The Bump Chronicles- week 32

Dear United HealthCare,

I do appreciate you taking the time to call me to check on how my pregnancy is going. However just because I have had several Braxton Hicks contractions in the last 4 weeks is no reason for alarm, so please don’t tell me that I should call my doctor and head to the hospital or proceed to transfer me to the nurse hotline when I say that the contractions are normal and nothing to be worried about.

Perhaps you’ll want to consider offering some training to the phone representatives that you assign to call pregnant women on the same basic stuff that is covered in the pamphlet that you sent me by mail when you first found out I was pregnant, this will hopefully prevent them from trying to scare paranoid and ignorant pregnant women in the program about emergencies that are not there.

Sincerely,

Your insured member  (not by choice)

This letter above summarizes how I feel about my health insurance company, I give them points for effort in offering a Healthy Pregnancy program which I thought was a good idea at the time so I signed up. But have been disappointed to see how they will call me regularly for “follow up assessments” interrogating me about a long list of symptoms to see if my pregnancy is not healthy.

I work at a call center (and for a health insurance program at that) so I know that the training that these people get is minimal at best but I really wish that they weren’t trying to dig so hard for an excuse to transfer every caller to the nurse hotline, do they get a bonus for transfers?

Since they couldn’t find anything abnormal with my pregnancy, they determined that the “practice” contractions which are common and to be expected are signs of preterm labor ::rolls eyes::  I have obviously done more studying than these phone reps, plus I know my body and I can assure you, if I am not worried… neither should you.  I’ll call you when my practice contractions get a regular pattern getting closer together and stronger, then I’ll be ready to talk to your nurses.

On other controversial news… I have been called a lactivist!  Aka. breastfeeding activist, I take it as a great complement.  Yes, I have never breastfed but I do fully plan to.  I know that I’m not guaranteed a perfect experience and that is why I have armed myself with backup support for the unexpected.  My midwife is supportive of breastfeeding, I have been attending La Leche League Meetings, La Leche League counselors are just a phone call away, I have contact information for  a lactation consultant from the Health Department and my primary care physician is a breastfeeding specialist.  In addition to research I think that I have done everything in my power to follow through in my desire to breastfeed.

I wish that all new moms knew that there is so much help and support available, it saddens me so much when moms give up so easily because breastfeeding didn’t seem easy or didn’t happen automatically.  Or even worse, get discouraged by the social stigma that is placed on breastfeeding as perverted instead of natural.

I continue to be horrified by the over commercialization of the baby industry, I am sick of getting e-mails from Babies R Us offering overpriced things that baby doesn’t need.  I have unsubscribed from so much baby spam that my e-mail inbox is now losing weight while I am gaining it (more on that below).

I got a booklet of coupons from Publix Supermarket’s Baby Club and surprise, surprise! not a single coupon that is of any use to me.  It’s all discounts on disposable diapers and formula.  Sad.  What about some coupons for nursing pads? or nipple cream?

On the bump development front, I had a near freakout at my last prenatal appointment when I got on the scale and saw that I had gained 11 pounds in the last month!  That’s my largest weight gain this whole pregnancy, midwife is not concerned so neither am I.  I’m not bursting out of my pants or bras so I know that it’s all belly (and some water) weight.

Here I am 11 pounds heavier at 31 weeks…

One of the things that I love about my midwife is how she takes common pregnancy discomforts that a regular doctor would just dismiss as  ” normal” and actually points out why that discomfort is a good thing.  In this case my swelling, I’m having normal third trimester swelling, nothing to be worried about, just annoyed by. I have now learned that apparent the fact that my the cool design of my wedding band is etched on my finger is something to rejoice in.  This means that when I bleed as much as I’m supposed to after birth, I will not need an IV because I have enough fluids in my body.  Let’s get a yay! for one less needle!

Midwife is “guess-timating” that baby will be about 7.5 pounds at birth, given that she’s handled hundreds of bumps I tend to trust her judgment.  I’d rather have that than a giant 10 pounder unmedicated! lol

No, I can’t say I feel too good, I just found this funny.  I have gotten mostly used to the usual discomforts, I may not move as fast or get as much done at the house but life still goes on rather normally.

The energy has been gradually shifting towards preparation for baby Fox’s arrival.  Last week I oxy-cleaned and hosed down the used co-sleeper bassinet that I had purchased.  I have ordered the last of the prefold diapers needed for the infant stage.  Baby Fox is set diaper wise until at least 18 pounds.  I’m waiting for that last shipment to arrive so that I can prewash the whole stash and get it ready for use.  Still keeping my eyes open for a cheap used washer on Craigslist.

On the baby wearing update, apparently I have expensive taste in fabric.  I haven’t been back to Jo Ann’s yet (waiting for the next 40% coupon to arrive in the mail) but so far everything that I like elsewhere has such a high cost per yard that it’s actually cheaper to buy myself a ready made Moby Wrap or similar.    I keep checking out the local consignment stores for used wraps as they tend to have good deals, sadly I was stupid enough to delay in buying the Maya Wrap in my favorite pattern before it sold so I get to wait and see again.

I have started to gather the supplies needed for the homebirth, have almost everything in the list given by the midwife save for some minor miscellaneous items such as extra towels and bed sheets.

I have also started to finalize the detail of our birth plans, I use a plural term as I have written a birth plan for home and a separate document in case of an emergency transfer to the hospital.  Leave it to the geek to have 2 separate sets of bullet lists!

Our home visit appointment is less than a month away on June 21st and that will mark the beginning of weekly prenatal appointments and with it the knowledge that Baby Fox can choose to arrive at any time after that.  Talk about approaching the home stretch!