Saturday morning we went to Alaska Sales and Service here in Wasilla. It's a local car dealership in Alaska for those of you who are elsewhere. The first Saturday of almost every month Alaska Sales has a free car seat safety check. The purpose is you put the car seat base and car seat in your car, go to the safety check and they have registered car seat checkers take a look and see if you have installed your seat correctly, if your car seat has any recalls, if it's in acceptable condition, things like that. Lucky for us, the woman that checked our seat was our childbirth class instructor. She had already seen our seat in class when we brought it during the last class for inspection. Matt and I had put the base and car seat in the car the night before and we hoped it was in right. Well, it was, the base just needed to be a bit tighter. Other than that, it was good to go! We rock...what can I say?
This past Monday (the 6th) I had my weekly doctor appointment. Things were a little hectic with them that day. I got a call about an hour before we were due to be there from the receptionist saying that the practitioner I was supposed to see was called to the hospital. In order to keep my same times we saw just a regular nurse practitioner, she was not a "delivery nurse" so she wouldn't be a person who would deliver the baby. That could be why I had never heard of her before. So we got to the office and they did my regular stuff, then hooked me up to the baby monitor machine, gave me my clicker (to click when the baby moves) and said they would be back to check on me in 15 minutes. A half hour later the nurse finally comes in to check, and we already knew from looking at the graphing, that the baby did WAY better this time than she did last week. Almost every time I clicked when she moved her heart rate went up instead of down. YES!! To make a long story short, we were at the doctors office for almost 2 hours for something that should have only taken 45 minutes at the most. It was the longest time we had been at the doctors office (other than when I had to do my three hour glucose test). The practitioner said that my blood sugar numbers have been a bit high, but she said it's nothing to worry about just yet. She said that overall my numbers are pretty good, so we aren't worried about getting medication just yet.
Tonight we went to the hospital's birthing center for a tour.
We were there with two other couples (and a mother of one of the mother's to be). The nurse that took us around has been a nurse for 43 years, so we had no choice but to believe everything she said! She was really super nice, and did a very good job explaining everything to us. She told us when we should call, when we should come in, what we should bring. She sat us down for the first 15 minutes or so and just talked to us about the beginnings of labor. When we should call the labor and delivery department, what to do if we start having contractions but aren't sure if they are false or real. She went over things to look out for in the beginning of labor, and also how their security system works for baby's safety. Then she walked us around the birthing center. We went to the triage room where they will put me first to test and check to see if I'm a keeper or to be sent home. It's a room with three or four beds separated by curtains. Apparently they try to keep you in there as little as possible, so it should be a short stop. The second room we went to was one of the labor and birthing suites. This room was VERY nice. Almost like a hotel room...with the occasional medical equipment. They have a couch (that folds into a bed for dad), TV, DVD player, nice bathroom with a bathtub, seating for 6 people! Unfortunately, if I end up having a C-section I don't get to stay in that room. They have special C-section rooms that are smaller and have a walk in shower rather than a bathtub. Plus, from what I remember I don't think the C-section rooms have windows. Anyway, after we saw the birthing suite, she explained that they do have a nursery, but because of confidentiality reasons, we couldn't go in because they had a new baby in there. But they do have a nursery, and it's not very big because it's a family birthing center. Since the baby is now a part of the family, the baby stays in the mother's room. The only time she will be in the nursery is if there is a problem, or if they take her to get tests done (and in that case Matt will go with her). She said that if the baby really has problems, or comes too early, she will have to be transported to a hospital in Anchorage because Mat-Su Regional doesn't have a NICU. That really isn't good news, but we knew about this ahead of time and are prepared to deal with that if it comes.
After the nursery talk, she was on her way to take us to the "big hot tub room" that has a huge bathtub that I can labor in if I want the extra room. As we got closer to the hallway where this room was located in, we started hearing this awful, bloodcurdling, horror movie screaming. The nurse started apologizing saying that a woman was having a very hard time, and that it wasn't a normal birth. It really sounded like she was having limbs cut off. I was seriously (and still am) freaking out. I can still hear her screams....
So we are standing in the hallway while the nurse explains about the doors to the birthing center, how you have to press a button and talk to the front desk nurse before they will let you back into the unit...all the while this poor woman is screaming her head off. I just wanted to get out!! The nurse finally got us moving to the cafeteria (which we had already seen a number of times since we had our child birth class at the hospital and my diabetic counseling and meeting with the dietitian). After that, she brought us back to the dreaded hallway of nightmarish screams...but no more screaming. She just took us to the C-section rooms to show them to us. Once that was over, we were free to go...and I was glad to go! I'm glad we went, I'm glad we learned so much more about the hospital birthing center and what we can expect when we go, and during our stay. I'm really hoping that I don't end up with a C-section so I'll be able to stay in the awesome room, but I guess even then, sometimes we can get bumped to a C-section room if another mother needs the labor room. So either way, I'm at risk of losing the awesome room.
I did call the Red Cross on Monday to find out about an infant CPR type class that we had gotten a flyer about during our childbirth class and they had never heard of it. Ooooooooook. So apparently we aren't doing that.
I also have been in contact with a receptionist at Ptarmigan Pediatrics (who believe it or not is named Stacy, but is a guy) regarding forms that had to be filled out before I made a prenatal appointment. I got all the forms emailed to him on Friday and called Monday to make the appointment to see Dr. Laura Peterson (our future pediatrician). We have that appointment next Wed to tour the office and to meet with Dr. Peterson. They have a fantastic website with all sorts of information and forms that you can fill out ahead of time and bring with you. Helps when you child is sick and your trying to keep them calm in the waiting room rather than filling out forms. I hope we like Dr. Peterson because she is the best out here from what I have heard from other parents. Plus her office isn't far from the house, and she also woks with the hospital here too. We need to find one soon though so we can get a name for a pediatrician that needs to be called in when I have the baby so they can be the one to check her over. If we don't have one named, or our pediatrician is unavailable, the hospital has pediatricians on call.
Whew! I think that's it for now. I'll have more to report next week after my doctor's appointment on Monday. Until then, have a good rest of your week and weekend!
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