11 Weeks and Counting...

Ok, so once again my expectations for my most recent doctor's appointment were not met. Dammit! I think I've learned the lesson though, which is simply not to have expectations. Everyone's doctor is different and everyone's pregnancy is different, and I'll know better next time around I suppose, blah blah blah. Still, at this stage in the game when I really don't 'feel pregnant' yet, I'm totally reliant on the pictures of what in heck is going on inside of my body. And while pictures of strangers' uteruses (uteri?) are helpful from a logical standpoint, they're just not doing it for the illogical side of me (which, these days, is approximately 99.8% of myself). Hence the stock photo of some strange fetus in some strange womb in the 11th week, which is where Lil' B is now. It somehow reminds me of the Japanese flag. Cute, but not as cute as ours. This week you are to note the very well developed joints, which allow the baby to do somersaults and bounce around off the walls of the sac (no, I am not making this up), the budding fingernail beds (nails come next week), and that the eyes are moving around to the front of the head and the spine is straightening. Woohoo! Now that's progress. And it seems to be a little more than two inches long, or about the size of my engagement ring (just kidding). I'm looking around trying to find something comparable and I don't seem to own anything that's two inches long. How odd. Oh wait! My thumb is a little more than two inches from just above the first joint. Cool. Thumb Baby.

I'm exaggerating about the level of disappointment with my doctor's appointment. While it's true that I was hoping for an ultrasound and didn't get one (hmph!), otherwise it went really well. I wish Sean had been there to meet the doctor, who this time was Dr. Pat Robinson (she works with Dr. Weinstein and I'll see both docs throughout the pregnancy). Dr. Robinson said that they deliver more than 200 babies a year and only about two are delivered by the stand-by docs ("both boys," she said) when she and Dr. Weinstein are off for the Jewish holidays. Are doctors really allowed to take holidays? Aside from this apparent slacker mentality, she was really great--fabulous bedside manner, really took time with me to talk about concerns and take my history, and seemed otherwise like a perfectly normal person, which is always good.

The reason I didn't get an ultrasound this visit has something to do with the fact that the FNT (Fetal Nuchal Translucency test) has to be done at the hospital...I'm not sure why. The con of that is that it required making yet another appointment which won't be for another week and a half (optimal timing for the test is 13 weeks), but the pro is that we get to check out Hackensack University Medical Center, where we'll be having the kid.

Also disappointing this week is that we weren't able to go down the shore with Sean's family after all. When he returned from AZ he had hours and hours of preparation for the Dallas trip (where he is now), so there was just no way. More disappointing than not being at the beach though is the fact that we now have to wait another week to tell Eva, Courtney and Derek. We'll go down to New Hope next weekend for a cookout though, and tell them then. Can't wait till Sean is home tonight--should be the last trip for a while!

Oh--and in other news, Sadie is taking her role of preparing us for parenthood very seriously. Yesterday she ate half of a cake and a loaf of very expensive organic flax seed bread. Right off the counter. Better her than me, but still. She then proceeded to lose most of the cake right ON the new silk drapes in the office/baby's room. That will teach me.

I will be delivered after all.

Praise Jesus (and April). I found an OB/GYN who is in our insurance network, who is a woman, who is taking new patients, who actually delivers babies, and who does so at Hackensack University Medical Center. It's truly a miracle.

Honestly, I had no idea this would be an issue. When I first moved to Jersey, I got a referral from one of Sean's accounts for a female OB who happens to deliver, and whom I've been seeing for a few years. I never though to be concerned with her hospital affiliation, and it never even occurred to me to ask whether she had ultrasound equipment on site until my first prenatal visit, at which point we were given a scrip and told to make an additional appointment on another date at some medical imaging center down the road a piece. So that was a little anticlimactic, to say the least, especially after we'd gotten so pumped up to get our first peek at the babe during that visit. Also, the ultrasound tech didn't allow Sean in the room with me initially (she said it was because she needed to be sure that everything was okay before inviting the father into the room....but that seems so counterintuitive, since the father has every right to be there WHILE that's being found out, doesn't he? Not to mention that if, *spit* *spit*, there actually was a problem, wouldn't that be when you'd most need one another? I really don't think that would have happened at a doctor's office. Whatever. Thank god everything was fine).

So we set out on a wild goose chase to find a good doctor in an effort to minimize the chances of something disappointing, or worse, happening again. We both agreed that we'd prefer a Labor and Delivery center within a hospital, rather than a birthing clinic. The Women's and Children's Pavilion at Hack really stood out to us, and it's a great relief to Sean that they have a stellar children's hospital to boot. All that aside, I'd be lying if I said that the Nicole Miller designer hospital gowns and the BEYOND Spa didn't play a part in my decision making process...

But all the OBs to whom we were referred were either not delivering anymore (not surprising, with the $50k+ malpractice requirement in addition to their regular premium) or weren't accepting new patients (also not surprising, since the pickins are so slim). Aaaarrrrrgh.

After casting a wide enough net we were successful at last, and in the nick of time as my new doctor, Melissa Weinstein, was able to squeeze me in during the window in which the first trimester combined screening needs to happen. This is the ultrasound and blood panel that help to determine the risk of Down Syndrome and trisomy-18 (er...gotta read up on that one).

Sadly, Sean will still be in Arizona (where he is now) for my appointment, which is this Friday. Boohoo. But I'll have an tasteful black and white of our brilliant little bean to show him when he gets home, and to show his brother and sisters when we break the news to them this weekend down the shore. I really hope we get a nice profile shot!