The Titanium Monster: First Specialist Appointment

So I'm post-dating this entry, since it's taken me so long to write it, but I'm going to pretend that I wrote it the day of the appointment :)

HOLY COW!!!! What a day!!!!!

First off let me mention that our specialist is the ONLY maternal fetal medicine specialist in the DC Metro area.... and she's located in Rockville. So... that meant Keith and I took a nice long 3 hour trip up to Rockville in the middle of morning rush hour traffic. Our appointment was at 10:00. We left our house at 7:00 am and arrived in Rockville at 9:45, with enough time to grab some greasy McD's breakfast and book it into the doctor's office waiting room. I was hoping to feel more like I belong there this time (when I was there last time every single woman in the waiting room looked like she was about 12 months pregnant and then there was me... not even pregnant... just thinking about getting there). Today wasn't much of a difference. I'm still not showing so here I was -- in my same jeans and sweater that I've been wearing pre-pregnancy, surrounded by about 7 huge stretchy-shirt and legging-wearing women that look miserable, out of breath and about to kill their doting husbands.

I signed in at the front desk and the woman that took my insurance card and co-pay stood up and looked to be about 8 months pregnant and waddled to the copy machine. They finally called us back at about 10:20, and we went into the genetic counselor's office (who was also hugely pregnant). I couldn't help thinking at this point, "I WANT TO BE HUGELY PREGNANT!"... I think I'll regret putting that in writing in about 3-4 months..

The genetic counselor part was actually pretty cool -- she drew us a little diagram and we felt like we were in biology class again. She discussed the chances for certain conditions to be passed down to our kid and talked to us about the available genetic testing (some of which I'm going to have to partake in whether I like it or not - due to all of MY issues).

Then... the fun part. She told us that she was going to take us back to have a sonogram (YAY!) and I said "Well let me pee first" and she said, "Oh no honey... we need you to have a full bladder..." --- well its a damn good thing I chugged a 20 oz. thing of OJ 10 minutes ago because nobody told me this before!

Now don't get me wrong... I love my OB. He is great. But let me tell you - going to a specialist is a totally different experience -- they put us in a fun little dark room with some sonogram equipment that makes Dr. Aron's little sonogram machine look like a stone age obstetrical play thing.

I was able to lay comfortably on the bed-chair-table-thing and see what the technician and Keith were seeing - but above me...
The sonogram technician coated my belly with warm jelly and put the doppler to my stomach. Instantly, I saw the most beautiful sight I've ever seen... not a jellybean... not a shrimp... a BABY!!!!!! and also this huge black mass laying on top of him/her. The technician said to me "WOAH - you're not going to like me very much - you have a VERY VERY full bladder".... no shit. The giant black mass was my VERY full bladder... but despite the warm jelly and pushing on my bladder... I didn't even notice the pressure to pee myself. I was too fixed on the screen.

To sum up what we saw.. the technician said "You have an active one on your hands". For the first ten minutes of the sonogram we watched the baby kickbox my bladder. Kicking, punching and rolling around and around.... The baby wouldn't sit still long enough for the technician to get the measurements that she needed to take. She had me go empty my bladder to see if it took the pressure off the baby. Sure enough my 'bipolar' baby (for lack of better words) went from non-stop action to super-chill mode. The baby actually put its arms behind its head and crossed its legs like it was laying in a hammock. THEN the technician was yelling because the baby wouldn't move or change position to get more measurements.

Meanwhile the technician and Keith were non-stop talking about our active/relaxed baby and I lay mesmerized on the table watching my unborn child enjoy swimming around!

She was able to capture some great stills for us to take home: