So today was the big day! Our first appointment at the new practice, with Dr. Jacques Moritz - famed natural birth supporter from "The Business of Being Born". As soon as he walked in the room, you could really tell that he's such a relaxed down to earth fun guy, and Ryoji and I both really liked him! He was chit chatting and joking, but would get serious when the timing called for it. The bummer was, though, that apparently he no longer delivers at St. Luke Roosevelt Hospital's Birthing Center! So, if we are 100% trying to go there, we have to switch to the practice's midwives, like, THIS WEEK, because apparently any doctor or midwife who is any good won't take on new patients past like 8 or 10 weeks. Yikes!
Back to the appointment... after our hellos and how ya doings, he got down to business with the ultrasound since there's no point to sitting down with all of our questions until we confirm there is actually a healthy pregnancy going on! Luckily, since I'm "thin" we could go the abdominal route rather than the transvaginal route with the scary wand device, yuuuuuuuuuuck!! So he lubed my tummy and stuck that gadget on there and BOOM - there is my uterus and sac and baby bean right in there!!! No heart beat though, made me a bit nervous. Then he started digitally zooming in and slowly but surely we could start hearing the heart until finally it was loud as could be - swoosh swoosh swoosh!! Ryoji and I looked at each other, eyes and mouths gaping open, we couldn't believe it!! It was a weird feeling - I didn't feel emotional or anything like that, but just like WOW, that is so COOL!! Then the doctor said, "You had a 20% chance of losing the baby when you were sitting out in the waiting room, and now you're down to just a 2% chance, and you didn't even do anything!" haha! I guess that's the drop in risk as soon as the heart rate is detected.
He printed out 2 lovely photos (see below) and then we got to talk about our questions (what's your epesiotomy rate - hasn't done one in years and doesn't know any docs who still do / can i go to Japan this summer - yes, no problem!) and his questions (any mental illness in the families / allergies / previous surgeries / blah blah blah) and all that fun stuff. He actually freaked out about my croup/trech story, was funny to hear a doctor react that way. He's almost over the top, not like doctors usually are, ya know? More like a regular guy.
So, we really liked him! But now we have to decide - stick with him and do the regular hospital birth (with or without the drugs), or switch to the midwives and attempt to go to the birth center (but apparently you can switch to the regular hospital at any point). Any input for us?? I think we need to schedule a tour of the facilities, maybe seeing it firsthand will give us a better feel of it.
Oh yeah, can't forget the blood work... I had to go to another lab facility for the bloodwork. Do you know how many viles of blood they took from me?? FOURTEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe it. Holy cow. Luckily it was only one tiny jab of the needle, and then sitting there for what seemed like an eternity as each vile filled up and got replaced with the next. And you know how I can't stand more than 10 minutes on the subway without starting to pass out. Yeah, giving blood wasn't so fun either. But, they'll be able to test all sorts of things like if i'm carrying any genetic disorders, blood type (especially RH+- is important), thyroid, hormone levels, etc etc.
Today I was measured at 7 weeks 5 days (baby was 1.44 centimeters), which pretty much matches what I expected based on my ovulation predictor kits, which have me a couple days delayed from the prediction based on last period.
Baby's due date is... December 23
And now, what you've all been waiting for... (bottom photo shows the heart beat - doc said about 170bpm)
Back to the appointment... after our hellos and how ya doings, he got down to business with the ultrasound since there's no point to sitting down with all of our questions until we confirm there is actually a healthy pregnancy going on! Luckily, since I'm "thin" we could go the abdominal route rather than the transvaginal route with the scary wand device, yuuuuuuuuuuck!! So he lubed my tummy and stuck that gadget on there and BOOM - there is my uterus and sac and baby bean right in there!!! No heart beat though, made me a bit nervous. Then he started digitally zooming in and slowly but surely we could start hearing the heart until finally it was loud as could be - swoosh swoosh swoosh!! Ryoji and I looked at each other, eyes and mouths gaping open, we couldn't believe it!! It was a weird feeling - I didn't feel emotional or anything like that, but just like WOW, that is so COOL!! Then the doctor said, "You had a 20% chance of losing the baby when you were sitting out in the waiting room, and now you're down to just a 2% chance, and you didn't even do anything!" haha! I guess that's the drop in risk as soon as the heart rate is detected.
He printed out 2 lovely photos (see below) and then we got to talk about our questions (what's your epesiotomy rate - hasn't done one in years and doesn't know any docs who still do / can i go to Japan this summer - yes, no problem!) and his questions (any mental illness in the families / allergies / previous surgeries / blah blah blah) and all that fun stuff. He actually freaked out about my croup/trech story, was funny to hear a doctor react that way. He's almost over the top, not like doctors usually are, ya know? More like a regular guy.
So, we really liked him! But now we have to decide - stick with him and do the regular hospital birth (with or without the drugs), or switch to the midwives and attempt to go to the birth center (but apparently you can switch to the regular hospital at any point). Any input for us?? I think we need to schedule a tour of the facilities, maybe seeing it firsthand will give us a better feel of it.
Oh yeah, can't forget the blood work... I had to go to another lab facility for the bloodwork. Do you know how many viles of blood they took from me?? FOURTEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe it. Holy cow. Luckily it was only one tiny jab of the needle, and then sitting there for what seemed like an eternity as each vile filled up and got replaced with the next. And you know how I can't stand more than 10 minutes on the subway without starting to pass out. Yeah, giving blood wasn't so fun either. But, they'll be able to test all sorts of things like if i'm carrying any genetic disorders, blood type (especially RH+- is important), thyroid, hormone levels, etc etc.
Today I was measured at 7 weeks 5 days (baby was 1.44 centimeters), which pretty much matches what I expected based on my ovulation predictor kits, which have me a couple days delayed from the prediction based on last period.
Baby's due date is... December 23
And now, what you've all been waiting for... (bottom photo shows the heart beat - doc said about 170bpm)
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