Florida, here we come!

Well tonight we leave for Florida. I think Chad and I are both ready for a little fun in the sun. While we are sad that we will not be spending the holidays with the Tremblay's we will have a great time in Florida. It may not feel like the traditional Christmas we are used to but it will be great to spend time with some people we have not seen in a long time. We are planning on spending the first week with my Aunt Nancy and the gang from my dad's side of the family and then the second week (through the holidays) will be spent with Chad's parents and family. Today I am spending the day getting last minute things completed and updating my blog was on of those things.

Chad's hand is healing beautifully. The nails are growing nicely on his index finger and middle finger. The nail has started to grow on his ring finger and some of the scabbing has gone away.

In baby news...
We just had another doctor's appointment and every is still looking good. We are at week 13. At week 20 we will be able to have another ultrasound and find out the sex (we can't wait). The fatigue has definitely gotten better. I can make to to 8:00 most nights, woo hoo! Meanwhile the nauseousness continues. I plan to take one of my prescriptions for this before getting on the plane since it knocks me out entirely. I just got a new prescription yesterday so we will see how that one does.

Last night Chad and I went to a Microsoft dinner party. As I was getting ready I was shocked to realize how poochie my stomach as become (see photo below). Now I will say that some of this is natural chubbiness that I had before getting pregnant, but most of this is baby bump.



That tummy is getting harder and harder to hide. I can't wait until it actually looks like I'm pregnant instead of looking like I have gotten chubbier. Packing for Florida has been tough. Lately I've been wearing a lot of sweaters to hide my tummy. I don't think that is going to fly in Florida. In a lot of my summer shirts I look like a stuffed sausage. Not to mention that I am typically a little thinner in summer than I am in the winter. Fortunately my mom took me shopping to get a few pair of pants and shorts that I can wear and I think I was able to find enough looser fitting tops. At any rate there is lots to be done today so I better get to it!!! Happy Holidays Everyone!

Tagged

Apparently I got "tagged" quite some time ago by my sister so I thought I would finally answer the questions. Being "tagged" means I am supposed to tell 4 things about myself that someone might find interesting or something different about me. Then I have to tag my friends for them to do the same. So here are my tidbits about me.

4 or more Places I have lived:
1. Buckley, Washington
2. Lacey, WA
3. Monmouth, OR
4. Lake Oswego, OR

4 or more places I have been on Vacation:
1. Florida
2. Los Angeles, California
3. Las Vegas, Nevada
4. Minnesota (for my Honeymoon)

4 or more Jobs I’ve had:
1. Van Lierop Bulb Farm
2. Hotel Housekeeping
3. Coffee Barista
4. Wild Waves Parking Attendent

4 or more Foods I like: (Right now I don't like much of anything, but before I got pregnant I liked the following)
1. Spicy Chicken Burrito from "The Sacred House of Taco Bell"
2. Gyros
3. Chinese Food
4. POTSTICKERS!!! (could eat them everyday!)

4 or more Hobbies:
1. Knitting
2. Listening to Audiobooks
3. Playing Computer Games
4. Spending Time with Chad
5. Musical Theatre

4 or more things people probably don’t know about me:
1. At work I am known for being pretty organized, at home I wish I could be so organized.
2. I love special occasions (holidays, birthdays, get togethers etc. A caution goes out to those who upset me on these days).
3. I have absolutely no musical talent whatsoever, sing, read, play etc. (Janelle, you and I both!)
4. I love overalls!
5. My most ticklish spot is the small of my back (Caution to those to try to tickle me there I tend to have involuntary violent reactions).

4 things I would do if I were a Billionaire:
1. Pay off loans
2. Buy some land so Chad and I can design our own house and landscaping.
3. Retire early
4. Go to shoemaker school
5. Constantly continue learning and taking classes.

So that’s me.I am now going to tag my only friend that I know blogs frequently: Sam (sorry)

Our Story

eHarmony runs a contest every year for the best success story of the year. We have always meant to enter. We finally did it. This is our story as written by Chad.

Embodiment of Perfection:
The Match of Dixie and Chad Willwerth

“Will I ever find the right person for me?” We’ve all been at a point in our lives where the answer to that question seems to be impossibly, “No.” That’s certainly where Dixie Tremblay and Chad Willwerth each found themselves in January, 2004. Both of us had had what felt like far more than our fair share of dysfunctional relationships. As though our lives were one big scavenger hunt, it didn’t seem to matter where we looked for that special person who embodied our ideals. Each relationship seemed to end horribly, many worse than anyone should have to experience.

Growing Up Dixie

Growing up in a small logging town near the timber-rich foothills of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, Dixie’s relationships started as well as anyone’s relationships, but after several months her partners would inevitably start yelling at her for no apparent reason, ridiculing her and teasing her. Physical abuse was never an issue, but the verbal attacks felt just as bad.After leaving her hometown, her life improved, but love was still elusive. Shortly after graduating from college, Dixie had been dragged to nightclub after nightclub by friends with the best of intentions, but the men that would hit on this 4’ 11” cutie were not exactly serious when it came to relationships. Though she loved to go dancing, it quickly became clear that nightclubs were not going to yield a long-lasting healthy relationship. As the Internet became more and more commonplace, Dixie found herself spending time in AOL chat rooms, and posting personal ads on Match.com, Yahoo, and other locations. Men would contact Dixie and appear to pursue her, but after a few dates they would start to stand her up. The men inhabiting other web sites were obviously not looking for relationships. After a couple of years, Dixie began to lose hope in finding her prince. In January, 2004, she found eHarmony. She had decided this was her last attempt at finding love over the Internet.

The Trials and Tribulations of Chad

Meanwhile, from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, Chad found himself in a relationship that had started out well, but slowly began to degrade. The problem was that the deterioration was so slow Chad didn’t realize the extent to which his relationship was breaking down. As time went on, Chad’s partner slowly started to manipulate and control him in subtle, almost undetectable ways. Prior to his relationship, Chad had been an avid collector of leather-bound literary classic books and had amassed over 150 titles. As his partner began her control of his life, he found that new additions to his collection that he ordered were being returned to the sender without him ever seeing the book or knowing it had arrived. Even the purchase of something as commonplace as a DVD player was strictly forbidden. Over the course of 7 years, a once cheerful, energetic, optimistic young man fresh out of college withered into a submissive victim of financial abuse. In the ultimate act of manipulation, Chad’s partner convinced him to invest $80,000 in her small business even though she secretly had no intention of returning any money to him even once the business became a city-wide success with multiple stores. Life for Chad was dismal.Eventually, Chad became aware of the scope and magnitude of the change in his life that had been effected by his partner. But leaving relationships, even when you’re a victim, isn’t always easy. When Chad finally ended the relationship, he was left bewildered at how significantly he had changed from the dynamic person he was years before. It became clear that to restore his cheery, positive personality was going to require a grueling and lengthy journey of self-discovery.Like a trek to the summit of a mountain, this journey would need a support team to aid the traveler along the way. This special person would be exposed to the most private of thoughts. Chad needed to find the embodiment of a soul-mate—someone that would understand his struggles, and would be patient with him.Chad placed personal profiles on a myriad of dating websites, went dancing at nightclubs and casinos, sang karaoke, volunteered at the zoo, and joined groups that participated in local events like sightseeing or hiking in the mountains. Even though he put himself into many different situations where he was bound to find someone with similar interests, the people Chad found were superficial. Several were interested in him, but ultimately their façade would crumble. Rebuilding his continual optimism that a perfect match did exist for him somewhere, Chad opened his profile on eHarmony. It was the first week of January, 2004.

Introductions

For the first few days, there were no matches. Then on January 8, 2004, the first of many potential matches showed up for Chad. The profile had two photos. The first one showed a woman with short blond hair flipped out at the bottom dancing in a red dress with a floral print reminiscent of an Asian design. She was looking to the side laughing hard making it hard to get a good look at her. The second one was of the same woman this time with short red hair wearing a black and white-striped long sleeve shirt sitting on a mauve couch in front of a light blue wall looking up at the camera. Now that Chad could see all of her face, it was obvious she was immensely attractive.When Dixie logged into her profile on eHarmony on January 8, 2004, she was greeted with a profile of a man with very short hair and a beard grinning from ear to ear…with a green and red wild parrot sitting on his head! Dixie was Chad’s first match, and Chad was the first person Dixie met in person. Was it destiny? Luck? The scientific process employed by eHarmony? It doesn’t matter how we were matched. We were perfect for each other on levels far deeper than eHarmony had even asked about.

Building a New Life Together

As we began dating, the number of common interests or similarities in our lives became startling. Years before we ever met, we lived and worked about half a mile from each other. For one of our earliest dates, Chad expressed interest in driving into the valley near us and visiting a bulb farm. It was March, and the valley was filled with acres and acres of daffodils and tulips of every color imaginable. This happened to be the very bulb farm where Dixie had worked one year when she was growing up. Chad and Dixie each independently grew up as aficionados of musical theatre, with Chad performing throughout high school and in singing groups in college. It a very nice surprise when Dixie learned that Chad had been a subscriber to the two primary theatres in Seattle for many years prior to us meeting. 16 months before meeting Dixie, Chad had started executing on his childhood dreams. A believer of lifelong learning, Chad had earned his SCUBA certification and private helicopter license. When Chad and Dixie met, Chad was in a lull between educational experiences. The next two items on his list were either getting back into playing the piano or learning sign language. In one of the more profound similarities, Dixie has been hard of hearing since she was born and had earned her Master’s Degree in Deaf Education. When Chad enrolled in American Sign Language 101, Dixie was shocked and amazed at his interest at learning about other cultures and his compassion for understanding the difficulties she faces in her daily life. It was the compassion she had been looking for all her life. All of the horrific relationships we had endured in the past had prepared us for our life together. When Chad would be invited out to dinner with a group of co-workers, he would nervously call Dixie to ask permission certain that he would be denied. After all, in his previous long-term relationship his availability was often controlled by his partner. Dixie would gently offer words of support telling him, “You can do what you want to do. You don’t need my permission. I trust you.” This was exactly the type of support he needed to regain his self-confidence as he rebuilt his personality. If Chad’s voice ever started to show that he was frustrated, Dixie would calmly and softly tell him that she understood he was frustrated, but to keep a careful eye on his tone of voice. Chad quickly became cognizant of how words can wound, and how communicating openly and honestly lead to strong, loving relationships that establish both people as equal partners.

A Proposal Up In the Air

After a year of dating, it was obvious that both of us wanted to get married. On July 4th, 2005, Chad rented a helicopter and took Dixie along on his flight. Unbeknownst to her, Chad had arranged for Dixie’s family to wait at a private grass airstrip with a 7’ x 40’ sign that said simply, “Marry Me?” As they flew over Chad casually said, “Hey, look at that!” pointing to the sign 1,000 feet below out Dixie’s side of the helicopter.“That’s neat,” Dixie said plainly, certain that it was intended for someone else. As she turned her head back in Chad’s direction, she saw him holding a large Ring Pop candy ring while piloting the helicopter. Baffled, she took the Ring Pop and started laughing. “I can’t believe he’s teasing me with someone else’s sign,” she thought to herself. She was so confused she didn’t hear Chad actually proposing to her. As they came into land, she realized that the small group of people standing around the sign was her family—her parents, older sister and husband and her brother. Then it sank in. This was for real! On August 14, 2005, we were married.

A New Addition

Two lives marred by challenges and immense failures in the world of relationships came together on eHarmony.com on January 8, 2004 when Dixie and Chad were matched by eHarmony. What emerged was a beautiful bouquet of a relationship based on trust, communication, equal partnership, mutual support, and most important of all, love. We have been married for 28 months, and are expecting our first child in June, 2008. May she be blessed with the love and support on which our marriage thrives. “Will I ever find the right person for me?” We didn’t just find the right person. We found the perfect relationship. And it’s all thanks to eHarmony.

Thanksgiving

Well this year we had Thanksgiving at mom and dads house. As usual Jennifer and Eric boycotted Thanksgiving and went to Whistler. Jon, Jannelle, Dayna and Dax were in Kentucky. So this year for Thanksgiving it was Chad and I, Mom and Dad, and Travis, Sarah and TJ. Rather than follow our usual tradition of sticking the turkey in the oven and then going to the movies, we decided to stay in and watch Shrek 3. We watched this (TJ, Dad and I slept through parts of it) and then had dinner.

We all have a lot to be thankful for this year. I am so thankful for my dear husband who continues to amaze me with his patience and understanding with me. He never seems to get tired of hearing me say, "Honey, can you come tuck me in". We often will talk late into the night like kids at a sleepover party. He is trully my best friend and I am so thankful that he is a part of my life. After Dinner the gang played Farkel. Unfortunately I was way too tired to play so I took a nap. Making a baby is hard work. Oh yeah that reminds me of one more thing I am thankful for, I'm thankful that the nausea was able to hold off until after the Thanksgiving festivities.

I brought a kitchen play set over to mom's. It was taking too much space in my classroom. Sarah and Travis are taking it off my hands, but for the time being mom wanted it at her house so the grandkids can have something to play with while they are at Grammy and Popi's house. TJ seems to be enjoying it.

This is what a typical Tremblay Family gathering looks like.

In other news...

Chad's hand seems to be healing perfectly. Below is a picture of what his hand looked like after his reconstructive surgery (the wrap on his index finger came off, but it was identical to the wrap on his middle finger). His ring finger had a plaster cast on it to keep everything in place. Now he doesn't wear anything on his index finger as it is healing nicely, on his middle finger he wears a bandaid and on his ring finger he wears a little bit of gauze and sometimes a finger guard to protect him from hurting it when he is active. As we have said from the beginning, it really could have been much worse. It seems as though he will get all of his nails back, but we are not sure how it will look at this point.

On the 14th Chad and I went to the doctor for our first ultrasound. Below is baby Willwerth. We saw better images of the baby, but this is one of the two pictures we got to keep (the other one is identical). The head is to the right. At one point during the ultrasound we saw a little arm bud moving (it looked like the baby was waving, "Hi mom and dad"). It was so amazing to realize that this little being is only about an inch long but has most of its body parts at this point. The doctor confirmed the due date of June 21st.

That seems to be all the newsy stuff for now, whew I had a lot of catching up to do.

"Flesh Wound" Updates

First, the carnage. If you are curious how bad the actual damage is, here are links to 3 photos taken at a doctor's office today. They are pretty graphic close-ups, so if you are squeamish, don't click on the links.
Chad's reaction to his hand
The whole hand
Close-up of the fingertips

Chad went to two doctors today, one from Rainier Orthopedic in Puyallup and one from Seattle Hand Surgery Group associated with Swedish Hospital.

At Rainier, Chad was assigned to the doctor that was on call Saturday night rather than their hand specialist. We were told that this was because follow-up care always happens a few days after the ER, so they automatically place space in the on-call doctor's schedule for daytime follow-ups a few days after being on call. They took off the dressing, looked at the injuries, redressed it (poorly), and said to come back in a week. That was it.

At the Seattle Hand Surgery Group, they looked at the wounds, cleaned them up some more (they were pretty goopy), went over exactly what will happen, and talked about some cosmetic work. The doctor commented that if Chad's fingers had remained dressed for a long period of time as Rainer had left them the skin would really start to degenerate. (She used a big word that I don't remember right now.)

It turns out that Chad's fingernails will totally grow back. The nail-generating cells are deep in your finger (the doctor indicated about 1/4" deep). In 3-4 months Chad's ring fingernail should completely regrow. The nail follows the contour of the "nail bed" (the skin under the nail). Because a little meat was removed from Chad's nail beds by the saw, he will have a slight depression in his fingernails on his index and middle finger. If the ring finger is left as the ER doc put it together, a lump would develop in the fingernail. Also, the way the ER doctor folded the skin up over the end of the finger left the end of the finger with a mushed appearance, flatter and wider than normal.

Chad will undergo a 30 minute cosmetic surgery tomorrow to give his ring finger a more natural appearance when it heals. The Seattle doc said the surgery should really be done tomorrow rather than later partially because she works in the main OR on Wednesday rather than in the outpatient office, but also so the finger can start healing with the better appearance. This was never mentioned at Rainier. When she redressed the fingertips, she only wrapped the ends of the fingers making it much less obvious Chad has had some trauma.

The surgery will be done by using a regional anesthetic (a "Bier block") rather than injecting the fingers with individual local shots. The whole hand will be numbed by placing an anesthetic IV in the hand and a tourniquet above the wrist. Considering the most excruciating part in the ER was the local shots into each finger, Chad is not looking forward to this part of the procedure.

The X-rays, which we may post when we get them back after the surgery, showed that the "fracture" was really the total severing of the bone in the end of the fingertip. It's just gone, totally annihilated by the saw blade, which left most of the skin intact. This will not regrow.

In other news...

Chad and I took our "Intro to hypnobirthing" class on Monday the 5th. We both continue to be very interested in hypnobirthing and plan on taking the 5 week class in January/February.

Today we toured Valley Medical Hospital. Chad and I both left feeling that this is most likely the hospital we will deliver at. Chad is a little concerned about the hospital staffing. At other hospitals we were told that once you are in active labor you have a nurse one on one. At Valley Medical they said we can't make any promises but at max it will be one nurse per two patients. The accommodations are nice (though Good Sam still had the nicest). Valley Medical does have a level three Neonatal unit and seems open to natural birthing.

Wednesday I have my first appointment with an OB/GYN that came highly recommended by Jennifer. We will meet her and see what her views on Hypnobirthing. Hopefully she will be able to get on board with that, if not the search for an OB/GYN will be continue. We will have our first ultrasound. We are really looking forward to that. I am hoping to get some anti-morning sickness drugs too.

Time to go wake the hubby up from his nap. I will post again after the ultrasound on Wednesday.

"It's just a flesh wound!"

Never before was that quote from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (and the Broadway version called, "Spamalot", which we had just seen) more applicable to our lives.

We are in the process of remodelling our bedroom to turn it into the sort of formal library you would find in a mansion. Chad and I both love books, and each of us has a pretty good-sized collection. Chad even has a couple hundred leather-bound books. We already have a room we refer to as the library, but we have to get that room cleared out to make room for baby, so the natural thing to do was to add built-in bookcases all around or 300 sq. ft. bedroom surrounding ourselves with something we both enjoy: imaginative stories.

Nothing is as easy as it seems. To make way for the bookcases (which are making way for baby), we have to get rid of our dressers. Clothes belong in the closet, so step 1 is to remodel the closet to hold all of our clothes. The centerpiece of the closet is a 12-drawer dresser that stands 5 feet tall. Chad enjoys building things, so he has been sporadically working on the dresser over the last couple of months. Yesterday was one of those days.

I don't know if Chad was just jealous of all the fancy fingernails I wear from time to time (I had some neat Halloween nails that had spiderwebs on them) or if, as he put it jokingly, he didn't like how the fingers on his left hand were different lengths, but yesterday Chad had a true "Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor" moment when his hands got a little too friendly with the table saw blade.

Here is the story in Chad's own words in an email he sent to his team last night.

Table saw...1
Hand........0

Not sure how it happened because I’m normally very safety conscious, but 3 fingers met the 2,000 rpm cabinet saw blade this evening. All I felt was like a strong pinch, and I thought, “what the heck was that?” Then I saw the tears in my glove…

Fortunately, the damage is not too extensive in that my fingers are intact for now. I am missing 2 large chunks of the fingernails on my index and middle finger. My ring finger suffered the brunt of the damage. I pretty much lost the tip of the finger, and fractured the bone. They removed the entire fingernail and folded the remaining skin up over the front of the finger and stitched it in place.

The major concerns at this point are infection and lack of blood flow to the flap of skin. In a worst-case scenario, I would have to have the tip of the finger amputated. I will have to see an hand specialist and may need reconstructive surgery.

Aside from the fact that my fingers are each dressed like a bratwurst, the doctor said no work for me this week. I’ll probably be pretty drugged up this week. (I’m writing this now before all the local anesthetic wears off.)

The good news is that I’m in good spirits. Understandably, I’m a bit embarrassed by the accident, but accidents do happen. We actually had a good time at the hospital bringing quite a bit of good cheer to those that were working on me. I mean, if you’re already at the hospital, and there’s nothing you can do about it, you might as well make the best of it. That’s how I roll. :)

I don’t know how frequently I’ll be able to check email. IM will probably be virtually impossible since I’m one-handed for a while. I’ll forward my office phone home in case you need to get a hold of me and you don’t mind drug-induced stupors and ramblings… I figure we never use our phones at work so the likelihood of getting a call from someone off the team is low. I’ll keep you updated when I find out something else new.

We had a busy night at the emergency room last night, but all in all it really could have been a lot worse. Originally, Chad came and got me and we were going to drive down to the hospital. It's only 3 miles, but it is down a heavily congested road. We had to take Chad's car, which was parked behind mine. I was so flustered that I wound up announcing our presence to the neighborhood by setting off Chad's car alarm when I got in. We were about 3 blocks from the house when we remembered that Meridian is heavily congested. Chad had me turn around and go back to the house because an ambulance with lights and siren would be much faster. They are also stationed real near our house. Unfortunately, the emergency response process doesn't mean they show up quickly...

Chad was a LOT calmer than I was when the whole thing started. When I called 911, I was so frazzled all I could get out was "My husband! uh... Hand! uh... Saw!" while he calmly said, "Just tell them my hand hit the table saw." Who do they send? A firetruck. Not exactly what we hoped for.

When they cut off his glove, we found out for the first time that the fingers had not been severed. They were cut pretty badly, but nowhere near as bad as we had envisioned. The fireman who removed the glove said that he had seen MUCH worse recently. Chad did ask for an ambulance at that point. A few minutes later the lumbered onto our streets. Don't get me wrong. The first responders do good work, but when your heart is racing and adrenaline is pumping you want everything to happen NOW!

We took the ride down to the hospital to Good Sam's in an ambulance. Later, Chad told me that he set the tone for the night in the ambulance after he had heard his fingers were still mostly attached. He started joking with the paramedic, which elicited such responses as, "You know I've never put in an IV before so this may take me a few tries."

The trip went something like this:
"Would you like some morphine?"
"How much you got?"

A few minutes later, "You're holding out on me, aren't you? I can still feel my hand." Then, "Great. My legs and pelvis just went numb. How about meds for my hand? You got anything over there that says, 'For numbing hands'?"

No wondered they threatened to drop the gurney when we got to the hospital (sans lights and sirens, by the way).

I called Dad to let him know that we would probably need a ride back at some point. He ended up coming soon after I called and hung out with us while we waited for various hospital staff to work on Chad. Chad and I were both not wanting to look initially, when I finally did look my thought was, "Oh, it's really not that bad". We were jovial and laughing for most of the time at the hospital.

Today Chad has been taking it easy and continues to be heavily medicated. Hopefully he will be able to make an appointment with the hand specialist for tomorrow, however they may not be open as it is Veteran's day. We shall see. How he heals and how much of his ring fingertip he will lose remains to be seen. Overall we are thankful because it really could have been much worse than it was. Between me being nauseous and Chad not being able to use his left hand or get it wet it seems that the dishes in the kitchen may be stacking up for a while until either I feel better or Chad's hand gets better.

Here is a pic of Chad's Mickey Mouse hand.


They don't usually have the fancy braid, but I sarcastically suggested she braid the ends and she did.

A little one is on the way!

Well Janelle suggested I start a blog, so here is my first attempt at blogging. Let me get everyone up to date. I am pregnant. I got my first positive test on 10/8/07 and took two more after that. On the 15th of October I went to my general doctor to have blood work done. After a few days it was reported back that my blood work looked good. I have a pregnancy journal that I have been writing in so I'll share some of the thing in there. One section says:

"How I felt when I found out: I was in disbelief. I did not think I was pregnant at all. The previous two cycles I was absolutely convinced I was pregnant. Funny how things work out. How my partner (the journals' wording) felt: Yea! It's about time. Glad to know my plumbing is working."

I don't know what he is complaining about we were only trying for 4 months. He is excited about "his plumbing working" because he had a vasectomy reversal in June of 2006. Another portion of the journal suggests to write my symptoms. Initially I was just very tired, my lower back hurt and had sore boobs. Now I'm in full morning (and noon and night) sickness mode. Before getting pregnant I had read all these books about what to eat and how to eat healthy. Now I'm only concerned about what will stay down and what I can tolerate. Morning is the worst, followed by evening and then lunch. I will say that I am not quite as tired as I was initially. Everyday when I go to work I pack a whole slew of snacks because I never know what is going to sound good when.

Chad and I have been touring hospitals to try to first find out which hospital we want to give birth at so we can then find a good OB/GYN that delivers there. Here are our thoughts on each.

Good Sam: We didn't expect to like Good Sam at all. It was the first place we toured. I felt pretty silly touring with a bunch of women that seemed to be 7 or 8 months pregnant. Anyways, they have really nice facilities. I seemed like my family could be comfortable when visiting. They have a little snack bar that Chad could go get jello and drinks. The rooms seemed nice as well. They do have a security system which consists of ankle bracelets (like Martha Stewarts') to prevent people from taking off with babies. Their neo-natal unit is level 2 so if something should go wrong the baby would have to be taken to Tacoma General Hospital. They seem open to unconventional childbirths. Does not allow pictures or videotape during birth (the nurse at the tour said they got sued too much). Chad and I both thought, "Well don't do anything that will get you sued".

St. Joseph's: This was the second hospital we toured. After this tour we started to like Good Sam a little more. The facilities we definitely not as nice as Good Sam's. They had a cot for dad, but if you lay that cot out there is no space for anything else in the room. They did not have a snack bar or fridge's in the recovery rooms. The atmosphere was very hospital-like. St. Joseph's has a level 2 1/2 neo-natal unit, but they are a lot closer to Tacoma General. St. Joseph's also seems open to unconventional childbirths. Here too you cannot take pictures or videotape during the birth. They also did not have a security system other than "we keep the doors locked" but I'm not too concerned about our baby being kidnapped.

Tacoma General: We loved the tour at Tacoma General mostly because of the lady that facilitated the tour. She is a doula trainer and childbirth educator not affiliated with the hospital. Tacoma General does allow pictures and videotape during the birth. It wasn't just here is room one and here is room two. She walked you through the entire process. We told her we are interested hypnobirthing and are touring hospitals to be sure we find the right one. She mentioned that Tacoma General may not be the place because the doctor's there are used to high risk births (their neo-natal unit is level 3, the highest). She mentioned that St. Joseph's might be our best bet. She mentioned that the staff at Good Sam's seems uneducated (which sadly, this is not the first time I have heard this). We did not ask about Valley Medical which will be our next stop.

Here is what I have going on this upcoming week. Monday Chad and I (and my potential doula) are attending an "Intro to Hypnobirth class". For those who are not familiar with hypnobirthing (which I imagine is most) here is a website to learn a little more about it. http://www.hypnobirthing.com/stories.htmI'll let you know how the class goes. Sunday the 11th we will be touring Valley Medical. I am thinking this is where we will end up and here is why. They have a level 3 neo-natal unit. The rooms look nice with a daybed type thing for dad to sleep on (similar to Good Sam's). They seem open to non-conventional childbirth (they have midwives that deliver there). All in all I think it will be the right combination, but I'll let you know after we have toured it. My first doctor's appointment with an OB/GYN is November 14. I can't wait. I don't plan on seeing this doctor throughout the pregnancy but this will at least get us started.

Wow Janelle, I wrote a book! I'll update this blog next weekend and try to start including some pics :)