Thursday, August 2, 2012

First Visit with the OB Specialist

Steven and I had an amazing meeting with our new high-risk pregnancy specialist yesterday. I should clarify that she's new to us but not new to the profession. She started practicing obstetrics when I was starting high school so she's experienced but not out of date. Three things in particular endeared her to us.

The first was when she got the sonogram out to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Before she started she spent about 5 minutes reassuring us that it might not be possible to hear anything yet, and not to be worried if she couldn't find it yet. Then she went to work. When she found it, her face lit up and she looked at me with the biggest smile, then at Steven, and said "That's your baby." I was overjoyed. It was a good strong heartbeat, accentuated by some good strong kicks. The best part was when the baby kicked the wand. We both felt it and she let loose a "Whoop!" and we both giggled. LOVE LOVE LOVED that!

The second was our conversation about an amniocentesis. Honestly, it scares the life out of me. If anything happened to the baby because of it I'd never forgive myself.  She explained that our risk of birth defects is low to begin with, and even lower because our family history is clear of any, although the risk is a little higher now that I'm over 40. (Having babies in our 40s is not part of our family history so we're charting new territory.) She said that the risk to the baby from an amnio is even lower but still possible. (She's only ever had one mother who had complications but the baby was totally fine.) She also reassured us that all of our tests so far have come back perfect. She said she's not going to pressure us. We're going to have the next round of blood work next week, the anatomical ultrasound in a couple of weeks, and she's also doing a thorough follow-up with the specialists at Mount Sinai Hospital who "studied" us after we lost Owen. We all agreed that we'd talk about an amnio and genetic counselling once all of that had been done and then we can make an informed decision, which she assured us she'd respect.

The final amazing moment came when we were talking about our birth experience with Jonas. When she she called the nurses and breastfeeding consultants "breastfeeding Nazis" I knew we were going to have a beautiful relationship.

Cheers!


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