6 weeks 6 days - Intake Appointment

Oh man, this is one I'm typing up through some serious queasiness. Even though it's super early, S asked me to pick a hospital and pre-register so I could get on the calendar for prenatal appointments. The hospital choice was a difficult one, more difficult I think because of our location. We live about 5 minutes from Kaiser A. They're a smaller Kaiser but I absolutely love my OB, who is the head of the department there. Unfortunately, they don't really have a rated NICU (it's not even on the state list) and my OB is the only OB I'd want to deliver with there. S wants me very much to deliver and receive care at Kaiser B.

Kaiser B is about 30 min - 1 hour from our house which is a pain in the butt. It's a larger Kaiser with what is considered to be the best labor and delivery unit and a NICU. I had originally planed to go with my awesome OB at Kaiser A but after weighing all the options, it seemed like a better and safer bet to go with Kaiser B, even if it means giving up my beloved OB. The chances of actually delivering with your OB aren't great and I'd be pretty upset if I couldn't have her. S is a Nurse Midwife at Kaiser B and her partner midwife is also supposedly wonderful along with the OBs. If I have any sort of emergency, I can always go to the closer Kaiser A but everything scheduled will take place at Kaiser B.

The next step was actually making the appointment which was mentally harder than it should have been. It felt a lot like tempting fate and I was really hesitant to make those kinds of plans with a pregnancy this new, but I finally went ahead and had my intake appointment today.

This appointment started out with lots of questions answered via tablet. They were mostly basic pregnancy and health questions so it was kind of cool to get them out of the way without wasting my face to face time with the nurse. Once I got to her, we were able to focus entirely on our story and the calendar.  Holy balls was S right about the calendar.

After explaining about our IVF journey and briefly discussing the available prenatal screening options, the nurse opened up "THE CALENDAR" and proceeded to book me for the next 4 months. And she wasn't just booking me to get ahead, there were practically no appointments left for the date ranges I needed! I asked to try and have my appointments with S but she was only available for my July and August appointments. I also needed an OB since I'm not delivering with my wonderful Kaiser A one, so this nurse booked me with the head of this labor and delivery unit. Then, since I'm over 25 and I'm an even chubbier chubster than usual thanks to IVF, the nurse had me take the gestational diabetes screening test.

(Source)

OMG this stuff was disgusting. It tastes like some sort of burning, chemical orange soda and is in no way, shape or form morning sickness friendly. It's now been over 6 hours since I drank it and I still feel sicker to my stomach than normal, and my intestines are making all sorts of angry noises. I somehow managed to choke it down and not vomit, finished up the appointment and then went to have my blood drawn an hour after the drink. I guess the nurse didn't see my previously updated STD panel in my chart that I just did for the clinic so she ordered another full panel along with the glucose and urine test. 10 vials of blood after drinking the Glucola and not being able to drink water or throw up? Not fun. 

My next appointment with Kaiser is in just a week or so to have my physical and first Kaiser ultrasound. Luckily, we won't actually have to wait that long to see our little bean since our next clinic appointment is this weekend.  Two ultrasounds in less than a week? We're going to get spoiled :) This time I just need to remember to ask E to get some video footage for me.