Concluding the first trimester.

This morning, I had an 8:45 appointment with Dr. Subit at Women’s Care. Since I didn’t have to get the pap test, it was very quick, and I was all dressed again and ready to go by 8:57. They took a urine sample when I first arrived, then the nurse took my blood pressure and I waited for the doctor to come in. He showed up pretty quickly, and after our introductions, his first question was whether I wanted a boy or a girl. I laughed and said, “Well, I’m supposed to want a ‘healthy baby,’ but I wouldn’t mind if it were a healthy baby ____.” We’ll leave that blank in case baby reads this someday and isn’t the sex I mentioned, in order to avoid hurt feelings, but those of you who know me can probably guess what was said. Of course we’ll be happy regardless of the outcome. We listened to baby’s heart beat for a bit (160 beats per minute!), and he did a vaginal culture swab. He asked if I had any questions, and I mentioned that every book I’ve read says we pregnant ladies need to sleep on our left side, so I wondered if this was true/when I would need to start doing so. His response was that no studies have actually shown any particular sleeping position to be better than another, but sleeping on the back/stomach later on in pregnancy, once I’ve blown up like a balloon, could cause discomfort or increase swelling during the night.

My next appointment is in four weeks, and I'll be seeing another doctor then, as a nurse recommended I meet all of them since there's no guarantee as to which one will deliver Baby. I'm not sure exactly what will take place during that visit, since I've opted out of the majority of tests they do, and the next thing on my list is for an ultrasound at 19-23 weeks.

Can we just skip all the icky stuff and get straight to holding that precious baby in our arms?