…. is the expected due date for Jolene and the baby.  We went to our first official ‘baby doctor’ appointment this morning.  I was up all night getting ill, so I went with 4 hours of sleep or so.  I think I was just overly anxious about the whole process.

I sat in the office and took notes.  Since this is a first time thing for me, I’d like to be sure I get it right.

Things of interest:

• The bariatric vitamin pills that Jolene is taking don’t have enough Folic Acid by 200 mcg’s.  I just looked this up.  She got a bunch of samples of the prenatal variety today.  Also, they gave her a sucker at the office!  Not the kid type, unfortunately, but one that has lots of B vitamins that is supposed to help stop morning sickness.  I kind of wanted a sucker, too.
• Cord blood.  I had no idea what this even was.  I still only have a vague sense of what it is.  I must do more research.
• Dad Boot Camp.  A 3 hour class taught by other fathers.  I guess they bring their babies to the class for a ‘hands-on’ sort of learning situation.  The class itself kinda intimidates me more than the birth, but I’ll probably go.  It’s free, after all.
• Along the same lines, they offer a baby CPR class.  This one interests me more, so I’ll register for this as well.
• We got a binder with a bunch of information, and aside from that, a bunch of coupons.  The freebee-loving person I married will love this part.  I guess you fill out a few cards and get a metric ton of samples in response.
• We have to fill out a ‘birth plan’ by 16-18 weeks.  I don’t know what a birth plan is right now.  It seems simple.  We plan to give birth.  I must investigate this more, and perhaps page through the binder.
• An ultrasound will happen at 16-18 weeks.  Generally the insurance companies only want to pay for one of these.  God bless insurance companies!
• We went through a genetic screening thing, where the lady read off a bunch of scary sounding diseases.  I just continually shook my head.
• We’re going back in the first part of May.  Today, as calculated, we’re at 6 weeks, 4 days from the beginning.

Overall, it was a nice, quick appointment followed by a trip to the basement of the building where the vampires live.  They took her blood and will run a bunch of tests on it.

Afterward, we went out to breakfast.  It was a much better breakfast than we had in Bay City this past weekend.  Jolene did, however, get ill when she got back home.  God bless morning sickness!