Catch up and hospital happiness

I have had a great pregnancy so far. Pretty much no morning sickness, just some lethargy which makes it hard to nest properly. In the first trimester we went on a holiday to show the kids the sights of NSW and meet up with family members. I booked the holiday prepregnancy and I would have been in real trouble if I had of been nauseous. Luckily for me I was fine and the holiday was great. For my birthday in Feb I hooked up with my friends at a restaurant to celebrate. Jason's birthday was going camping for a weekend with his family at Mt Tambourine where they have a great ropes course. I was proud that Jules has now done all 4 ropes courses. It was a moment to reflect on how far he has come, as the black course is a challenging course. The next weekend we had a comedy cruise. It was originally meant to be a girls only cruise but when I found out I was pregnant there was no way I was going without my family as I wouldn't be able to take them for until the baby was a year old. Besides I live for my family I would feel awful to deny them such a cool getaway. Jason as always turned out to be quite an asset and everyone enjoyed him coming along. We did our family thing and I met up with the girls heaps. He worked very hard to give the kids a taste of adventure and thanks to his efforts they enjoyed segway, ropes courses, rock climbing, laser tag and abseiling. Geordie surprised us by being the most adventurous of them all, being able to walk the plank and abseil confidently. Being on the pregnancy forums I have learned how blessed I have been. Some women were terribly affected by morning sickness. Yesterday they were talking about how expensive their pregnancy has been so far. So far my pregnancy has cost me: $0, I had no need for morning sickness medication and all scans (dating, nuchal transulency, and morphology scan) have or will be bulk billed. If you count the cost of the multivitamins then maybe it cost $60? Others aren't so lucky. Here are their responses: "Oh my god I am struggling with this!! So far I've paid about $1500 in obs appt costs (incl one pre preg planning appt) and that's after Medicare. And I have $3500 preg management fee due in 3 weeks!! Haven't bought a scrap of furniture yet because we just can't afford it. I'm seeing a private high risk obs who scans at every visit which explains the costs a bit but seriously!! So expensive!" "Zofran costs a $100 a week (2.5 packs a week at around $40 a pack)" "Our little man cost $11,000 to conceive (ivf), ob management fee is $2100 and morphology scan is $340 plus all the extras that will happen along the way (e.g. Paediatrician, pain meds etc). So this little guy has cost us a fortune but he will be worth every single cent. Thank goodness I have generous family and friends who are offering to give us baby things or he may have come home to an empty room! "Ob will end up about 5000, 900 for Panorama, 600 on scans so far. I wouldn't have it any other way." I have gone public with my babies and have been happy with their care. I booked into Caboolture hospital today and feel great about it. I did try to get into the Royal Women's Birth Centre, but didn't make it in as its a lottery (more people want to get in than they have places for). I am not sad about that actually, yes I wanted a water birth, but I have been happy with my other births which haven't been a water birth. I like Caboolture as it has great easy free parking and everyone seems friendly there as well. Its nice to book in and "belong somewhere". I am doing shared care so that I don't have to drive to the hospital as much. I have a student midwife that wants to follow me throughout my pregnancy and birth. I am confident enough to have her there. I think it will be nice to have someone take an interest in my journey :)