I took the day off yesterday. I’ve been attempting to save as much PTO as possible for my maternity leave, but I really needed a day off. Why? It might have something to do with this stack of books that I need to read, take notes on and then write a 12-15 page paper about:
The good news? I was able to eliminate quite a few books from my stack. The bad news? I identified three new books that I need to acquire from the library and then add to the pile.
I got quite a bit of work done, which is pretty impressive when you consider the fact that a) I have the attention span of a mosquito these days and 2) I had the noises from this to contend with:
I’m feeling a little better about this paper.
I knocked off “work” a little early in order to attend an event at the hospital where (fingers crossed!) I’ll be giving birth in 18 or so weeks (OMG! OMG! OMG!). The event was called “Meet the Doctors” and it was designed to introduce pregnant women and their husbands/partners/friends/moms to a bunch of the doctors that work there. The idea is that, by meeting a bunch of the doctors, you’ll have at least a chance of knowing the doctor who’s going to be all up in your lady bits.
I signed up to Meet the Doctors because:
- Free snacks! I can never say no to free snacks.
- Free gift for the mama! Hey… that’s me!
- Tour of the maternity ward!
The free gift ended up being a tote bag, a bib and a bunch of information about breast feeding. Nothing to get super excited about, but useful nonetheless. And I love free snacks in all of their edible varieties.
The maternity ward tour was definitely the highlight of the evening. All of the doctors that I’ve seen have been downright apologetic about the fact that this medical practice does all of their deliveries at Cambridge Hospital. For the past 22 weeks or so, I’ve been dying of curiosity to see what all the fuss was about. Is the maternity ward there infested with dingos? Are there snake pits to avoid? Do they hire all of their nurses from the Nurse Ratchet School of Evil Nursing?
I’m happy to report, the maternity ward is quite lovely. OK, so they have a cop stationed in the lobby. And there’s a psych ward in an adjacent wing of the hospital. But the rooms are nice, the nurses were friendly and I really liked their philosophy. Some things that made me happy to hear:
- They are big on skin to skin contact. As long as everything goes according to plan, they’re going to take Baby Gummy and put her on my chest immediately.
- If anything does go wrong, they have everything in the room to take care of her basic needs. They can bring her over to the warmer and help her out without whisking her away and freaking me out.
- They encourage mamas to spend as much time with their babies as possible. They’ll bring your baby to the nursery if you need a break or a shower, but babies spend most of their time in their mothers’ rooms. In fact, when we passed by the nursery, it was totally empty. They said it was because the babies were all with their moms and I choose to believe that this was true, and that there hadn’t been a recent dingo attack.
- All of the rooms, including the rooms where you recover after the birth, are private.
- Two words: jacuzzi tubs.
We left the hospital and decided to meet up with a friend for dinner. We ended up over at Tupelo, which just so happens to be the restaurant that catered our wedding. Which meant that the hostess recognized us immediately and found us a table right away. By the window.
(I know you’re thinking “not a big deal,” but the waitress told us we’d have to wait).
(Shut up, I never get to be a VIP).
I was sitting at our table, musing about the lovely little symbolism of touring the maternity ward and returning to the place that was part of this journey and feeling all sentimental and hormonal… when the hostess appeared at our table with a free plate of their jalapeno mac and cheese, which I had just told her was the biggest hit at our reception. And I just about lost it, guys. Which prompted my husband to ask me if I was really getting all teary over mac and cheese.
Well, duh. It was a nice moment. Also, I’m pregnant. These days, mac and cheese is pretty much the pinnacle of all that is good in this world. And it was free!
The hostess told us that Tupelo is quite popular with the pregnant ladies. Which makes sense when you think about the fact that their menu consists almost entirely of carbs and fried food. And the occasional carbs that have been fried into extra deliciosity. I had the frito pie for dinner. I am so getting yelled at my prenatal appointment tomorrow.
This entry has blathered on long enough, so here’s my week 22 belly pic. Thanks for making it this far!
Speaking as someone who was at the reception and ate that jalapeno mac and cheese, I totally understand getting weepy over it — and I’m not pregnant.
If you haven’t popped by the time of the Fest, I don’t suppose you’d consider bringing a small takeout order to Bourne, would you? You know, for your favorite not-actually-related-by-blood-but-by-affection aunt? Doesn’t have to be big since I can only eat two or three bites at most. Oh, but they’d be truly outstanding, weep-worthy bites!
i agree, Tupelo mac and cheese brings happy tears to my eyes, too. doesn’t sound odd at all 🙂
glad you checked the hospital out! private rooms all round is awesome.
We’ll be at the Fest! We can bring mac and cheese! Our first Fest in years, it should be a celebration!
I think my due date is pretty much exactly a week after the Fest, but if I am cleared by my doctor (and haven’t gone into labor yet!), we will be there. We’ve already requested the sun-room so that my gigantically pregnant butt won’t have to sleep in a tent. :p
So, yes, if all goes well, I will be happy to bring you some mac and cheese! And finish off whatever you can’t eat. 😉
I am very much relieved after visiting to find out that it’s a lovely little maternity ward.
I can’t even tell you how excited I am about the fact that you are moving back to the East Coast. 😀
aw, I was getting teary-eyed. It’s sooo nice when someone goes out of their way or makes you feel special just because.
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