A New Parent Truth
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So after about 3 positive home pregnancy tests we decided this was probably legit but admittedly didn't really know what to do next. SO, I hopped online to read about what to do when you have a positive test and it said to schedule an appointment with your doctor. As I've said before, Mike and I are both obnoxiously cautious about stuff like this. Although this was exciting to us, we were very tentative to celebrate too much without official confirmation from a doctor. We also didn't even discuss telling anyone because that would be way too risky. I guess I thought this was a common mentality but the doctor's appointments that followed told us we were/are probably too cautious for our own good.
The initial appointment following a positive test is just a check in with your doctor to confirm the pregnancy. They draw blood, send it to the lab, then determine how far along you are based on the levels of certain things in your blood (for more information, I found Baby Center and Everyday Family to be helpful). When you call to make your appointment you obviously have to tell them why you're coming in so I said, "I have multiple positive pregnancy tests at home," which goes on your "chart" and then everyone you see that day knows why you're there. This was really weird because, like I said, Mike and I really barely spoke of it because we wanted official confirmation from the doctor. So we go into the room and the sweet little nurse is practically jumping up and down at our "news" meanwhile, Mike and I are showing little to no emotion on our faces prompting her to hault her excitement and say, "oh, was this not planned?" I guess our excitement level needed some improvement.
About 2 days later we got the call officially confirming the pregnancy. I was 4ish weeks along. Then she gave me a recommendation for an OBGYN and dropped the bomb that they don't like to see you until you're about 10 weeks along or so... um, what? A lot of thoughts went through my head in this moment...
- that's over a month away
- this is our first pregnancy and I have no idea what the hell I'm doing and you trust me to go on for 5 more weeks... based on what... the fact that I appear to be responsibly and intelligent
It was at the end of this second thought that I seriously considered moving to Canada where apparently you receive an ultrasound every week in these very early weeks because that makes so much more sense than waiting until 10 weeks to see the baby
Thankfully, I repeat thankfully, when I called to schedule my initial OB appointment the kind woman asked me if this was my first, I said yes, and she actually got me in at 8 weeks and scheduled an ultrasound. I was so relieved and so grateful. It was still 4 weeks away from the date I made the appointment but I felt much better. I made a countdown on my calendar at work and diligently crossed days off every day until the day. I also bought a 4 pack of pregnancy tests and took one each week leading to the appointment. Call me crazy but I needed something.
When we finally made it to the day of our appointment we were again greeted by very excited doctors and nurses and again disappointed them greatly with our lack of enthusiasm. The first nurse we saw even asked if we were married with a look like, "geez, what's with these people?!" I guess we needed to lighten up a little bit. Anyways, we were finally brought into the ultrasound room where we saw the little peanut and the swirling heartbeat that we had been waiting to see and hear for a month. The tech even put the sound on for us so I could hear proof that there was a viable baby in there. We went out to a fancy dinner that night and said cheers to finally feeling comfortable about accepting the fact that we were going to have a baby.
In hindsight, moving to Canada would have been a bit extreme.
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