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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