Hospital tour, the break-up, and new beginnings!

My belly pics so far! :)

It all started on Monday morning when I FINALLY got in touch with my Maternity Support nurse after two weeks of missing each other's calls. I'm so glad we finally spoke, as we had quite a long and involved chat! We reaffirmed my decision to deliver at Brigham and Women's Hospital and went over what that entailed. She said I must transfer my prenatal care over to a practice that is affiliated with B&W, and to do so as soon as possible because sometimes it is difficult to transfer prenatal care at this point and certain practices don't accept new patients who are already in their third trimester. And so the search began.

I googled around for what must have been hours, until I found the perfect practice to continue my prenatal care with- Dorchester House Multi-Service Center. They literally have everything I want: a midwife that will see me for every appointment from now until birth (instead of the doctor hopping I was doing with Dedham Medical- I saw 3 OB docs and a midwife there) and will be able to accompany me to B&W to deliver my baby, a pediatrics doctor who will also come to the hospital before I am discharged to establish a relationship with me and my baby and set up our first appointments together, optional group prenatal appointments (like a mini support group of mum's that are all due around the same date), a facility that is actually slightly closer to travel to, complete coverage by my insurance, AND they regularly work with patients who are looking to transfer their prenatal care! So I called Dorchester yesterday morning and have a prenatal registration appointment next week with a nurse for initial interview questions and then will set up my next set of appointments with my new midwife so my prenatal care won't be interrupted! :)

Unfortunately all of this means I somehow have to "break-up" with Dedham Medical. I actually feel bad about having to tell them I won't be continuing my prenatal care with them and asking to transfer my patient file over to Dorchester. It literally feels like a terrible break-up. I hope they don't take it too terribly!

To add to the excitement, Ashton and I went on a maternity tour of Brigham and Women's Hospital on Monday night. It was quite a rush actually being in the hospital and seeing all of the different rooms and floors that we would be traveling to in just 10 weeks. I watched the online tour video and almost decided on not going in for an in-person tour since it isn't necessarily recommended, but I am so glad that we did. It gave me peace of mind knowing exactly where to pull the car up (we drop the keys off for valet parking!) and actually see the front desk to check-in at and know where I will be wheeled off to next. Our tour guide told us about the triage room (where we might have to wait if we arrive too soon and I'm not far enough along to deliver yet), and showed us a labor and delivery room where we remain for 2 hours after delivery, a postpartum care room where we stay for the next two days, the nursery where the baby will only go if she can't be with me for medical reasons, and the waiting area for visitors that aren't one of my three support people (three support people are allowed to enter and exit the labor and delivery room and postpartum care room at any time, everyone else is considered a visitor and can only come to the postpartum care room between 1-8pm). She expressed the importance that the hospital places on immediate skin-to-skin contact between mother and child and also recommends breastfeeding as soon as possible (we will be visited by a lactation consultant soon after birth too). I will admit, I actually got really scared when we finally entered the labor and delivery room. Just looking at the hospital bed terrified me. I tried imagining myself laying in it and I felt my body get stiff and my eyes fill with tears. I'm so glad we left to continue the tour soon after that because I didn't want to have a meltdown in front of all the other couples there. How embarrassing! Overall, I loved the facility and agree with the practices that they recommend, I'm happy that my new midwife will be there throughout my birthing time, and am confident that everything will go smoothly.

ONLY TEN WEEKS!!!!! :)