I made an appointment because I wanted a positive confirmation from the doctor in addition to the home pregnancy test I took, plus I wanted to ask her some things and get regular appointments going. You would think this would be a very straight forward thing to do but it couldn't have been more complicated.
First, I made the appointment and they scheduled me for Wednesday evening at 5:00, which was fine. I called back a few days before the appointment to ask about fasting (because I was expecting them to do a blood test and I've always had to fast for blood tests in the past but I've heard that it's not good to fast when you're pregnant). The receptionist told me that my doctor doesn't do any testing at the first appointment, especially since I am a new patient. I told her that is the purpose of the appointment but she said that won't happen until the second appointment.
Then, since this is a new doctor, I was waiting for my new insurance card to arrive in the mail and luckily it did right before the appointment...but next to my name it said "Invalid Choice." Wendel's name had the correct doctor by it, of course. I knew it would be a mess at the doctor's office so I called the insurance company and they said it was a mistake on their part and they would send a new card out. In the meantime, the doctor's office could call them. So when I get to the office and the receptionist asks for my card, she is very skeptical about the "invalid choice" and said she's never seen that before. She kept asking me why they would send a card out that had that on it. (This is one of those situations where I feel that if I looked a little older for my age, she may have believed me a little easier or not given me such a hard time about it.) She finally let me get away with just paying the co-pay but while I was filling out paperwork she and her co-workers were huddled together talking and kept looking over at me. Whatever.
Then I get into the little room with the nurse and she tells me that the front desk people had me fill out the wrong paperwork so she started to go over it with me. She got to the part where she asked me what date I had my positive pregnancy test through this office and I told her, "I haven't yet. That's why I'm here today." She told me she had no idea and immediately gave me a cup to pee in. However, I wasn't expecting to do any test of any kind (because that's what I was told) so I had gone to the bathroom just before coming to my appointment. I went in the bathroom with the cup and just could not pee so I finally went back into the office and drank as many little cups of water as I could. The nurse also gave me a can of apple juice and I downed that too.
The doctor came in and talked to me for a while while we waited for the water and juice to go through my system. I didn't realize that this would be the same doctor who would actually deliver the baby. (We had to change doctors because our other doctor is no longer on our insurance plan so I randomly picked one and figured this would be our family doctor and she would refer me to an OBGYN but she is the one who will do everything from now to delivery. She is also a pediatrician so she can care for the baby after he / she is born too.) I like Dr. Herner. She seems down-to-earth and experienced and she was very willing to answer my questions. She is also a mother herself, which is nice to know. She told me that
I'm 6 1/2 weeks along (as of two days ago - I thought I was only 4!) so that is exciting.
I am due on March 13th.
I was finally able to take the urine test, thankfully (I did not want to come back and do it another day). The office was closing by then, though, so I just left. I waited all day for them to call me with the results but they never did, so right before the office closed I called them. The receptionist told me I should've found out in the office and she doesn't know why that didn't happen. I asked her to have the nurse call me and she said she would. An hour and a half passed and I still hadn't heard from the nurse, so I called back. The receptionist told me, "There are patients being seen right now so we're really busy." I'm a patient too though, right? It was a little frustrating. I also wanted to ask the nurse if I could go swing dancing that night. I think that is the only reason I got a call back that night. She finally called me about ten minutes later and told me the test was positive and that I could go dancing but not to over-do it.
So that was the crazy first doctor visit. I'm just glad to know that I tested positive there too. My doctor said that by my next appointment (August 21st), I should be able to hear a heartbeat and that she will do a blood test then. We also have to decide if we want to have prenatal testing done, which is kind of a big decision. (The doctor tests to see if the baby is healthy or if there are any deformities. Some people find out so they can abort if there is anything wrong with the baby, and some people just want to know so they can be prepared.)
I'm not showing yet, of course, but after I eat I feel like I show a little. We went to Portland last weekend for Britney's baby shower (Wendel's sister) and I felt like everyone could tell because I was so bloated and was retaining so much water. My jeans are so tight on me that I hardly ever wear size 4 anymore but feel much more comfortable in size 6. I'm excited to actually start showing!
