Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Weekly Dr update

We ventured to Havre (yet again) yesterday to see the doctor for my 37 week check up. I kind of felt like it was a slightly pointless appointment. They weighed me, took my BP, measured me, and asked if anything was wrong. I think I could have gone without having to pay for someone to tell me everything is fine. Next week my Dr. will start checking my cervix everytime I go in.

We also toured the hospital maternity wing and filled out all of the pre-admission stuff. The rooms are pretty nice and they all have jacuzzi tubs - which I've heard is nice for labor. The nurse we met was super nice, but notvery encouraging of my desire to have a drug-free birth. Jeff is being super encouraging and supportive as we practice the Bradley method together and Dr. Dow is really supportive of my desire not to be offered pain meds, so the nurse's comments about "most people ending up with epidurals" didn't bother me quite as much. I am going to make little goody bags with our birth plan attached so each person that we come in contact with at the hospital knows the things that are important to us during and after labor. I'm well aware that this will be probably the hardest thing I will ever do, but it's important to me.

We also met with Dr. Walter, a Family Practice DO to talk with him about being our family doctor. We really liked his answers to our questions. He seemed very balanced in his opinions, and also affirmed our roles as parents in making decisions about the baby's care in the hospital and beyond. We feel very comfortable with him caring for the baby in the hospital and afterwards.

After all of our appointments, we got some groceries at Wal-Mart, stopped by Herberger's, grabbed Subway and headed home. When we got home, a 5 gallon bucket of Charlie's Soap was waiting for us. This is the soap recommended for our cloth diapers and Gram was nice enough to buy the big size for us. It's definetly the most economical way to buy it. If you buy the small package, it's 20 cents a load, but the big one is only 12 cents per load. That's cheaper than grocery store brands. So today, I ran the small size diapers, all the inserts, the cloth wipes I made, and all of the blankets through the wash with the new soap. It's supposed to keep everything residue free and be very environmentally friendly. It smells pretty good too.

Jeff headed down to the trailer today. He is not measuring vegetation anymore, but instead he's just getting comfortable with the way he is going to collect his data. He also has to clean his stuff out and help close up the trailer for the winter. The people that own the trailer are coming in on Sunday to close it for the winter. Jeff wont be going down there as much after the trailer is closed but will be doing more studying for his comprehensive examinations and working on his proposal. Which is good, because when he's out in the field, I can't get a hold of him, which would stink when I have this baby.

He will be back up on Thursday so we can go over to our friends' house that evening for fellowship and bible study.

Lastly, we are officially coming home for Christmas - we've got tickets and everything! We can't wait to see everyone!

1 comment:

Stacy Tucker-Potter said...

I am very proud of your decision to go natural. Yes, lots of women get epidurals. But globally, far more women do this the old fashioned way. You can do it! My only regret in life is that I will never be able to have a natural delivery, and women like you make me proud!