Getting closer

I'm getting ready to stop off at the pharmacy to pick up my last pack of
birth control pills for awhile! We're not going to be actively trying until
September, but I'm going off the pills in August to give my cycles a chance
to normalize. I'm very excited.

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I am disgusted by insurance companies

So, I got a bill from my midwife's practice that stated my insurance
declined to pay for the visit. I called the billing office to check and see
if there was any additional information, and they said that since no
services were rendered that the insurance didn't consider it to be a
medically necessary visit and that I didn't have coverage for "reproductive
counseling". Ugh. I hate insurance companies. Excuse me for wanting to
meet with someone and review the practice philosophy of an establishment
that I am going to entrust the care of my unborn child to. But whatever.
I'm lucky enough to be in a position to be able to pay for some premium
healthcare services, and so I will.

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Baby Rooms

So, I acknowledge that I'm waaaay ahead of myself on this, but I've been thinking about a bumble bee themed nursery for several reasons.  One is that it is gender neutral.  Another is that the small second bedroom in our house is already painted bright yellow which is as good a color as any for a nursery.  In any event, I want to block print the sheet sets and curtains like so: http://www.readymade.com/blog/craft/2011/06/14/make_this_easy_fabric_printing

In other news, my bestie is having a girl!!  Guess I'd better get cracking on that quilt I promised her!

Of course, any amount of sewing requires that I have my sewing machine set up, and most of my craft things are still in boxes from the move last year.  But I've started getting my things in order and moved most of the boxes out of the spare bedroom (soon to be the nursery, if all goes well) and into the library and shared office space.  There are two 6' x 3' closets in the library.  My husband has one for his tech stuff and I have one for my craft and sewing junk.  Now all I have to do go through it all to organize it and somehow fit it all in the space!  Hopefully, though, I'll have it all squared away by next Saturday when we're hosting our friends and family for a luau / belated house warming party so everyone can see the hard work we've put in on our house.  It's going to take a lot of energy to get the projects we have ongoing finished, get organized and clean the house between now and then.

And speaking of luaus, I found an unbeatable deal on airfare to Honolulu so my husband and I booked a trip to Hawaii in January.  He lived in Hawaii for 10 years after being discharged from the Navy, so he's been dying to go back for a visit to show me all of his old haunts.  My only hope is that we get pregnant right away when we start trying in September, so that I'm hopefully out of the barfy first trimester during our 8 hour flight!

Blabbermouth

I got my first baby gifts last week!  I'm so stinking excited about our plans to start planning a family that I can't keep my mouth shut about it, and just about everyone I know is clued in to the fact that we're going to start trying in September, some because I needed a little cheerleading and support and some because I recruited them to talk to my husband about the issues he was having "wrapping his head around" potentially becoming a poppa.  He really needed to talk some things through and didn't want me to be part of the conversation since I'm so clearly biased towards baby, so I asked a few of my friends who are already parents to chat him up on the subject.  Anyway, so everyone knows, which could potentially be a hassle when we get close to September.  I'm sure there will be a lot of questions coming my way from the casual "how are things going?" to the more pointed (and intrusive) grillings I should probably expect from my sister.  But, keeping secrets stresses me out, so I blabbed.  I might come to regret it, but I'm feeling really good about being so open right at the moment.

Anyway, we had some friends who are moving over for dinner the other night, and she brought over some awesome retro wooden puzzles that I just love to pieces.  She said she'd been hanging on to them for the longest time waiting for a good opportunity to give them a good home.  I'm kind of honored that she picked me!  Plus, I really appreciate the paint colors from that old-school 1960's palette and the illustrations are pretty adorable.  I'm really bummed that this couple is moving away.  I've known them for a long time, casually, and we share many common interests, but I JUST learned that they live, literally, a block away which could have been a great catalyst for developing a much closer relationship (especially since my husband really needs some close guy friends and he gets along great with my friend's husband) but now they'll be gone.  Oh well.  I guess I'll just have to be on the lookout for more opportunities to grow friendships with interesting folk of all stripes.

Risks

One of my husband's big worries about having children is that he/she will inherit his terrible allergies and epilepsy.  The allergies, I have a suspicion, are the result of his mother bleaching the walls of their home when he and his brother were toddlers, limiting their exposure to environmental factors that later in life triggered allergic reactions.  The epilepsy was a bigger worry, so I did a bit of research.

From epilepsy.com:

Q. If I have epilepsy, will my children also have it?

A. Less than 2 people out of every 100 (2%) develop epilepsy at some pointduring their lifetime. The risk for children whose father has epilepsy isonly slightly higher. If the mother has epilepsy and the father does not,the risk is still less than 5%. If both parents have epilepsy, the risk is abit higher. Most children will not inherit epilepsy from a parent, but thechance of inheriting epilepsy is higher for some types. 

If you have epilepsy, it is normal for you to be afraid that your childrenwill have epilepsy too. However, a fear that your children will haveepilepsy is not enough reason to decide against having any. The risk is low,most children outgrow epilepsy, and most people who have it are able tocontrol their seizures by taking one medicine.

Topic Editor: Steven C. Schachter, M.D.

Well, 2% hardly seems like much cause to worry, so that takes a load off my
mind, and hopefully off of his, too.

Progress, I guess

Met with the midwife today.  The practice is friendly and there's no
confusion as to where to go next and no standing around at the checkout
station waiting to be acknowledged.  The nurse who checked me in did a
thorough job with my history and was friendly and not awkward.  At my last
GYN practice, the nurse who checked me in and took my history was a bit
snobby and I want to say incredulous when I answered the history questions.
I kept feeling like she didn't believe me and was trying to catch me in a
lie when she would ask the same question in a different manner later on in
the process.  In any event, I didn't much like it there.  And I just
realized that my friend who's delivered two babies with them was more scared
than she needed to be during labor with her first because she wasn't sure
what was going to happen next.  The midwife I met with (who's from the same
county that I grew up in) assured me that we would talk it through and set
up a plan and backup plans long before entering the delivery room.  She said
she was involved in a labor the night before that took two hours of pushing
and she and the mother avoided cesarean intervention three times over the
course of her delivery, so that gives me a lot of confidence that she'll be
an advocate for me and support my decisions.  I really liked her and talking
with her was very easy and low key.  I explained to her that I'm a
"researcher" and like to be well-informed ahead of time, so she gave me some
printed materials that her practice has developed even though I didn't
really need it yet.  I think I'm going to be very pleased with the practice
and the midwife when the time comes for me to engage their services.

The plan, as it stands now, is to go off of birth control in August and use
alternate contraception methods until after my first "natural" cycle, then
we'll ditch the contraceptives altogether in September and see what happens.
And between now and then, the plan is to finish my various house projects
and try to drop some weight.

Sigh of Relief

Well, the big news is that about a week ago my husband has decided that we should start trying in September!!  He says next summer is the soonest he feels like we'd be ready for a baby since we have a lot of house projects still pending completion.  He's not entirely wrong and that would still put us trying before I hit 30, so I'm pretty pleased with his decision.  I have gotten a new scrip for birth control, but haven't gone back on my statin yet even though I found a pack in the medicine chest I'd forgotten I had.