First Offical Doctor's Appointment

Yesterday I saw the midwife at Meridan's Women's Health and had the big, long informational visit.  She didn't seem scared about my family history, so that's good.  Apparently they are more concerned with a family history of Down's Syndrome, immunodeficiency diseases, and birth defects than they are with large amount of cancer in my family. They also did not chastise me for being an "obese mother," which I was freaking out about, so all in all it was pretty good.


During the exam, she said everything looks great and I am actually closer to nine weeks than eight, like I originally thought.  She also gave me a new due date of August 28th instead of September 5th.


It's really weird though, because I am feeling really down in the dumps today.  I had really thought they would do SOMETHING to be sure my baby was in there growing ... I knew I might not be able to hear a heartbeat yet, but practically every mother I have talked to in the past few weeks has said they got an early ultrasound.  So why didn't I?  


They also said I won't be getting my first ultrasound until 19-20 weeks!! That seems late to me.  And, of course, when I made my next appointment for the middle of February, I didn't have the presence of mind to ask if they will be looking for a heartbeat that day.  And now I am afraid to call and ask.  But I would really like to know, because if they ARE, Jeremy wants to be there, and it would have to be moved to a Friday.  And if they AREN'T, then I need to find a way to explain that I NEED that to happen.


Yes, I know the solution to this is all very simple:  CALL THE PLACE. But, if you know me well, you know my struggles with anxiety and panic (which I really don't have the time, energy, or space to explain here), and you know that a simple phone call like that can reduce me to tears.  Believe me.  I have been hung up on a lot.  Years ago, I couldn't even order a pizza.  Thankfully, I can do so now.  Otherwise, I might have wasted away to nothing by now! :)


Anyway, I am feeling sad and like it still isn't real, but I do love the midwife I met with yesterday.  When I told her about the nausea, she gave me a prescription (love her!), but she also said, "Oh, honey, I know right now you are thinking 'I did NOT sign up for this!' but soon you will be loving this pregnancy!"  


When she asked me if I had any travel plans for the rest of the pregnancy, I told her about my dad's big banquet in Detroit at the end of August that is bigger than his wedding, my wedding, and the birth of Jesus combined and he needed me there, she said, "Well, stop by the day of the banquet, and we'll give you your file.  They have lovely hospitals in Detroit."  So I bet my dad will be happy to hear that. :)


My mom said I need to write more about how I'm happy to be pregnant. Let me direct you here and here.  Yes, I am ECSTATIC to be having a child.  But, unfortunately, right now I am not too excited with my personal pregnancy.  But that doesn't mean I am not still grateful and excited, and I have high hopes that I will be happy soon.  So, here's to hoping!!

December 23rd

December 23rd I woke up nice and early so I could make the 2-hour drive to the doctor's office to get and official thumbs up on being pregnant.  Yes, there are plenty of doctors in Lansing who could have told me the same thing, but I had an appointment scheduled for the beginning of January anyway, so I figured I could combine the two into one.


I got to Yale 20 minutes early and they called me back right away!  I was so excited, I was trembling.  Which was bad, because then the nurse told me it was time for the pregnancy test!!  I set the cup on the counter and stared at it a long time, willing myself to still be pregnant.  It was weird, because even though I had already gotten a positive test at home, I was terrified that it was gone and I wasn't pregnant anymore.


I sat and waited for the doctor, and even though it only took about three minutes, it felt like an hour.  My doctor walked in and said, "Well, Veronica, it looks like congratulations are in order!"   It took a minute to sink in.  I asked her, "So does that mean I am actually pregnant?  Like, for real?"  She laughed and told me I was.  I shrieked, and the doctor laughed.


From there, it was a whirlwind.  She kept asking me if I had any questions, but the big one I had was not a medical question at all.  The night before, Jeremy asked me if I thought we should tell everyone at Christmas or wait.  I was shocked, because he seemed REALLY excited to tell everyone, and usually I am the one who can't keep a secret!  He told me maybe we should ask the doctor if it was stupid to tell people this early, so I did.  She told me exactly what I had been thinking: the worst case scenario is we tell people and then lose the baby, but if we would want our friends and family to be support during that time in our lives, then why not tell them early?  It was like a weight was taken off my shoulders.


She listened to my breathing and felt my abdomen and all that, and then said she needed to order a test and to stay put.  I called Jeremy at work immediately to tell him that I wasn't imagining things and we were actually pregnant.  We were so excited!  The doctor came back in while I was still on the phone, and I immediately dropped it like I was a kid getting caught on her cell phone in class, but she just smiled and told me to stay on the phone and stepped back out.


I had a quick test run, all was well, then I got a prescription for prenatal vitamins, paid the bill and checked out.  I immediately called Jeremy again and we couldn't stop talking.  We decided we needed to come up with a fun way to tell everyone at Christmas, and I only had the rest of the day to accomplish it!  Then another call beeped in.  It was the doctor's office!  I freaked out and hung up on Jeremy.  They must be calling me to tell me there was an error.  There was another lady in there that day and SHE was the one who was pregnant, not me.  


It turns out I left my book in the exam room.  Oops.  When I walked back into the doctor's office, the elderly man who had been sitting next to me in the waiting room pointed at me, laughed, and said, "You forgot something!"  I laughed and got my book, and then he said, "It's okay.  We all do it!"


I had told my mom I would be in town briefly that morning, so I stopped over at the house.  I had no idea how I was going to keep my secret.  I felt like bursting!  When I got to the house, only my dad was there.  I was STARVING (come on, I'm growing a BABY!), but he wanted to sit and talk. Eventually, I stood up and physically dragged him out of his recliner, telling him we were going to get me a Greek Chicken Salad at the Yale Family Diner, pronto.


Later, my mom came home, and I still managed to keep my secret, but I skedaddled out of there as soon as possible so I could get my vitamins, plan the reveal, and keep my mouth shut!


Next up, I got to drive home to Lansing and go to Meijer to get some free prenatal vitamins and buy a fish oil supplement to get enough DHA for the baby.

I never thought I would be so excited to get a prescription!

After dropping off my prescription, I started wandering around the store, counting the seconds.  This was when the idea for the t-shirt hit me, and I ran around the store looking for fabric paints.  I circled those craft aisles for five minutes before I found them, and I was starting to panic!  After that, I had to find a plain white t-shirt that would be long enough for my freakishly long torso.  That was even more of a struggle, because the place was PACKED with people getting all their last minute presents.  

I finally found a shirt and went to get my prescription.  And they couldn't find it.  I started panicking again.  I felt like shouting, "I don't care whose name is on the outside, I need vitamins for my baby!!" but, thankfully I kept my cool and they found them after 5 minutes of rushing around.

THEN I had to go get in line to buy the shirt and paints.  Every single lane was open, and the shortest line was 20 people deep.  I really didn't think I was going to make it out of there alive!  Spoiler alert: I made it out alive, but I was a bit disgruntled.  

When I got back to the car, I immediately opened up all of my new pills to take a look.  The doctor had warned me that there were a variety of fish oils I could buy, and the only difference between the cheap and expensive was that the cheap ones tasted a little ... fishy.  I thought Jeremy would be proud of me if I could be stingy, so I got the best deal possible.  I grabbed my water bottle and downed the fish oil ... and learned that the doctor was SO RIGHT.

Very attractive.

After I got done tasting the fishiest fish oil on the planet, I had to head to the Meridian Mall to try to find the rest of the reveal: grandma and great-grandma frames.  

Like Meijer, the place was PACKED with people scrambling for last minute stuff.  Two hours later, I had FINALLY found everything I needed at Hallmark, and I walked up to the register like a zombie.  The nice lady rang me up, and I went to grab my wallet ... and realized it was on the front seat of my car and not in my purse.  And my car was parked approximately 2.8 miles away.  I apologized, dashed off, got it, dashed back, and ran into the store panting and disheveled.  It literally took me 15 minutes to complete this dash.  When I walked back into the store, a different employee (not the woman who originally rang me up) took one look at me and turned around to grab my stuff and continue ringing me up.  It must have been pretty obvious who I was!  I tried to imagine the lady: "If a disheveled woman comes running in, it is the lady who didn't bring her wallet with her to BUY things.  In a store."

I finally got out of the mall and drove home through the holiday traffic.  The 5 miles took 20 minutes.  I got home, walked the dog, and collapsed on the couch, which is where Jeremy found me when he got home from work 5 minutes later.

That night we got to have our own little special Christmas, but it was really weird (for me, anyway) to be opening presents that we had bought for each other before we knew we had a little one coming.  It seemed like a world ago that I bought Jeremy those presents.  And I felt a little guilty.  Jeremy shouldn't have bought me these presents!!  We should be spending money on practical things for the baby!!  All the same, the gift exchange was great, and then ...


I had shirts to paint ...

photo albums to wrap ...

and a frame to wrap.

Coming up next:  the big reveals!