My New Love

Aside from seeing my baby's face for the very first time, I was able to get an appointment with a doctor that my friend, Michelle, swears by. I owe her BIG time because they took me this afternoon (thank God for the snow day!) and he was amazing! Just like my fertility doctors-young, informative, easy to talk to, very warm, and very, very hot- haha! Where do I find these guys?! Luckily enough, his office called me this morning (we are on ANOTHER snow day-which actually worked out for me) and they took me this afternoon!

Dr. Mootabar is part of Westchester Health in Mount Kisco. His practice is small with only 4 or 5 other doctors. His staff is amazing. They reminded me exactly of my fertility group. I think I've finally found the right place :-) I can't say enough good things! I am really excited. I don't care how far I have to drive, at least I'll be fairly close to my family and in a really great hospital when I deliver. SUCCESS!

You can see little baby's face...he/she is sucking on his/her thumb.

My little babe had the hiccups when the tech turned the ultra sounds machine on! It was so cute.
163 beats per minute! The old wives tales say its a girl....so does the Chinese Gender Chart, but I don't know! That 4D pic looks a lot like Paul-haha!

I'm SO done with that place....

After a round of blood work yesterday and stalking the nurse, the doctor, and the lab for results and still not getting any, I've decided I am DONE with this doctor. I've had enough.

I failed to mention in my previous post that my fertility doctor wanted my progesterone level (because I was on the supplements) estrogen, and vitamin D tested when I went to my regular OBGYN. They asked that I let them know what lab I used and that they would contact the lab for the results. So when I went to my OBGYN and told him that I had been on supplements, have come off of them and Dr. Hurwitz wanted my levels tested, my doctor's reply was "well if you took the supplements like the told you too, then your levels don't need to be tested." I also told him about the vitamin D, to which he replied "as long as you're taking vitamins, there's no need to test your vitamin D levels.' I basically had to beg him to sign off on the lab sheet to test these things because my fertility doctor wanted the information. The reluctant doctor finally agreed and told me to come back on Monday (yesterday) to have the blood drawn.

I was so nervous about the progesterone. I desperately wanted to know that my levels were okay and I didn't have to go back on them. The lab tech said I would have the results back at the end of they day....nothing. Tuesday rolls around and still no answers. RMA calls me to tell me when they called for the blood work results, my doctor told them they there was no record that I came for blood work or that I didn't show up. I was LIVID. I called every one and left crazy hormonal messages. Finally my doctor's nurse called and told me there must have been some mix up but there were still no results in. I yelled at her that I HAD to know what my progesterone was but she didn't see what the big deal was. Waiting....waiting...and more waiting. I called RMA and they said they would stalk to lab until they got answers.

Sure enough, this morning, RMA called and told me my progesterone levels were fine. Whew. I was relived. But I still hadn't heard about the other stuff. I waited until this afternoon, called my obgyn's nurse, but to no avail....no answers. I decided I was done with this group and I needed to call a doctor that was recommended to me months ago that I didn't want to go to because he was in Mount Kisco and I wanted to be closer to home. At this point, I didn't care. I called and left a message...now I just have to hope that this is the right place for me.

Not too sure about this...

Today was my first appointment with my regular obgyn. I've been kind of gearing myself up for this because I know it's not going to be like going to RMA, where they really treat you amazingly, but that's what I'd hope for. I am having a baby, after all, and it's my first one, so you'd think at the first appointment there might be a little bit of a fuss.

Now maybe I'm making mountains out of molehills but I was a little taken aback by how "blah-zay" my doctor and his nurse were. I would have expected them to do an exam or an ultrasound since it was my first time there since my HSG test at the hospital in October, but this wasn't how it was going to go down.

First the nurse asked me to give her a urine sample. Okay. So I went in, filled up the cup thinking "oh they must have to do all sorts of tests." I bring my cup into the exam room and the nurse kinda makes fun of me for giving her so much urine because it's really for "nothing but a pregnancy test." Um, I'm sorry, but I know I'm pregnant. I watched her dip the strip into my urine, watched her watch it turn positive, then she proceeded to turn around and  say "congratulations, you're pregnant" in the worst monotonous voice. I've known this for weeks now, totally ridiculous. Then she proceeds to give me a due date...yet more information that I already had. Thanks. Strike 1.

Finally, it was the doctor's turn to make an appearance and his first words to me were "Well that was awfully fast!" Translation: 'You just started going to the specialist in October when I blew up your Fallopian tubes and it's only January and you are ALREADY pregnant!' That was strike 2. I was already miffed, I didn't need anything else to piss me off.

Well, to make a long story short, we went to his office and had a very long, uninformative conversation about our options with testing (apparently with this group, ALL tests are optional), what the appointments would be like, how much weight to gain, what foods to avoid, etc. All the while, I sat there thinking "This all seems very machine-like, almost automatic and not the least bit personal." And I hate when you go to a doctor and they don't know you or your name until they look at your chart. That's what this whole appointment was. It was 60 minutes of my life that I felt like I'd never get back.

Strike 3 occurred for me when he shuffled me and Paul out of his office to make my next appointment, which wouldn't be for 3 more weeks-that would be a physical. Then I had to go downstairs to Ultrasound to make an appointment for a u/s in 2 weeks. THEN (as if this can't get any worse) if we wanted to do genetic testing for Downs Syndrome, we'd have to call a specialist in Poughkeepsie to make an appointment for that. So THREE separate appointments on THREE separate days. But it gets better....after making all of the appointments, I still thought I'd be going in for an exam or an ultra sound. NOPE! I was done. His nurse said "See you soon! Congratulations!" And out the door we went.

I didn't realize how dissatisfied I was until a little later. I asked Paul what he thought and he said he seemed fine, nothing super extraordinary but competent. I guess I'll have to mull this first appointment over some more. Everyone says the first appointment sucks, and maybe my expectations are too high, but seriously, these people make a lot of money and my experience left me feeling very unsure that I was in a place that would meet my sometimes "high maintenance" needs.

Exhaustion and Food Aversion

I said I wouldn't complain through this, so consider this a vent...

I'm not vomiting but the food aversions are crazy! I can't eat anything but fruit and carbs. The thought of meat makes me queasy. I can't even look at eggs. EVERYTHING smells. What is that? I just love to eat waffles, grilled cheese, pancakes, cereal, yogurt, blueberries, pineapples, apples with cinnamon....any kind of fruit which I guess is good, but the other stuff, not so much. Paul can't even eat next to me if he has any kind of meat product.....it makes me gag. I've never had any issue with food. I love food! And I love meat, but oh my God, I can't even think about it.....barf.

And the exhaustion. Holy mother. I wake up, and I could roll right back over and fall asleep. When I get up for work, breakfast consists of a 4 course meal throughout the morning....then after about 4:00 I'm done for. I start to feel the dip at around 1:00. The funny thing is, my students don't know I'm pregnant and I NEVER give them a minute to take a break, but lately, I'm letting them have a few extra minutes to eat their snack, or I'll stop earlier for snack (then I'll go around and snack on their snacks! It's pretty funny, especially on the days when I'm craving salty foods like chips or Doritos! The girls are pretty generous, some boys don't want you touching their snack.)

When I get home, I'm absolutely useless. There is still Christmas stuff on my dining room table that needs to be put away and forget about the basement! There is wrapping paper, decorations and boxes all along the wall. Once I get home, it's like I can't do anything else but rest. I am useless. I kind of feel bad but I don't know how to handle this exhaustion! I'm sure I'll make up for lost time once this trimester is over. Everyone prepared me for this but I think I was in denial!

A Sigh of Relief....3rd Check up and Ultrasound

Heres my little gummy bear...

Our appointment finally came and everything is moving along just fine...WHEW! I was panicking all week. When we got to the appointment and they couldn't find my veins to take blood, I thought that was a sign of things to come. Then the PA was running late but as soon as she turned that Ultrasound machine on and I heard that heartbeat, everything was peaches and cream after that. They baby is growing more and more and the sac that is supporting the embryo looks good (its that big black circle that the baby is floating in). The baby is now forming all of its organs (you can even see the brain-it's that black spot on the left)

The baby is about 15 mm, or about the size of a raspberry. I said it looks like a frog, but the PA said gummy bear, which I like better. You can see the little limbs forming in the picture above.

The heart rate this week was 173 BPM! Last week it was 126! I was convinced it was a boy but now I'm not so sure. I'm don't really have a very strong feeling about if it's a boy or a girl, but I've been dreaming about girl "stuff" more lately....we'll see.

Those progesterone bullets are working! My Progesterone went from a 9.8 to a 21.9! Things are looking good! Now I just have to get through this first trimester!

Still waiting...

I heard from my nurse on Monday and she reassured me that everything should be okay as long as I take the supplements but we wont know until tomorrow. We had another snow day today so I got to rest and not have to worry about taking the medication and having it go everywhere.

I was super nauseous last night too. When I take the medication, I feel my temperature go up and I feel like I'm on fire. It's not my favorite thing to do, but I will do anything to make this happen. Tomorrow is a turning point. I will be 3 days away from 8 weeks and I will hopefully be able to hear my little peanut's heartbeat again. All there's left to do is pray.

A bump in the road...

So we went for the bloodwork and ultrasound on Thursday and I was on a euphoric high for about 24 hours. I felt calm and relaxed and not anxious about anything. I was thrilled that everything looked good and I heard my baby's heartbeat.

On Friday, Paul and I had a snow day, which was much needed. We were trying to De-Christmas the house and it couldn't have come at a better time. At about 11:30, my cell phone rang. It was the doctor's office. Now, they only call after bloodwork when something doesn't come back right. I panicked even before I picked up the phone.

The Norwalk office called (which is not where my regular nurse who usually calls me is located) to tell me that my Progesterone Level had dropped since last week. Progesterone is a hormone produced my the ovary which prepares the uterus for implantation, supports the early pregnancy, and nourishes the baby until about the 10th week or so. I was so shocked when she told me this that my psychotic interrogating instincts didn't kick in right away. The only questions I thought to ask were "How do we fix this?" "Do I need to come for more tests before next Thursday?" and "Are there any side effects to this medication?"

What I have to do from now until further notice is take vaginal suppositories called Promentrium (yes, VAGINAL suppositories-they look like little bullets) twice a day, in the morning and at night to help increase my progesterone levels until I'm far enough along so that the placenta can kick in (which is about 8-10 weeks-I will be 8 weeks on January 15). They are gross. Night time isn't so bad, but in the morning, I am going to have to wake up and shower and hour earlier so that I can put them in and lay down for an hour because I get dressed and start to move...So now it's just a waiting game. I have to wait until Monday to get more information from my nurse and I have to wait until next Thursday to hear that precious little heartbeat and/or see the growth that has been made in a week.