Ok, so the doctor's appointment was today. I had the world's most strenuous pee test ever. There were all these steps I had to follow. Remember how much I stressed peeing on the preggo-stick? This was WORSE! Disrobe before you wash your hands! Don't dry them! Use a cleaning wipe! (They claimed to provide two, but I could only see one in the package.) Don't touch anything! Start peeing first, then catch it in the cup, but DON'T let any touch the outside! Tll me how to accomplish that and I'll make you my amazingly time-consuming chocolate cake. Make it with your name and date of birth, then put it in the cupboard! I would like to, at this time, point out the layout of the bathroom in which I have to accomplish this task. The room is probably 7'x8'. The toilet, sink, and garbage cans are all in their respective corners; there is no way I can throw something away while sitting on the toilet, nor can I disrobe/wash hands/clean without waddling from the sink to the toilet. It was probably the most insane experience I've ever had while simply trying to pee.
After Pee-Gate 2011, I was weighed (that's always super fun) and went to my little room, with Aaron in tow, to put my stuff down. The nurse started collecting the necessary paraphernalia, which confirmed that the visit would be a shade more invasive than I thought. Where was the VIDEO I WAS PROMISED?!?!?! No where! There was no video. Instead, I was whisked away to, you guessed it, have my blood drawn. This lady, although sweet, didn't warn me when the needle was coming at all. Bless her heart though, she was very sweet. My nurse was talking to me to try to distract me while Sneak Attack (R.N.) collected vial after vial of my precious life-sustaining liquid. I'm pretty sure, although I didn't check, that she took at least 6-8 vials (Aaron says it was only 4, but I think he lies). When we returned to the room, they told me that they took one extra in case we decided to test for cystic fibrosis. WHAT? You took extra? Why not ask us FIRST, then take blood?
Once back in the room, it was time for the great disrobing! Let me tell you, nothing is sexier than an 8-inch button-down smock without sleeves and a bed sheet to cover your butt! My nurse practitioner came in to introduce herself and she was uber-sweet. I immediately liked her. She congratulated us and shared a LOT of information with us. She talked for almost 30 minutes about our testing options. Although I was grateful, we'd already made our decision about testing and...I will still dressed in less than my favorite attire.
Eventually, we got into the exam part. When she felt my abdomne, she immediately asked if I had to pee. I thought, "WTF?" I told her no and she said that since she could actually feel my uterus pretty well from the outside, we could try to listen for the heartbeat, but that we shouldn't panic because it's still early and the baby is pretty tiny and hard to locate. She pulled the microphone out and started moving it around a bit. Aaron claims that I "sounded like one of those spit suckers at the dentist." That is kind of what it sounded like when she was moving it around. A few times she piped up to say, "That's you," when she found a heartbeat. It sounded exactly like the bear my sister Kira had when she was a baby that had the maternal heartbeat sound.
Then suddenly came, "That's your baby." OMG OMG OMG THERE'S A KID IN THERE! I started to tear up as I listened and I kind of giggled. Then the baby moved away, so the nurse tried to chase him/her around and found our little angel again. He/She had a very strong heartbeat (I can't recall if it was 140 or 160 beats per minutes, because I was all choked up). The nurse said that since we could hear it, it was a very good sign that things were going great and said that while something could happen, it was unlikely, so we're safe to tell people. I can still hardly believe I heard my little angel's heart beating. It's incredible! It's shocking! It's amazing!
The rest of the exam was a blur. They could have drained another pint of blood from me and I probably wouldn't have cared a bit! I was happy that Aaron was there with me to hear it too. We scheduled our next three appointments (ultrasound in May) and walked out a happy family of three, even though Lil Peanut is currently invisible. I am beyond excited! I don't want to do homework, or clean, or accomplish anything that resembles productivity at the moment. I told my buddies (yay Luther chicas!) and will shortly be calling Dad/Grandpa to let him know! Mom will find out tomorrow when she's in town! I literally could walk into my backyard and scream it out for everyone to hear!
"THERE'S A KID IN MY BELLY!"
No comments:
Post a Comment