Reassurance
I caved yesterday and called my OB’s office for a doppler appointment today. My ability to manage my anxiety lasts just about a week, and then it starts to get the best of me.
The heartrate was a strong 153, and there were lots of kicks and karate-punches being thrown in the background, judging from all the static we were hearing. My OB held the wand perfectly still to demonstrate how active wee-beastie was this morning; I was impressed that I could not feel a thing.
My ultra-screen results were fantastic: I bottomed the odds out at <10,000 odds for trisomy 18 and 21. The combination of bloodwork and the ultrasound are over 90% accurate, so this is very good news. The only other screening test (aside from the routine ones like glucose) is an AF protein test at the end of the second trimester. I am not going to do an amnio as my risks for complications far outweigh my risks of any abnormality.
My OB is okay with me getting a home doppler, as long as I promised not to obsess over the details. She thought it might ease my anxiety, and that is always a good thing. My thyroid is also behaving, so all the bone-crushing fatigue was just pregnancy and the fact that I was subsisting on a spectacularly crappy diet.
I have felt cramping off and on, and she is quite sure it is just things stretching. I can just barely feel my uterus above my pubic bone, although I look like I have a pronounced tummy as I have a bulge right at belly-button level.
My next OB appointment is a week from Friday, and then we get to schedule the 18-20 week anatomy scan, or what I am now going to refer to as the “he-beastie or she-beastie scan de luxe.”
Farah replied:
your ob is so good to you! Good luck on the “he-beastie or she-beastie scan de luxe.”
January 22, 2008 at 2:43 pm. Permalink.
Ashley Bass replied:
I am glad your OB is so great with letting you come in when your getting worried! I can imagine your really looking forward to the anatomny scan. I had mine today and it was just amazing. As for the round cramping, I have had alot since day 1. My Ob has assured me it is just round ligament pain. It seems to be worse during a growth spurt.
January 22, 2008 at 4:27 pm. Permalink.
Wendy replied:
I too am glad that your OB is letting you come in for doppler checks. Go ahead and get one yourself. I had one and loved it!
Wendy
January 22, 2008 at 6:21 pm. Permalink.
babystep replied:
Yay, I am SO Happy for you, and the results are fantastical!
January 23, 2008 at 8:27 pm. Permalink.
Pili replied:
Anything to reassure yourself when the anxiety rises, that’s what I say. Of course, it could become one of those electronic addictions that’s harder to break than say - checking email and blogs, or Tetris.
How is it going back to classes? Thank God the nausea has subsisted. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to concentrate, and be so on stage when your insides are all churning uncomfortably.
January 24, 2008 at 11:53 am. Permalink.
ali replied:
Congrats - it sounds like things are very, very good!
January 26, 2008 at 9:34 am. Permalink.