Week 17

Today I'm officially 17 days and 1 week! I have an appointment this afternoon with a new OB. I am still having to run around "OB shopping" and it's so frustrating. It turns out that the second OB that I blogged about last time saw did not please me. Though he was completely different from the first OB, he was really fast talking, had a higher rate of c-sections, and just plain suggested that I not resist his advice. I told hubby that we might end up staying with him, since I was required to pay half my pregnancy costs upfront at my initial visit.  But my heart deep down was telling me to search around for another OB. I talked to my wellness coach about my concerns and she suggested I ask to see an associate of my original OB since all my paperwork and medical records were with her. I called their office that afternoon to request a different provider and they told me that they would have to ask my original OB weather that was okay with her and also ask the new OB whether it was okay with her as well to switch over from the previous OB I was seeing. Well a week passed and I still had not heard from them and decided to talk to hubby about the issue. My concern was that I may have to go to the Texas Medical Center that was quite a drive from us, but would probably be the best fit for my needs. I did a little research and found a group that I would be willing to meet with them and that work with midwives. However when I called, it took me a long time to get through to them and when I finally got through to someone they basically just took my information and said they would call me back in regards to whether the OB wanted to see me or not.  After playing phone tag for a few days, they finally called me back and told me that they will need to see all my medical records before considering making an appointment for me. They suggested I go to my OB and have all my records released to the OB I requested to see.  By then I was already frustrated with the run around everybody was giving me and though I had made a down payment for my delivery fee with my second OB, I knew I wasn't going to be happy with him. A couple of few days later somebody from my 1st OB's office called me and said that her associate would be willing to see me and it was okay with my original OB. I asked for the same date and time of appointment that I had scheduled ( which is today) and so now I will see what this afternoon's appointment brings me. I have read lots of reviews online about this new OB and she rates about average which I'm not very happy with but I'm going to try and go into this appointment with an open mind (I'm hoping third time's a charm). Some of the bad reviews were noted as being pressured into birthing naturally instead of doing what those moms wanted to do, which was a C-section . That doesn't completely scare me since I want to avoid a c-section all together, if all goes as planned. She also had a few rave reviews so I'm hoping I will really like her.

So I started planning my baby shower and this has also proven to be a little bit of a headache as well. My mom wants to throw me a baby shower in San Antonio (I live in Houston) because most of my extended family lives there. And they've all known about our struggles to conceive. This will more than likely be a baby shower with just females. My mom has already started planning for this. I suggested it be held at La Madeleine since I've been to a couple of baby showers there and it's actually one of my favorite places to eat. My San Antonio guest list list consists of about 20 people which is mainly family with just a couple of friends. One of my best friends (my maid of honor) has offered to help out and that will greatly help my mom. She also lives in San Antonio. On the other hand we have most of our friends that live here in our city and most of hubby's family lives in Houston as well. Therefore I wanted to plan something in Houston. My idea was to have a coed baby shower. My cousin had one last year at a bar & grill and it was really fun and I enjoyed the venue. Hers was coed and I liked the kind of laid back atmosphere of it and thought it'd  be a great idea for our baby shower one day. So I've contacted the manager to see if I can get more information on catering and venue rental. I plan to have it the last weekend in February. My San Antonio baby shower will be held at the end of March. So I think it'll be pretty easy since my mom is handling most of the planning.  But when making my guest list for our Houston baby celebration, it has proven to be a big headache because it gets or guest list is huge and I don't think the place is large enough to accommodate them all.

So I called a couple of my friends to ask for help. One doesn't have much experience with planning a baby showers but she's one of my best friends and I was hoping that she would help me out. Plus I have another good friend who also offered to help plan a baby shower when she first found out our good news.  So now I'm trying to get them both together so that we can come up with plans to hopefully better accommodate our needs. I still want to check out that venue because I think hubby would thoroughly enjoy it. Maybe have burgers and some coed game.

As for my symptoms lately I am still  having morning sickness and that I am having a little nausea currently as I do this blog. I also have a some round ligament pain I've also which lets me know I'm still pregnant. I bought a fetal doppler so that when too much time has passed I can always listen in on baby's heartbeat. I that last night and it definitely put my mind at ease. We haven't seen the baby for a few weeks (since the genetic testing) and I'm kind of nervous and hoping that all is going well during this pregnancy. I still feel really good. So far I have only gained 4 pounds during this entire pregnancy. I'm still don't have much of a bump even though I can tell my belly is getting a little bit bigger since I can't even see my toes anymore when I stand straight up.

I have taken one prenatal yoga class and I thought it was a little nerve wracking, especially since I lack flexbility.  I'm going again tomorrow and afterwards I have an appointment to see our second doula. It's been awhile since we last interviewed one. But my goal is to try and book one by the end of this year so that I can get a good doula that I am happy with. Especially with all this OB runaround.

As for the holidays, we don't have a lot of plans because DH's work schedule has changed dramatically and he now works 12 hour shifts most of the time 7 days a week. I hardly get to see him since he work the graveyard shift. Literally he gets off this time I going to work and gets off work the time I arrived home and goes into work the time he goes into work the time I get off work and leave work the time I go into work so we haven't seen each other for a week. I am looking forward to this weekend when I get to see him but I know he will be tired since he's been working 12 hour shifts and he will be working this weekend as well.