We had an appointment today with our OB/GYN and everything appears to be right on track. My belly is measuring about 31 1/2 to 32 weeks right now and Dunebuggy's heartbeat is a strong 152 beats per minute.
I think my doctor was a little sad to hear that we were planning on using a midwife for the delivery. She told us that she would like to deliver Dunebuggy if she happens to be the OB/GYN on call when we are at the hospital. The image of an OB/GYN vs CNM death-match at the foot of the bed in the delivery room briefly crossed my mind. Somewhat flattered, we assured her that if that turns out to be the case, we will gladly have her do the honors. She has really been great and I feel lucky to have her as our doctor.
When we first found out we were pregnant my doctor was actually out on maternity leave and so we were assigned to Dr. Robinson who was one of her colleagues. What I thought was a bad thing turned out to be great since I like Dr. Robinson better. My doctor has since returned from maternity leave and we had the option to switch back to her but we chose to stay with Dr. Robinson and I am glad we did.
Once we got home we began doing some research on cord blood banking. Cord blood is a type of stem cell that can be used in many different medical treatments. Not only can the cord blood be used for Dunebuggy should she need it in the future, but if another family member is a match they may benefit from it as well.
Cord blood banking is a lot different than what I thought it would be. I thought the hospital was more involved in the process, but come to find out, the only role they play is to perform the collection of the cord blood. The whole process has to be initiated by us through a private agency that provides cord blood banking services. One of the agencies we are looking at is Cord Blood Registry. You pay a one time processing/collection fee and the agency provides you with a kit to take with you to the hospital. The hospital will collect the cord blood when Dunebuggy is born and from there we are responsible for contacting the agency to have them pick it up for storage. The agency will store the cord blood for an annual fee and it will be available to us in the future should we need it. We will have to make a final decision soon as Dunebuggy's birth is quickly approaching!
Researching cord blood banking got us in preparedness mode so we decided it would be a good idea to begin packing our bag for the hospital. During our hospital tour we were given a list of items to pack so we pulled the list out tonight and began to do just that...pack our bag! We made some progress but still have a lot to pack. Hopefully over the next month we can finalize all the packing and rest assured that we will be ready once the time comes.
In the meantime, we are anxiously awaiting this Thursday's ultrasound appointment. I can't wait to see her again on the screen! She is going to be so much bigger than she was last time we saw her. I hope to have some pictures to share with you later this week!
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