Doctor's Appointments (Week of 8/1)

catem07 · August 2016

Any appointments this week? How did it go?

holzie-2 · August 2016

Not so much a doctor's appointment as a blood draw. 3rd beta draw today, got there at 7, they usually call between 1-4. FX for HIGH numbers!

catem07 · August 2016

FX for you! I had my first appointment yesterday. Urine test, meeting with doctor, blood test. HCG at nearly 20,000 (fits my 5w3d timing) and progesterone at 19.5. First U/S scheduled for August 19.

STM2017 · August 2016

I'm actually a little frustrated with this. I'm in Canada, so things might be a bit different here. But my first OB appointment isn't until 12 weeks (September 21). I asked about doing a blood test and they said they just do it then. I called my family doctor to ask her to check my HCG level, and they won't do it without booking an appointment, and she's not available for a couple of weeks!! So I feel like what's the point because by then I'll probably have morning sickness. It's just a bit frustrating basing my pregnancy on a HPT. With DS, I was working in a hospital, so the docs there just ran a blood test for me the day after my BFP. Much more reassuring last pregnancy...

MrsBakes · August 2016

I'm frustrated, too @stm2017

I don't know why they insist on not seeing the patients until at least 8 weeks but then only have them meet up with the nurse. What's the point of this? I have to wait another 3 weeks after that to see my OB. No US, nothing, just blood draw. I want more!!

STM2017 · August 2016

@MrsBakes ugh!!! I'm actually a little jealous that you get an 8 week appointment! Lol!! When is the first US then? Ours is only at 20 weeks

Don't get me wrong, I don't want an early US because here that means complications. But a blood test to confirm and check that HCG is doubling is not an unreasonable request!!! I actually went to the dollar store today to buy a couple of HPTs. We want to announce to family at 8 weeks and unless I am having lots of symptoms I'll be POAS just to reassure myself then.

Dax28 · August 2016

Oh my goodness, that's terrible that they won't do blood tests for you! It's such a simple thing to do. I feel for you. With my insurance we usually see a nurse the first 4-5 weeks for prenatal instructions. Then an ultrasound around 6-8 weeks. I has an emergency ultrasound at 5 weeks for spotting and the only reason they checked my betas was because I gave a histoy of miscarriage.

MrsBakes · August 2016

I'm hoping they'll at least check my hcg levels. I spoke with the nurse twice and I'm kind of unhappy. I loved them all with my first pregnancy. But this time they seem so clueless. One mentioned something about a dating US, the other one said not until 20 weeks, when I called again, they nurse said that the nurse who will see me on the 17th will let me know at my first appointment what she wants to do next. I asked what to expect since I'm AMA now and she said she didn't know. Mmmkkeyyyyy

mrsstuessy · August 2016

I don't really know anyone, who doesn't have a miscarriage or infertility, that gets a blood test before the 1st prenatal at 8-10 weeks. A blood test is not really any different than a pee test. And they don't check hcg levels for an average pregnancy. In my experience only if you have a history of loss do they test hcg. Honestly, unless you have a low progesterone there isn't really anything they can do for you in the 1st tri anyway. A dating ultrasound is pretty standard between 8-12 weeks though. I am not even going to schedule an appointment until the beginning of September. There is no point to rush in, really. I know it's hard to be patient. But after the first trimester time really starts to move much faster.

firewife86 · August 2016

I had my BFP on July 29.. called on 8/1 to schedule my first appointment.. which will be 8/24. I should be about 9 weeks. They will do a dating u/s and schedule 1st trimester screening at that point.

catem07 · August 2016

@mrsstuessy I had a blood test at 5w3d and have no history of infertility or miscarriage. They checked progesterone and HCG. But the HCG was more for dating, I think, they aren't doing another test in 48 hours. I'm also a FTM, so that might have been added reason to see me so early.

ETA: I called them and said I was pregnant. They suggested when to come in, I didn't ask to come in early.

But maybe you're talking about Canada, where I am not from.

LilyGracesMommy · August 2016

@Holzie super jealous of those numbers!!

I called my OB and had a beta done yesterday at 18dpo. it was 46.1

I go in the morning for my second draw I am hoping it doubles... I looked on that Beta Base website and found the lowest level at 18dpo that ended in a successful pregnancy was 19

I'm cautiously hopeful, though I stil do have brown spotting. but no red or clots at all.

I live in the states but the only reason I was able to do a Beta level is because I called about my spotting and suggested it ( not sure if they would have automatically done one just because of the spotting)

TheJerilu · August 2016

@mrsstuessy
It's part of my clinic's policy to do a 1st prenatal checkup with a nurse and lab tech early on that doesn't involve u/s, just blood draws and a "please don't smoke while pregnant" kind of thing, regardless of history. I think they do it to weed out the folks that aren't actually pregnant so they don't waste the actual doctor appointment times, and to get some of the genetic predisposition tests out of the way earlier to save time (and give mental preparation if need be) later. I even had my first glucose test at mine when on Tuesday even though I was only 4w0d (dad has diabetes, so I'll probably be doing one every few weeks).

I live in a busy US city, so I assume they probably have to deal with a lot more BSC folks than some rural or suburban clinics might. Also I have really good insurance, so I think they just ran some of the tests knowing they were covered and why not.

STM2017 · August 2016

@mrsstuessy - I wonder if it depends on your doc/where you live. With my DS I had one of the docs at the hospital do my first blood test to confirm the pregnancy. Then my family doctor wanted to make sure my HCG levels were doubling so she ordered 2 more blood tests. I never had my progesterone checked (at least not to my knowledge), but it was super reassuring to me knowing my HCG levels were doubling.

It's so weird to me how different the appointment schedule is depending on where you live. We don't have an OB appointment until 12 weeks, and there is no US then, just blood work and listening for heartbeat with the doppler. Our one and only ultrasound is at 20 weeks. Unless there are complications.

ale9687 · August 2016

Hi @holzie how was your third beta today?

holzie-2 · August 2016

@ale9687, it came back at 1971, they said that was good, so I'm happy. We go for our first u/s 8/15. Thanks for asking!

mrsstuessy · August 2016

@yaeger07 @TheJerilu @STM2017 That's definitely different than here. I had DD when I lived in an urban area (in the US) and there the norm is not to be seen until at least 8 weeks. I moved a couple of hours away to a medium sized city and here it is about the same, somewhere between 8-10 weeks. When I called at 5 weeks pregnant with DD they laughed in my face when I asked if the 9 week appointment was soon enough. They asked if I had a previous loss and when I said no they said it was the rule there to not see people before 9 or 10 weeks. I assumed it was the same everywhere. Crazy how that changes based on where you live.

catem07 · August 2016

I'm in a major city with a big health care presence so there's probably more availability (and things like a Quest lab in the same building as my doc). In smaller cities and towns I'd assume they can't give out appointments as easily because maybe they're more booked up.

mrsstuessy · August 2016

yaeger07 said:

I'm in a major city with a big health care presence so there's probably more availability (and things like a Quest lab in the same building as my doc). In smaller cities and towns I'd assume they can't give out appointments as easily because maybe they're more booked up.

It was a large city, I mean, over a million people at least. So, I don't know. It is a very low income city though, and perhaps that might have something to do with it. I don't know. I have never had super awesome insurance either.

STM2017 · August 2016

I'm in Canada. So we do things differently. It's fine. It just is so interesting to me how there's such a wide range of appointment schedules. Even with US's. We only have 1 during the pregnancy, unless there are complications.

Can't wait to reach 12 weeks so I can hear that heartbeat and be reassured!

TheJerilu · August 2016

Hahah OH GOOD LORD I just gave myself a stupid scare. Woke up in the middle of the night per my new usual, and I got an email saying my lab results posted, great!

My HCG quantitative was taken at 4w0d to confirm pregnancy per clinic policy, and came back as 215. For whatever reason, the threshold range they've included with the lab results was labelled as the gestational age, and had a range of HCG values starting with 5-50 at 1 week gestational*** age and going up weekly from there.

Well, shoot, my levels per this chart*** at 4 weeks should have been between at least 1000. Cue momentary panic, peed on a stick (waaaaaaaaay positive), reread the chart 18 times. Then I wake up enough to realize that all of the numbers seem ridiculously high, especially for the first 5 weeks.

Check some Googles, and while the numbers are slightly different per source, the general range consensus seems to put this chart provided by the lab to be at least two weeks off - it's showing weeks past conception, not gestational age. Geeeeeze that makes a huge difference, and my number is fine (which also makes sense because the doc didn't call and ask me to start doing beta doubling draws).

Also, first diabetes test was negative! We'll see what happens in a few weeks, but at least I don't have secret diabetes that I was unaware of.

***anybody looking at this in the future and assuming that these ranges are correct, please read the full post because that range is not correct for GESTATIONAL age, which is the whole point of this thing.

Neikoda · August 2016

@TheJerilu Those numbers look good to me. Mine at 3+6 were 50miu and at 4+1 were 183miu.

TheJerilu · August 2016

@Neikoda
Yeah, once I woke up and realized that the chart from the lab was apparently made in cuckoo land and my number was fine, I calmed down a ton. I originally was going to post the chart with the story, but then didn't want somebody with bad reading comprehension who was freaking out already and stumbled here to only look at the bogus chart and add to their stress.

The chart was 100% certified wack.

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