Instructions? I Dun Need No Stinkin’ Instructions!
I had everything planned down to the letter for the glucose test today. I should’ve known it wouldn’t work that way.
6am: Wake up and take medication
7am: I check the clock in the kitchen, 7am. I started defrosting the sausage. Made eggs and sausage. Had a battle with something I refuse to discuss, then sat down to eat.
7:50 am (8:50?): I know it didn’t take me 2 hours to make breakfast but all the clocks in the living room said 8:50. I figured they were all wrong because the kitchen clock was right, period.
8:00am (9:00?): Eric wakes up. I’m still sitting on the couch with cold breakfast.
“Why aren’t you eating? It’s 9. Don’t you have to drink your glucose stuff soon?”
“The kitchen clock says 8.”
“Um, but all these say 9…I think it’s 9.”
“Shit.”
9:05am: I scarf down my breakfast.
9:09am: Take out the instructions for the glucose. Skim them for the time to start/stop.
9:10am: Drink the entire 10 oz in 5 minutes.
9:25am: Leave the house, try not to puke and can’t stop talking.
10:10am: Get to the doctor with 10 minutes to spare. She calls me in to weigh me.
“How are you doing?”
“This stuff suuuuuucks!”
“It’s bad! Be thankful you don’t have to take the 3 hour. A girl is here doing it now and she actually had to drink the whole thing.”
“What? Wait…you mean I wasn’t supposed to drink the whole thing?”
“No…The instructions said that.”
Well, I listened to what the receptionist said when she handed me the bottle. She said, “Drink this.” I assumed “this” meant “ALL THIS.” I didn’t READ THE FLIPPIN INSTRUCTIONS! I felt like the kid in elementary school who, during those tests that specifically said, “Read all instructions first,” would still yell out, “I AM ON NUMBER NINE!”
So now I have to go back on Monday and redo it. I am an idiot.
Filed under 3rd Trimester, doctor appointment, pregnancy, tests | Comment (0)Emergency Ultrasounds Yield No Photos
I went to my appointment yesterday, and discussed the spotting with the doctor. She whipped out the doppler, and, lo and behold, there was the little heartbeat. Around 160bpm. That was so comforting. However, because of the spotting, and placenta previa, she sent me in for an emergency ultrasound downstairs in the hospital.
First, I had to drink 24oz of water before the appointment. I did, but I did it entirely too early and had to pee right before I went in. So, I drank about 28oz in the waiting room. It was horrifying. Who’s idea was it to make pregnant women drink insane amounts of water right before you press (hard) on their bellies?!
I got my first “on belly” ultrasound and it was strange. The pictures are no where near as clear. Of course, that could be partially due to the machine not being nearly as good as the one in my OBs office. She spent about 30 minutes on top of my belly, then had me go pee so she could check my cervix with a transvaginal. She got about 10 minutes into that and said, “Your bladder’s already filling up…Could you maybe go pee again? I can’t see anything.” So I went again, and 10 minutes later, it began filling up again. She said she’d probably already gotten every picture she needed, so she had me get redressed, called Eric in and went back to a belly ultrasound so he could see.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t have pictures because it was an emergency, but we got to see the little one moving around a bit. S/He was laying on it’s side with one arm under his head, the other across his body and under his head. It was adorable. The head is now more in proportion to the body, which makes my vagina and I much less nervous. Still, the baby is HUGE! It’s still measuring at least a week early in length, but I’m sticking to my July 1st date. It’s so beautiful. I can’t wait for July to get here.
Filed under 2nd trimester, doctor appointment, pregnancy, tests, ultrasound | Comment (0)It’s Normal, Really
I went to my 3rd OB appointment yesterday. I love the women in that office and I love my doctor. Seriously, they rock.
The appointment started off with the same ol’, same ol’. Weight gain = 1lb. Pee = Still pregnant. Blood pressure = Perfect. The nurse asked if I’d felt the baby moving yet. NO! Am I supposed to? Ack, there’s a baby inside me! What the hell?!?
When the doctor came in, she ran through the usual questions. Any cramping? No. Any bleeding? Yes, but I wasn’t worried about it. It was during the heavy yakking of the food poisoning. Well, that did warrant a worry, apparently, and I have to get another ultrasound. Not that I’m complaining! I’d love to have another picture of the little sucker. I’m just worried now.
She put the cold gel on my belly and popped down the doppler. She warned me that we probably wouldn’t hear the heartbeat since I was all of 10 weeks, and it’s normal to hear it at 12. 1 minute of strange gurgling noises out of the machine later, no heartbeat. “Don’t worry, it’s normal.” Great…bleeding, ultrasound, no heartbeat.
My appointment is tomorrow and I’m scared they’re going to tell me the baby’s heart stopped beating when I gave it botchilism last week. They’re going to tell me my body is so f’d that it didn’t even eject it itself. They’re going to tell me all my hopes went down the drain with a polish sausage and onions.
I’m scared and I’m trying not to freak out but it’s incredibly hard. My nausea is almost gone, that’s not helping. I’m scared, which is probably normal, really.
Filed under 1st trimester, doctor appointment, pregnancy, ultrasound | Comment (0)Heartbeat
Yesterday, I got my blood results back. They were all normal, except that my TSH level went nutso on me. She upped my levothyroxine an additional 50%. I mentioned that I’d went and scared myself reading about hypothyroid and pregnancy. “Yeah, it can cause mental retardation,” she said. “But you’re being treated. So you’ll be fine.” My doctor rocks. She’s honest, and makes me feel better.
Yesterday was also our first ultrasound. I’m still in shock.
I went in fully expecting to see nothing but a lentil and a yolk sack. The tech was wonderful and decided to do a transvaginal ultrasound when I told him I thought I was 6 weeks. Within 2 minutes of the dildo-cam getting settled, we saw the lentil and yolk sack. Within 2.5, we saw a small flashing dot on the screen. The kid had heartbeat! A HEARTBEAT! Then we heard it…I nearly cried.
6.5mm, 130bpm, 6 weeks and 1 day, due 7/1/2007.
I’m still nervous about telling my family. I know I’m not going to get the jump up and down, joyous reaction I wish I could. Still, the minute Eric walked into the exam room after the ultrasound he said, “It doesn’t matter what either of our families say. They could yell at us, they could tell us we had to have an abortion. It doesn’t matter. It has a hearbeat…” It’s ours to take care of now, and it’s much bigger than whatever opinions anyone else has.
This is amazing.
Filed under 1st trimester, doctor appointment, pregnancy, ultrasound | Comment (0)Losing Blood and Belly
Wednesday was my first full day of morning sickness. It NEVER went away. The nausea was under the surface no matter what I did. It didn’t help that we were off looking for houses and the realtor drove a little crazy. I had to stop and get saltines or I would’ve yakked all over the backseat of his rental van. I also developed a strange heart palpitation at night, that we thought was thanks to all the cheese I’d eaten - I’m lactose intolerant.
Thursday, I woke up more nauseated than I’ve ever been. We still made it to my appointment, but an half an hour late, because I’d written it down as 10 instead of 9:30. They were very sweet, however, because my doctor is just really sweet and so is every single member of her staff.
Eric came in with me, and barely batted an eyelash when he saw me lay my pee on the counter. Want to get your man used to seeing your pee sitting on tabletops? Use Dollar Store pregnancy tests! They took my blood pressure, and my usual “blood pressure of the dead” is elevated - already listed on the “Things to be Grounded for” list. The nurse laughed at our amount of home testing, and then said, “well, you’re definitely pregnant.” That was a little surreal.
My wonderful doctor came in and congratulated us. That was weird! I sound so immature, I am..I’m a baby. What am I doing having a kid? I’m an only child! I won’t be the baby anymore! People will expect me to be responsible. I can’t handle this!
…..Sorry. Fetal position crying session over…
She went over a million questions about history, discussed the blood tests I’d need, and handed the blood work paperwork over to Eric. She left and let me dress in a CLOTH butt showing gown. Eric held my clothing while she did the whole specuulum thing.
“A little uncomfortable…ow…there, Eric?”
“No, I’m just worried about the whole blood thing.”
“There’s no blood right now…” I knew he meant the blood work to be done later in the afternoon.
The doctor responded with, “Not for a few more months! Then it’s all over!” His eyes got about 2 feet tall.
We talked about hospitals and natural birth, which she completely supported and seemed almost excited for me about. She said I should look at out of network hospital costs and suggested a hospital that heavily supported epidural-free birth. I really love my doctor. She also said my heart palpitations were thanks to my levothyroxine. I need my dose upped.
As we left, they handed us a heavy bag full of Enfamil, Similac, prenatals, paperwork and magazines. That was the moment it hit me. A baby was coming…and it was coming home with me…What the hell am I doing raising a kid?! I can’t….wait, we’ve already been through this…
We went down and got bloodwork from the BEST tech that ever existed. She got 5 vials out of me without anything more than the first prick. She didn’t move the needle once. Eric even watched and didn’t pass out. Her name was Wendy, and she will be drawing my blood from now on or I won’t go!
I have my first ultrasound on Tuesday that will tell me how far along I am. I’ll also get my bloodwork results then. I’m completely excited, and nervous…and what the HELL am I going to do with a kid?!
We went to eat afterwards, and I got about half of my salad down before I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I walked as quickly as I could to the bathroom, and managed to walk in right behind a woman with her daughter. I thought, “Okay, I’ll just hold it in. I’ll pee first, wait till they leave, then puke.” Who ever thought you couldn’t convince your body to not throw up when it wants to? I had barely locked the door when….bluaghhhhhhh. The poor woman kept telling her daughter to hurry up with every horrible vomit noise I would make — which are impossible to stifle, by the way! I wanted to run out and scream, “I swear, I’m not bulimic and I’m not going to get your child sick! I’m pregnant! It’s not my fault!” I felt awful.
However, I’ve learned that eating all day will keep you from puking. A piece of toast, a banana an hour later, maybe some oatmeal in another hour, it keeps everything from coming up. If you wait to eat, though, until you begin to feel nauseas, you will puke and it will not be pretty…but you will feel better. So what does one do? Get fat or puke all the time? Me? I’m going the fat route!
We bid on a house. It’s adorable, and my parents didn’t freak out nearly as much as I thought they would. Still, the house is just yet another thing for me to stress about and I’m simultaneously scared to death that we’ll get it, and that we won’t. Sometimes I feel in way too far over my head. Other times, I’m completely calm and happy about the choices we’ve made. I’m not sure how to deal with any of this right now. It’s all overload. I know I can handle it, because I have to. It’s just really scary. Really, really, really scary.
Filed under 1st trimester, doctor appointment, morning sickness, pregnancy, symptoms, tests | Comment (0)
