Pregnancy Questionnaire
1. How old are you and the father?
I’m 32 he’s 33.
2. Where did you meet?
In highschool. I met him via my boyfriend at the time’s D&D group.
3. Are you boyfriend/girlfriend, engaged, married, or not together?
Married.
4. How long have you been together?
Together 10.5 years, married 10 years in April.
5. Was it planned?
Well we were trying to conceive, we just didn’t expect it’d be so quick. Literally two weeks off birth control and I was pregnant. Thankfully I’ve been on it forever. I never wanted a child until recently.
6. When did you conceive?
Middle of September or so.
7. When is your due date?
End of June. I don’t believe in exact due dates because babies never come when they’re due unless you take them out surgically on the date.
8. What do you think the baby will look like? (eyes, hair, facial features)
No clue. I have brown hair and brown eyes, husband has light brown hair and blue eyes. Guess we’ll see.
9. Do you plan on a natural birth or using an epidural or other drugs?
I would prefer to avoid drugs since they do have side effects that can complicate birth but I am not against them if needed. I don’t have this crazy need to be primaly empowered as a woman during birth, I just want what’s best for the baby.
10. Is this your first baby?
Yes. It may or many not be the last, we’ll decide that once we have it for a while.
11. How did yours and the baby’s father’s parents react?
Both sets of parents are very happy. This will be the 12th grandchild on his side, the first grandchild on my side.
12. When did you tell them?
My parents knew I was trying to conceive, [my father is doctor so I was asking for advice as soon as we decided we wanted to try for a child]. We told his parents a bit later when we knew the pregnancy would stick.
13. Did you consider abortion or adoption?
For certain genetic or chromosomal abnormalities I would consider ending the pregnancy, but I would have to think long and hard about it. Since we wanted the child in the first place, adoption hasn’t entered the equation.
14. What were your first symptoms?
Fatigue, nausea, some other things the internet doesn’t need to know.
15. How did you find out?
Took a pregnancy test the first day I missed my period the first month we tried. I had an inkling I might be pregnant about a week before that for no particular reason but I chalked it up to wishful thinking until I was sure.
16. Have you had an ultrasound?
One at 10 weeks, be have our second big one next week.
17. Have you heard the heart beat?
At 13 weeks yes.
18. Do you know the sex?
Hopefully we’ll find that out next week.
19. What sex were you hoping for?
Whatever’s healthy.
20. What girl/boy names did you consider?
If it’s a girl, it will be Olivia. If it’s a boy, it will be Isaac. We had names picked out before we even tried conceiving.
21. Does the name you chose have any special significance?
No, we wanted names that were normal yet moderately uncommon, and no weird spellings. Their middle names have significance but in the interest of internet privacy…
22. Do you have any supplies yet?
We have some things given to us my relatives and friends. A car infant seat, some strollers, some toys and books, but nothing we’ve bought yet.
23. Have you felt the baby kick yet?
Not yet, still a bit early for that.
24. When is your baby shower?
Haven’t planned for that yet. I don’t like parties.
25. How many weeks/months are you?
16 weeks today.
26. What are you looking forward to?
Everything.
27. Are you financially able to care for a child?
I don’t like this question, as it’s none of anyone’s business. I wouldn’t have planned for a child if I wasn’t in a position to care for one.
28. What was your worst symptom?
Extreme fatigue. Also my hips hurt something terrible if I’m on my feet for more than 6 hours.
29. Have you had any cravings?
Not exactly. I tend to want salty things all the time but I wouldn’t call it a craving. I had a true craving once, it was for vanilla ice cream. My husband went out, got me a pint, I ate it all and felt much better. The end.
30. Are you scared of having a miscarriage or stillbirth?
Not currently at this point, but I’ve never really had a feeling that there was anything wrong with the pregnancy.
31. Do you wear maternity clothes?
Not yet. Though I’ve gained about 10 pounds I still fit into my regular clothing. I have a couple pair of maternity jeans if need be for later.
32. Has anything major changed in your life since your pregnancy?
Yes and no. Work has changed mainly because I’m very limited in some things I can do, [no more xrays or anesthesia or cleaning cat boxes]. Also because of how tired I get, I can’t make it through a full day anymore so I’m doing half days then coming home and taking naps.
33. Do you smoke or drink?
Nope.
34. Do you take prenatal vitamins?
I was taking them since the moment I was trying to conceive.
35. Are you going to breastfeed or use formula?
Breastfeed unless some complication arises where I can’t.
36. Are you going to use disposable or cloth diapers?
Disposable.
37. Do you regret your pregnancy?
I wanted this so it would seem pretty silly of me to regret it.
38. What is your weight gain so far?
About 10 pounds… sigh. All in my ass and hips. I was slender to begin with so it’s not that bad.
39. Has your baby had the hiccups?
Not yet.
40. How big is the baby so far?
Not sure how big it’s supposed to be at this point. Lime sized maybe.
41. Do you have any stretch marks?
Nothing more than I got at puberty.
42. Any complications with your pregnancy?
Not so far beyond normal pregnancy ick.
43. Have you seen your baby do any strange things during an ultrasound? (suck his thumb, etc)
The only ultrasound I’ve had so far the blob was too small to do anything.
44. Do you get any criticism?
Not that I’ve heard. I don’t see why I would, I’m an adult with a planned pregnancy. I’m grown, I do what I want. If someone else doesn’t like it they can fuck off.
![Wednesday [Emergency and Critical Care]
Walked into my shift where they were finishing up a C-section and every staff member was trying to revive a puppy. Unfortunately, due to a combination of circumstances, the puppies just weren’t doing well. There were 5 or 6 of them, some started out breathing but then they eventually gave up despite all efforts, including philtrum acupuncture [which I did running around with a bunch of 25 gauge needles to various puppies], Doxapram, and chest compressions.
One little puppy was actually trying to hold on, though it wasn’t really breathing and it was extremely bradycardic. Our Criticalist took over, he actually intubated the minutes old puppy with our tiniest endotracheal tube, [he was going to put in a tiny tracheostomy but it was actually moving too much for that]. Then, he did the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, he put an IV catheter into the puppy’s umbilical stump. I didn’t even know you could do that, though it makes sense, it is a major vessel for the tiny thing. He could only fit a 24 guage in there, but it doesn’t mater, it was patent and he was able to deliver a dose of naloxone to reverse the sedation the mother had that was transferred to the puppies in-utero.
I kept up with the tiny chest compressions [which is literally just squeezing it’s little chest with your thumb and forefinger] and eventually the heart picked up on it’s own. An hour later it’s heart rate was about 140, it was extubated, squealing like a puppy and the IV was out. Two hours later it was drinking formula from a bottle.
Unfortunately, the time it was in a severe hypoxic state may have been too much for it because less than 24 hours later it deteriorated and died. But we tried, and for a while, it appeared to be a normal healthy puppy.
Here is a photo I took with a friend/co-worker’s phone of the puppy still intubated, after it’s own heart had taken over and with the IV still in. I really need to start bringing my camera to work.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbfizibPE81r0eacjo1_500.jpg)
