we are nearing the end of the first trimester and (fingers crossed) things are going as well as i could hope. i am starting to feel more like my normal self again, which i am enjoying. instead of a constant low-grade nausea, i feel mostly ok but then occasionally (on trains or buses) i am hit by intense waves that make me think i'm actually going to vomit. but i still haven't vomited. i am still a little tired but not so zombie-esque. the end is in sight!
also, i stopped taking all of the hormones this week, as well as the blood sugar medication. that will likely affect how i feel as soon as my body adjusts. it also cuts way down on my medicine-taking time in the morning, which is lovely. so now i just take seven pills (vitamins and supplements) and only one injection, and that's the Lovenox (blood thinner) that is a pre-filled syringe. so no more extracting oil from a vial and switching needles and all of that. plus the Lovenox is a subcutaneous (i.e. "stick it in your fat") injection so it's fast and easy and mostly painless. yippee for being (almost) drug-free!
we went back to the perinatologist yesterday and everything is great. the placenta is half-moved off of my cervix, which is great and means that most likely things will continue to shift and it won't be anything to worry about. i still have the blood clot, but the doctor insists it's nothing to worry about, especially since i'm on the Lovenox, and they'll keep monitoring it and if I have to increase my Lovenox dose that will be the worst of it. I will trust him since he's the expert and I really don't want to stress over something that i don't have to. they also said the blood flow to the baby has increased, which is obviously great. so everything looked perfect!
the baby itself was nothing short of a miracle yesterday. they did my first-ever through the belly ultrasound, like you see on TV with the gel all over the lady's stomach and the wand pressing on the outside. they also did their standard vaginal ultrasound because that's how they check the uterus and cervix (which both looked great). but when they did the regular ultrasound, we could see the baby so much more clearly. it also probably helps that the baby totally looks like a human now! i was amazed. it has a face and hands and feet and it was moving around like an acrobat. the most incredible thing was seeing it move its hands and open and close its fingers. it's also incredible that all of this is happening INSIDE OF ME and i can't feel anything. yet.
as the last step of the first trimester genetic screening, they measured the length of the baby's neck (an early indicator of down syndrome), which came out exactly average. they called that number into the lab so that the lab folks could compile it with the results of the bloodwork i had done last week, and within a few minutes they faxed over a summary of the risk of the baby having down's or another of the trisomy disorders. i continue to be impressed by the efficiency of these doctors... no waiting! anyway, everything looks great. they told me my risk of having a baby with genetic disorders is equivalent to that of a 20 year old pregnant woman's risk. which is very low! so we declined the CVS (chorionic villus sampling, where they take a sample of the placenta) and will wait for the next round of bloodwork that will give us at least a 97% assurance of the risk. if something weird happens with that bloodwork, we can still do the amnio to find out for sure, but the doctor didn't seem to think we have anything to worry about.
in other news, i have nearly entirely converted to maternity tops or tops that might as well be maternity. i am struggling with pants at the moment. i'm hoping the weather may suddenly turn to spring so that i can transition right into skirts, with which i am better stocked, but in the meantime i'm wearing the elastic belly band so that i can wear my old pants without buttoning them. it works, but it's not the most comfortable thing i've ever experienced. my belly still seems ridiculously big to me and i really don't know why, but the rest of me still looks the same (other than my boobs, but who sees those?) so i guess i should just suck it up. i may or may not have gained a pound or two. the past few weeks, my weight has been fluctuating between four pounds every morning (which seems whacky to me), but the past three days it's held stable at the very top of that four pound range. which i take to mean that i probably gained something. which makes sense considering my appetite is back (other than some lingering food aversions) and i am eating a bit more than i usually do. i am doing my best to keep it healthy, though, which hasn't been too hard. my love for chocolate has (thankfully) returned, and ice cream has been appealing on our intermittent spring-like days, but otherwise i'm still not craving sweets and junk food.
overall i am feeling pretty damn good. i am planning to wait until 13 weeks to officially announce my pregnancy at work, though i know it's already obvious to observant folks. but after this trimester is over, especially considering all the potential obstacles we've already breezed by, i will be pretty confident that this baby is sticking around for the long haul. which is very, very exciting.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
too much information
i am so thankful to live in this time in which modern medicine has allowed me to get pregnant when i might never have been able to otherwise, but sometimes i think knowing so much is just... too much. i had two appointments in the past two days and i am still reeling from everything that we learned, thanks to all of this advanced science.
yesterday the hubby and i had a mandatory appointment with the genetic counselor at the perinatologist's office. all of the testing to see if there's anything chromosomally messed up about our baby is optional, but they want to make sure that everyone understands the options. because i'm 35, we're in a new category of risk called (so lovely) "advanced maternal age," on top of just having an IVF pregnancy which they believe poses some risks. they tack other features on to my diagnosis as well, such as "history of infertility," which just seems redundant because obviously if i had IVF i was having some fertility problems, right? anyway, it all seems a little crazy to me but this is just how it is.
so we met with the geneticist, who was very nice, and she first wrote out a family tree for both of us and asked about genetic conditions and things that run in the family. she told us about some genetic problems that are common in people of our backgrounds, but luckily since our ethnic backgrounds are so incredibly different the likelihood that both of us are carriers of the same thing is very small. and if only one parent is a carrier, it doesn't matter -- you have to have both. so that's good news. also, the initial genetic screening they did from my bloodwork all came back negative for whatever things they already ran for me (i have already forgotten). more good news.
then she went over the risk of us having a kid with one of the bigger chromosomal problems, which are all caused by the baby ending up with three copies of a certain chromosome instead of the normal two: Trisomy 21, which is Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Trisomy 13. most babies with Trisomy 18 or 13 are stillborn or die within their first year. they calculate your initial risk for these things based just on your age -- and they use your age at delivery, not conception, which for me will be 36 by, like, two weeks. i don't get that either, because if we're talking about the genetic makeup of the kid, shouldn't it be my age when i grew the egg that became the kid??? but whatever. so a 36 year old, on average, has a 0.61% chance of having a baby with a chromosome problem. Down syndrome accounts for almost half of those births. this was a higher number than i expected, truthfully, but we're still talking about a 99.39% chance that everything is fine.
then she ran through the various procedures we can opt to do to find out more about our specific risk. some are done simply by taking my blood, which can pick up proteins that are being produced by the baby. cool, huh? and then some are the more invasive types like the CVS (chorionic villous sampling) when they use a big needle to take out some of the placenta, and the amniocentesis, when they use another big needle later on to take some of the fluid the baby is swimming in. both of those procedures have a risk of miscarriage. the risk is relatively small, but still bigger than anyone would like: about 1 in 200 or 300 for the amnio, and 1 in 500 for the CVS. i do not like those odds, personally. so the hubby and i decided that we'll proceed with the screenings that can be done via bloodwork, and make further decisions based on the results of those. they told us those screenings are 95% accurate, and i think that's a statistic we can be comfortable with. we start that process next week.
so then today i had my next regular visit with the perinatologist. the baby is still doing great (we saw little arms and legs and its little brain!) but they had some small concerns about me. first they noticed in the sonogram that i have something called placenta previa, which is when the placenta is laying on top of the cervix. later in pregnancy this can obviously be a huge issue (as the cervix is the baby's exit route), but they told me that many, if not most, pregnancies begin this way and it's nothing to worry about now. apparently in the first trimester the uterus isn't that big yet so there isn't a lot of room for the placenta, but once it grows more the placenta generally ends up in the right place. (it doesn't actually move, but it ends up in a different location as the uterus moves and grows.) she did say that it could cause me some spotting, so i should be aware of that. and THEN she found a blood clot in my uterus, also near the cervix and the placenta. she told me that this, too, is normal and not a big deal. generally they come out or dissipate on their own, but again i could experience some bleeding. AND we're still not allowed to have sex due to all of this and the risk of bleeding and trauma to the placenta or baby. it has been so long now i have almost forgotten what sex is like... but i mostly feel bad for the hubby because personally i am not in the mood, what with all my constipation and bloating and suppository use and utter exhaustion.
in addition, it seems that my thyroid function is a bit low, so they're going to monitor that to see if i need medication, and i was deficient in vitamin D3 so i had to pick up a supplement to take.
this was a lot to process, and i have to say it took away from the joy of seeing the little chipmunk up on the screen. i'm glad he or she is doing great, but i hope my body can keep up with the challenge! i left the appointment feeling a bit disheartened and anxious, but then i realized that there are bunches of people who probably have all of these issues and no one ever knows because they're not being so closely watched, and everything goes away on its own and is fine. so while i am grateful that every tiny detail is being scrutinized, i have to wonder if all of this information is really best for me. i wish the doctors could know and not tell me, though i realize that's impractical and probably impossible. i guess i just have to take it with a grain of salt and focus on the positive. the baby's growing and doing great. i'm doing my best to take care of myself and this tiny thing inside of me. that's all i can do.
yesterday the hubby and i had a mandatory appointment with the genetic counselor at the perinatologist's office. all of the testing to see if there's anything chromosomally messed up about our baby is optional, but they want to make sure that everyone understands the options. because i'm 35, we're in a new category of risk called (so lovely) "advanced maternal age," on top of just having an IVF pregnancy which they believe poses some risks. they tack other features on to my diagnosis as well, such as "history of infertility," which just seems redundant because obviously if i had IVF i was having some fertility problems, right? anyway, it all seems a little crazy to me but this is just how it is.
so we met with the geneticist, who was very nice, and she first wrote out a family tree for both of us and asked about genetic conditions and things that run in the family. she told us about some genetic problems that are common in people of our backgrounds, but luckily since our ethnic backgrounds are so incredibly different the likelihood that both of us are carriers of the same thing is very small. and if only one parent is a carrier, it doesn't matter -- you have to have both. so that's good news. also, the initial genetic screening they did from my bloodwork all came back negative for whatever things they already ran for me (i have already forgotten). more good news.
then she went over the risk of us having a kid with one of the bigger chromosomal problems, which are all caused by the baby ending up with three copies of a certain chromosome instead of the normal two: Trisomy 21, which is Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Trisomy 13. most babies with Trisomy 18 or 13 are stillborn or die within their first year. they calculate your initial risk for these things based just on your age -- and they use your age at delivery, not conception, which for me will be 36 by, like, two weeks. i don't get that either, because if we're talking about the genetic makeup of the kid, shouldn't it be my age when i grew the egg that became the kid??? but whatever. so a 36 year old, on average, has a 0.61% chance of having a baby with a chromosome problem. Down syndrome accounts for almost half of those births. this was a higher number than i expected, truthfully, but we're still talking about a 99.39% chance that everything is fine.
then she ran through the various procedures we can opt to do to find out more about our specific risk. some are done simply by taking my blood, which can pick up proteins that are being produced by the baby. cool, huh? and then some are the more invasive types like the CVS (chorionic villous sampling) when they use a big needle to take out some of the placenta, and the amniocentesis, when they use another big needle later on to take some of the fluid the baby is swimming in. both of those procedures have a risk of miscarriage. the risk is relatively small, but still bigger than anyone would like: about 1 in 200 or 300 for the amnio, and 1 in 500 for the CVS. i do not like those odds, personally. so the hubby and i decided that we'll proceed with the screenings that can be done via bloodwork, and make further decisions based on the results of those. they told us those screenings are 95% accurate, and i think that's a statistic we can be comfortable with. we start that process next week.
so then today i had my next regular visit with the perinatologist. the baby is still doing great (we saw little arms and legs and its little brain!) but they had some small concerns about me. first they noticed in the sonogram that i have something called placenta previa, which is when the placenta is laying on top of the cervix. later in pregnancy this can obviously be a huge issue (as the cervix is the baby's exit route), but they told me that many, if not most, pregnancies begin this way and it's nothing to worry about now. apparently in the first trimester the uterus isn't that big yet so there isn't a lot of room for the placenta, but once it grows more the placenta generally ends up in the right place. (it doesn't actually move, but it ends up in a different location as the uterus moves and grows.) she did say that it could cause me some spotting, so i should be aware of that. and THEN she found a blood clot in my uterus, also near the cervix and the placenta. she told me that this, too, is normal and not a big deal. generally they come out or dissipate on their own, but again i could experience some bleeding. AND we're still not allowed to have sex due to all of this and the risk of bleeding and trauma to the placenta or baby. it has been so long now i have almost forgotten what sex is like... but i mostly feel bad for the hubby because personally i am not in the mood, what with all my constipation and bloating and suppository use and utter exhaustion.
in addition, it seems that my thyroid function is a bit low, so they're going to monitor that to see if i need medication, and i was deficient in vitamin D3 so i had to pick up a supplement to take.
this was a lot to process, and i have to say it took away from the joy of seeing the little chipmunk up on the screen. i'm glad he or she is doing great, but i hope my body can keep up with the challenge! i left the appointment feeling a bit disheartened and anxious, but then i realized that there are bunches of people who probably have all of these issues and no one ever knows because they're not being so closely watched, and everything goes away on its own and is fine. so while i am grateful that every tiny detail is being scrutinized, i have to wonder if all of this information is really best for me. i wish the doctors could know and not tell me, though i realize that's impractical and probably impossible. i guess i just have to take it with a grain of salt and focus on the positive. the baby's growing and doing great. i'm doing my best to take care of myself and this tiny thing inside of me. that's all i can do.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
pop
it has been a busy, busy week. it was my last week of school before our spring break, which at my school means a crazy week of projects and nothing normal at all. which for me means more time spent as an actual teacher (100% of the day with kids) and no time in my office to decompress or, as has been happening more lately, to put my head down on my desk and rest for awhile. but -- it's over and i'm officially on spring break for two weeks! the extra exciting news is that i'm feeling a lot better, too. the nausea has decreased significantly. i still get motion sick on the train and dizzy going up and down stairs or when i get up too quickly, but mostly my only physical symptoms now are constipation (ugh) and this extreme fatigue. but hey... i'll take it. i can eat again!
i did not have any doctor appointments to work around this week, which was nice in some ways but also very, very strange. however, i did have all of that bloodwork to take care of at the lab. i went on tuesday for one set of tests that had to be done four hours after i'd eaten and taken all my medicine, and then back on thursday for the rest that were supposed to be done after fasting for 6 hours. however, when the technician looked at the details of all of those tests she recommended that we split them across two days. i tried to shrug that off and told her how much blood they'd been taking for me regularly for the past year. seriously, i'm kind of an expert at this by now and i've never had a problem, even the times they had to take 15 vials. but when she really broke it down for me and told me exactly what we were looking at (33 vials!!!) i agreed. so we did 19 vials on thursday and then i went back this morning for the other 14. from what the technician told me, it seemed like a lot of these tests were looking for blood clotting issues. again, it seems like overkill to me... but whatever. the hubby keeps saying they're taking all the blood away from the baby but from what i've read i am making so much more blood these days that i can stand to lose some of it.
but the big news this week is that my belly suddenly popped. it is totally insane. i had been bloated since last week, which i knew was from the digestive issues i've been having and all of the other hormonal craziness going on in my body. and i looked the same as how i always look when i'm bloated after eating or before getting my period. but all of a sudden two days ago i started looking like an alien was growing in my belly: a perfectly round alien. i have a perceptible circle around my belly button that is kind of unmistakably a baby bump. i know i would have been excited about this if it happened in a few weeks as i expected. i really thought i had more time. so instead i kind of freaked out, especially because someone at work actually asked i was pregnant after seeing this belly development! it's super obvious when i wear t-shirts and normal clothes, even though my clothes aren't tight. it just... sticks out. so i'm trying to transition to some extra flow-y tops for a bit, just to keep it under wraps a little while longer. i'm also inheriting some maternity clothes from a friend in the neighborhood that is the keeper of a rotating collection, so that may help. but i'm going to need to go shopping for some new bras and other things this week. i'm still in shock about this. i know it's for good reason, and my new fancy scale says i haven't gained any weight yet, so i'm trying to calm myself down.
i'll be 9 weeks on monday, and we go back to the perinatologist on tuesday. i'm really excited for another ultrasound. it feels like ages since we've seen the little bean!
i did not have any doctor appointments to work around this week, which was nice in some ways but also very, very strange. however, i did have all of that bloodwork to take care of at the lab. i went on tuesday for one set of tests that had to be done four hours after i'd eaten and taken all my medicine, and then back on thursday for the rest that were supposed to be done after fasting for 6 hours. however, when the technician looked at the details of all of those tests she recommended that we split them across two days. i tried to shrug that off and told her how much blood they'd been taking for me regularly for the past year. seriously, i'm kind of an expert at this by now and i've never had a problem, even the times they had to take 15 vials. but when she really broke it down for me and told me exactly what we were looking at (33 vials!!!) i agreed. so we did 19 vials on thursday and then i went back this morning for the other 14. from what the technician told me, it seemed like a lot of these tests were looking for blood clotting issues. again, it seems like overkill to me... but whatever. the hubby keeps saying they're taking all the blood away from the baby but from what i've read i am making so much more blood these days that i can stand to lose some of it.
but the big news this week is that my belly suddenly popped. it is totally insane. i had been bloated since last week, which i knew was from the digestive issues i've been having and all of the other hormonal craziness going on in my body. and i looked the same as how i always look when i'm bloated after eating or before getting my period. but all of a sudden two days ago i started looking like an alien was growing in my belly: a perfectly round alien. i have a perceptible circle around my belly button that is kind of unmistakably a baby bump. i know i would have been excited about this if it happened in a few weeks as i expected. i really thought i had more time. so instead i kind of freaked out, especially because someone at work actually asked i was pregnant after seeing this belly development! it's super obvious when i wear t-shirts and normal clothes, even though my clothes aren't tight. it just... sticks out. so i'm trying to transition to some extra flow-y tops for a bit, just to keep it under wraps a little while longer. i'm also inheriting some maternity clothes from a friend in the neighborhood that is the keeper of a rotating collection, so that may help. but i'm going to need to go shopping for some new bras and other things this week. i'm still in shock about this. i know it's for good reason, and my new fancy scale says i haven't gained any weight yet, so i'm trying to calm myself down.
i'll be 9 weeks on monday, and we go back to the perinatologist on tuesday. i'm really excited for another ultrasound. it feels like ages since we've seen the little bean!
Friday, March 2, 2012
OB visits
i have to say i'm a bit overwhelmed by pregnancy at this point. both the physical symptoms, which are brutal, and the myriad things to think about and do have sort of consumed my life. and i thought i was busy just trying to get pregnant! i am so tired on top of being so busy that it's been a chore to keep up with most things lately, but i will try to stay current on this blog because there is a lot going on!
we had our first appointment with the perinatologist (high risk OB) on wednesday. i ended up going alone because the hubby was recovering from a crazy morning with the dog that involved the emergency vet and a possible seizure. i told you it's been crazy. we did another ultrasound, and got to see the baby at 7 1/2 weeks:
i saw and heard the heartbeat again, and the baby was even moving around a bit, which was SO WEIRD. but so cool and exciting. but the ultrasound at the perinatologist's office was way more involved than any i've had so far, and i'm guessing that's how they'll be each time i go. it took about 20 minutes, and they looked at everything: my cervix, my ovaries, the uterine lining, the uterus from all different angles... she took a zillion pictures and there was this infrared color scheme on the screen so she could really tell what was what. it was intense. but thorough, which is not a bad thing. she even was able to listen to the blood flow in my uterus, to make sure that was what it should be. amazing.
then i met the actual doctor, who is a piece of work. if he were supposed to deliver my baby i might have run screaming from the place, because he is nothing resembling friendly or nurturing. but that's not his job, so his brusque professionalism was ok. but i'll admit i was a bit scared when he first came in and reamed out the nurse because he couldn't read her handwriting and the M in my name didn't look like an M. he said, "do you know how many people die every year because of misspellings in their names?" and he made me look at it and asked, "does that look like an M to you?? does it?" the nurse was looking at me wide-eyed from behind him like we were both little kids getting in trouble. after that he was mostly normal, though i will expect to have some very interesting stories about my visits with him.
anyway, he told me that i will see him or his associate (who is much nicer, by the way!) every two weeks for most of my pregnancy and maybe every week at the end. when i'm 34 weeks along if everything looks ok then i can stop. he says this has nothing to do with my age, but simply the fact that i had IVF. IVF pregnancies are apparently more likely to develop problems with the placenta or premature labor, and regular OB appointments don't always check (or at least not as often) all of the things that his office will in order to prevent any of those issues with my pregnancy. it seems like overkill to me, but i can't say i'm not happy for the extra support. especially after seeing what my friend and colleague went through losing her baby in january... i can't help but wonder if that could have been avoided or at least seen before it happened if she had been seeing a high risk doctor.
they also told me i need to have a bunch of bloodwork done and it must be done during week 8 (next week). there are three different things that have to be done at very specific times of day, with or without fasting, etc., so i have to go to the lab two different times to have the blood drawn. annoying, but whatever... and i have zero doctor appointments next week so i guess i can otherwise occupy my time.
and lastly they talked with us about genetic testing. because i'm 35 i'm apparently at much higher risk for a lot of genetic abnormalities, so we have to meet with a genetic counselor to talk about all of our options for testing. they gave us some literature to read in the meantime and i haven't even touched it yet. i really don't know how i feel about all of that. of course we're not obligated to do any of it, but i know the hubby wants to do some of it, so we'll have to figure it out and weigh the risks.
it was a ton of information at one appointment, but after i processed it all i feel on top of everything. luckily, because today we had our first appointment with the regular OB!
i've gone back and forth about whether i wanted to work with an OB or a midwife. i always thought -- before all of this -- that i would have a super crunchy hippie birthing experience, but it just doesn't seem like that fits with how my pregnancy journey has gone so far. my situation is so complicated with medication and the high risk doctor that i think it makes sense to work with someone who's on the same page with everyone else. so i made an appointment with a doctor that is a part of the hospital and has worked with both the fertility institute folks and the perinatal practice in the past. other than that, i had no information about her so you can imagine my surprise that both the hubby and i LOVED her! she is young and energetic and super laid-back. which might be bad for me if she were my only doctor -- since i am a tad on the anxious side -- but i think seeing both her and the perinatologist will be a nice balance. today's appointment was mostly just a getting-to-know-you; we talked about my medical history and an overview of things to come and they took a crapload of my blood. (sigh.) i don't go back to see her for six weeks, which is totally fine considering i'll see the perinatal guy three times in between now and then.
so that was my week... i am so ready for some time on the couch. hopefully i can sleep well this weekend, because that hasn't gone so well lately. at least the nausea has calmed down enough for me to eat normally the the evening, and the hellish constipation that was torturing me earlier this week *seems* to be subsiding (knock on wood). hey, it could be worse! i've got a tiny gummi bear-looking thing growing inside me and that is pretty amazing. :)
we had our first appointment with the perinatologist (high risk OB) on wednesday. i ended up going alone because the hubby was recovering from a crazy morning with the dog that involved the emergency vet and a possible seizure. i told you it's been crazy. we did another ultrasound, and got to see the baby at 7 1/2 weeks:
i saw and heard the heartbeat again, and the baby was even moving around a bit, which was SO WEIRD. but so cool and exciting. but the ultrasound at the perinatologist's office was way more involved than any i've had so far, and i'm guessing that's how they'll be each time i go. it took about 20 minutes, and they looked at everything: my cervix, my ovaries, the uterine lining, the uterus from all different angles... she took a zillion pictures and there was this infrared color scheme on the screen so she could really tell what was what. it was intense. but thorough, which is not a bad thing. she even was able to listen to the blood flow in my uterus, to make sure that was what it should be. amazing.
then i met the actual doctor, who is a piece of work. if he were supposed to deliver my baby i might have run screaming from the place, because he is nothing resembling friendly or nurturing. but that's not his job, so his brusque professionalism was ok. but i'll admit i was a bit scared when he first came in and reamed out the nurse because he couldn't read her handwriting and the M in my name didn't look like an M. he said, "do you know how many people die every year because of misspellings in their names?" and he made me look at it and asked, "does that look like an M to you?? does it?" the nurse was looking at me wide-eyed from behind him like we were both little kids getting in trouble. after that he was mostly normal, though i will expect to have some very interesting stories about my visits with him.
anyway, he told me that i will see him or his associate (who is much nicer, by the way!) every two weeks for most of my pregnancy and maybe every week at the end. when i'm 34 weeks along if everything looks ok then i can stop. he says this has nothing to do with my age, but simply the fact that i had IVF. IVF pregnancies are apparently more likely to develop problems with the placenta or premature labor, and regular OB appointments don't always check (or at least not as often) all of the things that his office will in order to prevent any of those issues with my pregnancy. it seems like overkill to me, but i can't say i'm not happy for the extra support. especially after seeing what my friend and colleague went through losing her baby in january... i can't help but wonder if that could have been avoided or at least seen before it happened if she had been seeing a high risk doctor.
they also told me i need to have a bunch of bloodwork done and it must be done during week 8 (next week). there are three different things that have to be done at very specific times of day, with or without fasting, etc., so i have to go to the lab two different times to have the blood drawn. annoying, but whatever... and i have zero doctor appointments next week so i guess i can otherwise occupy my time.
and lastly they talked with us about genetic testing. because i'm 35 i'm apparently at much higher risk for a lot of genetic abnormalities, so we have to meet with a genetic counselor to talk about all of our options for testing. they gave us some literature to read in the meantime and i haven't even touched it yet. i really don't know how i feel about all of that. of course we're not obligated to do any of it, but i know the hubby wants to do some of it, so we'll have to figure it out and weigh the risks.
it was a ton of information at one appointment, but after i processed it all i feel on top of everything. luckily, because today we had our first appointment with the regular OB!
i've gone back and forth about whether i wanted to work with an OB or a midwife. i always thought -- before all of this -- that i would have a super crunchy hippie birthing experience, but it just doesn't seem like that fits with how my pregnancy journey has gone so far. my situation is so complicated with medication and the high risk doctor that i think it makes sense to work with someone who's on the same page with everyone else. so i made an appointment with a doctor that is a part of the hospital and has worked with both the fertility institute folks and the perinatal practice in the past. other than that, i had no information about her so you can imagine my surprise that both the hubby and i LOVED her! she is young and energetic and super laid-back. which might be bad for me if she were my only doctor -- since i am a tad on the anxious side -- but i think seeing both her and the perinatologist will be a nice balance. today's appointment was mostly just a getting-to-know-you; we talked about my medical history and an overview of things to come and they took a crapload of my blood. (sigh.) i don't go back to see her for six weeks, which is totally fine considering i'll see the perinatal guy three times in between now and then.
so that was my week... i am so ready for some time on the couch. hopefully i can sleep well this weekend, because that hasn't gone so well lately. at least the nausea has calmed down enough for me to eat normally the the evening, and the hellish constipation that was torturing me earlier this week *seems* to be subsiding (knock on wood). hey, it could be worse! i've got a tiny gummi bear-looking thing growing inside me and that is pretty amazing. :)
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