Stupid first appointment

Well, as I told Mike as I was leaving the hospital today . . . "Aside from the 20 minutes I spent talking to the Registered Nurse about my health history and the 20 minutes I spent in the lab getting blood drawn and such . . . the "class" portion of the appointment was two friggin' hours of my life that I will never get back."

Seriously, that whole thing was just STUPID.

The "class" was to start at 9am and we had to check in 15-20 minutes early. I didn't think I would make it since I didn't even get out of the house until 8:10am and traffic in downtown Norfolk heading into Portsmouth can be questionable at that hour. I got there right on time, though. Checked in, got all the paperwork I had to fill out and sat down and started checking "YES", "NO" and scribbling my name here and there on the forms. We were all called back (twelve of us) right at 9am.

Our "instructor" was a nurse . . . a nurse who couldn't read off of a computer screen. A nurse who said things like "Breastmurk", "Ercoholic bevegens" and "Smoking Sensation Classes". I won't even go into the mispronunciations of the female anatomy and childbirth procedures. (insert me rolling my eyes)

She handed us all packets of "information", all of which is pretty much suited more towards women who are having their first baby. She went through what all was in there then read (poorly) through an entire PowerPoint presentation about:

"What will happen to your body"
"What types of foods to avoid and what is good for you"
"Medications you should avoid"
"Average weight gain"

Pretty much everything that I already knew. Evidently the girl behind me knew it all too because she bitched the entire time she was there about how she shouldn't even have to be taking this class becuase she has already had a child and "blah-blah-blah". She had to be told a couple of times that it doesn't matter if this is your first (and out of the 12 in the class, only 5 were having their first!) or if this is number 10 for you, you still are REQUIRED to take the class before you can see a doctor.

Once the PowerPoint was over, it had been right about an hour and I figured we were going to the "Does anyone have any questions" portion of the morning . . . but then the "instructor" said "OK, now we're going to watch a little infirmative (HA!) video." (I said to myself "WHAT?!?!?!")

Seems most of us were told the same thing when we made our appointments for this ridiculous class . . . it was supposed to only be ONE HOUR long. When asked how long the video would be, the nurse said "Um, it's about 45 minutes or so." Fortunately, we had all drawn numbers and as we were called were taken back to an office for a one-on-one health history interview with an RN then we'd be making our first prenatal appointment with an actual DOCTOR. haha I was #4, but I didn't get called out until the video was almost over.

Of course, the usual issue of "We don't have anything available" came up during the appointment scheduling part. Mind you, today is April 16th . . . the soonest they had available for "routine OB" was May 19th, which is pretty much 5 weeks from now and would put me at 19 weeks and 2 days along. That would also make getting an appointment with radiology for our first (the BIG one) ultrasound before 20 weeks a little tough.

So, she went and asked a doctor if she could override something for her and was able to snag me a sooner appointment . . . for May 2nd, which will put me at 16 weeks 6 days. I should have my Quad Screen test bloodwork done at that appointment as well as . . . well . . . pretty much everything else. Then I should be able to schedule my ultrasound for a couple of weeks later and then my next appointment after that.

So far I am at one appointment every 4 weeks or so . . . unless something makes me high risk along the way, then I will have to go more often. Starting at the end of July, I will start going every 2 weeks and by the time I head out to Oregon, I may very well be starting my weekly appointments.

YIKES! Looking at the calendar it seems like time is creeping up on us quick . . . I just wish the calendar could get with my stomach on that. hahaha I am TIRED of looking all lumpy and fat and am just ready for the baby belly already.