32 Weeks Prenatal Visit

Today was our 32 weeks prenatal visit.

I gained a pound — must have been something weird about that seven pounds in the previous two weeks — and am at a good weight overall for how far along we are. Blood pressure, baby’s heartbeat, and other measurements all continue to be fine.

This time she had her back along my right side, but she’s still head down.

We talked a bit about baby powder (not necessary), laundry detergent (whatever works for us is fine), my joint discomforts (left hand and hip; not terrible but worth mentioning), occasional faintness and nausea in the mornings after breakfast (probably should eat some protein at every meal), and chicken pox vaccine.

The midwife had asked if we’d thought more about pediatricians since our last visit, and somehow the conversation turned to vaccines, and we all agreed how the chicken pox vaccine seems like a bad idea. Chicken pox is not a bad disease when you get it during childhood, but is very dangerous for adults. Getting the disease as a kid guarantees you’ll never get it again, but the vaccine isn’t that certain, so it seems more dangerous to vaccinate than to let kids just get the disease. On the other hand, it’s good to have the vaccine for adults who never got the disease as kids.

While driving Mark back to campus, we passed a strip mall with a Chinese place and decided to have lunch — but we drove a bit farther to a place we’d been before. They had a reasonable buffet — nothing fabulous, but good enough for the price. And the tea and sesame puffs (and the ice cubes; have I mentioned how much I like crunching ice cubes?) were very good. Plus it was just nice to have a lunch together.

Speaking of food…