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I didn't realize that free childbirth classes were such a rarity. I asked her if there was a fee because I had no clue, and she asked if I was planning to deliver at that hospital. I said yes, so she said there would be no fee then. I asked about the other two classes after she had signed me up for the first one, and she checked each one at that point and said that there was no fee for that either. The reason I made a point of calling yesterday is that I was afraid that the February Saturday class would be full if I waited too long. (Every other month is a full day class; the other months are two hours per evening, which doesn't work well with M's schedule.) I'm still afraid of delivering early. I can just as easily see myself delivering late, so I'm not trying to make any psychic predictions--just preparing accordingly. I've discovered that part of the 'cure' for worrying is making sure that you're prepared, when possible, for the things you worry about. Part of the class will involve a tour of the birthing rooms and relevant parts of the hospital, and my peace of mind needs that as soon as possible, so I didn't want to wait until the next Saturday class at the end of April... because.... it's not impossible that Ducky could arrive (please, Ducky, stay put) by then. She's supposed to be mailing confirmation and additional information to me, so hopefully there won't be a gigantic notice about how the fees for these classes are now going to be $974 or something.
Speaking of fees, I was quite put out at my clinic on Wednesday. My job requested that I have my doctor's office fill out a FMLA form and mail it back to them. It was kind of a long form, with questions about my condition and the necessity of requiring time off. The clinic was glad to do it, but they charged twenty bucks for the privilege! Maybe I was supposed to expect that, but I'm thinking that I am their patient, and I am giving them money and waiting to see them for over an hour each time, so perhaps they could do their part without hassling me? I mean, twenty dollars isn't much in the scheme of things, but it just shocked me that they asked for it. Of course, my place of employment wants that form so there wasn't much I could do besides fork it over, but it still left a sour taste in my mouth. Infertility spoils one, when it comes to doctors offices. At least in the clinic I was going to. They wouldn't dream of charging you extra to fill out a form. They don't make you wait more than a few minutes for normal visits, and they get you in and out with a minimum of fuss. Of course they treat you well--you're paying for it out of pocket most of the time. You know what it proves, though? It is possible to run a medical facility like a business, and treat the customers as if they ARE customers instead of pieces of meat. You just have to want to. And, that's a rant for a different time.
In completely unrelated news, we are now exploring a brand new bedroom configuration plan, whereby we put the nursery in the current computer room (I'm pretty sure that this part of the plan is going to stay the same) and swap the master bedroom with the current guest room which is where we planned to put the computer room. That way, we'll have the computers in the largest room and our bedroom in the smallest. But! Then our bedroom will have a bathroom, which will be nice, and I think that serves as enough of an explanation of why we are doing it that people might not find it Extra Weird. I know that it is weird, just maybe not extra weird. The real benefit of putting the computers in the largest room, though, is that it's quite a big room, and there will be plenty of room for a couch--a sleeper couch, in this case. I know that our computer usage will change after the baby is born, but we really like being in the same room together, and the room we put our computers in is just cozier than our living room and we just like spending time in here, near all our Stuff. I am foreseeing myself sitting, nursing, for a good part of the day at first, and I'd really rather do it in the same room as M, and this way, I have more of a choice. There would also possibly be room in there for a baby-containment device, if we later wish, and some floor space for large plastic toys. After a certain point, when Ducky is mobile, I don't know how practical the setup would be, but the nice thing is that we could then switch the rooms back and we'll have lost nothing. Another benefit of this plan is that we would have one full bed available at any time that doesn't require moving furniture, and we could still go the air mattress route if we had more than one guest (for instance, M's parents and his sister.) It has a little weirdness about it, but I think that's what we're going to do anyway. Today, anyway. We've had all of the rooms switched around a dozen times, but right now, we're almost ready to put paint on the walls so it's going to be pretty official soon.
(And on the bright side, it allows me to stop looking for a gray bedspread for a while. Apparently, if one wants a gray bedspread, one is either living in the eighties or possibly insane and willing to spend seven hundred dollars at Macy's.) Whatever happened to tasteful and yet inexpensive?)
I need to start playing the lottery. There is just so much to spend money on right now that it's insane.
Speaking of fees, I was quite put out at my clinic on Wednesday. My job requested that I have my doctor's office fill out a FMLA form and mail it back to them. It was kind of a long form, with questions about my condition and the necessity of requiring time off. The clinic was glad to do it, but they charged twenty bucks for the privilege! Maybe I was supposed to expect that, but I'm thinking that I am their patient, and I am giving them money and waiting to see them for over an hour each time, so perhaps they could do their part without hassling me? I mean, twenty dollars isn't much in the scheme of things, but it just shocked me that they asked for it. Of course, my place of employment wants that form so there wasn't much I could do besides fork it over, but it still left a sour taste in my mouth. Infertility spoils one, when it comes to doctors offices. At least in the clinic I was going to. They wouldn't dream of charging you extra to fill out a form. They don't make you wait more than a few minutes for normal visits, and they get you in and out with a minimum of fuss. Of course they treat you well--you're paying for it out of pocket most of the time. You know what it proves, though? It is possible to run a medical facility like a business, and treat the customers as if they ARE customers instead of pieces of meat. You just have to want to. And, that's a rant for a different time.
In completely unrelated news, we are now exploring a brand new bedroom configuration plan, whereby we put the nursery in the current computer room (I'm pretty sure that this part of the plan is going to stay the same) and swap the master bedroom with the current guest room which is where we planned to put the computer room. That way, we'll have the computers in the largest room and our bedroom in the smallest. But! Then our bedroom will have a bathroom, which will be nice, and I think that serves as enough of an explanation of why we are doing it that people might not find it Extra Weird. I know that it is weird, just maybe not extra weird. The real benefit of putting the computers in the largest room, though, is that it's quite a big room, and there will be plenty of room for a couch--a sleeper couch, in this case. I know that our computer usage will change after the baby is born, but we really like being in the same room together, and the room we put our computers in is just cozier than our living room and we just like spending time in here, near all our Stuff. I am foreseeing myself sitting, nursing, for a good part of the day at first, and I'd really rather do it in the same room as M, and this way, I have more of a choice. There would also possibly be room in there for a baby-containment device, if we later wish, and some floor space for large plastic toys. After a certain point, when Ducky is mobile, I don't know how practical the setup would be, but the nice thing is that we could then switch the rooms back and we'll have lost nothing. Another benefit of this plan is that we would have one full bed available at any time that doesn't require moving furniture, and we could still go the air mattress route if we had more than one guest (for instance, M's parents and his sister.) It has a little weirdness about it, but I think that's what we're going to do anyway. Today, anyway. We've had all of the rooms switched around a dozen times, but right now, we're almost ready to put paint on the walls so it's going to be pretty official soon.
(And on the bright side, it allows me to stop looking for a gray bedspread for a while. Apparently, if one wants a gray bedspread, one is either living in the eighties or possibly insane and willing to spend seven hundred dollars at Macy's.) Whatever happened to tasteful and yet inexpensive?)
I need to start playing the lottery. There is just so much to spend money on right now that it's insane.
