First OB appointment

Disclaimer: This is going to be a really un-exciting post because I am super nauseous and it takes too much effort to try to be clever or funny.  Enjoy!

So I had my first appointment at my new OB's office yesterday.  (Spoiler alert: It was extremely uneventful. More about that below.)  You may recall that once I was officially ready to "graduate" from my RE they reminded me that I needed to have an OB for them to send my medical records to before I could be released.  Technically I already had an OB (I had needed to see her in order to get referred to the RE) but I hated her and nicknamed her bitch doctor so I really didn't want to go back to her for prenatal care.  (Here's an old blog post about the origin of "bitch doctor" in case you are interested.)  So that gave me about a week to research the approximately one dozen hospitals in the area to see their set up and policies, decide where I wanted to deliver and ensure they have a staff with whom I feel comfortable.  Yeeeah. I had absolutely no idea where to start and then I got sick and could barely even function nevermind research all this stuff and go on tours, so I just asked the only person I know who has given birth recently in this area: my next door neighbor.  She and her husband loved the place they went to and she loved her doctor and didn't have a bad thing to say about the whole experience.  (She's also had 3 kids in 3 different hospitals in the area so she has some clue of a positive vs. negative experience.)  Sounded good to me!  I checked out the website, everything looked good, so I made an appointment.  Research: Done!

So I went to this new practice for the first time yesterday. It seemed good! (I think...) Clean, new-ish looking, everyone was pleasant, they had their shit together...  This place employs both physicians and midwives and since I have no clue what I'm doing I do not yet know which one I want so I just asked for their first opening. (They were also in a bit of a rush to get me in quickly because OBs like to have their first appointment with patients at 8 weeks and I am already almost 10 weeks.)

Yesterday's appointment actually ended up being with a nurse in the practice and it was mostly like a meet and greet: We went over an extensive medical history (not just for me but all my immediate family plus grandparents and Hubby too), she gave me a quick overview of things I shouldn't be eating/doing, reminded me to not sit for longer than 45 mins at a time in order to keep the blood flowing (being pregnant makes you more susceptible to blood clots!), took my height, weight and blood pressure, gave me a bunch of info including a free book, and then sent me downstairs to the lab to pee in a cup and get about a billion vials of blood drawn (really, like 10...but still a lot).

The appt was fine and was pretty much what I was expecting (except I was really hoping to get to hear the heartbeat again!) but I was bugged about one thing:  It was blatantly obvious that the nurse did not bother to review my records at ALL even though they were right in front of her.  She did not know that I went through IVF or that I had even been seeing an RE.  She kept treating my pregnancy like it was just a pleasant surprise (!) and that I had no clue about what happened to me or my body in the first few weeks of pregnancy. That totally irked me and I had to correct her a couple times. (For example, she was treating me like I was 8 weeks along and I let her know I was actually almost 10 weeks and she was like: "No, you won't know that until you have your first u/s" and I was like: "If you would just look down at the fucking paper in front of you you'll see that I've actually already had 2 ultrasounds. Oh and PS: I actually know exactly how far along I am because I WENT THROUGH IVF!!!" Grrr...)  She also just ASSUMED that I had Diabetes since I was on Metformin and just nonchalantly breezed over that part on the medical history. I had to make her go back and tell me what she had selected and have her fix it since I'm on Metformin for PCOS, not Diabetes (which she would have known had she A.) asked me, or B.) looked at my fucking records!!).  ::deep breath::

Anyway, so that was dumb but overall I'm not concerned since she was just a nurse and I probably won't even meet with her again. My next appointment is this coming Tuesday and I will actually meet with one of the practitioners (I'm just not sure yet if it will be a physician or midwife). I'll have a pap and pelvic exam and I REALLY hope I'll get to hear the heartbeat again so I can be reassured there's still a live, kicking baby in there and all this puking and nausea isn't for nothing!