Updates

It seems like it's been a really busy week without actually getting much accomplished. Lots of time on the phone getting information about various things... one of those kinds of weeks.

The big news is that tomorrow I will go to my very first baby checkup appointment. It will be a big relief to finally get some labs done and an ultrasound, to make sure that everything is going smoothly and also to feel like the baby is a bit more tangible (though now I can feel the hard baby bulge up against my skin sometimes when he/she feels like chilling in the front part of my belly, so that is somewhat tangible!). The other perk is that since I am 18 weeks (depending on how you count... I know the blog says 16 weeks because they count back from due date but the docs would say 18 weeks because they give you a couple freebie weeks up front) I *should* be able to find out the gender during tomorrow's appointment. Everyone cross your fingers, paws, or whatever you have for a good clear picture of a nice, compliant baby facing front and center, so that we can finally get this mystery solved!

If all goes as planned, I am going to ask for an envelope with the answer in it, so that when we go to Jeff's parents' house for dinner on Saturday night we can all open the envelope and find out! It seemed more fun than finding out all by myself while having an ultrasound (though the wait to open it might kill me). Diane is planning a cool pink and blue dessert theme to go along with the big reveal, and it will be nice to have Howard, Diane and Quinn be in on finding out the big surprise. I'm sad Jeff can't go along to the appointment and have the fun of seeing the baby for the first time on ultrasound, but he has been out of town for work lately, and there's really no reliable way to schedule an appointment for when he will be here. This month he will be gone a total of 3 weeks!

For the appointment, I am going to a midwife group that actually delivers in the hospital. Diane and I went to the orientation the other day where they tell you all about their practice, and it was exactly what I was hoping to hear. No IVs... they monitor fetal heart beats at certain intervals but don't keep you strapped to the machine during your whole labor... they encourage you to drink and move around... you can labor in the water (but you can't give birth in the water, unfortunately, because the tubs aren't big enough). The midwife that gave the orientation was really informative and took her time, which was nice, and it was much more comfortable than the normal sterile doctor environment. I think it's a good compromise between home and hospital births. The fact that it's right in the Texas Medical Center is nice, because if for some reason there was a complication or the baby came out needing some immediate attention, we would be on the same block (and in some cases connected by a sky bridge) to some of the best hospitals in the state. If not, though, the medical staff leaves the midwife families alone to do their own thing. I'm usually not a fan of the Med Center because it's hard to navigate and overwhelming, but if we practice our route a few times leading up to the baby being born it should work out ok. Anyway, the goal is to do the delivery there. We'll see how the appointment goes tomorrow and take it from there.

Cosmo is having food allergies again. I tried making a trip to Costco with a friend who has a Costco card so we could try their brand of dog food, but when we got there we found out Costco closes early on Saturdays. So I bought a small bag of the Purina "Beneful" my mom used to get... just to get them by until I could get to Costco again. Well, wham, last night I looked at poor Cos and all his skin was rashy, and his little chin was raw. So he had a benadryl chased by a bowl of rice for dinner last night, and was looking a little better this morning. Today I've been cooking for him, and Saturday I will meet my friend Lui, who has a Costco card, and go buy a bag of the dog food. If it works for him, I'll just get a Costco card so I can buy dog food. We don't have a ton of use for buying in bulk (not enough to justify the Costco membership up to this point) but for a good wholesome food that is also cheap, I'm in. I know we've also been dying to buy paper plates and paper towels in bulk, so I guess it will work :) If it doesn't work, I give up and Mr. Cosmo will have to go back on a salmon based food- he tends to do well on those, but they are so expensive I was hoping for alternatives. Had a good one in Washington but they don't sell it here.

Really, that's about it. Stay tuned to the blog for the big announcement!