Friday, June 09, 2006

First regular OB visit and trip to ER

So last Friday, June 2, was our first visit to our regular OB, no more fertility clinic monitoring. We were exactly 10 weeks along and looking forward to another ultrasound to see our twins. Unfortunately, the visit didn't go quite as planned...

The office was packed, but my name was eventually called for the pee sample, weighing, blood work, etc. Zac was still in the waiting room and I went into a little hallway directly behind it to get all this stuff done. So I sit in the tall chair, you know, kinda like a bar stool, and stretch my arm out for everyone's favorite part -- the needle. Nurse Cheryl asks if I have problems with getting my blood taken. "Oh no," I say, "I'm so used to it by now...I don't especially like it, but I'm okay." Which is very true! She taps my veins, "They're beautiful!" she exclaims. I smile. I've definitely heard that before. "Thank you," I reply modestly. She proceeds to fill her 4 vials as I look around at the walls, anywhere but in the direction of my poor arm. Then she gets to the 3rd vial. "Hmmm..."she mumbles. This doesn't sound good. "What!" I say. "Well, there's no more blood coming out!" she tells me, starting to squeeze my upper arm, as if she can wring a few more drops of precious blood from my dry vein. This does not feel good. "Ummm...I'm feeling queasy," I say. "No, you're fine," she absentmindedly replies, still concentrating on my sluggish blood.

The unmistakable tingly warmth is beginning to pass over my body, sparkly darkness lingers on the edge of my subconcious. I've passed out before. I know what it feels like. "I'm going down!" I tell her over and over. "No you're not!" she continues to insist, quickly changing the finally full 3rd vial for the 4th one. The last thing I remember is her advice, "Put your head between your knees!" Yeah. Great advice.

As I wake up on the floor, with a huge headache, I see Zachariah kneeling beside me and hear Cheryl asking, "How do you feel? You sure hit your head hard!" No kidding??? I'm not feeling all that swell, but darn it I want my ultrasound! "I'll be okay," I say, feeling pretty embarrassed and just wanting it all to be over. I start to move. "Don't move! You hit pretty hard, we called the paramedics!" What??? This appointment is not going as planned...Zac is icing my head, there's a huge oval bump on the very top, and it does hurt. As does my neck, but obviously that will come from diving headfirst off a barstool and banging your head flat on some really hard cupboards across from you. Cheryl is musing, "And this is the one day we don't have two nurses back here. I was trying to get the needle out of your arm before you went down." I thank her for that foresight, although thinking about it later, just leave the needle in and keep me in my chair! But I can tell she feels really badly, which is a bit satisfying.

So the EMT guys come. I felt so dumb! Since my neck hurt a little I had to have a neck brace and be rolled onto a body board, then be wheeled out through the crowded waiting room. Exciting day. Then they loaded me into their ambulance, drove across the street to the hospital, and checked me into the ER. This was such a huge pain! After an hour or so, I was released, the docs having examined me and determining everything was okay. It was the dumbest thing ever, and I had such a headache and neckache that weekend! I couldn't see the chiropractor till Monday, which was a definite relief. I also went back in to finish my OB appt. Monday. Luckily, they'd gotten all the blood they needed. Now, though, I have a fainting reputation and will have to lie down for blood draws, and really I don't deserve the rep. It was all the squeezing and talking about "no more blood!" coming out of my vein...not cool...

So we got our ultrasound Monday. Dr. Stokes goes in there and measures one baby, looks at him/her from different angles, baby's measuring a couple of days ahead, everything looks great. Zac and I smile at each other, then look back to the monitor to check out baby number two. Oddly, Doc pops out the ultrasound wand and starts de-gloving. Again, we look at each other. "Ummm...we have twins..." Zac starts to say. "Really?" says Doc, "I only saw one baby. Let's take another look." A moment of panic strikes. Back in, and of course, there's our other little guy, a tad bigger, even, than the first baby. They were so cute, moving around like nothing else! But still! Does he not read our file? We have all our info in there from Shady Grove, unequivocably saying we have a twin pregnancy! We will forgive him. We like him. We just remind ourselves how many people he is seeing, of course he doesn't expect twins, it's an exception. Our RE at Shady Grove was very complimentary of his abilities with multiple pregnancies, so that, too, is a comfort.

Now, I just have to try to eat, eat, eat...not an easy task when pretty much everything strikes me as disgusting. Will I ever love food again???

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