First appointments are never that exciting

Remembering my much-anticipated first appointment last time, I knew not to expect much this time around. I had to wait a week for my referral to go through, which sent me back to the MTF (military lingo for Military Treatment Facility). And I'm okay with that. We do have an option where we could see a civilian doctor and pay deductibles/co-pays out of pocket. But we're going to give the Naval hospital another shot. Although Jack's birth wasn't my ideal experience, it really wasn't that bad. And since I'm familiar with the clinics and doctors now I'm a lot less anxious about the whole process.

I've had a few people ask me if I'd ever want to have a homebirth. I've thought about it, and it would be an amazing experience, but in the end I just don't think it's for me. (And I don't think my husband would ever go for that). We've had several friends give birth at a local midwifery center here, which would be my first choice, but for Baby #2 it's the hospital again. So we're praying for another natural childbirth, hopefully without an induction this time. I guess in some small measure it's my way of redeeming the hospital birth. My chance to show the doctors that there are people like me who want to give birth in the hospital, and want to do it as naturally as possible, and are absolutley thrilled with the experience. And now that I've said all that, back to the first "appointment"...

I recognized the nurse's voice as soon as she picked up the phone. She was there for almost every one of my appointments with Jack. She also recognized my name right away. "Haven't we seen you here before?" "Uh, yeah. I just had a baby 10 months ago." "Ohhh yeah, WOW, well ..., congratulations." We've kind of been getting that response a lot lately. It's okay people. We're really excited about being pregnant again. You can be happy for us too. :)

The doctor doesn't want to see me until 11 weeks, or somewhere around there since I'm still not sure what my actual due date is. I was just a tad disappointed. I LOVE that first ultrasound. The one that shows you a little teddy bear with a beating heart. *sigh* Eleven weeks just seems so long to wait. Oh well, I have my morning sickness and extreme exhaustion to tide me over right?

So anyway, instead of meeting with a nurse first she just asked me to stop by the clinic some time and fill out some paperwork and get my bloodwork done. So I did. In addition to peeing in a cup I also had to give 7 vials of blood. 7 VIALS! I was a little nervous about this because last time I almost fainted and the nurse had to rush me some juice and a candy bar. Well, ... it happened again! Except this time I had a man and he did not get me juice and a candy bar. :( I'm so embarrassed. I'm pretty good with needles and pain. I think it's just a mixture of being pregnant and nauseous, and losing a bucket of blood all at one time. From the moment he put the needle in I knew it was going to be bad, the blood was barely trickling through. By the second vial the corners of my eyes were starting to get black. By the third vial I had to ask him to stop. Then he made me put my head down for a little.

"Are you feeling better?" he said.

"Not really."

"Do you know where you are?"

"Yeah ... but I can't really hear anything, is that normal?"

Apparently it is. He gave me another few seconds to recoop (which wasn't really long enough but there was a crowd of sailors outside the door and I just wanted to get out of there) and then stabbed the other arm. I don't think my blood has ever flowed so slowly before. I was tapping my foot to try to stay alert, counting down each vial as it finished. I always think it's funny how they band-aid a cotton ball to your arm. Really? It's a needle hole, I don't think I'm going to start gushing blood anytime soon. Especially since you pretty much just took it all. The band-aid on my second arm wouldn't stick. So Nurse Man proceeds to pull out 3 inch wide wrap, to hold the band-aid, which holds the cotton ball, which covers the tiniest prick in my arm. Completely unnecessary.

I ski-daddled right out of there as fast as my faint little heart could take me and immediately took myself to Chick-Fil-A for a high-carb meal complete with sugar infested Sweet Tea. I wouldn't normally fuel my little zygote with caffeine this early in the game, but he/she is lucky if she got any of that sweet tea by the time it got through my starving system.

And that was the first apointment. Phew, so glad that's behind us. Bring on the ultrasounds and dopplers please. Those appointments are so much more fun!