Bringin' You All Up to Speed

First the news: M and I are expecting our first child around April 20, 2007.

Here is a log of everything that's happened in the past three months, which I couldn't talk about at the time, because you're not supposed to tell people about being pregnant for the first few months. Except for a few family members - they've known almost as long as we have.

Mid-June 2006: M and I decide that it's time to start trying to have a baby.

Late July 2006: In light of my decision to take a lot of classes at Hopkins, M and I decide that it would be best to wait until I've gotten a post-school job before having a baby, so we go back to taking precautions, not realizing that we were making that decision a few days too late.

Wednesday, August 2, 2006: M gets sick after lunch. She blames the post-biopsy antibiotics (biopsy? what? See the August 11 and Sept. 11 posts for details!). I suspect (fear) morning sickness, but go with M's theory in the end.

Sunday, August 20, 2006: Getting suspicious, M takes a pregnancy test first thing in the morning. She doesn't say a word when she comes back to the bedroom. Just gestures to me to come to the bathroom. It takes me about a minute to realize the significance of what I was seeing. I thought we were waiting together to see what would happen. It was only when I noticed the pictures on the box did I realize that it doesn't start out with two lines in the circle (or was it a line in both circles?). In retrospect, I guess my original theory doesn't make sense, but I was pretty sleepy at the time. Also, in denial.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006: M goes to see a nurse at the OB/GYN's office she picked out, to get professional confirmation. Results are TBA.

Friday, August 25, 2006: I return home from work to find a baby announcement balloon tied to the front door. M has gotten confirmation. By this time, the shock and denial of Sunday morning has passed, and I find this to be very good news.

I call my dad and my brother that night (sidenote: my dad is now both the first person to hear about our engagement and the first person to hear about our upcoming bundle of joy). My dad deems the news "fantastic", while my brother goes with "awesome". M's sister is also told the news (no adjectives are remembered), and a few days later, so is her dad's cousin, who M considers the closest thing to a parent figure, now that both her actual parents are gone.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006: M comes home with a little blue baby onesie that says "Bald Is Beautiful" on it. It is the first purchase made for Baby 2K7. Being blue, it also brands Baby 2K7 as a boy, even though she's still technically a girl at this point (as we all are until the Y chromosome kicks in or doesn't kick in - that's why guys have nipples).

Sunday, September 3, 2006: The first baby-related books are purchased - one listing every possible baby name, and the other about what to expect and such.

Thursday, September 7, 2006: Our first appointment with the doctor. I take the day off of work to go with M, because we think that we'll hear the baby's heartbeat. We don't, but a sonogram is done, and we get to see the baby and his/her heartbeat (the beating heart appears as a blinking dot on the peanut-shaped blob), which is even better. So far, the pregnancy is doing A-OK! It finally becomes real to us that we are going to have a baby.

Also that day, we get a congratulations card from M's dad's cousin. It's very nice, and the first baby-related card we receive.

Friday, September 8, 2006: Baby 2K7 gets his/her first present from someone other than Mommy or Daddy. It's a Mignon Faget baby bib from his/her Aunt J. It's almost too nice to use to catch baby dribble!

Saturday, September 23, 2006: I find out that a friend's upcoming baby is no longer upcoming. Turns out that there were major genetic problems with it too. I start to freak out about my own upcoming baby. I want my kid to be 100% healthy!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006: M goes in for her next checkup. She hears the baby's heartbeat, and everything remains A-OK!

Which brings us to today, Wednesday, October 11, 2006: We both go to the Maternal Fetal(?) Medicine department of the hospital to have another sonogram (as part of a nuchal translucency - a genetic test
for Down's Syndrome and Trisomy 3) and get the results to the genetic testing that was done a couple of weeks ago.

Unfortunately, we hit an insurance roadblock. Apparently, they don't take Kaiser Permanente without jumping through hoops and then doing backflips on tightropes (even though there hasn't been a problem with the same insurance over at the OB/GYN's office). M calls KP to get to the bottom of this, but doesn't really get anywhere. Options are discussed with the MFM people, and it comes down to not knowing if KP is going to cover the procedure until the referrals are all through and the paperwork is processed. Meanwhile, we have about a week before it becomes too late in the pregnancy to take this test. And since the procedure costs hundreds of dollars, we're not exactly confortable with doing it and finding out later that the insurance isn't going to pay, especially since it's a recommended test, not a required one. We're feeling kinda helpless and confused and wishing there was someone we could talk to and get all of our insurance issues mapped out and dealt with.

I suggest we stop by the OB/GYN's office, since it's in the same hospital, and see if we can find anything out from them before we go home. Not only do we get some answers there, but we find the very person we were wishing for. There is a woman there, Kathy, who does little else but deal with the insurance companies. You might say she is a gift from the gods. We tell her our situation, and she gets on the phone with Kaiser Permanente. She finds out from them that a Global Referral is needed. She tells them that when she called KP in late August to make sure all was set up (mind you, this is before we had any appointments with them, and she was already making sure we were good to go), she was told that no such referral was needed. She even had the name of the person who told her this. She really let her displeasure be known to them. She's not a fan of Kaiser Permanente by any stretch of the imagination. And I found myself enjoying the tongue-lashing she was giving them. It bothers me when M gets impatient with customer "service" people, because I don't like people thinking ill of my Sweetie, but this lady could have called the KP rep's mother a rancid woodchuck for all I cared. Someone needed to pay for this outrage, and our new friend was collecting the dues.

In the end, it was determined that two global referrals were needed, one to take care of OB/GYN stuff from here on out, and another for the testing that was supposed to have been done this morning. For reasons known only to the Kaiser Permanente brain trust, the section for referring doctor and the section for referree doctor are to be filled out with the OB/GYN's information. Meaning, basically, that our doctor is referring us to herself. Kathy told KP that this was, in fact, "a joke" and "ridiculous", but of course she would fill it out as instructed. She was really disgusted with them, as, apparently, she usually is.

So now, as of this writing, we wait. Kathy told them that this test must be done today, even though we technically still have a week to get it done. Hopefully, that will get them moving, and we can go back in this afternoon to get the test over and done with. At worst, I imagine we'll have to wait until early next week. In any event, Kathy is pretty sure that the insurance will pay for it - they just won't make it easy for us.

We didn't learn anything new about our baby, but we did learn something new about the doctor's office. I already had a good feeling about these people, but now we know that we have an advocate there for our insurance issues. Someone who will do the fighting for us. These people are awesome.

I may have another update for you all later this afternoon, if the insurance issues get cleared up in time to go back and get this test done. If new developments occur today, I'll just edit this post here, rather than start a new one.

And here is the update (2:30 pm)! Kathy got the referral through, but the opening at the MFM this afternoon has been filled up. We'll have to wait until next Thursday morning now, but at least we know it'll be paid for.