaning that all of my appointments since then are going to be paid at 70%, not 90% as I thought. How is this even legal? How can they not inform patients of this news? Had I known, I would have switched OBs immediately to someone in network.

I called the office this morning and they told me to find out if the hospital is considered in network. They don’t know this information? I called DW in tears and she took over. I am just so angry. My parents just bought their plane tickets based on a 12/21 delivery date. Who the hell knows what it will be now.

DW also spoke with our current OB’s office and the asshole there wasn’t even apologetic, even when DW told her how upset we both are. I can’t even believe the incompetence. DW also told her that we are not paying at 70% as they never informed us of this change. Office woman claimed Dr. would “probably” make an adjustment so we’d pay at 90%. Dr. is getting an angry letter – one of many, I’d assume.

So then DW called our pediatrician, who we loved, and he gave her a rec for an OB who is affiliated with our hospital and set up an appt. with her for Wednesday morning. I called my insurance co. to ensure that new OB is in network and they tell me, no, she is not. OB’s office insists they are. Sorry, not taking any chances after what I just got out of. So I had to call my high-risk OB for references and now have an appt. with yet another OB on Thursday morning. I am so stressed out. This is so ridiculous. Worst. Monday. Ever.

I just can’t believe our “luck.” It seems like this kind of shit happens all the time with us. Here’s hoping the new OB is good.

OB visit

Thanks for all of the nice comments on the shower photos. It turned out way nicer than we expected on all fronts. We went in a little stressed and wanting to get it over with, but ended up having a really great time.

We had our follow-up appointment with the high-risk OB on Wednesday. Baby had moved out of the frank breech position, but had his back to my stomach so was still a little difficult to scan. They were able to finally get a decent look at his heart and also at his cute face! Check him out at 33 weeks:

OB was in a much better mood this time around. They checked my blood sugar and it was fine and he said I looked good for where I am in the pregnancy. That was our last appointment with him and I was a little sad about it. I liked him a lot and he is a lot more thorough than my regular OB. Oh well, only a little over 5 weeks left until the little guy is out in the world. Hard to imagine.

He has also been moving around a lot more. Yay! I can see him moving from the outside, which is pretty crazy but fun, too. I’m having a lot of pain where my belly meets my breasts. It feels like the skin is going to bust open – ow! Other than that, I’m doing pretty well.

Next up: Regular OB appointment today at 2:45.

ultrasound and gay parenting

We went in to the high-risk OB for what was supposed to be our last visit/ultrasound with him. Unfortunately, baby was in a difficult position so 1.) we didn’t get pictures and 2.) I have to go back in next week to see if he’s moved so that they can check a few things more closely. The little guy is in the frank breech position, meaning he is head up with his legs up over the body:

It’s not really a problem as it’s still early (32 weeks) and he’s coming via c-section no matter what, but it was a bit alarming to see his head and feet so close together! Silly dude! What they could see checked out fine, but they want one more look at him.

OB was a bit alarmed at the size of the baby. He estimates that he is 5 lbs, called him a “big boy,” and said I have an “8 or 9 month sized belly.” He wants me to do the damned hour glucose test again (argh) to make sure all is well, and advised me to watch what I’m eating. Kind of frustrating as I’m not going crazy with the food. I have a lot of 6′ and taller men in my family and both my brother and I were big babies (I was 9 lbs and my bro was 9 lbs, 2 oz). This OB and the other one in his practice are big into childhood obesity research and the connection between it and how the mother eats during pregnancy. I think they are a bit alarmist about it, but I will try to watch what I’m eating more closely. I’m also a little annoyed that I had my regular OB visit last Friday, where she measured my belly and said nothing was out of the ordinary and where they told me I had actually lost 2 lbs since my last appt. Which is it, doctor people?

ION, we are meeting with a lawyer at the Gay and Lesbian Center to find out if DW has to adopt our baby or not. We were thinking that since we are legally married, all we’d have to do is put her name on the birth certificate and we’re all good. Our lawyer advised us to do a 2nd parent adoption, but she doesn’t specialize in family law and is certainly not specialized in LGBT legal issues, so here we go. It is so offensive to me that we’d have to go through a home study and spend several thousand dollars for my wife to legally parent a child we conceived during our marriage. If she were a man and we went the same route to get pregnant (sperm donor), I could just put “his” name as the father and no one would question it. How is that any different than our situation? I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but it has both of us so furious.

busy mama

Last weekend was the last hurrah in terms of going out prior to giving birth. We saw Echo and the Bunnymen with DW’s cousins and their wives on Saturday night, and we saw Tegan and Sara (LOVE) on Sunday and Monday nights. We had fun, but I was asleep last night by 7:30 I was so worn out. The young-uns at T&S were hysterical staring at my belly. They just couldn’t believe a preggo lady was there! We didn’t plan on having all these shows in a row. We agreed to go to Echo a few months ago and then the T&S tix came around. We love them and they have a new record out so we had to go. Fortunately the venues were seated as that’s a necessity for me at this point. We are missing the Pixies Doolittle reunion tour because they are playing a standing-only venue. I can’t tell you how disappointed we both are as we really wanted to go.

We are big music fans and see lots of shows and actually were in a band together for about 5 years when we first met (I sang and she played bass). So music is a pretty huge part of our lives. It was cool feeling the baby kicking during certain moments. Hopefully it wasn’t too loud for the little guy. I know musicians who’ve toured pregnant and their babies were fine so I’m sure it’s okay.

In other news, a co-worker of mine dropped that his daughter has H1N1. I freaked out a bit (internally) but a call to my OB put my mind at ease. She said you can only get it through direct contact with someone with symptoms, so it’s fine.

Next up: OB visit Friday 10/30 and high-risk OB visit (including 3D ultrasound!) Monday 11/2.

pediatrician

We got a recommendation for a pediatrician close to home from a close friend. She doesn’t live near us, so we were surprised to find out that her ped is here. We had an appointment with him on Friday and he was great! Not only did we really like him right off the bat, but he also gave us both the H1N1 shot. Yay! Now we are both all vaccinated up, and we have a great doctor awaiting our baby boy. I told DW, “Just think; the next time we see him, the baby will be here!” Wild.

The third tri continues to kick my butt. I have heartburn pretty much constantly (the Tums are only mildly helpful at this point) and am just plain uncomfortable all the time. I can’t even imagine how much bigger my belly is going to get, because it feels so gigantic and crazy now (at 30 weeks). My boss told me I could work from home 3 days a week, which is a total life-saver. I can sleep in a bit since I’m not sleeping well, take a nap when I need one, and just generally make myself more comfortable than I possibly could in the office. I’ll be in the office on Tues/Thurs and home Mon/Wed/Fri. Aaaaah. I know I’m really lucky to be able to make such an arrangement. I’ve been with this company for almost 10 years, so they know I’m good for it.

The baby’s dresser arrived yesterday. Now to assemble and figure out where it’s going to go.

>OB update

>It was chaos as usual at the doctor’s office yesterday and things didn’t go well. The woman who was working the front desk was rude and just tried to get me out of there quickly without answering any of my questions. We left fuming mad. But when I got home, another woman in the office called to reschedule my next appointment to be with the OB. She was much more sympathetic and friendly than her rude co-worker. Also when we were leaving the office yesterday, a patient stopped us and said how much she loves Dr. O and that I’m in excellent hands. She had her baby a few weeks ago. So, we decided to just stay on and deal with the chaos. I’m going to insist on seeing Dr. O from here on out, and at my next appointment I’m going to discuss some of my concerns with her.

Not perfect by any means, but as long as I’m under a doctor’s care, I think I’m good. The thought of finding someone else at this point was just really stressing me out. Here’s hoping things improve from here on out. Now to find a pediatrician… I’m starting to understand why people start their maternity leave early!