I have some information on this little life I am carrying. Some info is better than none right?
I was not too impressed with my appointment once again. When I got there with my exceedingly full bladder I was told to give a urine sample. I asked the nurse if I should wait until after my ultrasound to do that and she said.
“Oh we don’t have you on the schedule today for an ultrasound” Cue freak out. I told her that the doctor definitely told me that we would be getting one this time. She said she would talk to the doctor and find out but that I should go ahead and give my sample.
I was upset but I did as I was told. I forced by body to release just a small amount of pee into the little jar and then stop and hold it. My body was not happy about this. Now I had to pee more than ever. But I was determined to see my baby.
I sat through the nurses questions, and then the residents questions. And then finally I was able to see the doctor. We discussed our options as far as testing goes and decided that we do want to do the fetal dna from maternal blood test at 10 weeks. So I will be going in next Tuesday to give a little blood and hopefully from that we will know if we have any chromosomal issues.
Finally she said “I know you want to see your little one so lets go have a look on our spare machine” HALLELUJAH! Wait? Spare Machine?
She did the ultrasound. She did find baby right away but she mostly just got shots of my excessively large black hole of a bladder. It was obvious that she did not routinely perform ultrasounds. She showed us the face and we saw the flicker of a heartbeat. I was relieved.
Cloudy asked if we could hear the heartbeat and she informed us that she didn’t know how to turn the sound on on this machine. Awesome, well can you tell us the rate? “Oh it’s about 140 to 150 just perfect” Sure, yeah did you count that? And which is it because there is a big difference between 140 and 150 and are you just trying to placate me?
Long story to say that we are having a baby and it does have a beating heart. We did see it squirm around and wave it’s little arm nubbens which was pretty darn cool. But we don’t know the heart rate, we don’t know if it is measuring on schedule for our dating. And the picture was crappy at best. I guess we’ll take it?
I don’t think we will get another ultrasound before 20 weeks unless we demand it. Should I do that?
I am trying not to be disappointed, I am pregnant, and the baby is alive today!
You can see my silly iPhone capture of our ultrasound picture on my new pictures page if you are interested.
befriending my ovaries 
Demand away. I am all for the demanding. I am sorry it was not as thorough as you had hoped but it all sounds very positive to me. Congratulations again sweetie.
Thank you. What we did see was very positive. I have to keep reminding myself that women give birth to healthy babies without any ultrasounds all the time.
OMG yay!!! Such great news. I have been thinking about you all day. Is the blood test that you are getting the Materni21? If I were you I would ask for the NT scan at 12-13 weeks. I think that you definitely are owed another one based on your history. I am so glad that things went well today though and that you have a happy little baby in there. The picture is so cute!! I had full bladder issues yesterday. I would go pee and then it would just fill right back up again. I guess that is what I get for drinking so much water. 🙂
Thank you. It was sweet and a relief to see the baby moving around in there. That is the test I am doing. I think maybe Materni21 is a brand though? And I’m not going through their lab specifically but one in a city closer to us. Same concept though.
Yeah that is a let down. It’s like you got a second class ultrasound. That’s so lame. It doesn’t make ANY sense to me at all. GET ANOTHER ONE!
But hey, congrats on the healthy baby so far 🙂 I am sure there is some relief there! woohoo!
Thank you. Lot’s of relief. I am going to talk to them about getting one around 13-14 weeks.
A beating heartbeat and squirmy baby is AWESOME. Congrats!!
Also, as for the u/s, I demanded a 2nd one, but be careful – insurance usually only covers two (usually the 12w “is a baby there” and 20w “measure everything” ones), so if they bill you for this 1st one (which sounds like it was a b.s. u/s – I’d call their billing company TOMORROW before they bill you for it), make sure an “extra” one will be covered, or you’ll be shelling out $200-400 for an extra one.
That is a really good point. I should call them right now. Thank you.
Very exciting!
How exciting! I’m disappointed in your dr’s office though! Bah! I know most people wait quite a while for private 3d/4d ultrasounds but that might be an option for you now (or in a couple of weeks?) if you’re not going to get another scan until 20 weeks. Just something to look into.
That is a really good idea too. I will look into that. Thank you. See, this is why I put my problems on the internet. There is so much good help out here 🙂
What a relief having seen that he/she is there! Very exciting.
I’m disappointed in your Dr’s office though, since they know your history. One would think caring for their patients is important. Glad you got the tests down in the calender at least. But no measurements? Sounds strange to me.
Yeah I thought it was weird.
Baby! Heartbeat!! Congratulations, I am thrilled for you!
As for the rest … uhh … is there another doc in town? ‘Coz one who knows how to (1) wield the wand (2) measure the heartbeat and (3) take a measurement seems kinda essential to me.
Have you thought about the MaterniT21 test? I’ve been hearing a lot about it and would like to do it myself, if it’s available here.
I don’t think there is another practice in town to be honest. It makes me want to move back where we were, screw Cloudy’s new job!
The test we are having done is the same as the MaterniT21 test. We aren’t using that specific lab though so I don’t think that is what they are calling it. Same process and hopefully equal quality results though. The good part is I just have to have this doctor draw the blood and send it in. I don’t have to rely on her actually analyzing it. Which is a big relief after seeing her with that wand yesterday 🙂
What about a 12 week NT scan? They will test for different syndroms and you should get a good ultrasound with measuring and all that. This wasn’t the 12 week was it?! This ultrasound is pretty routien, so you should be able to get it covered.