New Doctor, Doula, and New Home

Howie and I went to our first appointment with my new OB/GYN on Monday. The staff at the new OB/GYNs office is a thousand times better than the staff at the old OB/GYNs office. The nurses are more friendly and talkative and the one doctor that I met so far was really nice. She's also REALLY attractive. The only thing about Dr. Hot Stuff that bothered Howie was the way she sounded when she spoke. I didn't notice anything, except that she sometimes over pronunciates like Ross on Friends.

Dr. Hot Stuff asked us if Dr. P (who's staff STILL hadn't sent my records to my new doctor)had done a screening for Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18 and Trisomy 13. I said that we hadn't and she told us that if we wanted to do that we had to do it immediately because it was almost too late. We decided to do it just so that we can prepare ourselves. Dr. Hot Stuff measured my belly and then we all listened to the heartbeat. It looks like everything is the way it should be. We have an ultrasound scheduled for Monday. We're looking forward to finding out if the baby is a boy or a girl.

Last night was our first birthing class with the doula. There's only one other couple that attends the class. I like that it's a small class. The doula, who we can call R until I can come up with a better name, asked us a bunch of questions. Howie knew more than me and the other couple. Somebody does a lot of reading. No, really, it's very cute that he knows so much. She also taught us about the stages of labor, we talked about our discomforts during our pregnancies, and she went over a few other things. At the end of the class she did a relaxation exercise. She said that every week she'll be doing one at the end of the class. We really liked the class and our doula. We went home with some homework. We had to look up some birthing plans online and come up with a rough birthing plan. The other thing is that if we like music she wanted us to go home and pick a song or a list of songs that help us relax. We then need to start to listen to the music while relaxing in bed, that way when I listen to it during labor it will remind me of being relaxed. Sounds good to me. I'm a huge music person so I'll really enjoy picking out some relaxing music.

The new house is good. It's nice to be back in CT. A few neighbors introduced themselves to us the first day we were here. Now, this may not seem unusual to many of you but for Howie and I it was. Before I go on I'd like to say that I love the DC Metro Area, it's a great place and I met many wonderful people. If I didn't like it I wouldn't have lived there for 6 years of my life. That being said, when Howie and I moved into our townhouse community in Springfield, VA in 2003 NO ONE introduced themselves to us. We'd say hi to people, wave, be nice when we spotted a neighbor, but nobody would show any interest in getting to know us. Nobody spoke to each other, unless they both had kids around the same age, then they'd talk when they had to. Maybe it was just our community, I'm not saying it's like that all over the area, but that was our experience. Anyway, our new neighbors are awesome. We got to the house a few days before the movers did. On the day that the movers arrived a couple of our neighbors stopped by to see if we needed anything, offered to help after the movers left, it was really nice. The couple that lives right next to us had us over to their house, gave us all their take out menus, their phone numbers just in case we needed something, the number of their plumber friend so that we can fix our plumbing problems, the husband drove Howie to the closest train station so that he could see where it is and then told Howie that he could park at the gas station that he owns only a few steps away from the train, and the wife printed up the train schedule because we didn't have our internet hooked up yet. I could go on and on about how kick ass our neighbors are but I think the only people who are truly excited about that are Howie and I. We still have a lot of boxes to unpack and it's making me crazy. When Howie and I have enough time alone we get a lot done. Howie is fast, and I'm always more productive when I have my iPod on, so this weekend we'll be unpacking like mad crazy! I can't wait to be completely unpacked so that we know where everything is and so that we can just relax.

Last bit of baby news, today is the first day that I could feel the baby kicking on the outside! I love it. I've been told that I won't enjoy all the kicking later, but for now it's pretty cool.