Doctor's Appointment, 32 weeks, 5 days

What an exciting appointment! We did the usual pee-in-a-cup, weight, check blood for iron, blood pressure. Everything was fine. My blood pressure was a little low but the doctor wasn't concerned so we aren't either.

He spent a lot of time on the ultrasound, measuring and whatnot. Hayden is already 5 lbs! Hard to believe because for so long he was just a wee little thing and now he's almost a real baby! Well, you know what I mean :-) Our doctor said he's a little bigger than average, by about a half pound (I blame Jay) and is measuring about a week ahead of my due date. So he may come a little earlier than November 30th. It was hard to get a good 3D visual this time, but it was fun for Jay and I to see him in there.

After we finished up, we headed to the hospital. The hospital where I'll give birth, St. Joseph's, is about a 3-5 minute walk from my doctor's office. That's good news, because if it's in the middle of the day my doctor can just walk right over when Hayden's ready to make his entrance. He showed us where to go in and where to park, where to check in and into the maternity ward. It's a lot different than I thought it would be! The ceilings are high and lofty, so the whole section of the hospital seems very roomy. He showed us the two rooms where I can hang out when I'm still a bit away from delivery, to relax and listen to music or watch tv. The maternity unit is staffed by nurses and midwives, who will examine me to check dilation, contractions, etc. But the whole thing seems pretty laid back. He showed us a delivery room, which is very un-hospital like to me. It's not white and sterile looking, but has dimming lights, a bathtub (not for birthing, but just relaxing) and a bed, monitors and a scale. He said after delivery I'll spend about 2 hours there to make sure the baby and I are okay.

After that, there are the rooms I'll spend the rest of my hospital stay in. The rooms are set up for single or double occupancy. We have the option to reserve a single room when we get there, for a small fee that our insurance doesn't cover. In addition, we can also pay out of pocket to have Jay stay the night. We discussed it, and think we'll reserve a private room, and have Jay stay the first night. After that, we figure he can be at home with Oscar and getting us the things we need and visiting us, but sleeping in our bed. Basically they prefer to have the baby in the room with the mother for 24 hours a day, unless mom needs a break! Then the midwives will take them to the nursery and bring them for feedings.

The midwives are also staffed to help assist mothers with nursing and other new-baby things. Typically, if everything goes well with the baby and the mother we'll spend about 2-3 days in the hospital and then head home. If we have an unscheduled C-section we'll be there about 4-5 days. Europeans do not favor the c-section or the epidural, and seem pretty laid back about birth in general. Now that we've seen everything, it's even more exciting, and definitely more "real" as Jay pointed out.

We have another appointment in two weeks, where we'll continue to see how Hayden is growing and where we stand. It's getting close!