Weekend thoughts... 24 days left

Who should come to the meeting?:

Here, they are referencing the pre-admission meeting, on Feb 1st. This, I feel will be a pretty information-filled day. Hence, they suggest bringing someone else along. I mean, someone other than the mom and dad and child.

I know it's been handy the few times my sister has been able to come with us for various things, it's just a whole other brain to remember what has been said and to ask questions.

I find in these meetings at the hospital, especially with Piper now being bigger and more wiggly, the doctor can be talking, talking, talking and all I am thinking is "just hold still, wiggly girl! I can't hear anything!". Though the entire time I am nodding, giving the impression that I am hearing what is going on. Usually it helps having Matt around, as we can tag-team a bit more.

This whole foggy-brain business is something to get used to as a mother. It's like I can never fully clear my head, or I can't ever truly focus anymore.

So, we'll consider bringing someone to that meeting, even just as a Piper-sitting if not anything else. I feel it's kinda a lot to ask...

How should we prepare for the meeting?:

You know when people tell you to really prepare for a job interview, and you kinda look at them and think "how can I prepare for something like that, when I don't know what they could ask?". Anyways, thinking of really preparing for this meeting is a little more straightforward, but I still feel a little ambiguous. I often walk out from these sorts of things feeling like I've received a bucket-load of information and struggle to remember the most important stuff.

Anyways, in this binder, they list a lot of potential questions parents might want to ask. Here are some of the ones that I am not entirely clear on, or would like to hear more about:

- What is the best we can hope for? What is the worst that might happen?

- What are the most common complications and how often do they occur?

- What is the most serious complication and how often does it occur?

- What are the possible risks and complications of the anesthetic, if any?

I feel like the rest of my questions have been answered, and I really do feel pretty good about most parts of this. Though I am feeling now, that there is something tangible in the distance, the risks seem to creep into my thoughts more and more. The real physicality of it starts to set in. My baby will be cut and marked forever. There is risk involved, regardless of how positive everything/one is.

I've found that these thoughts only slow me down and don't get me feeling any better about anything. I've gotta push them out of my mind for now.

Anyways, this weekend has been pretty nice! I've gotten to go out with some girlfriends, and we've seen lots of family. We even got a walk at the beach in! Piper is still healthy, though really still working on some teeth which seem to always giver her some trouble at night. Oh well. At least she's pretty darn cute.