I really hate taking daily medication for the simple reason that I easily forget!  This is why I have never been on birth control pills for more than three months.  That and the fact that a few short stints of BC in college left me wandering the streets in torn stockings singing Barney's greatest hits.  Last year, in an attempt to get healthy, I bought a big bottle of One-A-Day Women's supplements.  I was all excited to get healthy until I took a few and realized they were not even remotely close to the Flinstone's variety I had as a child, that being my last (and only) experience with vitamins.  Eventually I got so annoyed with their constant presence on the kitchen counter, I threw them in a drawer.  You can imagine my delight when I found out you have to take prenatal vitamins starting three months pre-conception all the way down the road and over the bridge through breastfeeding.  Joy. 

I Amazon-ed prenatal vitamins and read some awesome reviews about how most prenatals are the size of and taste like elephant poop.  The ones on Amazon were pretty pricey so I asked my doctor for a prescription instead.  She wrote me a three-month supply of Prenate Elite.  They were pretty much the size I expected them to be - somewhere between elephant poop and elephant toe nail.  But they had a thick shiny coating that looked promising.  Sure enough, I've been able to slurp these babies in like watermelon jello shots.  Within a month I felt like my hair was ten times thicker and my nails were growing like weeds.  Then I gained (another) five pounds.  I had a serious talk with my doctor and asked her if prenatal vitamins were making me fat.  She told me that was impossible.  I comforted myself by thinking that maybe my mind was already pregnant and my body was just following along.  That also helped justify my inability to get off the couch - my mind was pregnant.  Anyway, since the recommendation is at least three months of popping the prenatals before TTC, we could did little more than wait.  Time was literally in a bottle.  A bottle with my name and address on it. 

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I finally got a blood test this week to see if I need the MMR vaccination and it turns out I do.  =(  The CDC recomends waiting a month after immunization before TTC.  =(  =(  At least this gives me more time to take prenatal vitamins.

While I was in the doctor's office getting blood work, she gave me a tetanus shot as well.  She said it prevents "whopping cough" which can be passed to the baby during birth.  The nurse who administered the shot was really steady and I even complimented her.  Of course two minutes later the area tightened like week old bread and it's been feeling like she punched the shit out of my arm for days nows.  Boy, did she punk me.

My doctor also suggested that I come in for a physical.  Most grown up folks probably get this every year.  I'm sure these grown up people also visit the dentist even when nothing hurts - a concept which completely mystifies me.  But I figured since I should get the mothership in as tip-top shape as possible, I'd better take her on it.  Of course, when I called this morning to schedule one, the receptionist told me the next spot open for a physcial is in July.  I was like seriously?  Do they take all day or something?  Do we get on a chartered bus to the Poconos and complete a timed obstacle course in the mountains?  She didn't laugh so I just let it go.  I mean if you ask my mom, she thinks all this preparation is bullshit.  Then again, she also swore to me that she had me vaccinated for MMR as a kid and we all know how that turned out.  Once a liar...

 

Last summer when I scheduled an appointment with my OBGYN for my yearly pap smear, I told Poppa Berry that I was going to mention family planning with her. When my appointment neared, he asked me, really seriously, if I thought he should come with me. I was like - why dude, I ain't making the baby without you. And he was like - yeah, but don't you think I should be there? I had to be like - seriously, dude I'm just going to ask her about vitamins and shit, nothing to get excited about. Wow, how weird would that have been? Hubby standing there while the Doc is getting up and personal? No thanks.

Before I went in for the appointment, I did a little reading on TheBump.com and found some really basic but helpful pre-natal checklists. The one below really helped me get in the mindset of starting the process.

TTC
[ ] See the dentist
[ ] Preconception checkup
[ ] Get tetanus booster and German measles and chicken pox immunizations
[ ] Talk to relatives about family medical history including birth defects, miscarriages and genetic disorders
[ ] Start taking prenatal vitamins
[ ] If self employed, apply for a private disability policy

PRECONCEPTION CHECKUP: During my checkup, I told my OBGYN that my husband and I were thinking of TTC. She immediately busted out her prescription pad to write me a script for pre-natal vitamins but I told her that I thought we were still months premature of actually starting. She told me then to start taking a multi-vitamin and folic acid instead. She advised that I needed to find a supplement with at least 800 mcg. She asked me if I have had all my vaccinations and I was pretty sure I had but she said I should take a blood test and get the MMR (mumps, measles and rubella) vaccination just to be sure. When I asked my mom later however, she was adamant that I should be good to go. Aside from that, the doctor only asked me if I knew when I ovulated. I told her that I actually know to the day. My cervical mucus is textbook in that respect. She then told me that my most fertile days would actually be the 3-4 days preceding ovulation. I definitely jotted that little tidbit in my mental notebook.

Days later, unable to find 800 mcg folic acid at my local supermarket, I got lazy and just bought some One a Day Womens multi-vitamins, which I'm ashamed to say I took three times and never again.

DENTAL WORK: As soon as I realized that I wouldn't be able to get any dental work while pregnant, I begrudgingly went in to see my dentist. I have had a phobia about the dentist since I was a kid resulting in tons of cavities and root canals. It wasn't until I found NYC's BEST dentist aka Dr. Michael Wei (ok, so he's also kind of a family friend), that I finally let go of my fears of pain and my sensitive gag reflex. I dutifully went to Dr. Wei for the next three months of the summer until every single one of my teeth was brought back to health. I also made a promise to myself that I would force my kids to brush twice a day and visit the dentist every six months.

MATERNITY LEAVE: I emailed HR and asked about maternity leave. I emphasized that I wanted my inquiry kept confidential. My HR rep (neither nicely nor clearly) laid out my options for me in an email, which I then turned into a chart detailing each week on leave and the appropriate pay schedules. I asked my sister (a Benefits Analyst) to review my chart and she said that my firm was on the generous side in comparison to other companies, but I did find out that attorneys get twelve weeks of PAID leave. Truly WTF.

Although I took these initial steps towards TTC, our plans were put on pause as we started to ask ourselves if we were really ready. I wondered if I needed to lose some five or so pounds I had inexplicably put on or if I needed to join a gym and get into shape first. Poppa B wondered if he should go to grad school first or save more money. Also, since I knew I wanted a early part of the year baby (more on that in a later post), I knew we had time before we needed to start trying. And so, we waited…