TheBanyanTree: Holy Cow!

[Red Pepper]

Well, have I got some news for you. At the ripe age of 38 (note I 
omitted the "old"), I am pregnant for the first time in my life. Yee-ha!!

Eight weeks along, I am. No significant morning sickness (touch wood), 
just indigestion and resulting mild nausea that hits at about 11:00am 
every day. Plus a couple of other things that I won't go into that are 
perfectly normal.

Finding out was a bit of an "oh sh*t" experience - not because we 
weren't trying, but because it happened the first month we tried which 
took us a bit by surprise. I was looking forward to a few months of 
anticipation but clearly the bub takes after both parents and has a mind 
of its own, already. It was certainly a relief to know that I am still 
capable of it and touch wood things continue to go smoothly - the 
scare-mongering that seems to accompany "older" woman becoming pregnant 
is a bit of a downer sometimes. A friend's aunt, a salty country woman, 
told me not to worry about what "they" say - "Women always used to give 
birth till later years in the days before contraceptives!". They didn't 
have much of a choice. And those women were working women too - no lying 
around on the couch.

Thankfully, the medical support is probably better than it was 50 years 
ago, but it strikes me now how incredibly robust and resiliant women 
must have always been, to do this amazing thing while also living a 
life, often a tough life.

I've booked into a private hospital (finally those years and years of 
private health insurance are going to pay off) which has lovely birthing 
suites. The other hospital I looked at had a more traditional birthing 
room, more like a surgery, which freaked me out a bit. This is serious, 
mate! The gloomy colours and wipe-down functionality of the room made me 
realise for the first time that this is a major event.

The place I'm booked into has a much better feel - no hospital bed, it's 
a double bed (unless you are having problems, in which case you get a 
single bed room so they can manoeuvre you better), with down-lights in 
the ceiling, an ensuite, a couch so your pit-crew can have a rest and 
read a magazine while you're cursing whoever put you in that position.

We've told Jac, my partner's 11 year old son who is finding it quite 
interesting and is already offering helpful advice. For example, he 
feels we shouldn't find out the sex of the baby as it would spoil the 
surprise. If my stepson is offering advice, I can see that I am headed 
for an avalanche of helpful hints when I start telling other people who 
have actually been through it before. That is going to drive me crazy.

Jac's family tree is going to be quite complicated from here. His sister 
Sara is actually a half-sister by his mother, so there will be two kids 
(Sara and my kid) who are blood relatives for Jac but have absolutely no 
blood tie to each other. It will also be interesting to see how the 
ex-wife reacts to a new member of Jac's family who has absolutely 
nothing to do with her, given her propensity for subtly pitting the kids 
against Phil.

Interesting times ahead!!

Anita
xxx