First of all, Dan and I feel so blessed to be surrounded near and far by such wonderful love and support. We could not do this without all our friends and family!
Alright - so about the baby! Baby BOY Feimster will join us this November - estimated due date is November 21. So basically Thanksgiving! However, this little man is an over-achiever and has measured larger than his age on each of the four ultrasounds we've had so far! At the 15 week ultrasound, he was measuring at 16 weeks, 5 days - nearly two weeks larger and in the 95th percentile!
My next appointment is on the 4th of July (here in Saudi the American holidays are just regular days) and I'll be asking my doctor whether he will move up my due date or not. The next appointment is at 20 weeks and my doctor will do the "anatomical" ultrasound - basically they go in an measure a LOT of stuff - femur, skull, nose bridge, arms, internal organs, brain, abdomen, etc - to get a really good overall picture of the baby's health. Dan and I opted out of the early testing for any genetic conditions (Downs syndrome, trisonomy, cystic fibrosis, etc), but most of those conditions would also be apparent at this ultrasound, but we're trying not to think about any of that!
A few things that are different about being pregnant in Saudi...
- The doctor does an ultrasound at every appointment. Not a tech - my actual doctor. My doctor is also specialized in ultrasound, so it's been fun and very educational to get to see the progression of our baby each week!
- They assume you will do genetic testing due to the closer bloodlines caused by arranged marriages here (this is not verified information, just the general idea of things here).
- Many times the clinic will double-book patient appointments which means waiting an hour or more for your appointment - they are working on this and it has been better.
- Because of our insurance through the company, my prenatal care, hospital charges for labor and delivery and post-natal care are 100% covered with no copay - this is a pretty cool bonus!
- My doctor and hospital are about an hour and a half away - so we make that drive for each appointment. This also means that we are very likely going to do an induction to ensure we are at the hospital when the baby comes!
- OB doctors are never "on call". This means that if I go into labor naturally on any day other than Saturday (my doctor's delivery day), he will decide which doctor will deliver me out of the ones there. And I will not have met them before. This is not the kind of thing where there is a practice and I get to meet all the doctors in the practice before delivery - it's a very real possibility that I will not know the doctor that delivers our baby if he decides to come on his own!
- Our choices for American-sized furniture (not European sizes) and furniture that meets American child safety standards are very limited. There is a Babies 'R' Us near the hospital, but the selection is very minimal - one dark wood set, one light wood set, one white set - so it's made it much more difficult to start planning the nursery. There is a Pottery Barn Kids VERY close to opening in the mall across from Babies 'R' Us, so we are thinking of waiting to see what selection they have. It will be expensive any way we go - it's just the hassle that is a pain. And while I'm venting about furniture, finding gliders/rockers are nearly impossible. I wish I'd bought one months ago when Babies 'R' Us had them (they are now out of stock with no guarantee they will come back).
- Ditto the selection note for all baby bedding as well. If you don't buy a good quality, known brand, you run the risk that the sheets/blankets aren't baby safe (as in fire retardant and free of harmful chemicals and fabric dyes). This also presents the conundrum of, "Do I buy bedding when I go back to the States and use up the weight/space in my luggage, or just hope I can find something/ANYTHING here?"
I'm sure I will think of other things to share about being pregnant in Saudi. Enduring the 110+ degree heat for the next five weeks before I go home to the States will be a challenge! Unfortunately, to save enough vacation to spend time with me and baby boy after he's born, Dan will not be coming back to the US with me this summer.
Last little thing - yes, our baby will be an American citizen! No duel-citizenship or anything - just American. Can he run for President? I have no idea - let's cross that bridge if he's into politics!
Oh! And how could I post all of this and no ultrasound pictures? So here you go!
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| Our little-little bundle at 6 weeks |
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| Whoa - It's a BABY! This was our 10 week shocking ultrasound! (Also - our doctor predicted GIRL at this visit)... |
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| At 15 weeks, it was obvious - it's a BOY! |
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| At 15 weeks, he still looks a little bit like an alien with no baby fat yet (especially since he's facing away from the camera), but you can see him all snuggled up with his hands up by his face - he did NOT want to cooperate! This was also really cool to watch - our doctor used the 4D to show us all his internal organs and even the lobes of the brain that are developing! |
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