tidbits2

30 April 2001

I know that I haven't been keeping this updated very well, and I apologize! Things are crazy around here, not to mention the fact that I am a scatterbrain!

Baby business! We found out on April 9th that we are having a baby boy! We saw him on the ultrasound and he appears very healthy and strong! According to the ultra-sound he should appear around August 13th, but my OB is keeping the date at August 18th.

He has been a very, very active little guy. Constantly moving and kicking around. Reminds me of a line from the movie "Billy Madison": "Feel those kicks, he's gonna be a soccer playah! He is...he is!"

Things have been going well. Fatigue is back and it's getting hard to get comfortable enough to sleep at night. I am also really starting to show...hopefully I can post a picture up soon!

Luke has been wonderfully supportive through all my horrible mood swings and the times when I cry for no reason at all. He's also going to be a great daddy. And he's very excited to have a son.

We have another appointment on May 2nd, so I'll try to add another update then.

Thursday, January 11, 2001

This has been, without a doubt, the scariest time for us. Luke went to work and I was at home working on the computer. I felt absolutely fine until I went to the bathroom and saw that I was bleeding.

As anyone probably would have, I freaked. But I didn't know if this bleeding was worthy of an ER trip or not. So, I called my trusty OB Nurse and best friend Jolene, and she recommended seeing a doctor ASAP.

So begins my saga with Tricare, Tinker AFB doctors and the ER. I called Luke at work and he came home. In the meantime I spent almost an hour on the phone telling my story to 3 different nurses and a very big jerk of an on-call doctor at Tinker. All the nurses suggested going to the ER now. But this is what the Tinker doctor told me:
"Well, not to sound crass, BUT if you are only 10 weeks pregnant and miscarrying; there's really nothing anyone can do to prevent it or stop it. It's okay to be concerned but I would just make an appointment with Tinker's GYN Clinic in the morning." This man....I have no words for how upset he made me! He wasn't going to give me authorization to go offbase! (Something we have to do here because Tinker has no ER Services.) Needless to say, I got my authorization.

After getting to the ER and waiting for 3 hours to be noticed, I was finally seen. I had blood taken, lots and lots of it. And was given a pelvic exam. The bleeding had stopped by now, but the doctor was concerned of the source, so he ordered an ultrasound. At 4:14 a.m. on January 11, 2001 we got to see our baby for the very first time.

Its heartbeat was 177 beats/minute, which we were assured was normal. And everything looked great according to the doctor. They confirmed that as of then I was 9 weeks pregnant. No, we don't know what sex it is - it's much too early to tell!! We really couldn't see much of the baby because it's back was to us, and the Radiologist couldn't get him/her to roll over. So basically she/he was mooning us! Luke says it looks like a walnut. (So now all my friends at work call me Mamma Squirrel.)

The whole experience just made me very upset and I have some very strong feelings about certain people who were involved! Thankfully all that has been taken care of!! Everything is okay and we are very relieved!

Tuesday, January 16, 2001

Today I went for my first doctor's appointment. We have chosen to have the baby at Renaissance Women's Hospital. A friend of mine had her baby there and really enjoyed the staff there and had a good experience overall.

Today's appointment was pretty much all paperwork and lab work. I met my doctor's nurse and gave my complete family history. She answered some questions I had about my allergies and then sent me to the lab.

There I got poked in the arm with sharp metal objects once again and got the joy of sharing my pee with others. (Hey if I have to do it - you have to know about it. This is going to be like The Learning Channel!) As of today I am 10 weeks and 1 day pregnant. My due date according to Renaissance is August 13, 2001.

Everything turned out great and my first OB appointment in February 7th!