"I'm Pregnant. Now what?"

When I first found out I was pregnant, for the very first time, I remember being in shock.  Then everything sunk in and I believed it.  I was pregnant.  I had a little thingy inside my abdomen that eventually would become a person and have to somehow, get out of me.  I also knew, through general television and friends/family experiences that I would need pre-natal care.  I knew about pre-natal vitamins and that what I eat, the baby eats.  I had also, somehow, heard that no, you do not in fact, eat for two, you just eat a little more than usual.  The 'thingy' is only a few cells big.  I remembered that.  I had also taken a parenting course in college over one of our 'J-terms'.  So my mentality was, find an OB/Gyn, find a hospital, epidurals are flawless, that's what you do. 

Anyone with me there? I immediately googled for Ob's in my area and called the first one.  The receptionist was a bit snotty and short so I called the next one.  She was nicer and said I didn't need to be seen until I was about 12 weeks.  I was so confused because, how did I know if I was REALLY pregnant? Didn't they have to do blood work, urine samples, ultrasounds or something to confirm it? Apparently, the home-tests were good enough for them and I scheduled for almost a month down the road.  

Anyone still with me? I only wish I had had someone there to grab my arms and shake me awake.  YOU HAVE OPTIONS!!! YOU HAVE CHOICES!! ITS ALL YOUR DECISION!! I wish someone would have yelled that in my face.

It's seems to me that most women who discover they are pregnant (planned or not) for the very first time, really have no clue what to do.  Honestly, you can't blame them.  Television, media, and our society has created such a tunnel vision of what pregnancy, labor and birth really are.  How many women tune into the TLC's "A birth story"? Only to witness mostly medicated or surgical births?  How many women are given inadequate advice and information, and later realized that they were never really given ALL of their options?

So here it is ladies: What to do when you find out you're pregnant:

RELAX.

TAKE A BREATHE.

CLICK THE LINK: http://www.epigee.org/pregnancy/prenatal_care.html 

The choice is truly yours.   And remember, you have (on average) 40 weeks to really choose how/where/with who you want to birth your baby.