I finally had my long awaited first doctor's appointment yesterday. What an experience that turned out to be! Let's start with the good stuff...
The baby is doing well! There is only one in there, so my hopes for twins have been shattered. It's probably better! They moved my guesstimated due date by a week, so I was officially 12 weeks yesterday and my due date is now Aug. 19. I got to have an ultrasound, which I always thoroughly enjoy! Their good machine wasn't working, so I was hooked to one of those archaic dinosaur machines, but it got the job done. I was surprised how much I could already see! A complete profile, and full spinal cord, little arms and legs, with hands and feet! At one point, the baby kicked and then moved its little hand to its mouth. I kind of teared up a bit! It was so....human. I wish I could get a picture on here of what we saw, but because it was so fuzzy it wouldn't scan well even if I had access to a scanner. I go in again in about two weeks for a better ultrasound (don't ask me why), so hopefully I'll be able to post a pic then.
Ok, so that was the good part. What I didn't mention was how completely inane the visit was! Danny and I were there promptly at 9:00 am, after dropping our girls at a friends to play during our visit. After waiting for over an hour in the waiting room, I was told that the doctor I was scheduled to see wasn't in the office yet, and they weren't sure when she'd be there. I asked if I would be seeing one of the other doctors staffed in the office, and the rather impatient receptionist told me I had to wait to see the doctor I was scheduled to see. I asked about rescheduling. She said it would be at least a couple weeks before I could be seen, and then that the scenario I was experiencing might just happen again. Danny and I begrudgingly decided to stick it out. About twenty minutes later, we were called back to the nurses station, where we started about a 30-40 minute process of answering all the questions about my health history. I was wondering why they weren't doing a urine test or anything, when the nurse hands me paperwork to take to a separate lab down the street for urinalysis and blood work. Seriously! After all that waiting, they want me to go wait somewhere else! I took a deep breath and we were taken to our exam room. After waiting for more than 20 minutes in the exam room, wearing a cloth over my bottom half (wondering what joys I was in for), the doctor finally came in. Apparently, there was supposed to be a computer in my room...but there wasn't. So the doctor had no idea who I was. Frustrating! I ended up with a vaginal ultrasound before the abdominal ultrasound. The doctor never asked how I was feeling (though she did ask if I had any questions or concerns). After about 5-8 minutes with us, she said she'd see me in about 4 weeks for my next checkup. She, nor anyone else, ever apologized for the fact that my appointment was at 9:00 am, and I didn't see the doctor until after 11:30 am. Insanity!
Phew! It feels better to get that out there! At any rate, I'm really pondering over the type of pregnancy and birth experience I want with this baby. I wish it wasn't something that I had to worry about. It makes sense to me that the health care community would want women to have that optimum birth experience. But, unfortunately, that's not the norm right now. Right now. I hope it changes for my daughters. However, I'm not without choices...albeit kind of hard ones to make. I'll keep you all posted on that front (ha ha, no pun intended).
