16w3d

Backdated post from last Friday:

Now I’m in the airport, waiting for my plane to board to go back home. The conference was actually a very educational experience. It was aimed at helping the next generation of cancer clinical researchers develop their careers. Vail was beautiful, but we spent most of the time in the hotel because there lectures every morning (and sometimes into the afternoon) and there were huge assignments due almost every day. I am happy with the end product, though – a completed clinical trial protocol, ready for submission. First, though, I must see if the pharmaceutical company is interested in sponsoring it.

I did manage to sneak in 2 quick hikes, so at least I got a taste of the great outdoors. Unfortunately, almost every meal for the entire week was a giant (and pretty tasty) buffet, so I am going to be afraid to step on the scale tomorrow.

At this particular conference, almost everyone was married (or engaged, or had a long-term relationship) and a LOT of people either had young children, were pregnant, or (in the case of the men), their wives are pregnant. I happened to be roommates with a woman who is 36 and isn’t sure if she eve.r wants to have kids. She is pretty happy living with her husband and her dogs, she’s “afraid of being pregnant.” However, her husband wants kids, so she may need to make up her mind pretty soon. I told her all about IVF, etc, and she said that if she had problems, she would “never go through all of that.” I wonder what she will decide.

Last night we had a dinner/dance to wrap up the conference, and I was seated next to a woman who was exactly 5 days ahead of me in her pregnancy. I definitely looked chunkier than she did! It was interesting to talk to her for a while. She is a gynec.ological oncologist, so she specializes in endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, etc. She had to go through a general Gyn/Onc residency before starting her Gyn/Onc fell.owship. She said that while she is extremely excited about her own pregnancy and upcoming birth, she actually delivered so many babies during residency that she doesn’t care if she ever sees another birth (except her own). She said that after several hundred births, it became very routine and almost boring. My response was that I considered Ob/Gyn briefly during med school, but I quickly realized that I hated the surgical aspects and was only interested in the delivery itself. And for that, I don’t necessarily feel that a medical degree is necessary; women have been doing this for millions of years, so I am comfortable with the idea of midwives attending to many routine births.

In other news, I still haven’t felt any movement or anything like that. I know it’s still early (especially for a first baby and an anterior placenta), but I’m really looking forward to feeling something… even a hint.

My next doctor’s appointment is this upcoming Thursday. I hope that at that point, we’ll get to schedule the big ultrasound. I can’t wait!

But before that, I can’t wait to get home and see S! <3