Hello all -
Yes, just in time for Mother's Day, we've got a big announcement to make - I'm PREGNANT. Otherwise known as - with child, knocked up, expecting, with bun in oven. I'm finally out of the first trimester, so we are letting more people know (though truth be told, some of you know already - I'm looking at you, Mom. Now you can start telling the neighbors...:) I just had my first sonogram this week, and the baby is moving around and waving its arms and legs, which is incredible considering he/she is still only about 3 inches long. I'm due around Thanksgiving, and Matt and I are both really happy and excited.
Also, I'm so happy to get to finally announce this in the letter, because there are so many funny stories to tell you that have come up in the last few months that I've been HIDING. Being pregnant for the first time is strange enough, and doing it in a foreign country brings with it all sorts of other new things that basically are hilarious - well, now they are. At the time, some not so much. But NOW - hilarious. A warning - as with lots of talk about pregnancy and such, there will be some personal stuff coming up. No, not that personal! But I will be talking about birthing centers and pregnancy tests and whatnot. Avert your eyes if you want.
Let's start at the beginning - with WHERE you have a baby in Paris, and how all this comes together. Now, I have to admit that, while this wasn't at all a surprise, we were a little bit unprepared when we found out I was pregnant - I didn't have an OB/GYN or even a regular doc here in France, and we were still sorting through the wilds of our medical insurance/social security (socialized medicine, all new for us!) Also, not wanting to jump the gun, I waited a full 2 weeks to take a pregnancy test - by which point, if I hadn't been pregnant, there would have been something REALLY weird going on, but hey. So lets say I'm 6 weeks pregnant when we find out. Early, right?
Well, here in Paris, they tell you to call a birthing center and book your delivery THE MINUTE you miss your period. As soon as I told a couple of friends here, they were like " You need to call a maternité (birthing center) RIGHT AWAY! Vite vite vite!" And they were right, because when I called two of the biggest and most respected the next week, both were entirely full for the month of November. This is in March, people.
So at this point, I was freaked out and kind of on my own. Also, we hadn't even quite gotten our heads around my being pregnant and the fact that we were going to have an actual live human BABY by the end of 2011. We weren't totally ready to deal with thinking about labor and delivery.
But think about it we must! The other thing about the majority of French birthing centers is that they really don't go in for natural childbirth the way many places do in the US. I know this probably surprises some of you, since France is the place of homeopathy and water births. True, but at the same time, they have a very good system of socialized medicine, and this entails a certain amount of paternalism that it's harder and harder to get away with in the US. SO, in France, if you are even a couple of days past your due date, they are much more likely to get you into the hospital, give you an epidural, induce labor, and get that bundle of joy out of there on schedule, rather than wait for nature to take its course. They're also not super big on breastfeeding - what they want after you give birth is for you to rest and for them to take the baby and do a bunch of tests and stuff, and often this entails not waking you to feed the kid, so you could all of sudden end up with a baby on formula when you leave the hospital if you're not vigilant.
Okay so obviously we DID a lot of thinking about it in those first few days after I found out I was pregnant. And I ended up - almost by chance - at an awesome private maternité called Groupe Naissance, that focuses on natural childbirth. Now, don't worry - it's in a hospital, so the drugs are available and there's an operating room right there in case you need a C-section. But what natural childbirth means in France is basically talking through the birth plan with the mother and father, and respecting their wishes, and also presenting all the options beyond an epidural, etc - My midwife is French but was trained in England, so she's totally bilingual. AND very relaxed, which is super great. Especially since after the whirlwind week of finding out I was pregnant AND picking a maternité, Matt and I basically collapsed in a stressed out heap on our bed and slept the whole weekend.
Ah, the early days of pregnancy, I remember them so fondly. Before morning sickness. Boy morning sickness REALLY through me for a loop. I'm still in it right now, though its definitely not as bad as the 2nd month, really the peak of horror. I was reduced to only eating a few things for a while - yogurt, bread, bananas and juice. It really started right about the time Matt and I went to Venice - yes, Venice, with its focus on seafood and particularly on squid ink and calamari. Urgh. That didn't work out so well for me.
The great irony of my morning sickness has been that I've had to become almost completely vegetarian. Still, I can't eat a piece of meat, chicken or fish. I can sneak in some meat if its small or ground up or basically doesn't look like meat, but anything I'd have to cut with a knife is completely off limits. Why is this ironic? Well, most of you know about my deep love of cooking, eating, and exploring new foods. SO, before I got pregnant, I was worrying to Matt - "What if our child wants to be a vegetarian or a vegan? What will I do if they are a really picky eater? I don't think I could handle it - we love food so much!" Mat of course was like "If that happens, you'll just deal with it, come on" - But at the time, it seemed like the worst case scenario. Now, I AM a vegetarian - the kid is MAKING me one. Thanks, God. I get it.
So, more pregnancy stories to come I'm sure - and feel free to share any of yours with me, I am LOVING talking with other people about it, as you can tell ....
Also, I will be in the US this summer! I didn't think it would happen, but last week I got hired on a consulting that will bring me out to the US for a month - probably late June to late July. I'll be in NY for most of the time, with a few days each in LA & SF. Will keep you all posted as the time gets closer, hope to see some of you then!
Happy Mother's Day (call your mother!), and have a good week everyone -
xo Claire and Matt
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