Eight Weeks Tomorrow

That's right -- I'll be eight weeks along as of tomorrow. I'm in New York now (read our other blog... but realize that I'm still not announcing the pregnancy to the world on that blog) at my company's Winter Meeting, and am trying to be as good to myself as is possible at these crazy events, but I did schedule my first appointment with the midwife before I left town. The appointment is scheduled for Thursday, January 31, and I'm very excited to go just so this will maybe all seem a bit more realistic. By that time I will be closing in on nine-and-a-half weeks, and though it will still be early for an ultrasound (I think they usually do the first one around 12 weeks), I will probably get to hear the baby's heartbeat, which will be cool.

Jarrett and I have been struggling in terms of making a decision about what kind of prenatal care and delivery we really want. I'm not a huge fan of hospitals and their usual regimented take on childbirth, so I knew I'd probably want to at least go with a midwife if I opt for a hospital delivery, and definitely hire a doula to help with the labor coaching. But then I watched The Business of Being Born with my dear friend, Kate, at a viewing at my church (before I even knew I was pregnant -- we just thought it sounded interesting), and a home birth then sounded much more appealing. I've been in contact with a doula that attends our church, and she asked that I please at least talk to the home birth midwife that was on the Q&A panel after the movie showing, so I did. She seems fabulous, but the only problem is that it doesn't sound like our insurance will cover a home birth. We might still call and ask about it before completely ruling it out, but in the meantime I've decided to see a midwife who was also recommended by my prospective doula. The only problem? The OB/GYN office where this midwife practices and the hospital I would want to delivery at are both about 30 miles away from the house, but we've decided it's probably worth it if it's what I want. And I think it is. It's the only hospital in the area that offers water births, and that has always sounded like a wonderful way to give birth. I guess we'll see how this first appointment goes!

Dr. J

For those of you who don't know, I routinely see a chiropractor/kinesiologist, who has been absolutely wonderful for me over the past couple of years. Dr. J is fabulous in terms of helping keep me inline in a chiropractic sense, and guiding me in leading a more healthy, more natural lifestyle. I had my regular monthly appointment yesterday, and she was very excited about the pregnancy (I had actually e-mailed her earlier in the week for an OB recommendation), especially because she knows that I am in a good place in terms of my health and, thus, prepared physically to carry little Baby Helms (very little -- according to my books, Baby Helms is about a 1/2 in. in length, and still curled up very tightly). Dr. J put me on a good prenatal vitamin, and will continue to see me once a month. The OB she recommended is up in Marietta (about a 30-minute drive), so I'll probably go ahead and call the office, but see if they might know of a good OB closer to Decatur.

We're Pregnant!

We've been trying since August to conceive (which really means only two cycles with my whacky system), and it has now become a reality -- Jarrett and I are expecting our first child. I took a test on the morning of New Year's Eve, which resulted in a very faint second line. Though I knew deep down that any second line at all meant a positive result, I still was not convinced, so that night at our New Year's Eve party, I took my good friend, Shelly, who is now a little over halfway through her pregnancy, into the back room and explained the outcome of the test. She became wide-eyed and exclaimed, "Christi! The same thing happened to me!" She told me I should take a test on Wednesday (this was Monday) and I'd probably have a darker second line. Sure enough -- a Wednesday-morning test resulted in a definitive positive result. But I took another one yesterday morning just to be really sure before we called our parents. Kind of like how I check that my alarm is really set around three or four times before I turn off the light to go to sleep. That's just the way I am. So -- yay! -- we're expecting!