2003-05-13 - 11:48 a.m. - Cycle day: 24 weeks, 2 days

Busy week in Suspenseland. We just ushered out my parents, after hosting guests for over a week. I love having people stay with us, especially when they only come in ones and twos, but it was pretty exhausting. We spent the first weekend of the month at a 3-day music festival, showing off to a Chicago friend that we do indeed have reasons for living down here. The baby got to hear Big Star, Jonny Lang, Susan Tedesci, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Willie Nelson. The baby also got to introduce me to the wonderful world of sciatica. After spending Friday night on my feet, I was in a pretty tough state on Saturday. We were standing and walking most of the day, and it took a lot of self control not to just plop down on the grass and pull my knee up to my chin. (Not that anyone would have cared, really.) I ended up passing on Sunday's events in favor of listening to the shows from a friend's balcony, and that helped a lot. I could actually walk the next day, so I think I made the right decision.

My parents came into town a couple days later. It was a pretty relaxed visit. They drove down so they could haul a load of baby stuff, including the dresser my grandfather built for my dad. My mom got to feel the baby move, which of course made her tear up. I wouldn't say I've gotten blase about the baby's movements, but seeing someone feel them for the first time makes it that much more thrilling. My dad's obviously excited, too, although I'm not sure he quite knows what to do about all this. I think seeing me go through the child-to-parent transition is a little harder on him than he lets on.

Anyway, they left Saturday morning, and we spent the weekend recovering and letting the house get back to its normal dingy state. Yesterday was my 24-week OB appointment. The baby's heart rate was 152, and the nurse said my uterus was measuring exactly on target (she even seemed a little taken aback by just how exactly on target I was). Dr. Hippie said my weight (127, up 3 lbs from the last visit) and blood pressure (110/70) were "fabulous" and he was actually the first to say that I probably didn't need to do the glucose tolerance test. He told me that some doctors would tell me to gain more weight, but he's not one to push for weight gain and is confident that I'll put on what I need as long as I'm eating well. He also said he'd be happy to take the baby on as a pediatrics patient, which is a big relief. Part of the reason I chose him as a doctor was because I'd been told he was open to alternative vaccination procedures, but with all the insurance stuff we've had to deal with, I wasn't sure he'd want to take on another Suspenseful family member as a patient. He actually said he'd be honored to be our baby's pediatrician, and that he really enjoys working with the children of his smart, articulate, thoughtful patients, so that all made me feel good. I've always been picky about choosing doctors, but I never spent much time thinking about whether or not a doctor liked me. It's nice to be told that I'm an enjoyable patient.

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