Doctor Visit(s)

Last Monday I had our five month OB visit. Five months. It seems unreal.

At this point, the appointments are fairly mundane. He asks about my symptoms and gives me some advice on how to control them (take the daily anti-heartburn medication) or reassures me that they are nothing to be concerned about (swollen feet comes with the gig and the heat). He checks my blood pressure and ankles for swelling, then measures my belly. Then he gets out the dopplar and listens to the heartbeat. It's typically in the 140s and always pretty cool to hear.

This time he mentioned that I will be getting my gestational diabetes screening test after our next appointment. He then said that I had two options: 1) drink the nasty glucose drink, or 2) eat two full sized candy bars. Seriously. He said that he offers the second option because so many people were avoiding the test completely and/or unable to tolerate the drink if they did attempt the test. He said that die-hard scientists would probably hawk at this, but he figures that it is only a screening measure and that if it comes back positive I'll have to go through the real deal. I like this attitude. Of course I chose the candy bars. Now I have a month to decide which two candy bars I want to eat. C thinks they'll make me sick, but I'm fairly certain he underestimates my capacity for chocolate.

Later on that week I returned for a second appointment, this time to make sure things were still ok after the car accident. This time, the doctor checked my whole body for bruising and asked about the details of the accident in depth. He asked about any concerning symptoms, primarily bleeding or severe cramping, of which there were none. Then he checked the baby's heartbeat - still in the 140s. He said that if I were farther along he would order a non-stress test but that these aren't typically conducted this early in the game. So that was all. Everything looked ok and he will follow me again at my next month test, so long as I don't call earlier with any concerning symptoms.

As of now, I feel fine. Nothing concerning.

However, I do still have a bad habit of forgetting I'm pregnant and over-exerting myself and then paying for it later. It was a nice day yesterday and I had a few cancellations and was actually caught up on my work so I decided to go for a walk. In the heat of the day over my lunch break. With my work shoes, unsupportive ballet flats. I walked out into the city, enjoying the views for about 20-plus minutes. Then I realized a) was really hot, b) I was out of breath, and c) I still had to get back to the office. So after another 20-plus minutes back, my feet were swollen and being cut into by my cute shoes and my back and legs had some odd muscle pains that left me walking like I was already 9 months pregnant or 85 years old. Yeah, I did that to myself. I do not need to report these symptoms, or my stupidity, to the doctor. We'll leave that one between me and the blogging world.