First OB Appointment

Something about having my first OB appointment yesterday seems to have flipped a switch in me.  Suddenly, I actually believe that I am PREGNANT!  I’m even tempted to put it on Facebook (I’m not that crazy, but we have roughly doubled the number of people who know).

 

Part of my excitement is because of the 10 week milestone.  While it’s not as big as the one that I’ll hit in a few weeks, a lot of things that I’ve read point out that 10 weeks is when the baby makes the jump from embryo to fetus, and risks go down significantly.  My odds of miscarriage, it seems, are now down to about 2-3% – still greater than the .5% risk after the first trimester is over, but pretty small.

 

But I think mostly, it was the OB appointment itself that made me feel so good.  The doctor I saw is part of the same practice that my other wonderful doctor (who is now on maternity leave) is part of.  I liked this doctor as much as my previous one – she was funny and energetic, and she has a set of IVF twins so immediately understood how I was feeling and answered a lot of my questions before I asked them.

 

Aside:  Fun moment from the exam room…. I’m sitting on the edge of the table in the very warm, very small room waiting for the doctor to walk in, when I’m suddenly hit by one of my most awkward pregnancy symptoms: incredibly stinky gas. I turn to Henry and whisper, “I really have to fart so the doctor is probably going to walk in right…” And then the door opens. Having an exam while clenching is NOT FUN, but I managed to save us all from the misery of my pregnant gas.

 

But the very best thing was that she treated me like I was a boring, low-risk patient.  She didn’t even take an exact reading of the babies’ heart rates – she eyeballed them, said they looked good, and that was that.  She quickly measured the babies, and when I mentioned my concern about the small sac, she looked at it, said it seemed fine, and moved on.  She checked my cervix and felt my uterus, declared all was as it should be, and I was on my way out the door with a bag full of vitamin samples.

 

Yes, eventually I’d like to get to spend a little more time with the doctor, ask lots of questions, get all of my measurements, etc.  But after spending the last ten weeks getting way too much information at the fertility center, it was such a relief to walk out of a doctor’s office with absolutely nothing to worry about or Google.

 

Oh, and the very best thing (besides, of course, my healthy babies!)?  I was cleared to stop taking my estrogen and progesterone supplements!  There are no words for how wonderful it feels to walk around without the progesterone suppository slowly leaking out of my vagina; I am panty liner-free and it is AWESOME.  Henry had better watch out – between stress and my less-than-fresh-down-there feeling, I haven’t been much in the mood for husband and wife special snuggle time (no, we don’t really call it that).  With no worries and clean lady parts, that might be changing soon!