That’s our baby’s due date, for now.
Desert Perinatalogists are my new favorite people. They’re going to be my all-the-time OB, so I don’t have to go back to that horrid Dr. Foster. I am so stoked about this!
After racing there this afternoon I was taken back to speak with a genetic counselor. I commented as we were sitting down that I found it humorous that we were going to talk about genetic testing and such when no one had even confirmed the pregnancy yet. She was flummoxed. Honestly, at that point I was feeling so beaten down about this whole situation that I didn’t really care anymore. I just wanted to *know*. We chatted a bit about my medical history and then she went to go find my doctor and an ultrasound tech.
20 minutes later I’ve got warm goo all over me and the tech is trying really hard to get a good image from the outside. She found the “sac” but couldn’t get a good view at all. So she went and got the doctor and after another 10 minutes or so, they did the internal/vaginal ultrasound. She was as gentle as possible with the probe thing, but she was having to work to get a good angle and find things.
But find things she did. The amniotic sac is there, with a tiny little ‘yolk’ thing, and inside that was an even tinier little blub. The top of the blub had a flutter that we saw a few times when the probe was angled just right. At one point she caught a heartbeat. She looked at Dr. Schwartz who said “yeah, grab it and count it!” The machine said the heart rate (which sounded like a faint whooshing over my heartbeat) was 107. Dr. Schwartz came over, took my wrist and a moment later said “Your heartrate isn’t 107. That’s not you.”
They did some calculations after taking out the probe and handed me a printed out picture of the sac & blub (you can’t really see anything…) with a post-it on it that says 5w4d, 7/17/2010. I started crying. Not sobbing like I have in anger several times in the last few days, just tears of happiness overflowing my eyes. Dr. Schwartz put his hand on my shoulder, squeezed and congratulated me. The nurse/tech handed me a box of kleenex.
After I got dressed again, Dr. Schwartz came back in the ultrasound room and we talked about a lot of things. My drugs were changed again, to a different kind of insulin. Dr. Schwartz explained his theory on why I’m on two completely different insulins now and it seems to make sense. But everything we’re doing is on a “try it an see” basis and he wants me to be open with him about how I feel on all of it. He’s not opposed to trying different things, but he’s glad to hear that I’m willing to do whatever he tells me to do for the sake of the baby.
He explained about the practice, and how he’s only there Monday-Wednesday because he lives in Denver. He still ends up delivering about 85% of his patients though. And the practice doesn’t believe in ERs unless someone is bleeding. They always want me to call them, day or night, for anything. (Exactly the opposite of what the other OB said.) The staff really seems very nice and they all reiterated that I’m to call them with ANY questions at ANY time.
I’m logging my blood sugars now, and will be logging blood pressures too once they get me a blood pressure cuff. I’ll be faxing them info at least once a week. They’re not freaking out about my issues and they don’t want me to either. Dr. Schwartz said “This is what we do. We take care of this stuff. Don’t worry.” They took a TON of blood (I love their lab tech – she got me in the elbow in one stab! Took 9 viles of blood!) and gave me an H1N1 vaccine. Just like that! I met again with the genetic counselor lady and she took a detailed family history. Nothing really of note, except the strong history of diabetes on my side and my VSD. (They’ll do a fetal echocardiogram ~19 weeks because of my personal heart history and the fact that I was on an ACE inhibitor when I got pregnant. But she said it really wasn’t anything to worry about.)
My next appointment is on Wednesday December 2 at 2:00. Paul will be with me. We’ll have another ultrasound and they’ll confirm gestation at that time and change the EDD if necessary.
I called Paul as I walked out the door to go home. I asked him how he’d like a baby for his birthday next year. (Dr. Schwartz explained that even though my EDD is 7/17/10, there’s very very little chance that he’ll let me go that far.) Paul sounded pretty happy when I told him.
Tonight I went to Borders and bought books. The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy and The Pregnancy Instruction Manual. I’ve waited so long to be able to buy pregnancy books and not feel like a total fraud. I was grinning like a loon at the checkout girl.
