Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Pieces of Good News

Yesterday I found out a piece of good news - the foster kitty that we had for 2 months was adopted this past weekend. That made our day and triggered the question from I. "When are we going to foster again?" I didn't tell her the real answer of "When I can finally sleep with your daddy in bed again." Two Fridays ago we tried the sleeping in the same bed thing and it was great until I turned off the light. Then V. started flipping and flopping and snoring in 20 minute intervals. Twenty minutes is pretty much the exact time it takes me to settle down and relax enough to have a chance at falling asleep so it was torture to say the least. Add to it the fact that I had to get up to go the bathroom almost every time (because in all honesty, how can one be expected to fall asleep when you feel like you might have to use the bathroom?) and you have a recipe for fright night. I fell asleep close to 1 am and even though I slept in a little, I still felt yucky. So until he can sleep in the same bed, I have to keep the spare bedroom open for him to sleep in, thus we have to wait on our next foster cat. I'm hoping that in the next couple of weeks, hormone levels will change again slightly and it will be easier to fall asleep. Gosh, I miss my herbal sleep aids and vodka tonics when it comes to trouble free sleeping.

On the topic of no herbal sleep aids etc., today is the scheduled appointment for the neuchal translucency test which uses an ultrasound to take a measurement of the back of the baby's neck to assess for Down's syndrome. They wanted to also have me go through a 30 minute genetic counseling session but when I asked if that was to discuss all the things that could possibly be wrong with the baby and they said yes, I said no thanks, let's save that for if the test results show any increased risk first.

It's really beginning to annoy me that the medical community is so completely concentrated on all the negative, bad, there's-a-slight-chance-of things in a 35+ pregnancy that they could squeeze any measure of positive joyfulness that carrying a child brings. It's enough to turn me into a granola crunching, natural birthing, water delivery pregnant woman. I'm being rude and sarcastic here - I know this is a gross exaggeration of women who deliver like this and trust me, I'm much closer to this camp than I am just letting the hospital dictate how my delivery is going to go. It's just that I don't want to come across as putting my fingers in my ears and humming loudly as I blissfully ignore the fact that the risks are higher for certain things than they were 6 years ago. I know that. I also know that risks are determined by women of all types. Not to inflate my view of myself, but my blood pressure is super low, I work out 3-5 times a week and have for years. I eat healthy, take vitamins, get enough sleep, and manage my stress well overall. What I'm trying to say is that my body is a healthy environment for a baby to be conceived in and grow in. So factor that into all those "risk factors" and get back, okay?

Now that I've climbed off my soapbox, I have to admit that I'm looking forward to seeing what the what's it is up to inside me this afternoon. If I have energy, I'll post tonight on how it goes.

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