12 Week Prenatal Appointment

This morning was our 2nd prenatal appointment at 12 weeks gestation. Kolby wasn't able to go with me this time, since they have changed his schedule to the day shift. He's now working 5am-5pm, it's nice to have him home at night and have some semblence of a real home life, but I was sad he couldn't come to the appointment. He thought that he was going to miss out on getting to see the baby again on ultrasound, but I assured him that to the best of my knowledge, I wouldn't be getting an ultrasound at this appointment, so he's wasn't as sad that he would miss anything!

My appointment was bright and early at 8:45AM, so I was hoping that they wouldn't be backed up yet. Once I got there and signed in, I may have sat about 10 min at the most. The nurse called me back and took my weight. I was up 4 lbs from 114 to 118. I officially now weigh more than I have ever weighed in my entire life!! Woohoo!!! haha! She got me in a room and did my blood pressure and I had to give a urine sample as well. Then I waited...and waited...and waited! I had probably been sitting there for 30 minutes when the nurse popped her head in and told me that the Dr. was tied up with the patient right ahead of me, that I could see a Nurse Practioner if I wanted, or I could continue to wait. This was to be the first time I met my Dr. as I saw the NP my first visit, so I opted to wait, so I could meet her!

I'm glad that I did wait. She was fabulous and I'm so glad that she will be my Dr. She was so nice, and seemed so knowledgeable and I felt that she was interested in my questions and concerns, and just made me feel totally at ease. We had our Q&A session and I got lots of good info! I'll do some bullets to make it easier. Here goes:

• I will have a scheduled delivery
  
• At about 36 weeks she will change my blood thinner from Lovenox to Heparin, as it is more highly controlled and quicker to come out of your system (since she doesn't want me on blood thinner when I deliver)
  
• She wants me to gain a total of 35-45 lbs since I am considered underweight.
• I will be seeing the Maternal Fetal Specialist at 16 weeks for an ultrasound to get a really good look at the baby and I will be getting the full anatomical scan at 20 weeks, so we'll be getting to see this baby alot I hope!




• As I'm nearing delivery I will have BPP's done which are Biophysical Profiles, you can read more about them here.

She then put me up on the table to take a listen to the heartbeat. I had already told her that I was a "nervous nelly", so she told me not to panic if she didn't find the heart beat right away, that sometimes it takes a minute for the doppler to find the baby. From the time she put the doppler on my belly it wasn't 15 seconds before she found the heartbeat, loud and clear!!! It was a strong 168 bpm!! She said that it sounded great!!

That was the conclusion of my appointment with the Dr., however, I then met with the patient/insurance coordinator. She went over FMLA paperwork that I would need to bring in and how my insurance benefits should work for their office. I must say that I have fabulous insurance! We purposely got the Premium or "buy-up" plan that my company offers, it costs a little more per month, but the difference in coverage is very significant. I am looking at totalout of pocket expenses for the year of less than $2000 for any/all services that fall within this calendar year!!! Awesome!!!

Next appointment is set for July 6!