18 Week Appointment

Usually, my appointments are on Tuesdays, so, when I called the office this morning to verify the time tomorrow, they informed me that my appointment was actually...well, fifteen minutes ago from when I called. Oops. I usually put these things in my phone, but I was so annoyed when I left last time, I forgot.

They were nice enough (even if Ms. Thang on the phone still gave me attitude) to schedule me at 11 a.m. since there were no more appointments that week.

The nurse weighed me (I gained a whole pound, everyone!) and then looked for my baby's heartbeat with the doppler. I had orange juice before I went there, so my boy was bouncing all over the place. I told her where he has been kicking, and it took her a little bit to get a reading on the doppler, not because we couldn't find the heartbeat, but because he wouldn't stay in one place long enough for the heart rate to register. He kept kicking and blowing the speaker out, then swimming away. Punk boy.

This time around, I saw one of the OBs and not the midwife. I am glad. From the moment she walked in, her whole attitude was different. I felt much more comfortable with her, and she was appreciative of what it took for me to get there, since her sister and sister-in-law both went through IVF to get their babies.

Anyway, my uterus is measuring just fine, and she said my weight gain (of a whole pound!) was okay because my baby only weighs about a pound. She's happy to hear my son is very active too. She gave me the paperwork to schedule my anatomy scan in a couple of weeks, and I'm also going to see a genetic counselor about taking antidepressants during my pregnancy. I asked the OB if extra scans will be done to make sure his weight is appropriate, since the drug I am on can cause low birth weight for babies and she said that they will be able to tell me more at my anatomy scan and the counselor will let me know if I will be having more scans between now and a couple of months from now to keep an eye on baby's weight. The OB mentioned that when patients are on Zoloft (which I am not) that they usually do more fetal echocardiographs to keep an eye on the heart, so that might also be what they might do for me.

I opted to get the quad screen done, which checks for genetic abnormalities (I'm too lazy to list them out). I was going to pass on it, since my NT scan came back okay, but the doctor told me that it checks on some other genetic disorders that the NT scan doesn't. So, why not?

She also told me that I should wait until the third trimester to get my pertussis vaccination so it will pass to the baby, who will get another one when he's born. So, B and I will be doing that in a couple of months as well.

All-in-all, everything is looking really well! Another appointment down. :)