At my week 20 appointment we met with a different doctor. There are four doctor's in the practice so I want to be able to meet with all of them just because I don't know who will be on call when I have the baby. The minute we left Jim said he didn't like this doctor. She was nice enough, but very hasty. She was flipping through my chart saying things weren't in there when they were. Stuff like that.
The day after the ultrasound I got a call from her while I was teaching. I called back and left a message. The next time she called I wanted to make sure I got her, I was just assuming that she was calling me about my blood test results, so I kept my phone with me while I was teaching. She called back while I was in the middle of a lesson with my boys, which can be stressful as it is! She told me that my fluids were low and that they still couldn't get good pictures of the heart and that she wanted me to a high risk ultrasound. Umm, excuse me but huh??!! High risk? I had no idea what low fluids meant and she wanted me to go to a high risk ultrasound! I was freaking out!
I called my mom to see what that all meant, she just told me to call my doctor and to call and make the appointment. I kind of think she just didn't want to upset me. I called to make an appointment and called my doctor. I waited all day for calls back from both places. Finally, when I was on my way home from work Doctor Devlin called me. She said that there was nothing to worry about. She said that in the report it gave a numberical measurement, which she said was never done at this stage so she doesn't know why it was even written in, that was low but right underneath that it said that the fluids were adequate. She said the same thing about the heart pictures, that one part of the report said they were oblique but underneath that it said they were adequate! She said to not worry about anything but to still go for the ultrasound. She said it wouldn't hurt anything and they would probably just tell me that there was no reason for me to be there. I felt a lot better after talking to her.
On Thursday I got a phone call confirming my appointment for the next day at 2:15. I never made the appointment but apparently when they couldn't reach me they just scheduled me for that time. I was a little stressed out that day anyway because my assistant Fran was out and one of my kids fell and needed stitches so that phone call set me off again! I figured Fran would be back in the next day and if I left at lunch she would be ok for the rest of the afternoon by herself with the kiddies. No such luck, her son's surgey was more that expected so I had to ask Sister Theresa to get me a sub. It all worked out because they needed a sub in the morning for the part time first grade teacher so she came to my room in the afternoon. I left at lunch, went home, got Jim, and we went out to the ultrasound.
This technician was fabulous as well. She printed out a ton of pictures for us too! Anyway, after the ultrasound we had to wait for the doctor to read the pictures and then meet with us. At this point I knew nothing was wrong but waiting still was upsetting. Anyway, the doctor called us back and said everything was A-ok. She also told us that the results of the blood test. She said that with my age the chances of down syndrome were 1 in 1000, after the blood test the chances went to 1 in 5000. We were happy about that. The doctor did tell us that because of the baby's position they couldn't get good pictures of the spine. She said she knew the spine had already been cleared but that she didn't want to rely on another doctor's findings so we need to go back to the high risk unit for ultrasound number 5 after Thanksgiving! Ugg! Oh well, I get to see more pictures of my baby!
Here are pictures from ultrasound number four!
This is the baby's face.
This is the baby's profile
That week we also went out to the hospital for a class about having a baby and a dog. We were given a few good pointers such as dowloading a cd of baby noises and letting the dog here it so she gets used to those noises, walking around with a baby doll so that she sees me holding a baby, not leaving children under three alone with a dog, and keeping the baby's room off limits to the dog but make sure that there is a baby free zone too. I didn't think it was worth the $15 and the 45 minute drive but I am glad we went just for the few tips that I am going to try.
Also, on Saturday we went to register at Babies R Us. I had already began the registry on-line but I wanted to see the big things in person before I registered. We don't have nearly everything we need on there but we did knock out a lot of the bigger things like the bedroom furniture, the bedding and bedroom decor, the stroller and car seat, and the pack and play. I go back on-line every so often to add a few more things. I am hoping that we get back out there soon to do some more at the store!
