Prenatal Appointment 1

Yay!  My first prenatal appointment finally arrived.  I realize that how this appointment goes varies from Dr's office to Dr's office, but my experience was a pleasant and rewarding one.

What Happened:

1. I filled out a worksheet addressing family history. (any genetic abnormalities in either my or my husband's families etc.)

2. I was taken back, weighed, and asked to provide a urine sample (I drank so much water this morning, but when it came time to pee...I couldn't!).

3. The nurse asked me what symptoms I had been having and told me I wouldn't have a PAP today because mine was current.  She handed me an order for labs and a prescription for refills on my prenatals.  Then she told me to undress from the waist down and gave me a sheet to cover myself with.

4. The nurse practitioner came in and collected "cultures" which feels just like a pap (speculum, swabs...that whole deal.  Ouchy.).  She felt to see how big my uterus is (this involved one hand inside and one hand pressing down on my abdomen but didn't hurt or feel uncomfortable at all).  She said it was small.

5. Then, she took me back to an ultrasound room and did an abdominal ultrasound "just for fun."  She said we probably wouldn't see anything because it was so early on, but said this was perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.  We found it!  It looked like a tiny grain of rice in a little sac.  She printed a picture out for me and said my next ultrasound would be the "fun" one. :o)

6. When we got back to the examining room she gave me this goodie bag and some samples of my prenatals.  Then, she answered any questions I had.

7. I tried to pee again and still couldn't.  So, I drank a few glasses of water there and headed over to the little room that served as a lab in the office.  So convenient!  The lab tech was SO NICE.  I barely felt the needle and chatted with her through 6 tubes of blood.

8. I sat around in the waiting room with my husband until I finally got the urge! :o)~  The results weren't too impressive, but the lab tech said it was enough so I was happy.

9. I made my next appointments.  The nurse practitioner had me schedule an ultrasound just before my 12 week appointment to check for down syndrome.  The scheduler also scheduled my next 3 appointments and told me they would be with my Dr. 

Of course on the way home from the appointment I was doing the pee pee dance majorly.  Figures.  Overall, everyone I dealt with was SO nice and helpful.    The goodie bag had little informative pamphlets and magazines along with some coupons for baby stuff.  There was also a list in there of all the safe OTC meds I could take.  Nice. 

My favorite part, of course, was getting to see my little grain of rice. :o)))

-Jessy