My 30th birthday was a busy one.  Early in the afternoon, Joe and I went on the tour of Hermann Hospital and I was very impressed.  Neither Methodist nor Park Plaza come even close.  The Hermann maternity ward is beautiful, clean, brand-spanking new, open and big.  The rooms are very roomy, with a separate alcove stocked with nursery equipment, so the baby can be worked on and viewed by family members while giving the mother privacy during the post-birth activities.  The only thing the rooms lack are spa tubs, but I think I could live without that luxury.  The staff encourages the baby rooming in with the mother, which is important to me since I hope to be breastfeeding.  When we went by the nursery, it was clean and I did not spy any awake babies without attention.  Their security system is incredibly high tech, almost frighteningly so; it was one of the few systems that remained online during the flood.  The babies wear ankle radio tags, like polar bears in the wild or leather jackets at Foleys.  And of course there's the added comfort of the level 3 neonatal ICU, if it's needed. 

When we spoke to the maternity ward admitting woman, she confirmed that I was preregistered and that all I would need is a Transition of Care form from BC/BS.  I really hope everyone knows what they are talking about, because it just seems too easy.

After the tour, we had our appointment with Dr. Cook.  It was a quick, but pleasant visit.  The doctor measured the fundus of my uterus and declared it right where it should be.  He also determined that Thomas was head down, but that it was early enough for him to move around a bit if he wished.  This was not news to me, because of the kicks I get in my ribs.  He also poked and prodded my belly and said that Thomas weighs about 3 and a half to four pounds.  So I'm thinking, a couple more pounds or so and he's ripe.

We asked Dr. Cook when we should sit down and discuss the details and logistics of the birth and were told at 36 weeks.  There isn't all that much I'm concerned about so I'm not anticipating too much of a discussion, but Dr. Cook did warn us that the only thing he won't do is get into a bath tub to deliver a baby.  We assured him that it wasn't a problem.  He chitchatted with us for several minutes, which was reassuring, since you want to have a personal connection with the guy who will be doing all that stuff during the birth of your baby. And he's usually so busy that when we do see him, it's typically a rushed visit.

That evening we went to the birthing class, where the topics were epidurals and C-sections.  Afterwards we ate at my favorite restaurant, D'Amico's.  The food was insanely delicious, as usual.  The place was nearly empty, and we got a table in a vacant section of the restaurant, so it was quite romantic.

My birthday was very wonderful, which was good since Tuesday was so horrifying.

Saturday, Thomas and I went to the Houston Symphony's opening night performance, courtesy of Geoff, who had his debut with the chorus that night.  We met up with Sherri, who works for the Symphony, her husband Jason, and Atlantis and Andrea.  The night was intoxicating, from Mozart's reverently sad Ave verum corpus, which followed the National Anthem, to the dreamy Scheherazade to the satiating desert we had afterward at Clive's.  The Mozart piece was added to the program at the last minute, as a requiem of sorts.  It was requested that there be no applause at its conclusion and the subsequent silence was incredibly heavy and profound.  A very intense moment.  The other pieces included Night on Bald Mountain, which was invigorating and the delightfully primal Polovtsian Dances.  All the choral pieces were thoroughly enjoyable, due in part to Geoff's contribution, I'm sure. 

The concert was quite a triumph for the Symphony, not just in light of Tuesday's events, but also since the Symphony was all but trashed from the flood earlier this years.  It is quite a feat to have gotten everything together in time to have the season open as planned, and is a demonstration of so much hard work and dedication of so many people that work for the Symphony.  Sounds a bit hoaky, but it truly is impressive when you consider how much they lost, including their entire music library and the majority of their offices.

I am really looking forward to the next concert, October 6th.  The Symphony will be performing The Planets and La Forza del Destino, neither of which I've heard performed by live orchestra, so I'm quite excited! 

Sunday, Joe and I went shopping for baby stuff.  We finally got the travel system we want, which is a stroller/car seat combo.  It's quite fancy, and has 4 wheel suspension and one handed steering.  It is so frustrating, however, to pay so much money for stuff we probably won't use for more than 3 years at the most.  I think this is why people have more than one kid: to justify the cost of baby stuff.