Goin' Outta My Head, Goin' Outta My Mind

First and foremost, I stole this concept and questions from a friend of mine, Kristin.  Thank you for putting these thought-provoking questions in my head.
I hope y'all packed your galoshes, because it's about to get deep.....

1. Do you plan to return to work or be a stay at home mom?

This is a tricky one for many reasons.  First of all, I absolutely love my job and coworkers.  But since I always had a stay at home parent, it's something that I feel strongly about.  I don't want Charleigh going to daycare, a play group is fine, but not an all-day daycare full of germs.  The money situation also comes into play, although I love my job, I wouldn't be bringing home any money because it'd all go towards day care costs.  I can say that I don't think I will return to work full-time, most likely just part-time.

2.  Do you plan to breast feed?

Simply put, no.  I know there's a lot of potential backlash coming my way and that I'm a horrible person for not even trying to nurse, but I have my reasons.  When I was 21 I had a breast reduction, which means that we have no idea if I can produce for Charleigh.   Before you make a snarky comment, please remember that at 21 I was suffering from horrible Endometriosis and was told that the likelihood of ever conceiving on my own was slim to none.  Obviously this proved true, but here we are today, thanks to science and a lot of money.  I would not change what I did for a million dollars, and I have zero regrets.  Formula will work just fine for this family...

3. Do you plan to try a natural birth?

Easiest question out there - HELL NO!  I'm the girl that wants drugs the second I walk in the door.

4. If the baby is a boy, will you have him circumcised?

Charleigh is definitely not a boy, but in the event that she had been, we would have him circumcised. 

5. Will we vaccine baby in a special way or stick to a traditional schedule?

With me working in the healthcare field, much like most of my family, we are sticking with the traditional schedule.  There's a method to the madness, and I turned out just fine.

6. Have we considered cord blood banking?

Yes, though we've not made a decision yet.  That's something we really need to discuss. Having a friend saved by a bone marrow transplant makes me much more cognizant of the scary unknowns.  We've come this far, why not go all the way?!

7. Have we picked names?

Yes.  Since it is a girl her name is Charleigh June.  Is there a meaning behind it?  Yes.  All the men in the Gurgens family have Charles in their name somewhere, and for all we know, this may be our only kid.  So, we took the base name Charles, changed it to Charlie, and then changed the spelling to Charleigh to add some femininity.  My Grandma Benson didn't have a middle name, and Charleigh Diana was too much; Chad's grandmas are both Betty's and Charleigh Betty sounded horrible.  We tend yo like old fashioned names and then it hit me - my Grandma's name is June and the baby will be born in June.  Perfect!  (Add in that my Grandma June was married to Charles Gurgens, it was meant to be!)

8. Do we plan to baptize or dedicate the baby?

That's another item that is up for discussion.  We have no thoughts one way or another at this point.

9. Pediatrician versus Family Doctor?

For the first two years, Charleigh will be seeing a pediatrician that our family doctor recommends.  (Provided he will accept her). When she turns two, Dr Vanderzyl stated that he will take her.  This s perfect for us.  We thought it'd be much easier since he knows the history of both Chad & I.

10.  What is the plan with the frozen embryos?

Only time will tell.  Right now I have no desire to go through this again, but that could change.   B