Baby K

When we found out: January 2nd, 2014

I knew I was pregnant because I am pretty well in tune with my cycles.  Having pretty normal cycles helped and so did temping.  Temping is where you take your temperature the same time every morning to see if you are ovulating.  I've become an expert temper the last year and to be honest, I was getting really frustrated late December and early January with temping.  Once you ovulate, your temperature remains high the entire time if you are pregnant or it drops once your period comes.  It's very helpful, but also can be very frustrating.  I was so frustrated, that I stopped temping for almost a week before I found out I was pregnant because I kept over analyzing those temperatures.  

We were of course ecstatic! The fear and worries set in right away though because of my thought of another miscarriage.  The last miscarriage absolutely devastated me and to be pregnant again was a blessing.  I gave up caffeine pretty much right away.  I had been swaying away from caffeine those last couple of weeks around Christmas and once I got that positive, I was done with it.  I know you can have up to 200 milligrams of caffeine a day, but I'd rather not take the chance.  

We called the doctor that day so that we could get going on blood draws.  My doctor was very pro-active in getting these done and it helped ease my mind once I got my numbers.  My first blood draw was on Friday the 3rd and we would have the results on Monday the 6th.  Well a HUGE snow storm came through and pretty much shut down all of St Louis, so I had to wait an extra day for my numbers.  First numbers came back good, 127 and 27 (HCG an Progesterone).

My second draw was on Wednesday the 8th and it was an absolute HORRIBLE experience at the clinic, with me bawling in the waiting room.  A story for another day. The numbers came back on Thursday the 9th at doubling a very good rate, 1980 and 33.9 (HCG and Progesterone).   Doctor then decided to schedule for an ultrasound on Wednesday the 15th to see how things were progressing.  We went in and all they saw was a yolk sak and nothing else.  We were already super nervous as it was going in for an ultrasound and to just see a yolk sak shook me up pretty good.  They suggested that I come a week later to see if things were progressing.  Andy had to work out of office several days that next week, so we decided on a two week wait for another ultrasound.  14 long days go by and we finally have our appointment on the 29th of January.  The ultrasound tech was amazing and even remembered us from 2 weeks ago.  At the start of the scan she right away saw the heart beating without having to search.  10 minutes later we had photos of our baby.  This time the ultrasound photos were fantastic!!  You could even see where the brain was starting to grow. The heartbeat was 154 beats per minute, which is great too!

We then met with the doctor who was pleased and we set my expected due date of September 11th, 2014.  I was due back in another 4 weeks for my 12 week appointment, February 26th.  

At the 12 week appointment, I was so scared to go too.  I went and picked Andy up at work (we carpooled that morning) and was sick to my stomach.  All I wanted was to hear good news.  Our appointment was at 3:40 pm (really it's at 4 pm, they schedule the appointments early because so many people are always late).  We sat in our exam room for 25 more minutes (4:25pm is when she saw us) until the doctor FINALLY came in (we were really annoyed).  The doctor came in and she asked why we were there.  I knew from that moment on, that this appointment was not going to go well.  I told the doctor why I was there (apparently looking at a chart is a hard task to do) and I wasn't going anywhere without hearing the heartbeat and that's the first thing she did.  It took a minute to find it, but once she did, it was an amazing sound to hear.  I even had Andy record it for me! The doctor then took us back to her office to explain the do's and don'ts of pregnancy and what tests I will go through over the next 28 weeks if I choose too. They had to re-draw my blood for a thyroid test (not surprised, family history of thyroids stop working once you get older).  We went back to the lab and our tech was not happy to have to draw my blood (it's 4:45 pm now).  The tech, doctor and crabby nurse were scrambling to get my blood out the door because the guy who picks up the blood was waiting on them for my blood.  We then thought we were scott free to leave and then they stopped us once more to discuss billing....UGH!!!  I still don't really understand the whole billing thing in our office either. We left around 5:15 pm, my head pounding and my stomach growling.  We were not happy with being there so long and we knew we were about to sit in traffic.  

Hearing that heartbeat was definitely the best moment of that day, however; I slept AWFUL that night because I was that upset with the doctor's office.  I understood if they had an emergency, but they didn't, they just took their time, never apologized and then made me feel like I was being such an inconvenience to them.  I have decided to switch doctor's offices and possibly hospitals all together.  My doctor is great, I LOVE him and he has been nothing but wonderful to me, however; his staff in the back, NOT SO MUCH!  Now comes the awful task of finding a new doctor.....so not fun!