Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Doctor's Appointment and VEGAS!

Two pretty unrelated things, huh? Well, right now, they are the highlights of my week!

First the doctor's appointment. Yesterday was my first real prenatal appointment. I had been in for an u/s to date the pregnancy, but this was the big one. Everything went fine. I go to a really big practice - over 20 doctors - and I had the guy whose name is first in the title of the practice. The head honcho. Though they recommend rotating among a lot of the OBs, because you never know who you'll get on D-Day, even if I go to a different OB every visit, I could still end up with a stranger on the big day.

So anyways, the OB came in and said they were going to take blood, do a pap smear and then we'd chat for a little while about pregnancy. I asked, "are you going to check for a heartbeat?" He replied, "it's probably too early, I usually don't do that until after 10 weeks." Being exactly 10 weeks, I begged and pleaded. He said he would but made me promise not to freak out if he wasn't able to find it with the Doppler. Praise the Lord he found it in about 20 seconds! Yay! I just love hearing that little pitter patter. And with no pregnancy symptoms, it is a great confirmation that indeed the little cashew is alive and kicking.

The big topic of discussion was genetic testing. I'm interested to know others' thoughts about it. I think we are going to forgo all testing because, if they were to find something wrong, we are not going to do anything to the baby. So what's the point? And I really don't want to do any invasive testing...and the OB said that, often the only way to confirm the result of a noninvasive test is through an invasive one. So why should we have the invasive one in the first place? I know I'm going round and round but this all seems like such a big decision. Thoughts? Suggestions?

On to the next topic - VEGAS! We leave this Friday for a long weekend in Vegas with 3 of my best friends from college and their husbands. I've never been and I can't wait. Of course, I'm sure the Vegas experience is quite different sans alcohol, but I'm sure I'll have a great time anyways. And we haven't told our friends the big news yet, so that will be fun, too. My biggest fear is not being able to "hang" with the rest of the group given the late hours we'll surely be enjoying. But I'll put my big girl pants on and be extra tough! We are staying at the MGM Grand, but other than that, have no definite plans. Any suggestions on best things to see, do, and eat in Sin City?

So that's about it for us. I don't have another OB appointment for a full 4 weeks - 1 month - 30 days! Yikes! That's a huge change from the last 3 months where my car can almost drive itself to the doctor's office! What to do? What to do?

11 comments:

  1. I'm so glad your appt. went well and that you got to hear the heartbeat! As for Vegas, you are going to have fun! I would definitely try to see at least one show while you're there. The Cirque du Soleil shows are incredible and please stop by the bakery in the Bellagio and have a chocolate soufle crepe for me! I would fly to Vegas JUST to have that crepe. So yummy! Have fun!!!

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  2. Yay heartbeat! Very good cashew you have. And no pregnancy symptoms at all? You really are a lucky girl!

    Haven't been to Vegas in 15 years, but hubby said go the the Burger Bar - Hubert Keller's place. He still talks about the turkey burger he had there 6 months ago, it was that good.

    Have fun!!

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  3. I went to Vegas a few years back with DH for a class. Which equaled my playing tourist by day while he was in class, dinner and then to bed. Not so much fun for him.

    I really enjoyed the Backstage Tour of Jubilee at Bally's (info: http://s7y.us/1533). The Bellagio fountains are fun to watch for free. And the one place we really enjoyed dinner - The Frontier - has since been demo'ed, so that's out. I hear Freemont Street is cool with all of the old neon, but we did not get there.

    I vote that a cashew with a heartbeat is more exciting than VEGAS even!

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  4. my husband and I have 3 little boys 5, 3, and 1 and did not do any genetic testing for any of them. The Lord will give you what you can handle! Our first had a bilateral cleft lip/palette and right mulit-cystic kidney found both of these at 20 wk sonogram. The Lord prepared us and we leaned on Him. All is good and he is a healthy 5 yr old!

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  5. Congrats on your pregnancy and yippee for the hearbeat ! You must be soooo happy !

    ICLW

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  6. Wow!!!!!! Vegas sounds so exciting!! Have fun!!!

    So glad you could hear the heartbeat...that is so exciting!! As for the genetic testing...I dunno...I think I'll just wait till my baby pops out!!! I wouldn't terminate the pregnancy either...so why do anything that may potentially harm the baby? And if you do a noninvasive one and find something out (but still don't want to have an invasive one) then you'll just be stressed!!!

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  7. i think you should do whatever you are comfortable with. i am sure your baby is just fine, but if there is some sort of problem the genetic testing might give you a little more time to prepare for whatever challanges the baby may have, BUT... i'm sure your baby is fine. one of the bonuses of having a nuchal translucency scan for downs syndrome is that you get to have an ultrasound at twelve weeks, which is a lot closer than twenty!

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  8. As of right now we are not electing for any of the additional testing, for the same reasons you mentioned. I have also read that the testing cannot really tell you for sure, just if the likelihood is higher. We wouldn't change anything even with scary results, and why add in extra worry? We worry enough as it is. My two cents. :)

    I'm thrilled for you that you heard the h/b on the doppler. I can't wait for that!

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  9. Yay for the heartbeat. I don't think that sound will ever get old!!! We did the 13 week NT Scan where they do an ultrasound and bloodwork - and then assess your risk of any chromosomal abnormality. We were not at a high risk for that, but, did the scan anyway - another chance to look at the baby, insurance paid for it and we found out the gender. Other than this scan, we aren't doing any additional testing.

    Never been to Vegas - have fun!

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  10. So glad the appointment went well. YAY! :-D

    I don't have a lot of advice on the testing. I guess I personally would have it, because although I wouldn't do anything differently, I'd want to be prepared. But, I wouldn't want a false positive because I agree that you wouldn't want to do anything too invasive. Okay, I guess I wasn't much help at all. Sorry!

    Have a great time in Vegas. :-D

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  11. Yay for a heartbeat!

    I think I am with you about the genetic testing. When and if I get pregnant (and stay pregnant) I think I will skip the testing, because I have enough to worry about just carrying a bean to term.

    ICLW

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