It’s a girl!

By kate on August 17th, 2005

(wait, wait… read the rest…)

My mom told me that when she was pregnant with me, her (prescription) pre-natal vitamins were pink. When she was pregnant with both my brothers, they were blue each time. Today, I got my pre-natal vitamins and… they’re pink!

Of course, we won’t find out the baby’s actual gender for another 5 weeks or so.

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Growth

By kate on August 12th, 2005

This is the first week where I’ve been able to notice growth. I can see a difference between where my stomach was on Sunday, and where it is today. I’d say I’m really “showing” a bit, finally, instead of just accumulating fat. I’m still pretty small, of course, but it’s progress.

I told the people at my work this week, so the pregnancy is no longer a secret from anyone. It’s a relief to be able to stop trying to hide it. Today, I wore overalls for the first time and was soooo comfortable.

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Synchronicity

By kate on August 9th, 2005

After my first snooze this morning, the radio came back on just as John in the Morning started talking, and it was perfect timing. He identified the previous song as being from Sky Cries Mary’s new album, and then went on to announce that Roderick and Anisa Romero (the lead singers of Sky Cries Mary) just had a baby nine days ago! They’re staying in Seattle through September (to avoid the New York heat), before returning to their current home.

I was delighted by the timing of both the on-air announcement and the birth, seeing that Sky Cries Mary is one of my very favorite bands, and that I’ve always looked up to Anisa. In addition to being a beautiful musician, she is also an artist* – she’s the one who painted the icons I used for this journal [when it was on LiveJournal].

Knowing that Roderick and Anisa (as well as other friends and acquaintances of ours) are experiencing this same journey makes me feel connected to the world and the human race.

* Most of what I consider her best paintings are not shown on that website, but I can’t find them anywhere on the web. Anisa and Roderick also design treehouses (including ones for Sting and Donna Karan), and do interior and garden design.

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Post from Steve

By steve on August 4th, 2005

Note: I’m still avoiding the computer because of my eye strain. –Kate

Today we met with an obstetrician with Meridian Women’s Health. They’re closely associated with Northwest Hospital, and NW Hospital is on the list of places we’re considering for the birth.

The doctor was friendly and appeared to answer our questions pretty honestly. She’s a little younger than we were originally aiming for, but now I’m thinking that might be a good thing — the older doctors/midwives might be a little jaded after 30+ years of deliveries, and might not match our levels of enthusiasm in seeing the birth as The Most Amazing Thing Ever To Happen Ever.

As far as personality and philosophy, she came across as entirely reasonable and a good choice. If we end up going the OB route, I think she’d be a fine selection. I think the only red flag for Kate was that the vast majority of her patients don’t opt for natural childbirth. She qualified that by using the term “true natural childbirth”, and it’s not exactly clear at what point a birth goes from natural to un-natural, but I think the overall trend is clear. Kate is pretty stoked about going au naturel, and although that’s an option no matter we go, I’d prefer that we were with someone who is more familiar with the emotional demands of the natural style.

Oh, another interesting thing that the doctor mentioned is that most of the labor and general staff interaction is done with the nurses. The doctor shows up, catches the baby, and then moves on. And even then the doctor could be one of seven on-call doctors (although about 50% of the children ARE delivered by the doctor of choice). So interviewing all these doctors isn’t really all that useful — at the crucial time, it’ll be a crapshoot as to whether we get a great nurse, a crappy nurse, or some combination thereof. From that perspective, going with a midwife and getting real continuity of care seems to be an important way to go.

If we DO choose a midwife, there is still a hospital vs. birth center choice. The UW has a fleet of midwives and again it’d be a crapshoot as to who we get on d-day. I believe the same applies to Swedish hospital, which has the reputation of being a baby factory and not as nice as NW Hospital, which doesn’t have any midwives on staff. The smaller independent practices have only one to three midwives, so we can get to know them all and feel comfortable with whoever shows up on d-day, but only a few (if any?) have hospital privileges.

We’ve got some more midwife interviews lined up, so no decisions yet. In any event, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to rush to a decision; prenatal care doesn’t really seem to gear up until the 12th week or so.

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More open jobs at Jobster

By kate on August 3rd, 2005

If you or anyone you know know might be good at these jobs (both technical and non-technical), check it out. Don’t miss the chance to work at such a great company!

Jobster is hiring:

Software Developer, Web UI
Perl Software Developer, Search

Recruiter Support Specialist
Account Manager
Strategic Account Manager

We’re also looking for a Help Desk person (there isn’t a posting for it yet). Comment here or email me if you know of anyone for that. Thanks!

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Living a secret double life

By kate on August 2nd, 2005

Even though Steve and I have become pretty open about the pregnancy with our friends, I’m still keeping it a secret at work. I’m not sure why, exactly; it seems like that’s what you’re supposed to do.

Unlike some people, I’m not really worried about how they’ll react. I’m fairly sure that I’m an important member of the team (so I won’t be shuffled off to obscurity). Also, Jobster is quite a family-friendly place, even though none of its female employees have yet been pregnant while working there. See this blog entry by one of my colleagues for his perspective on the Jobster family culture.

[As an interesting side note, his wife just had their baby, and created a new Swedish record for fastest delivery! It was only 25 minutes from her first contraction to the baby’s birth (by her and her husband, in the ER bathroom).]

In any case, I’m laying low for the time being. I go on vacation at the end of August, and I’m going to see if I can wait until my return to give the news. I think that’s the best way. Now, if I can only keep from showing too much for the next couple of weeks. I seem to have plateaued in that respect, so I might well make it.

Also complicating things is the question of if and when I’ll return to work. I don’t yet know what I’ll do, so it’s hard to tell Jobster anything with certainty (although I know the right wording is, “yes, I’m definitely coming back.” I need to tell them that to get paid maternity leave. I’m sure they offer maternity leave (though it’s not legally mandated), but I don’t know how much I get, or who to ask without tipping my hand.

I’m not sure I’ll know for certain whether I’ll return to work until the baby’s born. I know that so much can change then, that I feel like I should leave things open (in my mind at least). My preference would probably be to stay home. On the other hand, if Jobster continues to be as successful as it’s been, it may be quite lucrative to return for a year or two (to reap some stock option rewards). Steve could be the stay-home parent at first, before switching off with me, maybe.