Doctor appointment updates

Oh, where to begin?!

Let's see I had a NST, growth scan and follow up appointment for 9/5 which was canceled due to Hurricane Dorian. So my 35 week appointment was pushed back a week I'd be doing it all at 36 weeks. Can't control mother nature!

So then, I had an appointment scheduled with Dr. Reeves on Wednesday 9/11 that involved a NST, ultrasound and follow up with him. This was already going to be at least a 2 hour appointment most likely. Well he tragically lost his son in car accident the night before so obviously he was not there. I knew that going into the appointment and so I knew I would be seeing someone else, which was totally fine. At this point I was preparing myself to see a different doctor for the remainder of this pregnancy and I was ok with that. My heart was just broken for Dr. Reeves and his family.

I got there and checked in at 1:45 for my 2:00 NST. They got me back super quick and let me go ahead and do my urine sample and blood pressure and stuff which i'm so glad I did. All of that was fine. I went straight to the NST and got hooked up and did that which took about 30 minutes. The nurse had the doctor look at it and he said it was fine. I was a little worried just because I felt like I could hear baby's heartbeat slow and speed up and I would have flash backs of Tallen's heartbeat doing that during labor. They said everything was fine though, so I assume it was.

I went back out to the waiting room that is beginning to fill up and then I get called back to ultrasound (wasn't too far behind my appointment time, so I was still good). She was very nice and took her time and we looked at baby and did the measurements and all of that. It was a great last baby ultrasound ever. At the end when the computer did its thing and calculated the weight it was 6lbs 14 oz which puts baby in the 74th percentile! I was soo shocked! I did not expect to hear that number at 36 weeks! Lakelyn at 36 weeks was 5.12 and 30th percentile and Tallen at 35 weeks was 5.12 and 60th percentile (so if i had to guess what he would have been a week later I would say around 6ish pounds!) I know these are usually off some, but even "some" would still be a bigger baby than my other two and made me nervous. I was watching all of the measurements of the legs, head, belly and such and they were all 38-40 weeks. The smallest being the baby's head I believe. Baby was head down in my pelvis though so it made it hard to get a good image. But that was that and I went back to the waiting room.

I waited foreverrrrr and a day to get called back. Not just me, but EVERYONE there had to wait. I was starting to think they forgot about me because there were patients that came in way after me getting called back before me. I try not to be one of those people because I work in the medical field and know how things go, but I was ready to ask questions after an hour of waiting. Finally, I got called back. Saw the doctor and he did the swap test for bacteria or whatever. Which I assume was fine because I still haven't heard anything and this was like 2 weeks ago. He was very nice and took his time making sure I didn't have any questions and he did a cervical check. I was about a finger tip and maybe around 30% effaced and soft. So, basically nothing because I've had 2 kids before so I dont think my cervix will every be completely closed. However, his check HURTTTT! I have only had like 2 or 3 cervical checks in all my pregnancies that have hurt and his was one of them. Anyway, that was that and he explained Dr. Reeves wouldn't be back next week which I figured and I could see him again or if I wanted to choose someone else I could do that too and he would be ok with that. I ended up getting out of there around almost 5:00!

No offense to him because he was super nice, but I already knew I would switch to Dr. Givens because I have seen him once before. Other than that, it's only been Reeves. Plus Givens and Reeves are cousins.

Next appointment at 37 weeks 1 day which was Tuesday 9/17. I waiting a little while, but at this point I can't remember the last time I didn't have to wait to be seen. This appointment was just a check, so nothing crazy. I did my urine sample which was fine, weight was no gain and blood pressure was 120/68. So everything there looked great! He came in and my biggest concern this appointment was if I in fact was going to be seeing someone else to have this baby. If so, I wanted to go over everything Dr. Reeves and I have discuss and been through with 3 pregnancies now. I work in the medical field I know that the History notes in the computer and real life knowledge is not always the same. So I needed him to know I'm terrified to have a c-section, i've had pre-eclampsia twice, pitocin doesn't do well for me, Tallen was tangled in his cord and so that also traumatized me, Lakelyn's labor lasted 2 days and all of these things so that the questions or requests that I have would make sense to him. So he immediately makes sure I knew what happened, that they are cousins and family and treat patients in the same type of way, but the best thing he said was that Dr. Reeves was ready to come back!!! I wanted him to take all the time he needed but selfishly was hoping he would be around to finish out this pregnancy because I was stressing! Anyway, Dr, Givens was sweet. Checked the heart beat which sounded in the 150's but he didn't actually tell me. Measured my belly but again didn't tell me what it was measuring. Checked my cervix and said no change. Thankfully he did not hurt me at all! A tiny bit of pressure, but literally couldn't feel a thing! Also mentioned that because of my history of pre-e I was very likely to get it again, but thankfully I seem to get it at the very end when I'm full term vs having to have the baby pre term. He said Dr. Reeves would probably want to induce me at 39 weeks and I could talk to him more in detail next week about that. He did go over the 3 ways they do inductions which is pitocin (the  most common way, but it doesn't work well for me), cervidil which is like a tampon thing they use and its usually used to soften cervix but can sometimes start labor for women, and then some other type of pill that can be taken orally or vaginally. I actually had already planned on asking Dr. Reeves if I could try the cervidil and be at home to see if it worked and if not then go and start pitocin. So i'm glad he did bring that up and I will be asking Dr. Reeves about it next week. I don't want to be induced and if I have to I don't want to do it at 39 weeks. I'd really prefer to wait until 40 at least. This is what we did with Tallen and I ended up going into labor/pre-e a little after 39 weeks. So, I am going to ask that as long as everything is still looking good at my next week 38 and the following 39 week appointments that we push an induction off until at least 40. I think he would be ok with that. We will see though. Anyway, that was it as far as my appointment with Dr Givens went.

So, I will update next week with what the plan is for the rest of this pregnancy!