a fairly lengthy baby/pregnancy update

Last night mom and I went to childbirth class again. It was again a little weird since for us it was our second class but for everyone else it was their sixth and final one. ( But we learned a lot, and there was an exciting surprise guest! )

We left class a bit early because at the end they were just getting their certificates (you get a piece of paper saying that you finished the class; some insurance companies require this before they'll reimburse you) and we don't get those because we didn't do the whole class. Lori's next birthing class starts up on the 24th, so we'll be there for that, and meet a whole new set of expecting parents. :)

Last night I tried sleeping in a chair to save my back/hips, but it wasn't working out. I couldn't convince my brain that it was time to sleep, since the body was upright. So I switched to the bed, and actually had less hip pain than the past few nights, for no apparent reason.

Then this morning I had my prenatal checkup. ( It was fine, and fairly uneventful. )

Then when I got to work, my coworker who's giving me her crib told me that her son has something called Fifth Disease. I'd never heard of it, but apparently it's a virus that causes a rash and is highly contagious and can be very bad for an unborn baby, although if a child or adult catches it, you just treat it like a cold or flu and it gets better on its own. Anyway, I called my midwife to see whether I should be worried, and she said that as long as I haven't had contact with the actual infected child -- just his mom -- it should be fine. If my coworker develops symptoms, then they'll do some tests on me. She also said that I shouldn't worry about the crib, because the Fifth Disease virus can't survive on a mattress or other materials, only in a human body. So anyway, that was a relief, and it's nice to have such a responsive medical care person. Especially when I keep hearing horror stories from other parents about their asshole doctors. :P

(Speaking of doctors, note to self: find a pediatrician!)

In other news, alas, it seems I'll have to stay away from mom's place for the next week or so. The workers are supposed to start on her two rooms today; they'll be scraping and primer-ing and painting, and it will raise a lot of paint dust that has a high likelihood of containing lead, so it's best for me to stay away until the work is all done. Snif. Speaking of the painting of mom's apartment, she and I picked out colors for the back room that's going to be sort of the baby's room. I hope they look as nice on the walls and floor as they do on the paint chips. ;)

For my birthday months ago, mom gave me a gift certificate for a free massage, and I finally got around to calling for an appointment. It's on Sunday, with a massage therapist who is specially trained in pregnancy massage. I'm sooooo looking forward to that. *wistful sigh* Is it Sunday yet?

biting the bullet

I bit the bullet and made my plane reservations for Worldcon. Thanks to the magic of frequent-flyer miles, it's costing me $23.57 to fly to Toronto and back. (Canadian airport taxes and such.)

I'm still a bit worried about it, because the day of departure is a mere five weeks and two days after chickpea's due date. So if chickpea comes significantly late, it'll get iffy. I did talk to my midwife today about the whole concept of traveling during the first month of baby's life. She said it should be fine. Small babies usually do pretty well on planes as long as you give them a boob to suck on during takeoff and landing; the dry air on the plane isn't great, but then, it isn't great for adults either and we deal.

It's unfortunate that I couldn't get a direct flight. We have to stop in Detroit, both on the way there and on the way back. But Northwest doesn't fly direct to Toronto, and Northwest is the airline on which I had enough miles for a free flight, so I decided to sacrifice brevity of trip in favor of cheap. I hope I won't regret it. ;)

Worldcon had better be super-fun after all this angst and trouble! ;) I'm glad that it seems we'll be able to go, though. I would be sad to miss it after having gone to the last three in a row and five of the last six. Next year it's in Boston, which should be a lot easier to manage, and then in '05 it's in Edinburgh, which will be very ... interesting ... with a 2-year-old. ;) But I'm not thinking about that now, nope, not me. La la la! I can't hear you!

Anyway, I can still change my ticket for only $50 (if the second person I talked to on the phone is to be believed) or $100 (if the first person is to be believed) and so that's okay. If I do end up having to cancel (snif), I'll at least still be able to use the ticket for something else.