Today I had another doctor's appointment, to meet with the doc and to have another ultrasound. They never told me why they scheduled this ultrasound as a follow-up to my Level 2 ultrasound back at 21 weeks, and my doctor said that she hadn't heard that anything was wrong so it was merely a formality.
Carl comes to all appointments with me where we have an ultrasound, which is so nice and supportive. And I think it helps him feel connected too. I'm always glad to have him there at my appointments. We went back to the ultrasound room, and as I was getting ready for the ultrasound the tech tells me that my glucose test results came back high. She caught me off-guard because I thought she was only going to do the ultrasound. Well, she told me in so many words that she wasn't supposed to be telling me these results. Her exact words... "act surprised when the doctor tells you." And no wonder, because the specific results she gave me were wrong. She told me that my score was 133, and that the cutoff was 140. And then she proceeded to lecture me on how to be more healthy during my pregnancy and that I need to avoid white starches. I just bit my tongue and kept saying, "uh-huh" and "ok". But who the hell is this woman? She has no idea about my history or my health or my pregnancy or my anything. Really rubbed me the wrong way and upset me. I held it together through the ultrasound. Seeing pics of our baby girl and her moving all around will make anyone's mood better! The baby had a strong heartbeat at 152ish beats per minute, and even though she couldn't say exactly what she needed to get more pictures of or why we were there for that ultrasound, she said that the baby looked really healthy and all was good. Here are some pics:
[Pictures coming soon]
My doctor was on call that week, so we saw the Nurse Practitioner Julie. She confirmed that my glucose lab results were high. My true score was 142, which is just slightly higher than the cutoff of 140. She made me feel better about failing the 1-hour test by saying that usually when people score in the 140s or 150s for the 1-hour, they almost always pass the 3-hour test. Everything else was good. She feels good about how the baby is measuring and my weight and overall health. So that's encouraging. I still left feeling discouraged and annoyed that I had to take the 3-hour test. But oh well.
So then I get back to the office and my phone rings. It's the receptionist at the doc's office saying they want to schedule another ultrasound. When I asked why, she said very nonchalantly, "they just want additional views". And that's it. She couldn't give me any more information. I lost it at that point. I told Carl and told him that I would call back later to get more information, but I just couldn't right now because I couldn't quit crying. I was discouraged and felt like I was getting smoke screens regarding the health of the baby and my health. Carl called the doc right away and talked to the Nurse Practitioner we had met with that morning, and she explained what had happened and apologized that they didn't give the information up front. She explained that the ultrasound tech thought she saw some fluid around the baby's heart. The high risk doctor who reviews all the ultrasounds wasn't in the office that day and he wasn't able to review the ultrasound images until after we had left. He wasn't alarmed, but thought it was a good idea for us to have another ultrasound in 2 weeks just to get some additional looks and to be sure.
Usually I look forward to my ultrasounds and checkups, and I know it could be a lot worse so I feel like I'm over-reacting. But I just want this baby to be very healthy, and it's upsetting that there is any doubt about that. Will update after my 3-hour glucose test and the next ultrasound...
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