DH took the day off and used the morning to go get his yearly checkup done. The doctor's office took their sweet time and made him wait for a couple hours, and he barely got home in time for us to leave for my appointment. But we made it on time (and managed to stop at Panera for some cinnamon crunch bagels for lunch) and checked in at the doctor's office. The nurse took my blood pressure and temperature, and then a couple other nurses came in to record my family medical history and let me know a little more about what to expect and how the whole midwife experience works at Vanderbilt. I'm going to be part of a program called "Centering", which means I'll be meeting for a few weeks with other women due in September and taking group classes, etc. I'm looking forward to it!
The midwife came in, and I really liked her a lot. We chatted about baby-related things, and then she had me lay down on the little table. She whipped out the Doppler and said, "We might not be able to hear anything yet, but what's the fun in not trying, right?" It took her a minute to find it, but there it was! What a relief.
After that, they sent me over to the ultrasound department, and they got me back to a room super quickly, which was great. She told me it was going to be an "internal" (ahem) ultrasound, but I balked and she said we could try the transabdominal instead. (I'm glad I said something, because we could see everything juuuust fine.) The tech turned off the lights, and DH and I had our own tv screen to watch everything on. There was baby, laying still but the little heart very visible and beating. I was a little bummed that s/he wasn't moving around, but then all of a sudden s/he startled and threw those tiny little arms in the air, and started arching that back and wiggling the legs. I burst into tears at the sheer awesomeness of it. It was so crazy, seeing this baby move and not being able to feel a bit of it. The tech said everything looks perfect. Showed us the feet with the little ankles crossed, and baby gave us a great show. She moved my due date to September 19th instead of the 21st because instead of measuring 10w5d, baby was at 11w2d. Cool! She printed up three pictures for us and sent us down to the lab for my bloodwork.
I was really anxious about the bloodwork because last time I had a draw, it went really poorly. The phlebotomist was very reassuring and told me it'd all be fine. She tied off my arm, and I just looked away because if I don't see it, it won't make me sick. It didn't take long before it was done, and I looked over as she had me hold gauze on the hole. Eight vials of blood! I was surprised. Never had that much drawn before. She said it's standard for them to draw a lot from pregnant ladies because of all the tests they'll run. She got me some apple juice and graham crackers and congratulated us, and we were done for the day. It was truly a great experience, although I am really bruised from the draw. Totally worth it.
So the baby that looked like a bean last time, actually looks like a baby now! Here's our most recent picture of Baby K, waving hi. :)
We are super blessed. Couldn't have asked for a better experience. And most importantly, this baby is healthy and OURS. God is good.
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