Today I enjoyed the modern milestone of seeing our baby's 20-week ultrasound, although it surely was a comedy of errors getting there!
First of all, the story doesn't make sense unless you know I have to drive 60 miles to the only obstetrical clinic in metropolitan Charlotte that will provide concurrent care and ultrasounds to women planning a home birth. It's not illegal for doctors to do so, they simply don't like it. So, I drive 60 miles, which normally takes an hour and 15 minutes each way.
I set my appointment for a very early 8:30 a.m., thinking Chris would be babysitting and I wanted him to miss as little work as possible.
Turns out, he was out of town. So, I hired a sitter.
Then the sitter came down with a stomach illness 24 hours ahead of time.
Now that early time slot became a conundrum for me. I would have to leave the house by 7:00 a.m. to get to my appointment, which didn't leave any realistic time to drive 15-30 minutes to a sitter's house and then come back again, and I don't know any babysitters who drive.
What to do?
A dear girlfriend who lives right along the path to my OB's office agreed to watch my children in the morning and this solution should have been so easy. I used Google Maps to calculate that it was 30 minutes to my friend's house and 45 minutes from her home to my OB's office.
I had the children sleep in their clean daytime clothing, then had them awake and fed, with the van pulling out ahead of schedule at 6:50 a.m.! Go, mama, go!
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| My friend feeding a pancake breakfast to 9 children (ages 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 2, and under 1). She is braver than I! |
That's when the commute stopped being fantastic. It took 45, not 30, minutes to get to my friend's house. Then it took an hour and fifteen minutes to get from her house to the OB's office! With having to walk my kids into her home, it was a total morning commute of 2 hours 15 minutes, making me very, very late to my appointment.
Thankfully, the OB's office was quite kind and got me in right away. Also, my friend's mother took her children to their piano lessons on her behalf, letting my friend stay home and continue to watch my children . . . otherwise, I couldn't have even gone, there wouldn't have been a long-enough window of time. To my two dear friends and helpful community: thank you, thank you, thank you!
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| Face looking at the camera and belly |
The baby looked healthy and was happily moving around, kicking legs, wriggling arms, and opening and closing his or her mouth.
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| Close up of above |
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| Leg extended |
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| Leg extended, foot, and toes |
So glad everything looks good and on track! PS - I think I can tell the gender from the ultrasound (the leg shot)...I'm guessing it's a girl
ReplyDeleteHow great to have good friends who can pitch in. Love the ultrasound shots of new baby. I'm sure everyone is anxious to meet the new beloved member of the family.
ReplyDeleteNo need to guess gender, friends! My sonogram technician was very careful this time not to take any shots of private parts. The picture of the legs is from the outside of the hip, with the second leg on the other (far) side.
ReplyDeleteI've had some similarly frantic I-will-make-it-all-work-out kinds of days around here! Always a struggle to not get stressed or frustrated when my perfect plans are not perfectly executed! So glad the Dr.s office was kind to you and what a wonderful friend to help watch your kids! <3
ReplyDeleteYay for a healthy babe! I still think the gender is a mystery. ;)
ReplyDeleteSo precious!
ReplyDeleteGetting to new places or getting to places in different ways than usual often leave me in tears. Tears. I am glad you managed to have your appointment anyway. Do you not find out, or do you just not tell?
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