Wednesday, August 18, 2010

"This is going to be fun!"

 Yesterday we had our first OB appointment!

As soon as I arrived, the receptionist sent me down the hall to pee into a cup for a urine sample. When I re-entered the office with the cup and asked where to put it the receptionist said, "Just keep it with you and bring it with you when you get called in." Ha ha, slightly embarrassing way of doing things,  I wished I had known I was going to have to hold it with me so I could have wrapped toilet paper around it like I noticed the other pregnant women had done. Too late for that, I sat in the waiting room with my little bottle of pee beside my foot until I was called in, about 45 minutes later!

Once they called my name the nurse weighed me, I've gained 5kgs so far, then a med student came in to do a history. We had a good laugh when she asked if we had done genetic testing and Darren asked "Are you asking us if we got tested to see if we are related?" She went out of the room to get something and she said that the doctor had heard us laughing and she wondered how we were having so much fun in there. Dr. Ekwalanga arrived shortly after and we were surprised to discover that she was a Caucasian woman, her name sounds so African!

She asked a few questions, checked LT's heartbeat with the doppler (a little tricky with him moving around like crazy in there!) and then gave me lots of important information. She decided that we will stick to the December 19th due date instead of the ultrasound due date of December 23rd because I was sure that March 13th was the first day of my last period. She explained that she works on a team of 12 doctors so I have a 1/12 chance of having her deliver the baby. She said that I have concerns about the baby's health I should go right away to the Labour & Delivery Dept. at Peter Lougheed to get checked out.

I asked her about flying to Paulette's wedding and she said that she thought I should go. She said that there is nothing written in fact that makes flying something to be concerned about and that the biggest risk associated with flying is the risk of the mother getting a blood clot. She said that it is important to walk around at least once every hour during the flight and she reassured me that if there are any big issues that happen during the flight, the pilot could make an emergency landing at another Canadian city. Sweet, I can go to Paulette's wedding!!!

At the end of the day I had no reason to worry, it was a really positive first meeting. The doctor shook hands with us on the way out, saying it was nice to meet us and that "this is going to be fun!" Darren and I both left her office saying "I really like her! Hope she is there to deliver LT!"

3 comments:

Krista said...

One way to avoid the pee situation, is to take a pee cup home with you, to fill the morning before the next appointment. Tuck it into your purse (ziploc bag just for safety, nobody wants a pee purse!)

Tarren said...

Hmm, that's a great idea! Never thought of that.

Danielle said...

Dec 19th sounds right to me too. I was due on Dec 14th and my last period was March 9th. Hope everything is still going well.