Birthdays, Babymoon, & Birth Plans...

DH has been complaining that he wants to take a vacation before Baby Bean makes an appearance outside my womb. I used to love to travel, I was a flight attendant for goodness sake. We used to go on vacation every few months. I was always planning a trip immediately after we'd completed one. Then IF hit. How do you travel when you have to live your life around that one fertile time of the month that could be the key to all your dreams? I couldn't pack my RE, or phlebotomist, or the magical ultrasound machine used to monitor my ovaries, I was stuck. So we had to plan around the two week waits and vacations became fewer, and fewer. Then we started staying at home. We used to feed our cats dry food and it was easy to leave them. During one of my more vulnerable IF moments I read about how terrible dry food is for cats, it causes diabetes and kidney issues, and worse. So I insisted our little carb addicts be switched to wet food. Now our cats keep us chained to the house like dogs. They have to eat twice a day and someone has to be there to feed them. I hate to leave them. I sometimes am absolutely miserable on vacation because I miss the cats soooo much. We spent a week in St. Maarten and I was miserable two days into it because I missed the cats so much. People saw me on the hotel elevator and commented about how miserable I looked, all because I missed my cats. This summer I insisted we drive halfway across the country to attend my family reunion all because we could take the cats with us in the car. It was quite an adventure. One of the cats had to be drugged the entire time in the car and when we got to the reunion she hid under the bed the entire week we were there. The other cat is resilient. He didn't seem too bothered by the whole experience. His biggest concern was that I wouldn't let him snooze under my feet under the gas pedal. So when DH started suggesting a pre-baby arrival getaway I was immediately concerned about my cats. Who would watch them? Who would make sure they ate and baby them like I do? Luckily we did use a super pet sitter last February who loves them just as much as we do, my guilt is still unbearable at times but I know how badly DH wants a vacation together. We deserve it.

Where do you go for a Babymoon? Well it just so happens next month is also DH & my birthday. On Valentine's Day. Both of us. Yeah creepy weird, right? It was also his mom and my great-grandmother's birthday. Last year we went to Disney World with my parents. So how do you top Disney World? You go to adult Disney World. We're going to Vegas!! I love Vegas!! I'm not even really sure why. I don't gamble, I hate smoking, and mostly I'm asleep by 10pm every night but there's something about Vegas that I am enthralled with. My grandparents live there and it will be awesome to see them and I'm sure they will appreciate a chance to glimpse the baby bump. We just don't see each other enough. We went to Vegas for our Honeymoon so it seems fitting to hit it up one last time for the Babymoon. I also feel a little naughty sneaking my fetus into adults only venues. Of course I would never bring my infant to Vegas. Who the heck does that? Babies and casinos don't mix. Irresponsible parents. But if I carry my baby in my womb, who will know but me? My naughty little secret. Good luck finding smoke free casinos though I'm sure. I may be irresponsibly sneaking my fetus into an adults only venue, but I'm certainly not allowing my baby to be put in harms way. DH & I love, love, love Cirque du Soleil. We saw one last year in DC and we've been anxiously awaiting an opportunity to see another. Well Vegas has 7 Cirque shows!! So we plan to see two while we're there. We are so excited!! I've been absolutely starved lately so those Vegas buffets are just the solution!! President's Day weekend Las Vegas better watch out!! :)

Birth plans. I keep hearing people tell me I need to have a birth plan. I guess I'm not really sure what a birth plan is. One of my message boards had a post about how every expectant couple should watch the movie The Business of Being Born. So I hustled out to the library and checked it out ASAP. DH & I watched it last night. I went into it sure I wanted to have my baby in a hospital. I feel like since it's our first baby and we're not entirely sure how things are going to go being in a hospital where you have a lot of technology available just in case feels safest. That's just us. After watching the movie, which by the way aims to convince you midwives and home births or birth centers are the best, hospitals are not ideal. I would love to be brave enough to go into it without the option of an epidural and confident in my body's ability to labor correctly, but hey it sure didn't get pregnant on its own so can you fault me? The movie didn't really change my mind but it was kind of interesting. You have to take it with a grain of salt. Basically all the hospital births they showed seemed to be not in ideal circumstances. All the home births and birth center births seemed so easy. Cinematic effect? Maybe. I can't imagine every hospital birth is a terrible experience. I'll let you know about my experience when it happens though. I don't know that every pregnant couple HAS to see this movie. It has some informative info but overall I think there may be better ways to educate yourself on your birthing options.