Meetup with new OB

Just a quick update:

We met our new OB today. She's older than the previous OB we saw in the other practice. But her demeanor was not hurried. She took her time going through my medical records and said "Sorry for your loss," when we related what happened to Kai.

She went through my first trimester blood work. I have low red blood cell count but not enough to really need an iron supplement. She just told me to eat food items rich in iron instead and will keep an eye on my RBC count in the next blood draw.

My TSH thyroid test yielded an above the threshold number though, which prompted her to order a thyroid panel for my family practitioner to look at and see if I could get medication for it. She said it would be better to keep this in check to ensure the baby's brain development progresses smoothly.

So I went to have another blood draw done for this and have the result forwarded to our family practitioner. The thing is, we're still in search of a new one since our last one already retired. Argh. And this week is Thanksgiving week, I'm sure everyone is already on holiday. So I wouldn't be able to set up an appointment with a new one. I must put this on top of my to-do list first thing on Monday.

Next, we talked about what our next step is going to be after the NT scan that didn't happen. She suggested we go straight to genetic counseling and have amnio done. I did express my disappointment and told her that perhaps we should have skipped the screening and went straight for a diagnostic test. But she pointed out that we were not sure what TLB's gestational age then because of the conflicting ultrasounds.

I just let it go. There's no other way around it now and I don't think we would choose NOT to do a diagnostic test despite the risk. I guess we are more concerned about the possibility of chromosomal defect (due to my age) than the risk of miscarriage. I just realized being already in advanced maternal age doesn't give you a lot of assurance. It seems that everything - my prenatal care, tests, delivery, etc. - will all be based on my advanced maternal age. *sigh*

So our OB referred us again to the place where we did our NT scan. They were pretty quick about it as I received a call for an appointment right away when we were driving home. They scheduled me for December 1st for genetic counseling, 2nd level ultrasound and amnio, which will take about two hours. Wow! The ball is rolling quite fast. I just hope I'll keep my sanity and not be jittery during the whole procedure. Oh and don't get me started about waiting for the results. That's a whole other animal to worry about next.

For the meantime, I'm just glad that the OB found TLB's heartbeat right away on this visit. She placed the doppler on one spot on my tummy and voila! Wap, wap, wap, wap, wap, a heartbeat that's nice and strong. And that's the way I like it.