Tuesday, September 14, 2010
I absolutely can't wait for Christmas 2011!!! The Stafford family will have two new babies to love and cuddle! I am so happy that my sister-in-law is on this fantastic journey with me. I am due March 18th and she is due May 17th! I can't wait to see our little babies grow up together!
I had an OB appointment today, which was a little traumatizing. Everything's fine, both me and the baby are healthy, so that's the good thing. However, the appointment itself did NOT go well. It was partly my fault because I forgot to drink the nasty flat orange soda they provided me for the glucose test. So, I had to drink it at the office. Now, the reasonable thing for them to have done was to have me drink the crap, then go ahead and have my regular appointment time and after that draw my blood for the test. Of course, this is not what they did. They had me drink the crap, then sit for an hour (literally, an hour, cause you have to draw the blood exactly an hour after you drink the crap), then they took my blood (more on this later....) and then they did my regular appointment. Seems a little backwards to me, but whatever.
So I drink the nasty stuff and they come and take me to the back to draw my blood. This is where the fun begins. I told the nurse that she probably needed to take my blood from my hands instead of my arm, because no one can ever get it out of my arms. She assures me of how wonderful she is at drawing blood and she's quite sure there will be no problem..... and we have stick #1.
The nurse is slightly surprised at her failure to produce any blood, I, on the other hand, am thinking, "okay, now she'll listen to me and try my hand." Wrong. Another nurse enters the picture and begins to take my blood pressure in my left arm, all the while the original nurse is replenishing her torture supplies. After getting the necessary supplies, they begin to work on me together. Left side nurse is pumping the blood pressure cuff up to 300 instead of just using the tourniquet. She informs right side nurse that she's got the perfect vein....and we have stick #2.
Surely, after two failures, they will proceed to try taking the blood from my hand. Wrong again. Right side nurse informs me that she is going to try again in the original spot. Stick #3 is accompanied by a very sharp and unusual pain extending up my entire arm. I am surprised and actually flinch a little (normally, I'm pretty tough when they're taking blood since I go through this about every time) right side nurse chuckles a little and says, "opps, hit a nerve." !!!!!!! Hoping desperately that my arm will return to normal, I'm now praying that these nurses will freaking take the blood from my hand like I told them to from the start!
Left side nurse has given up completely by this point as right side nurse checks the clock and informs me that it has taken them so long to try getting my blood that we will have to redo the entire test another day. OMG. You have got to be kidding me. She also informs me that they won't try again in their office, I have to go to the hospital where they have nurses who take blood on critical patients all the time. Maybe those nurses will listen and take it FROM MY HAND!
Another nurse enters and says that she will do my regular check-up. She weighs me and tells me I've lost another pound and a half. This is good and bad, it's not like I want to gain a bunch of weight, but I thought by 14 weeks I would have stopped losing weight! She then has me lay back so she can use the Doppler and listen for the heartbeat. I'm really excited at this point, because I am dying to hear that beautiful sound again.
She puts the Doppler on my stomach and starts moving it around. A couple minutes pass and we hear....nothing. She continues to move the Doppler all around, but can't seem to locate anything. She looks for a couple more minutes and still, nothing. I'm watching her face at this point, and she looks a little concerned. This, of course, makes me almost have heart failure! All I can think is, "Cody isn't even here with me!" After several more minutes she finally is able to locate the baby and we hear the heartbeat. She said the baby was moving so much that it was hard to pinpoint its exact location. I guess that's a good thing anyway.
During this whole fiasco, Cody is trying to call me from a mountaintop in Colorado. Cell phones are not allowed in the doctor's office, so I can't talk to him. I know that he has limited time before they go back to the camp and no longer have cell phone service. If I miss him today, I won't be able to talk to him until Friday. I'm obviously upset about this, so my stress level takes another hike.
I finally get out of the office and get to call Cody. We talk for a bit and then he has to go. I then return Melanie's call. Poor woman.... I completely break down on her while trying to drive home. I sob out the whole story about how long it took to find the heartbeat and having to drink the nasty glucose stuff again and having to go to the hospital. She finally gets me to calm down and, wonderful person she is, says she will take me to the hospital to get my blood drawn.
The one good thing that came from the appointment is that they scheduled my next ultrasound!!! I should find out what we're having on October 12th!!! I can't wait. Hopefully, that appointment will go better....
I had an OB appointment today, which was a little traumatizing. Everything's fine, both me and the baby are healthy, so that's the good thing. However, the appointment itself did NOT go well. It was partly my fault because I forgot to drink the nasty flat orange soda they provided me for the glucose test. So, I had to drink it at the office. Now, the reasonable thing for them to have done was to have me drink the crap, then go ahead and have my regular appointment time and after that draw my blood for the test. Of course, this is not what they did. They had me drink the crap, then sit for an hour (literally, an hour, cause you have to draw the blood exactly an hour after you drink the crap), then they took my blood (more on this later....) and then they did my regular appointment. Seems a little backwards to me, but whatever.
So I drink the nasty stuff and they come and take me to the back to draw my blood. This is where the fun begins. I told the nurse that she probably needed to take my blood from my hands instead of my arm, because no one can ever get it out of my arms. She assures me of how wonderful she is at drawing blood and she's quite sure there will be no problem..... and we have stick #1.
The nurse is slightly surprised at her failure to produce any blood, I, on the other hand, am thinking, "okay, now she'll listen to me and try my hand." Wrong. Another nurse enters the picture and begins to take my blood pressure in my left arm, all the while the original nurse is replenishing her torture supplies. After getting the necessary supplies, they begin to work on me together. Left side nurse is pumping the blood pressure cuff up to 300 instead of just using the tourniquet. She informs right side nurse that she's got the perfect vein....and we have stick #2.
Surely, after two failures, they will proceed to try taking the blood from my hand. Wrong again. Right side nurse informs me that she is going to try again in the original spot. Stick #3 is accompanied by a very sharp and unusual pain extending up my entire arm. I am surprised and actually flinch a little (normally, I'm pretty tough when they're taking blood since I go through this about every time) right side nurse chuckles a little and says, "opps, hit a nerve." !!!!!!! Hoping desperately that my arm will return to normal, I'm now praying that these nurses will freaking take the blood from my hand like I told them to from the start!
Left side nurse has given up completely by this point as right side nurse checks the clock and informs me that it has taken them so long to try getting my blood that we will have to redo the entire test another day. OMG. You have got to be kidding me. She also informs me that they won't try again in their office, I have to go to the hospital where they have nurses who take blood on critical patients all the time. Maybe those nurses will listen and take it FROM MY HAND!
Another nurse enters and says that she will do my regular check-up. She weighs me and tells me I've lost another pound and a half. This is good and bad, it's not like I want to gain a bunch of weight, but I thought by 14 weeks I would have stopped losing weight! She then has me lay back so she can use the Doppler and listen for the heartbeat. I'm really excited at this point, because I am dying to hear that beautiful sound again.
She puts the Doppler on my stomach and starts moving it around. A couple minutes pass and we hear....nothing. She continues to move the Doppler all around, but can't seem to locate anything. She looks for a couple more minutes and still, nothing. I'm watching her face at this point, and she looks a little concerned. This, of course, makes me almost have heart failure! All I can think is, "Cody isn't even here with me!" After several more minutes she finally is able to locate the baby and we hear the heartbeat. She said the baby was moving so much that it was hard to pinpoint its exact location. I guess that's a good thing anyway.
During this whole fiasco, Cody is trying to call me from a mountaintop in Colorado. Cell phones are not allowed in the doctor's office, so I can't talk to him. I know that he has limited time before they go back to the camp and no longer have cell phone service. If I miss him today, I won't be able to talk to him until Friday. I'm obviously upset about this, so my stress level takes another hike.
I finally get out of the office and get to call Cody. We talk for a bit and then he has to go. I then return Melanie's call. Poor woman.... I completely break down on her while trying to drive home. I sob out the whole story about how long it took to find the heartbeat and having to drink the nasty glucose stuff again and having to go to the hospital. She finally gets me to calm down and, wonderful person she is, says she will take me to the hospital to get my blood drawn.
The one good thing that came from the appointment is that they scheduled my next ultrasound!!! I should find out what we're having on October 12th!!! I can't wait. Hopefully, that appointment will go better....
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3 comments:
Next time you just have to INSIST!!!!! You obviously know your body better than they do....Or if they insist on trying your arms first give them ONE TRY and then tell them they have to find somewhere else. It doesn't matter what vein your blood comes from, the results are going to be the same. Tell them your cousin who is a nurse says they're not allowed to make you their personal pin cushion
Ummm...REEEEELAXXXXXX. Seriously.
Poor baby! Those things never go well, but I still feel bad for you.
Can't wait until 10/12. That seems forever away!
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