Tuesday, December 19, 2006
ow, my arms. and my hands!
C and I spent all afternoon at the Geneticist's office. We had a consultation to figure out what (if any) genetic testing we want to have done. Since the donor is not Jewish, we don't have to worry about the Bloom's thing I am a positive carrier for, and everything else seems low-risk, so we're doing the minimum.
We then had an ultrasound -- it was my first "tummy" ultrasound where they just look through your belly and it was so cool - -we saw the baby looking more like a real baby and less like a kidney bean, we HEARD THE HEART BEAT! and we saw it jump around and do flips and stuff . . . very athletic! The doctor kept asking me to cough and kept pushing and jiggling my belly to make the baby move so she could get a picture in the right angle. Then she kept saying "wake up baby!" every time the baby stopped moving around. It was so cool. She finally saw him/her in a good position and said everything looks great.
Then I had to get blood drawn for the first of 2 tests. That part was actually bad -- I always have a hard time getting blood drawn (in the past I never had problems -- I donated my blood regularly too -- I really think it's because I stopped playing the violin (those finger movements "pump up" your veins) and now I have a hard time). But they said I am dehydrated. They couldn't find any veins, even in the tops of my hands! One person tried my left arm without success -- it hurt very badly and she thought she found a vein but no blood came out. Then someone else tried the top of my left hand and same thing -- nothing. Finally, they took me to see Shirley the expert phlebotomist. She finally got a working vein on my right hand. After all the painful jabs and pokes, and then finally some blood drawn, I felt kind of sick and shaky. They all told me to drink lots of water, and C promised to nag me more about drinking enough water.
So I have a big bottle of water and a bottle of gatorade which I plan to down before the evening is over. And I'll have to be better about making sure I drink enough water so I don't dehydrate the baby.
But oh, it was SO cool to see the baby flip around and to hear the heartbeat!
We then had an ultrasound -- it was my first "tummy" ultrasound where they just look through your belly and it was so cool - -we saw the baby looking more like a real baby and less like a kidney bean, we HEARD THE HEART BEAT! and we saw it jump around and do flips and stuff . . . very athletic! The doctor kept asking me to cough and kept pushing and jiggling my belly to make the baby move so she could get a picture in the right angle. Then she kept saying "wake up baby!" every time the baby stopped moving around. It was so cool. She finally saw him/her in a good position and said everything looks great.
Then I had to get blood drawn for the first of 2 tests. That part was actually bad -- I always have a hard time getting blood drawn (in the past I never had problems -- I donated my blood regularly too -- I really think it's because I stopped playing the violin (those finger movements "pump up" your veins) and now I have a hard time). But they said I am dehydrated. They couldn't find any veins, even in the tops of my hands! One person tried my left arm without success -- it hurt very badly and she thought she found a vein but no blood came out. Then someone else tried the top of my left hand and same thing -- nothing. Finally, they took me to see Shirley the expert phlebotomist. She finally got a working vein on my right hand. After all the painful jabs and pokes, and then finally some blood drawn, I felt kind of sick and shaky. They all told me to drink lots of water, and C promised to nag me more about drinking enough water.
So I have a big bottle of water and a bottle of gatorade which I plan to down before the evening is over. And I'll have to be better about making sure I drink enough water so I don't dehydrate the baby.
But oh, it was SO cool to see the baby flip around and to hear the heartbeat!
# posted by RebeccaL-O @ 2:29 PM 
