Update on OB Appointment

I had my first prenatal OB appointment yesterday.  It's a bit surreal, and it was a new office, a new doctor, new everything.  For some reason I was very nervous, which is ridiculous.   But everything was fine.

 

I've lost 12 pounds.  Dr. B. told me that it would be fine if I gained zero weight which was a really nice way of saying, "holy cow, you weigh HOW much?"  He also told me not to eat a lot of carbs.  Thanks, Sherlock. 

 

My blood pressure was high, but that's because they're stupid.  You're supposed to do a blood pressure after a patient has been sitting quietly doing nothing for at least 2 minutes.  Not, say, after doing an internal gynecologic exam, telling the patient to get dressed, walking in on her while she's still getting dressed, having her hop up on the table and THEN taking it.  161/70, which by the way, isn't possible.  With a manual cuff, the each mark = 2.  When I was in EMT classes, taking my blood pressure taking test, we were told that if we couldn't figure it out and we absolutely had to guess, we'd better make sure we used even numbers or they'd know we pulled it out of our a$$es.  At any rate, my normal BP is 120/70, and the doctor wasn't concerned, attributing it to "new office, new doctor, new pregnancy" while I was thinking, "and you know, the aerobic workout I got trying to get my pantyhose on before my privacy was intruded upon."  But whatever.  As long as they're not accusing me of high BP already, I'm happy.

 

The thing that set me off was that he said on the weekends they share call with another CWC practice, which is fine.  The reasoning was that they don't have that many deliveries on the weekend.  Also fine.  "Gosh you plan that well!" I joked.  "Yep," he said, "but you know that's partially because we do a lot of inductions and scheduled C-sections, which we can't scedule on the weekend."

 

Ahem.

 

THEY ARE NOT INDUCING ME UNLESS THERE'S A LIFE-THREATENING EMERGENCY.

 

That is all. 

 

I know you must think I'm completely granola crunchy, but I swear on all that is holy that I'm not planning on an unassisted home birth anytime soon.  I promise.

 

Oh, and still with the no epidurals.  ICK.  I told him no way was a needle going into my spinal column and he said, "well, you've had 12 kidney stones, this'll be easy."  So there.

 

He wasn't stressed about the spotting/cramping, because it's mostly late in the day, not all day, and because I've had three good ultrasounds and my cervix was whatever is good for a cervix to be at this point.  Long?  Short?  High? Low?  Open? Closed?  Who the hell knows.  But it was something good.  Really not sure how I feel about someone knowing that much about me.  Heh.

 

Too early to hear the heartbeat with a doppler thingy.  But I've already heard the heartbeat twice, so I'm having a hard time saying that was so important to me.  He asked me to come back in two weeks so they could hear it.  Though, honestly, I think he was saying that so that _I_ could hear it and I just don't have the heart (no pun intended) to tell him I couldn't care less if I hear the heartbeat immediately and I'd rather not miss another morning of work just to hear it if it's only for my sake.

 

But anyway, he'll talk to me then about some of the earlier genetic testing they can do, but said it was totally up to me since I'm under 35.    Gawd that man said my age like 3 or 4 times in the appointment.  Could he rub it in a teeney bit more?  I was supposed to have all my kids by the time I turned 30!  I frankly at my age don't think (other than blood tests and ultrasounds) that CVS or amniocentesis are worth the risk since I had a full Karyotype run at Shady Hell and my husband and I were both screened to see if we were carriers for Tay Sachs, Cystic Fibrosis, etc.

 

But then I start wondering if I'm just being all blah about this pregnancy and why is that?  I dunno.  It's weird.  Combine my complete lack of concern about testing with the fact that I don't care if I hear a heartbeat in a couple weeks (well, I mean, I would care if they tried to find it but couldn't hear it.  THAT would suck.  But I mean, I don't care if they don't try, because I have every reason to believe everything's fine), and I just wonder why I'm not jumping up and down with all this. 

 

I'm still having a hard time saying the words, "I'm pregnant" with a straight face.  Or at all.  Or without thinking about sex, even though none of THAT funny business was involved here.  I still can't get over my childhood trauma.... once I figured out that pregnancy = sex, every time I saw a pregnant woman, I was embarassed for her, because everyone MUST KNOW she had (*gasp*) sex!  Somehow, I've spent my entire adolescence/adult life fearing that some day someone's going to see me waddling around pregnant and say, "Oh my gosh! She had sex!"  Even though, you know, who cares, right?  I'm twelve.  I admit it.  I'm completely juvenile.

 

Anyway, that's all.  Everything's fine.  I sort of expected to get some written information from them... like when to call the office if things don't see right, what OTC medicines I can take (I have a pharmacist husband so I know that stuff, but isn't this a common handout to give to a newly pregnant woman?), general dos and don'ts in the first trimester.... something.  But I got nothing.  Which is fine, because I've pretty much got it covered, but I still thought it was odd.  Meh.  Anyway, I liked the doctor just fine, and I'm confident that nothing is going to go horribly wrong, so it's all good.  Plus this particular doctor in the practice is the one who deals with high risk and infertility... I'm not high risk, but if something happened, he'd be the guy I'd want to see... and well, I mean, the infertility specialty is a bit useless to me right now, but at least he groks the whole infertility/IUI/etc story.  So... so far so good.

 

Of course, I completely forgot to ask him about fasting on Yom Kippur.  Oh well.

Comments

[Jennie]

Glad you liked the OB, and the visit went fairly well. And I agree with you, it's even stressful putting on pantyhose in the privacy of your own home, much less in the Dr. office and being walked in on. I didn't want to get the CVS either, after I told them that they said that they were going to screen for a lot during the ultrasound at 20 weeks (but didn't make it to that). I still wouldn't get the CVS if I get preg. again. And... if you are as hungry as I was when I was pregnant, I think fasting is out of the question!

[Chelsea Leis]

Be strong and remain confident that you are in capable hands. The journey to motherhood is still ahead, and I am sure you will do just fine. Keep happy!