The First OB Visit.

Well for everyone who may be wondering... yesterday I had my first visit with the OB and one of the midwives. Dr Simon seems quite nice and not too old...so that would have to be a good thing. He asked me all the normal questions about previous pregnancies - none, previous illness - some, and discussed the results of the blood test that I had a few weeks earlier. Everything was quite normal. Then he had a listen to my chest, a tap and a feel of my belly and then it was going to be all over until I asked if I could have a ultrasound to reassure me that everything was okay. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to put in our video so we don't have any footage, but there was a good heart beat, we could see that Ernie had definitely grown quite a bit and Jochen is sure that he could see arms and legs. The image wasn't very good because apparently my bladder wasn't very full - no more internal ultrasounds for me as Ernie is now big enough to see without having to enter the void. So far everything seems to be fine. (Belinda sighs with extreme relief and gives herself a headache from the release of pressure and stress that had been building up.)I think we can safely say that I'm largely out of the major danger period. Annie and Kell - consider yourselves Aunties in waiting.

We then discussed if I wanted to test for the risk of Downs Syndrome, which I do. So I have another ultrasound in about a weeks time (have got to ring and make the appointment) and have a blood test on Monday. This will give us an idea of risk, if our risk is high we may decide to do an amnio to find out for sure and then we would have to make some very hard decisions if it was to be positive. But I'm not going to think about that at the moment. I see him again in five weeks so we will probably get some answers then.

After we saw Dr. Simon we met with Carol one of the midwives. It was her job to see how I was going generally, check my weight (down some more), check my blood pressure (also quite low at 90/70) and discuss my diet (extremely poor). Carol told us that the maternity section is undergoing huge renovations and by the time that we get down there at the end of October we should be able to be in a nice new, up to date facility. What good timing. At our next appointment we formally book into the hospital, book into numerous classes (antenatel, breastfeeding, physio and heaps of others) and start the process of getting ready. Carol also suggested that we use the second trimester to get prepared so that during the third trimester when I will probably be feeling at my worst I don't have to worry about anything. This means the gloves are off and the shopping can now commence. Oooh I'm going to enjoy this bit and if that pesky morning sickness would just go away, things around here will be pretty good.