April Appointments Thread

kboydbowman

For talking about your upcoming appointments and outcomes of appointments

lilienne

OBGYN appointment 4/11, amnio appointment 4/13, 1-2 week wait for results. We are committed to getting answers before we make decisions, but I can't decide which is worse - the long wait for answers, or knowing the answer is coming soon whether we're ready or not.

pangolindrome

Second genetic screening 4/15, virtual 16-week 4/22 (actually week 17). I look forward to the result for informed decisions but I can relate to the wait being just… unbearable. 

First genetic screening results were good, so there’s that for sure.

dsmith211

Nothing until April 26th for our next midwife appointment. Until then riding out these antibiotics and keeping my fingers crossed for the next culture screen.🤞 

kboydbowman

Met with and hired a doula today - she has services to offer whether I end up going the C-section route or the TOLAC route.  I'm really excited about working with her - she's very much my kind of people!

Also got an email from my OB - she wants me to meet w/an MFM for a consultation about the TOLAC idea, so that's now on April 12th (he'll also do my next cervical ultrasound).  I'll get my 2nd trimester screen blood draw that day, too.

blanket_girl

Anatomy scan on 4/11 with MFM- can’t decide if I’m excited or nervous!
 My next OB is a telehealth visit for week ~20 is on 4/22

babywiik

Apparently my next midwife appt is tomorrow. I completely forgot about it so good thing for text reminders. I also was supposed to get blood work done which I also completely forgot about😬 I think I'll run down to the lab tomorrow (it's a walk in lab) to get my blood drawn so at least I can say I did it even though my midwife is probably wanting the results by my appt time which isn't going to happen. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now🤷‍♀️

pangolindrome

@babywiik Pregnancy brain, go time! At least you’ll get it done

lucyg00cy

We just have our anatomy scan on 4/18 this month. I’m excited to see our little man again! 

wiseh

I'm going to book a reassurance scan for next weekend when my husband finally gets to my parents' house. It's a very long 10 weeks between my 12w scan & my anatomy scan that isn't scheduled until 22 weeks, particularly as babe is so little and I can't feel movement yet, so we want to have a little peak and it's super cheap so we thought why not. I also called the hospital today and they said my first appointment will be some time between 22 & 24 weeks, though from the local page this will be a telehealth appointment. Feels a bit weird to have no medical appointments booked for over 10 weeks compared to my last pregnancy where I was having them every few days at one point due to complications. 

pangolindrome

@wiseh that is a LONG TIME. Why is it so long? My OB office said I’ll see them monthly, at least telehealth, and towards the end it will be more frequent.

wiseh

@pangolindrome when I saw the GP to confirm my pregnancy he said that I would come in for results of tests & then transfer to hospital care started at 16 weeks, but I just found out yesterday that it's not till 22-24 weeks. I am not in my home town until ~19 weeks. I will give them a call anyway to see if they want to see me, but being a remote mining town I doubt it 😅

jhysmath

I had my 16 week today and asked about braces for my wrists because of the carpal tunnel starting up at night. I don't want to get to the point I was at with my second, so I was excited when she said oh the other midwife just ordered some for another mom, I'll put the order in for you. I'm hoping I'll get them soon. I had my afp test and hope everything comes back good. Next appointment in 3 weeks for an ultrasound and follow up with the mfm. The day after my 20 week appointment with my midwife. 

wiseh

I realised I haven't seen a doctor in person since 6 or 8 weeks, so booked an appointment with a random GP in my parents' town next week. At minimum I will get a blood pressure check because I ended up with extremely high blood pressure. Not sure what else they would do but feels good to have an appointment 😅

newbabymama27

@wiseh ask if they have a Doppler so you could at least hear the heartbeat!! I was with my GP with my son until 20 weeks but with this baby I’m with the OB since 12 weeks. I think the “rules” changed in our city since Covid. Something about not wanting pregnant ladies going to GP’s because those clinics are full of colds and flus etc. the doc may also measure you from belly button to pubic bone. I think they start doing that once your bump has popped? 

wiseh

I'm not sure if they'd hear a heartbeat because I am obese @newbabymama27. I didn't realise how much it affected things but it also means my ultrasounds were not very clear at all - literature describes it like looking through tha I actually haven't heard the heartbeat yet - have seen it on a screen, but not actually heard it. I am booking in for a reassurance scan to so we can hear it. I had heard my DD heartbeat at least twice a week for 4 weeks by now in my pregnancy for her so I am definitely missing that!

newbabymama27

@wiseh ugh I’m sorry, it must be so frustrating to not hear your baby’s heartbeat. It takes all the fun away from all this waiting and going through crazy symptoms and feeling uncomfortable. Fingers crossed for you that the appointment goes well and you get some form of reassurance ❤️

jhysmath

@wiseh I'm "obese" too and can normally find the hb at 12 weeks with my at home doppler. They were able to find it prior to 12 weeks with the hospital one for all 3 of mine. 

wiseh

Thank you for sharing, @jhysmath. Have you had any issues with quality of ultrasounds? Apparently my abdominal fat content results in poor image quality. Research supports this, but I am also suspect of the quality of the equipment as I live in a remote town where the equipment is definitely not "state of the art"

jhysmath

@wiseh I'm going to go with quality of US device, though I think I had only vaginal US until about 20 weeks. I feel like they tried in my other pregnancies at 12 weeks and they couldn't get a good pictures with the abdominal one.

I'm even being sent to the "big" hospital in our state for my anatomy scan because they're machines are better and I'm over 35 so I guess that means they need it more indepth. 

wiseh

hmmm.. maybe I will try for an early anatomy scan while I am still visiting my parents and have access to brand new technology, though I will only just be 18 weeks so they might not do it. Worth a try though! I swear I had no issues with my daughter and I am only 10kg heavier than I was at the same gestation with her and the same weight as I was when I birthed her. 

jhysmath

My mw told me to schedule whenever I could between 18-22 weeks. The only reason I went with closer to 21 weeks was because we're on vacation and I have to drive 1.5 hours there and don't want to have to take a day off of from work. 

lilienne

My OBGYN (with less-than-spectacular bedside manner) explained to me that she sees patients less often early on because "there isn't much they can do if they do spot a problem, and they're trying to minimize appointments during COVID." She isn't wrong, but I didn't love hearing it! She basically said even for a lot of their higher-risk pregnancies, they stick to 6-8 weeks between appointments until around the 16-20 week mark, when there's more that can be done as far as cervical cerclage, additional diagnostics, etc.

mk2022x

@lilienne ugh. I wouldn’t want to hear that either, even if it is true. I’ve gone in every 4 weeks - granted, the last 2 literally lasted 15 minutes (weight, mental health check, heartbeat check) but I’m still glad I had them.

While we’re on the Doppler talk - what is it that I’m hearing when I find the HB the clearest? His back/chest?? The placenta sounds different than the heartbeat, but a quick google search didn’t bring me any real results. 

babywiik

@wiseh here in Norway they plan the anatomy scan better 17-19 weeks. Mine will be at 19.5 because of availability and then Easter.
@lilienne 6-8 weeks? Wow! With my last pregnancy, my midwife made me go see my GP for a check up because she was going to be out of town at the time I normally would get another checkup and she didn't want me to go more than 4 weeks without getting my blood pressure checked and listen to baby's heartbeat. I suppose your OBGYN probably has a lot more patients then my midwife though.

wiseh

@babywiik I am finding the non-standardised pregnancy care a little bit shocking to be honest. Like my doctor is totally OK with me going 20 weeks without an appointment but other medical professionals stress over more than 4 weeks? 

kboydbowman

If I were not so high risk, mine would be every 4 weeks. But because of all of my risk factors it's every 2 weeks.

maple1422

We had a blood draw on 3/28 for NIPS because I wanted to know the sex. Then I got a call on 4/1 saying the quantity was insufficient, so I went in 4/2 to do it again.

I'm starting to think this particular kit is new to their lab, because for the first draw, the tech only filled 1 tube. For the second draw a different tech didn't know where they stocked the kit (I showed her where the other gal had grabbed it from and informed her that the little business card with the code on it goes home with me so I can register my test for online results) and the second gal filled two tubes (it has instructions right there on the box). An odd encounter for sure.

It took forever to make up our minds that we actually wanted to pay for the portion that reveals the sex, and then it got pushed out another week. Now our results should be in by this weekend (as early as 4/7), but we really only saved 2 weeks of not knowing because our anatomy scan is scheduled for 4/25... I'm so excited to see the baby again!

mamamoomoo12

I have been getting a lot of headaches, it was so interesting to me today that at our appointment I was told to up my caffeine intake. I have been trying to limit myself to one cup of coffee a day but it sounds like I can have a bit more! I’ll take it 😊

newbabymama27

@mamamoomoo12 well that’s pretty nice!! Now you can treat yourself more 😏 I know a homemade cup of coffee doesn’t often go over 100 mg of caffeine so I allow myself a cup in the morning and then black tea or another cup in the afternoon if I’m feeling like it. I’ve always had headaches pretty regularly with migraines on and off for a couple of years and I found that taking an ibuprofen and also drinking a big mug of strong black tea would help with the headaches (not the migraines though 🥴). I obviously can’t take ibuprofen now but I’ve tried Tylenol + black tea and it’s actually helped a few times. 

mmoli79

Yes I found that caffeine helps too. I tried a cup of coffee out of desperation after three days of a headache and I was feeling better within half an hour. I guess you get vasodilation with migraines, and caffeine causes vasoconstriction therefore relief! 

mamamoomoo12

@newbabymama27 I also found excedrine tension which is just Tylenol and caffeine! That helps when my headaches/migraines make me a bit nauseous and I don’t want to drink coffee. I had migraines/ horrible tension headaches before pregnancy but would only get them once a month now I am getting them weekly which has been tough. 

trapperkeeper87

@mamamoomoo12 Yes! That is like a secret that so many pregnant women don't know about! That was a godsend last pregnancy and I still need it on occasion with this one. Shout it from the rooftops, girl!

newbabymama27

@mamamoomoo12 thanks for the tip!! I know excedrin isn’t sold in Canada but apparently there is a similar equivalent under a generic brand for acetaminophen + caffeine here. I’ll just have to hunt it down at the pharmacy… 

laj0217

@mamamoomoo12 my normal break through migraine medicine, prescribed by the neurologist, is Fioricet. It’s just Tylenol, caffeine, and a sedative. My pregnancy thought is to use the Tylenol and caffeine and take a nap. It’s worked for all but one of my migraines. 

x_tina729

@mamamoomoo12 I’ve been getting some headaches too and I’ve never gotten them before pregnancy! My doctor said to take Tylenol and if they continue see a neurologist which made me nervous. I’m glad I’m not the only one having headaches because I felt like I was abnormal or something!! 

lalarose22

@x_tina729 totally normal and so common to have headaches during pregnancy!!

millygolitely

newbabymama27 said:

@mamamoomoo12 thanks for the tip!! I know excedrin isn’t sold in Canada but apparently there is a similar equivalent under a generic brand for acetaminophen + caffeine here. I’ll just have to hunt it down at the pharmacy… 

I’m in Canada and I found Tylenol + caffeine pills called Tylenol Ultra just in the normal spot next to regular Tylenol! Never heard of it before but now I take one as soon as I feel a headache coming on and I think it’s been helping. My midwife mentioned caffeine to me when I complained of headaches and I thought that would barely help.  Last two days I had Coca Cola at lunch and didn’t get a headache too, so I am starting to see this caffeine thing is true! 

newbabymama27

Thanks so much @millygolitely! I’ll write down the name and look for it here 😊

ashley35209

It's official... I have to go see MFM for weekly ultrasounds. I kind of had a feeling it would happen thos pregnancy but I don't think I was prepared for weekly visits to start at 16 weeks... I guess on the bright side, I'll definitely be hitting my deductible soon. 

kboydbowman

@ashley35209 what are they checking for?