Week 29: October update

So I haven't been good about updating, but a lot has been going on. Sadly, Cristiano's uncle died on October 2. As many of you know, he was sick with lung cancer and lived six years despite an original prognosis of six months. We knew his condition was worsening but did not expect him to die as suddenly as he did. We are thinking about giving the baby his name as a middle name, though Cristiano is undecided. It's still very fresh and he doesn't want to associate something so sad with what should be a joyous occasion. It's been a stressful month, but I've been trying to remain as calm as possible.

I went to see my new gynecologist, and I like her well enough, though as she has me coming for appointments every five weeks, there will not be a lot of time to establish much of a relationship. She said my stomach is not too small and mentioned that I need to watch my weight. She doesn't want me going over a weight gain of 24 pounds for the entire pregnancy. Hmm, and I've been invited to two expat Thanksgiving dinners and still have Christmas (which, in Italy, means three days of sitting at a long table and eating from lunch straight through dinner) to get through. Anyway, this doctor will not be present at the baby's birth but at least works in the hospital where I hope - if there are not overcrowding issues - to actually give birth, so she was able to answer some of my more specific questions. My due date is during a major holiday period here when many people are on vacation. I hope there are some obstetricians around and aren't all away on the ski slopes! I'm trying not to allow all of these "unknowns" (Will the hospital I've chosen here turn me away? If I'm sent to another hospital, will that hospital have as liberal an epidural policy as the one I've chosen does? What if the second hospital has overcrowding issues?) affect me, though these are the things that run through my mind when I'm wide awake at 4 a.m. On the positive side, all of this worrying about the logistics of where I will give birth distracts me from fear of childbirth itself!

I am in the process of doing the "epidural course" at the hospital where I hope to give birth. I had two classes in a large lecture hall with an anesthesiologist who ran through the pros and cons of the epidural. Being an anesthesiologist, this doctor was obviously more about the pros, and that put my mind at ease. I thought the class was going to try to "scare" us. It was kind of scary when he got the needle out, but otherwise, it was just very informative. Now in order to be "eligible" for the epidural, I have to do a one-on-one interview with an anesthesiologist, have an EKG, a scoliosis check and a blood coagulation test. I go for my interview on Thanksgiving day. Then after I have the results of all of the tests, I will put them into a folder and take that to the hospital with me when I give birth. Without having completed the class and doing all of the above tests, I will not be eligible for an epidural. As the anesthesiologist said at our class, "I can be on floor one hearing your screams of agony from floor seven but if you haven't done the class and don't have 'the folder,' no dice. No epidural." So I'm jumping through all the hoops. If, for whatever reason, I'm not able to give birth at this hospital and am sent somewhere else, I have no idea if they will recognize that I did all these tests in another hospital. As I've mentioned before, many hospitals just don't offer the epidural at all.

The baby is very active. He's grown a lot in the last few weeks and I can tell that he doesn't have much space to move. Though he finds creative ways to make his own spaces. Sometimes it feels like he's grasping on to my ribs New York City subway passenger style with his right hand and then kicking my bladder with his left leg. I don't feel like I have a delicate fluttering little creature in there somersaulting around anymore but feel like I've had a near full-sized baby stuffed between my rib cage and my intestines. And I've got two more months to go! But no complaints. I feel pretty well physically.

Buon weekend!