A VERY Productive Day

So yesterday, Ed and I took the day off to take care of a number of things on our 'list.' Our first order of the day was my prenatal appointment. Everything with the baby is checking out just fine. My measurements are exactly where they should be, and Granny (ahem, Great Granny) was right: Baby Reagin is officially dropping. In fact, she's lower now than she was when we saw Granny on Saturday. AND, I maintained my weight, which makes up for last week's snag of an extra 2-pound weight gain, so that made me happy.

The only not-so-great thing about yesterday's visit was that my blood pressure has gone up. Instead of being 100 or 110 over 60 like it normally is (and by normally, I mean that my BP has stayed the same practically the entire pregnancy), it was 110/80. So my midwife wants me to be mindful of a few things this week, and to call in right away if certain symptoms occur.

While we were there, we were also able to address our concerns from last week's visit with the other midwife. Not only were we completely up-front about how upsetting she was, but Robin addressed all of our unanswered questions very thoroughly, so now we have the answers we should've been given last week. She didn't seem surprised in the slightest that we'd had an issue with this midwife and promptly asked us to fill out a patient survey about the incident (which we had already done).

Next, we stopped at Atlanta Bread Company across the street from the hospital and interviewed a doula. For those of you who don't know what this is, a doula is a person hired to assist a woman in labor (there are also postpartum doulas as well). Doulas are extremely knowledgeable about the process and ways in which to provide comfort to a laboring woman. Normally, you would hire one much sooner in the pregnancy, but we chose to do so last-minute due to a few reasons, including our concerns about the other midwife (who is on-call the weekend that we're due) as well as our desire to have as natural a childbirth experience as possible. The interview went very well, and we did decide to hire her. Tracey is officially on-call for us now, and it's only a matter of time...

The last important matter of the day was to find a pediatrician for this little girl. We'd set up three appointments at practices in three nearby cities that started at 1:45 and ended at 5:30. All of the practices had been selected due to the recommendations of co-workers. The first office was fine. The building and interior itself seemed a little older, which is funny because the doctor was, too. He was nice, and he did recommend a Dr. Sears book to help us, which we actually just got a week or so ago. This one could've been a contender.

The second practice was really cute as far as the waiting room goes, but we never actually saw the rest of the practice because after waiting for 45 minutes with no end in sight, we decided to leave.

Practice number three was 'just right.' Actually, that's an understatement. The building was lovely and huge, designed specifically for a pediatrician's practice. The office administrator runs a tight ship that keeps the process running smoothly and the four of the seven medical professionals we met were all personable and a great fit for Ed and I. It was the polar opposite of our previous stop. And we've decided to go with them. So our baby girl will be carefully cared for by the doctors and pediatric nurse practitioners at ABC Pediatrics.

We also managed to turn in our pre-admit paperwork to the hospital yesterday and purchase another nightgown for the hospital stay after the baby comes. All in all, it was one of the most productive days we've had thus far (not to mention that we packed our hospital bags the night before). We feel much better about where we're at in the process now.

But that's enough for now, as I have to get ready for work (boo). Hope you all have a great Wednesday. Maybe we'll update again this weekend.