Doctors

Thursday, March 24th was my first doctor's appointment and sonogram. I know what you're thinking.....that was really early for a sonogram; it's like I peed on a stick and really jumped the gun here. BUT, I did have some genuine concerns and when I called my doctor to announce the positive home tests, I shared these concerns and they went ahead and scheduled me for their first available time. This appointment was right before we left for our trip, so I was also happy I would be able to get some questions answered before we went on our way. Now, have I mentioned that I really don't like going to the doctor? And especially the woman doctor? Yes, I am aware this is a very important part of life, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I was terrified for the entire 6 days I had to wait! My whole plan for this pregnancy was to talk to my doctor before we conceived...like I said, this whole thing just sort of happened out of whack!

When we arrived at the doctor, they whisked me in right away for the sonogram. Now, I won't go into details here, but at this point I had estimated myself at around 5 weeks and 5 days pregnant.....and that early in the game they don't get to use the cute little belly sonogram they use in all the movies! I was expecting this, but that didn't help much! I'll leave it up to you and your imagination as to how they perform these early sonograms. Just a warning for any first time mom that goes in for a first ultrasound. The ultrasound happened quick, and with much disappointment. I had been reading on plenty of pregnancy website forums that this may be disappointing at this stage, and that the likelihood of seeing a heartbeat or a fetal pole are very slim. I thought for sure we would be different, but nope....no such luck. We saw for half a second a little black spot, which she said was probably the gestational sac. Probably?? Probably was not really good enough for me, but I didn't push the issue. She took a couple pictures and sent us on our way (pictures we didn't get to keep either). Next off to the doctor.

Now for my genuine concern for the pregnancy at this point. When I injured my back and then had such bad pain in my neck that I couldn't move it, I was prescribed several medications (prednisone - a type of steroid, hydrocodone, and a muscle relaxer), all which were taken after conception. Before you freak out on me, remember I had no clue I was pregnant! Any form of a home test would have been negative that early anyway. But I just assumed steroids and serious pain pills could NOT be good for a pregnancy. My doctor is so great and was very reassuring, and she actually tells us these types of medications can even be prescribed during pregnancy (not like they're candy or anything, but if it's a necessity, it happens). But, she didn't sugar coat the situation either, I certainly still have a chance to miscarry....and not due to the medications I took, just simply anyone does this early in the game. About 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage. This is why, of course, most people wait until after the 'critical period', about 12 weeks, to tell all friends and family. And this is why everyone reading this now have no idea that we are expecting at this moment. Ha ha! Tam and Steve, could you even tell I was drinking 'mocktails' when you came over to our house?? I'm sorry guys, we just decided in the end it would be better not to tell people for the chance of hurt and disappointment. If we were to lose the pregnancy, it will be hard enough for just us to go through!

So, here we are, on our vacation and trying (as patiently as we can) to wait until our next appointment. They should be calling me today to give me my HCG levels from last Thursday. This should also give us a better idea of how far along we are at this point. My estimated dates were based on 28 day cycle, but since mine are typically a little longer, my doctor said I'm probably about 3 days further behind, which could have made all the difference in the world in what we saw (uh hem, didn't see) in the sonogram. I'll go in again this Thursday to have blood drawn again to make sure my levels are increasing (they should double every two days). Wish us luck! And wish me luck on the rest of this vacation! New Orleans sure looks a lot different when you can't have any cocktails at all! I'm managing, but it's more tiring than usual. Today we are going to take it easy, and I'm ready to relax. :) Until next time....