Then baby that has not yet been named got his turn.
In case you were wondering, we all enjoyed the new song. Baby Boy even danced around a little bit while he was listening to it.
I've traded in most of my running for walking and swimming. It's just too hot here to do much running. And I'm enjoying wearing my new clothes, although the shirts are still a little too big.
Jabin was born at the same hospital where we will have our baby and he turned out alright, so we are feeling pretty confident about having our baby here. The main problem I have with the hospital is their use of pink blankets. Boys and girls alike are wrapped up in pink blankets the entire time they are there.
We went to the doctor tonight and could very clearly see that we are having a son! We are excited and so are the grandmas. Last we heard Grandma Susan was running through the halls of Lone Oak Elementary making sure that everyone knows she is going to have a grandson. Doesn't she look excited?
Everything looked good with the baby boy. We actually got to hear the heartbeat for the first time tonight and could see that he has grown a lot since our last ultrasound 4 weeks ago. In fact, we could even see him starting to take after his Uncle Mel by sucking his thumb!
I left Roger at home and took off for a girls weekend. Besides the tea plantation we went to see a waterfall and took a trip to a nearby island to sit on the beach and get sunburned.1. I must be proactive.
After talking to doctors in the States and reading my borrowed copy of “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” I think I have a good idea of what a doctor’s appointment in the states would be like. It’s sort of different here. I walk in to see my doctor and she just stares at me. At first this was unnerving and awkward, I kept waiting for her to talk and I guess she was waiting for me to say something. I figured that she was the doctor, it’s sort of her show. Not true. After my first opening line of “Well, I’m pregnant,” was met with an odd stare and more silence I realized that just to get the appointment started I have to take charge. I tell her what needs to be done and she does it. I ask the right questions and she always has an answer, I just have to know what to ask. When I want blood tests or any other tests done I just write down what I want on a piece of paper, walk over to the lab and hand it to them. They run the test, no questions asked, and usually have the results back to me in an hour. Don't worry, my doctor is wonderful and knows what she is doing. It's just that most people that live here don't have the money to run all of the tests and get the same kind of care that we expect. Now that she knows what we expect (and that we can pay for it) we don't have to be as proactive during our appointments.
2. Ultrasounds, ultrasounds, ultrasounds.
From what I hear most of the time in the States you don’t have an ultrasound every single time you go to the doctor. The doctors here love to do ultrasounds and we love to see our baby kicking around. So far we have had an ultrasound every time we have been to the doctor, even when I was only a few weeks pregnant and all you could see was a little black dot. Ultrasounds are super cheap here, only about $5 unless I want a print out and then it’s closer to $15. It’s great to be able to see our baby every time we go to the doctor and not worry about our insurance company telling us it’s too expensive.
3. It’s so cheap!
It’s just cheaper here. It only costs around $9 to see the doctor (plus the cost of the ultrasound), so even if we didn’t have great insurance it would be cheap. I did once go to a different doctor that charged a whopping $15, but I think that’s about as expensive as it gets.
4. Making an Appointment
This should probably go under the proactive section. At the end of each appointment my doctor tells me to come back in about a month. So, about a month later I will pick up my phone on a Monday night and call the hospital. I tell them my name and that I’m coming in the morning. They say okay. The most difficult part of the whole thing is that the lady that answers the phone at the hospital doesn’t speak English, so my vocabulary has recently expanded to include all kinds of doctor and appointment making words.
Now for another belly picture. I really can't tell much of a difference from last week, but I guess it is getting bigger.
Next week we will go to the doctor again and of course have another ultrasound. Hopefully this time the baby will be awake and we will be able to see if it is a boy or girl. Make sure you vote because this week might (hopefully) be your last chance.
