As soon as we found out about Baby Flores, I signed us up for an OB Orientation Class (at El Camino PAMF) and a Partners in Parenting class (at Palo Alto PAMF). These worked out great cuz Ana's been working in Foster City so I meet him over the hill before the class, have a nice dinner, and then educate away! Both classes were focused on new pregnancies and first time moms & dads. The OB class was super basic and covered most of what the doctor had already told us. But the PinP class was much more informative.
It was lead by the PAMF Educational Instructor & an OB! Its was so great to have that kind of access and to be with other soon to parents that brought up all kinds of questions, comments and concerns that we didn't think to ask. They also gave out great informational handouts so we were able to go home and discuss the different topics.
The big one for us was the prenatal screening (this is when they look at your blood tests & baby measurements of the spine, curvatures, etc., and tell you what the calculated/estimated risk of any abnormalities of the baby) & diagnostic tests (this is when they actually take a genetic sampling from the baby through amniocentesis).
Me being the crazy planner and stresser that I am, decided that I didn't think a prenatal screening alone would be enough since I'll be 34 when the baby is born and 35 is when the risk of abnormalities increases. So in talking with Ana, he completely agreed with me cuz he's just worried period. We got a lot of good info and statistics from the OB at this class which made it easier and more comfortable for us to make our decision.
They also had great pointers on how to deal with morning sickness: Lemonade & Ginger! Lemonade really did help me, though not all the time. and I hate ginger, but the sickness got so bad that I went ahead and bought a pack of Trader Joe's candied ginger. YUCK! It lasted about 3 days and then I couldn't swallow the stuff anymore...plus it only helped about 1/2 the time so I gave up on the ginger.
My morning sickness lasted from about week 6 to week 12. It sucked, but I didn't get it nearly as bad as some. Mostly I just couldn't eat at all and was lucky if I got in 1300 calories in a day. Some nights if I was feeling up to it, Ana would get me a milkshake to help get dairy & calories in me, these days were more like 1600 calorie days! Of course with all the no-eating and some vomiting, I ended up loosing about 8 pounds.
Plus I was always tired. So tired in fact that I stopped riding and was able to hike about twice a week, and short 45 min hikes at that. Going up my driveway was real work and Sienna would have to drag me home! I slept a TON and we stayed in/home most nights & weekends. Between weeks 9-11 I couldn't do anything and didn't hike or exercise at all.
Migraines, migraines, migraines and nothing to be done about them:-(
Then week 12 I went for a nice MTB ride and felt great till I got a cold later that week (Ana had had it previously as well as most of my friends) and so I was out for another 2.5 weeks! And I mean out! I couldn't get out of bed for 6 days (Ana's cooked/ordered out the entire time) and then I was just recovering and also lost my voice for about 2 weeks. But then I started feeling better with the morning sickness gone and able to hike again and so we started telling everyone about Baby Flores!
Lots of fun learning & experience in Baby 101.
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