Like An Olympic Athlete

Today, Mark and I went to our first "real" OB appointment. This appointment went far better that my previous appointment for several reasons.

I had my first visit with the doctor to confirm my pregnancy at ten weeks. Among other things, she tried to listen for the baby's heartbeat, unsuccessfully. The doc said that I had a retro-something uterus, which made the baby difficult to hear at this point. A retro uterus? I kept picturing it with an afro and bell bottoms and smoking a doobie.

I have never been much of a fan of needles. The rational part of me knows that it's no big deal, but something in my subconscious makes extreme anxiety about needles protruding from my body occasionally prevail. Unfortunately, this was one of those times. I really don't have much of a recollection of the incident. I just remember feeling a prick in my arm, and I glanced over and got a short glimpse of blood. I began feeling all hot and my hearing seemed muffled. Why are these lights so bright? I thought, so I closed my eyes. The last words I remember hearing were "She's going down!" from one of the nurses, and the next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground with my feet up on a chair. Of course, I was wearing a dress and thongs so my bare ass was hanging out like I was open for business. I suppose if you're going to flash strangers, an OB/GYN office is the least offensive place to do it.

This time, the visit was much more productive. As usual, a nurse checked my weight and blood pressure first thing. After taking one look at me, she exclaimed, "Oh, I remember you!" Yep, I now have a reputation at the office as that fainting girl.

Much to my excitement, the doctor was able to find the baby's heartbeat the moment she placed the doppler on my abdomen. The fetal heartbeat was 160, which according to an old wives' tale a faster heartbeat means girl?? We were given a due date of November 26th, the day after Thanksgiving. At this point I am nearly through the first trimester. Once the doctor was through, the lab technician came in to take another blood sample. She informed me that from now on I should be laying down when I have blood drawn. Finally, Mark has medical professionals that will confirm what he has said all along...I'm high-maintenance.