Muddling Through the System

First of all -- okay, I'm convinced. I am, in fact, pregnant. 16 weeks so, in fact.

I had another check-up on Monday. I needed that to convince myself that it was actually happening, despite no evidence that anything had gone awry since the last visit and ultrasound. Mo couldn't make it to this appointment, so I heard the heartbeat for the first time by myself. It's so fast! And my substitute doctor, who was also pregnant, found a free ultrasound machine and snuck it in to let me have a look-see. Sure enough, there was little Blueberry, moving around, measuring 11 cm in length!

It's all so weird.

Mo said this morning that he thinks I'm starting to show a little. I have to say that I agree with him. It's just hard to tell when you don't have a flat stomach to begin with. :) I'll keep you posted on that when there's something more to share. We took a 'before' picture earlier, so I'm going to try to find an outfit to wear that I'll be able to wear most of the way through to plot the changes each week. I just don't think we're there yet.

So yes, back to my substitute doctor. I'll spare you all the details, but I was really frustrated on Monday. They didn't tell me my appointment had been canceled. I *think* my doc is on family leave until November 30, although I got conflicting responses. So that leaves me with trying to figure out if I should switch providers, since I don't know what's going on with her.

I already don't like the fact that, in a mammoth system like we're in (Kaiser), I have NO idea who will be present at my birth and it's just the luck of the draw. So at the very least I want someone with whom I have a relationship leading up to the birth. I've already had that interrupted once now, so I'm not excited about it happening again.

But there's a glitch. 

If I stay at the Oakland center, I checked out all the ObGyn's yesterday on their online 'switch doctors' page. Out of 22 available Ob's,  something like 17 were female and 5 were male. Guess which 17 weren't accepting new patients, and guess which 5 were?! 

Ugh.

With all due respect to the many men in my life who I think are fabulous, I do NOT want a male doctor coaching me through the pregnancy process. No, thank you. I want someone who's actually physically been through the process. So, today, I will go searching through other Kaiser centers to figure this out. I wanted to figure out what the process is with the midwife they have available at the Walnut Creek center, so might as well start now!

On a happier note, I'm now up to NINE friends who are pregnant. (I thought it was ten, but I can't for the life of me remember who the tenth was...) So, I'm going to start keeping score on here. For now, we're at 3-9 (three recently born and nine on the way). I'll keep you updated on the changes!