| 
We’ve been too busy to take a normal photo for the belly photo. So…one day while Sarah was napping on the couch,I snapped this photo with my cell phone. Then,because the picture wasn’t sharp to begin with,I went ahead and played with it. I tinted it and blurred everything but the very cute belly. So…our world has been shaky in the realm of baby lately. We have not been as happy as we hoped we would be right now. A particular doctor,the doctor who has an agreement with the birth center,refuses to list us as suitable for a midwife,birth center delivery. To be frank,this is /3/_/115/-/:+. The doctor claims a certain gene that Sarah carries puts her in the high risk category of pregnancies. I give you Exhibit A:The American Heart Association has a full document on this gene;and there’s a full paragraph detailing the risk of developing a complication with the combination of this gene and being pregnant. This combination is a 1 out of 1000 women chance. That’s less than a percent. This same paragraph specifically states and I quote:“This is not a high risk.”So…this Gainesville doctor is a liar,doesn’t know how to do research,and is scaring my wife for no reason. This does not make a happy Marcus. These are times when one wishes he owned a baseball team. So…we have to go through the rigamarole of switching to a hospital birth;unless we can convince the birth center to ignore their own rules about getting approval from that specific doctor. However;we believe that if we do switch,we’ll likely switch to North Florida Regional,which has a midwife center in-house;so perhaps Sarah can still have a mostly natural birth. Unfortunately,there’s still a chance we won’t get what we desire:Gainesville doctors don’t seem to have researched this gene very well…the first doctor we called at Shands called us back after just a couple of hours,freaked out and said we were high risk and needed appropriate care. Since when did the American Heart Association become bad science? Since when did 1 out of 1000 women become such a high risk? Last Friday,I met with a lady in nearby Alachua (by the way,this is pronounced Ah –la- chu –way) who sells various types of cloth diapering systems. She was very knowledgeable and helpful to this first-time mom,and I hope that with her advice and encouragement that I can stick with the cloth diapers. I did some calculating,and with having the small fitted diapers given to me by a friend and only ordering size 2′s,we will spend approximately $250 on all of our diapering needs. Not to mention that I have scads of extra fabric that I can use to make some other lovely fleecy and/or waterproof things for baby. This number could be compared to using disposable diapers which can run between about $0.10 and $0.30 each,and parents usually use around 1440 of them from birth to potty-training. So,with those numbers,I come out with between $144 and $430 in diaper costs for our little one in disposables. If I were to try to go with the more biodegradable diapers and chlorine-free diapers,which fits closest to my ideals of environmentally-friendly diapering,we’d be spending closer to $1.00/diaper. I think that we have made the right decision. As it stands,if we use our diapers on another baby,we will be diapering that one for free,regardless. In addition,the wonderful diapers that I decided on have flaps for absorbency rather than a solidly-sewn pad in the middle,and they are a hemp/cotton blend. These two features should drastically cut down on drying time and save energy and $$ in that department as well. By the way,you can look at the diapers here:http://www.sunshinediapers.com/gift-registry/gift-search/ –click on Sarah Cathey to see the list and select the SugarPeas diapers. I’m so excited!! The fact that the baby is on-its-way is becoming more and more real to me,lately. Not only am I feeling lots of little kicks and movements,but now,I’m starting to get those practice-contractions call Braxton-Hicks. These are totally normal,but remind me every time that the time is drawing nearer. I feel so unprepared! However,the celebrations should start pretty soon. A couple of ladies in town have asked me about shower dates,so I’m starting to get excited about celebrating the advent of our little one with colleagues and church-family. I’m also pretty stoked about combing consignment shops for any of those remaining items that we might need once May rolls around. Saving money and keeping things from the landfill sounds good to me! Yeah,I’m one of THOSE people! I admit it! We had a little scare today. Sarah had noticed that the baby didn’t seem to be as active the last two days and she worried enough to call the midwife. After trying a few tricks for a couple of hours to solicit more movement,the midwife had us come in to check. That was kinda good for me. The midwife used that Doppler thing (which I’m sure the baby hates). I’ve only been with Sarah to the midwife one other time,and I didn’t think I could hear much that time. This time…whooo whooo whooo. I’m assuming that was the heartbeat. It was quite strong. In addition,the midwife and Sarah could tell that the baby was responding to the Doppler,kicking it,moving away from it,etc. So we were quite reassured that the baby was fine,and feisty. That’s my child. Feisty. Leave my child alone! Don’t expect much sympathy from me if the little one kicks you in the shin after I warned you to leave it alone. Well,we finally succumbed to another bit of peer pressure and have registered at Target for various items. I didn’t think it was necessary . . . I’ve been told several times by various people that they’ll donate stuff to us,and people tend to ignore registries because all the low price stuff gets bought first. I’d rather just be practical and get the money so I can make a wise choice. I don’t want to have to saddle everyone involved with our lifestyle choices. “Lifestyle choices?”you ask. Yes,see,I’m one of those overprotective people. I’m also one of those people who try to remain informed and will react on even sketchy advice if it seems sound. And avoiding plastics seems very sound to me. So…baby bottles,toys,anything that might contact the baby’s mouth or stay in contact with the baby needs to be BPA or polycarbonate free. That even includes LEGOS,at least until I can teach the little bugger not to put them in the mouth and to wash the hands after playing with them. (which probably means not till they’re 15.) That means glass bottles (which we just purchased since Target doesn’t even carry them). That means checking the labels or calling the manufacturer to look for pacifiers that don’t contain the 3,6,or 7 recycle symbol on them (1,2,4,&5 are relatively safe,4 and 5 being safer). At any rate,we’ve done it. We’ve registered,for those who find that important before they shop. What did people do before registries? Put thought into a gift? Perish the thought. | |
Recent Comments