Weeks 29-30: Calm Before the Storm

Yo yo yo Eph'n Rach fans - how are you?  I am fine.  Why was that the standard greeting in all my 5th grade love letters?  Not too suave.  Anyhoo - blog on! 

Latest Baby Stats
Fetal Heart Rate (FHR): 159 BPM
Cervical Length: 3cm - it seems that the cervix is starting to shorten which is typical later on in pregnancy.  This reading is a little shorter than last time, but the docs assure us that as long as it doesn't start funneling/effacing, it's ok.  

Sugar - Ah, Honey Honey!
During this time of the pregnancy gestational diabetes becomes a concern, so the doc ordered a glucose test to be performed.  The test entails drinking a sugary substance (akin to a sweet 7up) within 5 minutes, and blood is drawn to see how well the body processes the sugar.  If all is well, you go home.  If not, you get treated to a marathon 3-8 hour extended test. As such, a few weeks before the scheduled test, the doc recommended that Rach layoff the carbs which effectively rules out bread, pizza, hamburgers, rice -- i.e. pretty much everything yummy.  So naturally, not only did Rach continue to eat all of the above and more, but she also did the sensible thing of eating quite a large helping of chocolate/vanilla swirl custard with crushed Oreo topping from Frostbites the night before the test.  (I think I just got diabetes from typing that).  Passing the test looked quite bleak to say the least, but lo and behold, Rach passed the first test with flying colors.  Amazing.  Furthermore, iron deficiency which is also a concern around this time for preggies, was noticeably absent as well.  This leads me to conclude that Rach's preggy diet staple of Carl's Jr. Famous Star hamburgers are the cure for all common preggy maladies.  So the preggy eggy pretty much gets to eat what she wants -- lucky ducky!
 
Dr. Regina
Those who know me well know that I have a phobia of going to the doctor.  I attribute this to the traumatic experience of getting vaccinations before Kindergarten (hence my fear of shots briefly mentioned in this previous post) and getting my appendix taken out early in college.  Essentially, nothing good comes out of going to the doctor, in my phobic mind at least.  That being said, for me it's important that Camille only have relatively awesome experiences with her first doctor.  That all starts early with a good pediatrician, and we endeavored these past few weeks to find that perfect match for her. 

We started by setting up interviews with prospective candidates that were recommended to us by our OB/GYN, checked out their websites and then further filtered the results on important parameters such as:

• Oh she has a kind face
• Oh wow, she can speak Tongan - never know when that might come in handy!
• My personal favorite: oh wow, her last name rhymes with the Filipino word for a woman's nether regions (I still giggle like a little school girl when I say her name - I know, call me juvenile).  For story telling purposes, I shall refer to her as Dr. Regina :0)

As for interview prep, there are a lot of good interview questions listed on the Web -- the Baby Center one I found particularly helpful.  However, in the end, my experience interviewing prospective candidates at work has taught me that your intuition will tell you pretty quickly if the person is going to be a good fit.  It turns out, the same goes for pediatricians as well.

At about 6PM (a good sign that they were open later in the day), we proceeded to walk down a nondescript medical building corridor and happend to bump into a Filipino 'auntie' who turned out to be one of the nurses for Dr. Regina who was leaving for the day.  In that familiar Filipino accent she pointed with her lips toward the door and said, "Shees waiting por yoo...".  Another good sign -- that accent made me feel at home.

We spot the door with Dr. Regina's nameplate, and I just couldn't resist making a comment about the name (the one of many little quips I'd been constantly making for the past couple weeks).  Rach gave me the ice cold eye-roll and being thoroughly put in my place, I finally start to behave.  We get past the door and were delighted with the reception room's decor.  Very kid friendly with cool murals on the wall.  An ample collection of children books and toys as well.  Also a nice touch -- a separate waiting room for sick kids.  So far so good!

Dr. Regina motions us into one of the rooms.  Before we could exchange pleasantries, she immediately went into where she went to school, what her stances were on breastfeeding, vaccinations ... office hours, family background -- pretty much everything we thought to ask her, and more.  I figured that she'd been through hundreds of these interviews, so she had her spiel down pat.  Ultimately, we simply had a good vibe with her and we felt that she'd be a great partner/advocate for Camille's health.  You're hired Dr. Regina!

Milkshake
Rach and I completed one of the last baby courses we signed up for: breastfeeding.  Now the male chauvinist in me thought -- why in the world does the dad have to go to a breastfeeding class?  While evolution gave mammary glands to the mommy, and thus, the actual act of breastfeeding, the dad can help out with all sorts of ancillary breastfeeding duties including, but not limited to: burping, diaper changing (often before and after feeding), bottle/pump cleaning, etc etc etc etc .....  Dad's are also good for taking inappropriate photo ops during breastfeeding classes (see below).

Sucky!

I think the goal is to breastfeed Camille for as long as possible (we're shooting for at least 6 months), but did you know the World Health Organization recommends breast feeding for "two years or beyond".  Once Camille is old enough to eat Mickey D's, it's time to put down the boobie IMHO.

Pre-Game Jitters
Now that we get to meet our little Camille in a little less than a month, we've went from a somber mood of constant worry about keeping the pregnancy going, to coming to the stark realization that: RUH ROH, THIS BABY IS ON HER WAY!!!  Feeling totally unprepared, the mad scramble is now officially on to get our affairs in order to ensure an optimal baby-fied house.  Expect future posts on the building of the baby room, baby showers and future Camille wardrobe selection!  Stay tuned!

P.S. Speaking of babies being on their way, today is one of our best friends Janet's official due date for Camille's future BFF Leah.  No signs of labor yet, but we'll be praying for you guys!