It�s official � the baby is now a fetus. WOW!! The size of a strawberry. I am now having some difficulty going to the bathroom on a regular schedule. All of a sudden, I gotta go and RUN to the bathroom. I�m hungry this week for pasta, no meat. And of course fried eggs. Can�t get enough it eggs.
Thursday, Feb. 10th
Our first visit at the doctors. Well ,it was with the prenatal nurse. Our appointment was for 9:30am and we got in at 10am and it lasted forever! (until 11:20am). We got so much information it was ridiculous. The nurse, Teddy, started out asking each of us about our family history. It was quite funny since almost every question we answered �Her mom� (that�s my mother). She went through all concerns regarding weight, nutrition, exercise, delivery, etc. Karl asked so great questions and she helped answer a lot (Is it okay for Lulu to have chocolate? How about soda?). The answer was always in modification. We learned about the hospital, different childbirth classes, and got a bag full of sample prenatal vitamins as well as tons of reading materials. To end, she directed both of us to get blood tests done � for me the first of a series of blood tests that I will have to endure as a pregnant woman. For Karl, to see if he�s positive for CF. You should have seen his face when he was told that he also needed to do some blood work. Then it was done. Our first meeting. Our next appointment will be with our doctor, Dr. McCracken on Feb. 25th. Cant� wait. One thing the nurse did told us that she figured our due date is aug. 15th, not Sept. 6th. She figures that date from the start of my last menstrual period, but we figured out exactly what night and date we �conceived� which was Feb. 21st so we�re going with the later date. Either way the baby will come when it�s good and ready � hopefully later so I can get through training and opening weekend here at work.
Tuesday, Feb. 15th
This morning we had enough time to go get our blood tests at LabCorp. Those types of lab work isn�t done at the doctors but at a different location. We have a lab right on Main St. near the school so we went early in the morning with little food in our stomachs. Karl was getting blood withdrawn for CF testing, and I was getting blood withdrawn for the first series of blood work (Hep B, HIV, CF, Rubella, HGB, etc.) So much that they have to test me for. It took us about half hour to get in. For me there were about 10 tubes of sample blood they took as well as an urine sample. Fun!!! So I come out of the bathroom expecting to see Karl done too but I couldn�t find him � where was he? I looked around and found him almost passed out (he says he got queasy) sitting at where they drawn his blood and the man helping him with giving him water. He looked so pale and helpless. Poor guy!!! He had to get poked twice since the man couldn�t find Karl�s veins at first. I just stated laughing � o boy!!! Are we in for a ride at the delivery! Karl finally got some color to his face and we left. I treated Karl to a breakfast at Newark Deli and Bagels before I had to head to work. My poor husband � he worked himself up too much thinking about the needle and the blood being taken out of his body that he got �queasy�. We�re going to have to work on this if he�s going to survive the delivery of the baby.
Friday, Feb. 25th, 2005
We had gotten information regarding a Preclampsia Study being done at Christiana Hospital and thought it would be great to participant. The study involves taking Vitamin A and E or placebos (whatever they given us) and testing my blood throughout the pregnancy to see if I do develop preclampsia. Their theory is that higher doses of Vitamin A and E can prevent preclampsia, which develops into taxamia. (I�m learning a lot of new medical terms everyday). As part of this study, they do an ultrasound so we went to the hospital early this morning at 7am (way too early) to do it. There is a Women�s center at the hospital which is where I would be delivering the baby at so it was good to start seeing the place. We arrived on time and got all set up for the ultrasound. There was a television hanging from the ceiling so Karl and I can watch the whole thing. I felt like we were in a movie theatre nada ked the doctor where�s the popcorn. He didn�t laugh (too early in the morning). Next thing we knew we had surround sound of the baby�s heartbeat (throm, throm, throm, throm, throm). Very fast � 150 bets. Excellent!! IT was amazing to hear the baby,,�. And then we saw s/he. Floating around in the placenta. The doctor (a high-risk pregnancy doctor who�s heading up the study) confirmed our due date (sept .4th) and looked around to see how the baby was developing. PERFECT!!! He got the baby to wake up (s/he was sleeping) and then� we saw it kick and curl up more and kick and move around. I started laughing. We just couldn�t� believe it. The doctor then took so pictures. It�s amazing how in four short weeks how quick the baby develops. Then it was over. I swear they need to make a video of ultrasounds so you can take it home with you because it would be on our top 1 hit list. After the ultrasound, we finished up with paperwork and headed out to see our ob/gym doctor, to our first appointment with her at 8am.
Dr. McCracken then arrived. She is very personable, answered all of our questions, was so easy to talk to, and spent good time with us. She gave me an exam, and Karl kept asking his questions. She explained how many babies she has delivered (hundreds), years in practice (10 years), c-sections, reasons why she does this job, etc. She was so good with our questions. She told us that she wanted us to do some genetic counseling due to family medical histories on both of our sides, just as a pre-caution and explain how often we would see her. We will do that at our type II ultrasound at week 20. we set up our next appointment in four weeks and left.
I am now starting to show. My thunder thighs have returned and clothes are starting to get tight. I�m still very hungry but not so tired at the end of the day. I�m very happy and lucky � my friend Keri called me and told me she just miscarriage this week which saddened me. You just never know how your body will handle a pregnancy and how it will all go. So far very good for Lukaland belly.