As soon as I learned I was preggers I knew I was about to enter a very frequent club…not the very frequent urination club or morning sickness club it was the Very frequent Visit to the Doctors club! This was a club I had tried to avoid for the past 30 years. I just don’t like going!! I would rather spend $60 more wisely on a new pair of shoes or more clothes for my wardrobe. I certainly didn’t want to waste my time…and precious money on being stuck in a waiting room for god knows how long with the snot filled, germ infested public.
I had found out I was pregnant whilst on holidays with my man. I was immediately consumed with all these questions and uncertainty of what to expect. Did I need to make an appointment with a doctor now? How often did I need to go to see them? What will I need to do over the next 9 months? How would I going to cope spending hours on end in the waiting rooms? How many people will be seeing my vajutsa in the next 9 months, will I remember or even care?
Luckily for me my future sister in law was a practicing midwife and she quickly put most of my concerns at ease and I made an appointment with my doctor upon my return from holidays.
My first visit to the doctors did leave me concerned and a little offended. As I waited for my appointment surrounded by sick people I was not thrilled to find out he was running 45minutes behind schedule.
When I finally got in to see the doctor, he asked why I was seeing him. I told him that I had taken a pregnancy test and it was positive. To which the doctor responded, “Confirming you are 31 and this is your first child?” Me- Yes I am & yes it is.
Him- “ Wow, your first baby at your age? We best organize a scan as soon as possible. From the looks of it you might have 2 in there and as you get older there are more concerns we need to check out and we’ll organize blood tests checking for STI’s and other things”
Well thanks Doctor! In the space of a 5 minute conversation not only have you scared the shit outta me mentioning twins, you also just made me feel like an old fatso and a town bike in one sentence. I wasn’t really sure if I ever wanted to see this doctor again.
Anyway with a scan booked in, we were off to the big smoke to go see what the spud looked like on the screen. My partner and I had to drive 2 Hrs to the appointment under the instructions to empty my bladder before we left home and then sip on 1 litre of water between our house and the appointment without going to the toilet for the rest of the trip…Mission Impossible!!!
I peed 3 times between our house and the scan with my partner force-feeding me water constantly, I felt like my back teeth were floating the whole time. (I’m not much of a water fan as fish pee in it) but for the sake of the baby and this pregnancy I will drink it.
When we got to the appointment of course there were delays and it was torture! I was fidgeting every second that ticked by you could be mistaken for thinking I was having tears of happiness and excitement in my eyes waiting to see this little spud on the monitor for the first time, truth was I was nearly crying with that much pain unable to wee and ready to bust. Then after what seemed like hours my name was finally called we went into to the room and I climbed on the bed to eager to see the bub on the screen, but almost equally eager to get this appointment over with so I could go to the loo.
The scan itself was uncomfortable with this lady pushing down and squashing my belly/uterus so hard I thought I would pee my pants. The lady hardly spoke to us and as soon as she was done I was up off that table and running to the toilet like an Olympic sprinter going for Gold.
I left the appointment feeling a little disappointed as this was a big deal to us and the lady didn’t really explain that much and it had been so uncomfortable I couldn’t enjoy the moment for the amazing time it was. My partner mentioned how the spud looked like an alien and it was boring as we didn’t get to see much after driving all that way for just a blob on the screen and a grumpy lady who told us nothing.
Thankfully the next scan was much better, the sonographer was an expectant mum herself and she took extra time to explain things to my Nanna and I. She also laughed herself silly when my future son or daughter was throwing a party in my womb, kicking and flipping so much it was hard for her to get measurements.
My Nan had never seen an ultrasound before so to share this moment with her was just unreal; the only thing that was missing was my man who was away working, unable to be with me on the day. The kind lady gave me heaps to pics to take home that I could share with my man and those important to me. I printed out some pics took them in to work to show everyone, gave my mum and Nanna a copy each and sent one away to the babies
