Today we had our first appointment with our OB/GYN, Dr. Clinton. We’ve officially graduated from the fertility clinic and while we are grateful that we were in that program, we’re also very proud that we got pregnant completely naturally. There would have been no shame in IUI success, indeed, that’s what we were praying for, but we do take an extra bit of pride that we did it on our own. It gives us confidence that we weren’t entirely dependent on science and that when we try for our second child (knocking on wood right now), we’ll be successful.

So it’s appropriate that at some point when it’s determined that the pregnancy is proceeding well, you simply start following the same program that and pregnant couple would. If you’ve been brave enough to read old posts, you’ll know that we first met Dr. Clinton during the unfortunate confirmation of our first miscarriage in September of 2007. She was confident at that time that we’d be back to see her in only a few months, happily pregnant again. It makes sense that she would say such a thing, given how common miscarriages are and due to the fact that we got pregnant naturally that first time. In the end, we did make it back; just 14 months later.

Nevertheless, we were there and began a routine we’ll become familiar with (or at least Elizabeth will) which is that one of the first things she does upon arrival is pee in a cup. I guess they’re always checking those hormone levels, I assume. We waited a good 45 minutes having arrived early and finally were escorted into ye olde waiting room. There, a nurse checked Elizabeth’s blood pressure and asked her to put on the paper gown. I always feel a bit odd at this, not because my wife is disrobing, but because soon there will be three of us in the room: myself, a person I don’t know (the doctor) and my wife who isn’t wearing any pants. I tell myself that women are trained in this from a very early age. Is it any wonder that men are less comfortable around doctors?

We had a vague memory of Dr. Clinton from 14 months before — that she was very nice during a difficult time for us. However, that was probably a speech that she gives everyone so this was really our first meeting. First things first, we did another ultrasound. I could tell Elizabeth was looking for the heartbeat and we saw it right away. It kind of looks like nebulous little area that’s pulsing – but in a way that the nebulousness shifts rhythmically, as though you’re actually seeing blood flowing around the area. It certainly doesn’t look like a heart but the steady beating is unmistakable. Again, we didn’t get a BPM although I believe it’s typically about 160 bpm.

Afterwards, Dr. Clinton went through the big chart and asked lots of questions of us. Standard stuff: family background, history of illness, genetics, habits (drinking, smoking, drugs), and on. That stuff’s easy because we generally say no to everything. While both of our family has had dealings with cancer, there’s not much that’s genetic. Maybe nothing, in fact. There are a few questions I need to ask a few people. That will be when we reveal to everyone that we’re pregnant — at ~12 weeks.

In case you’re wondering, this section of the blog will remain unpublished until we’ve officially announced it. Not that I have a readership at this point but we, like most people, think it’s best to wait until we’ve emerged from the danger zone before we advertise our pregnancy. I should mention that Dr. Barnes felt after having seen the strong heartbeat at eight weeks that our chances of miscarriage had dropped to about 3-4%. NICE. Every day that chance is reduced, certainly even more with this again healthy ultrasound.

We have one MAJOR hurdle remaining and I’ll get to that when that day arrives. The CVS test. but for now, the happy stuff:

Ultrasound, 12-19-08, 8w5d (according to measure)

Ultrasound, 12-19-08, 8w5d (according to measure of 2.11cm)

I was a bit disappointed to see that we’d actually gone back a step, having only progressed a couple days according to the measured size (2.11 cm) in the week that had passed. However, Dr. Clinton didn’t even blink at this and it did put us “on schedule” — just our original schedule.