36 weeks, 3 days

Today I visited Arcadia Methodist Hospital, where I plan to deliver The Bean, aka Little Miss Beanface, aka Professor Von Beanington, aka Nova.

I wish I could say I had good pictures to show you. The ultrasound process is always fascinating, but the "snapshots" our doc sent us home with are... not unintelligible. Just un-cute. Good news though - she weighs 6 lbs, 2 oz as of today. Big Bean!

I had always figured that I would deliver at home. But the more I learn about potential complications to the process, the happier I am to be delivering in a hospital. Yes, I understand that many complications are iatrogenic, and that interventions may cascade.

But I am also aware that sometimes doing things "naturally" doesn't always mean you come away with a baby that is healthy. "Naturally" doesn't always mean that you come away with a baby, for that matter.

Given how vividly I can imagine things going south (as a biologist, it is kind of my job) I realize I will probably be more comfortable in a clinical setting with the machine that goes "ping!" than I would be in a birthing center with candles. Because I know that in a hospital setting, even if my labor goes HORRIBLY AWRY and (god forbid) they cut me open needlessly, chances are Nova will be fine. In a birthing center or at home, however, if something goes wrong I'd have to get myself to a hospital somehow, and who knows how long that would take? I have read the outcomes for home births and with competent midwifery transfers don't happen all too often. But the possibility that something might go wrong without ready emergency care makes me more uptight than the sterile bustling of a hospital. Sterility is reassuring.

Which doesn't mean that I'm totally impressed with the way business-as-usual progresses in my hospital. My birth plan will include provisions that are strictly contrary to some of their policies. For example, I will be taking fluids by mouth, not intravenously. I also plan to snack during labor if I become famished. Because it's LABOR. I do not plan to be a jerk about it - rather, I plan to sneak protein shakes in my bag. And those stirrups? I don't anticipate needing those. But thanks.

We did visit the NICU briefly on our tour. Behind the double plated window there was the tiniest little dude - he must have been 4 lbs or so, bright red, 12 inches long. In an incubator, being tended to by a nurse in blue gloves. Amazing to see.

I'm excited!