David and I went to meet with our new doctor this morning at the University of Tennessee Medical Center Hospital. My first doctor is allergic to latex gloves, so she normally hands me off to her partner to deliver her patients' babies, but my second doctor works in a hospital that is considered "out-of-network" for our insurance, so we met with our final doctor. We can say with 99% certainty that she will be the one to deliver the baby!
Our new doctor, Dr. W., was very nice, younger (about David's age) and, surprisingly, calmer in comparison to our Dr. T. and his evaluations of the progress of my early stages of labor that he provided to us yesterday. David liked the Converse All-Stars that she was wearing with her doctor uniform.
Dr. W. is one of four doctors in the high risk obstetrics unit that we will now go to at UT-Medical, so obviously she knew that I had issues with my pregnancy if I was coming to see her, besides my insurance reasons, and needed to be checked on more than a normal pregnant woman, as we approach the light at the end of the tunnel. However, Dr. W. was as calm as a cucumber when talking about possible induction dates or just waiting until 40 weeks, if we get that far.
While Dr. T. shook our hands at yesterday's appointment to congratulate us for remaining childless for only a week longer, our new Dr. W. today explained that my AFP blood test results from February did trigger numbers for reason to keep an eye on me, but casually reassured us that the baby girl looks very healthy (though small) from the ultrasound pictures and measurements. Dr. W. did not measure my cervix today, so we don't know if anything changed down there, but she said that she would see us once a week now, and we scheduled an appointment with her next Tuesday morning.
The ultrasound technician said, as the technicians at the other hospitals already remarked, that the baby has A LOT of hair. I can't wait to see this head full of hair! We asked about the weight, and they said that the baby actually weighed 5 pounds, 3 ounces today. I asked why this number was lower than the 5 pounds, 8 ounces measurement from the sonographer at the hospital from yesterday. She explained that there can be an error difference of +/- 1 pound, and the measurements vary with the good and bad angles that they get with taking pictures using each ultrasound machine. She was not worried about the smaller weight measurement. She said that the fluid levels were good, too, and that the head and body measurements were proportional.
And, both the nurse and the ultrasound technician correctly pronounced my name "HAASE" when they called me in from the waiting room of the lobby. I was shocked that both of them pronounced it perfectly, because it rarely happens when strangers say it for the first time, but then, after talking to both of them, I learned that I taught each of their children this past year in Spanish classes at my school. It was a little weird to be discussing personal information with the parents of my little kiddos, but they were very nice, and I shouldn't have been surprised because a lot of my kids' parents are either lawyers, businessmen/women or in the medical profession.
So.... at this point, we're not sure what to think about when this baby wants to come. My belly feels very tight, like it is impossible to stretch much more without a limb popping through my skin, and I feel a lot of movement, but I'm feeling well otherwise and don't sense that something exciting will happen in the next day or two.
In any case, we feel a little more ready and eager for the baby girl's arrival. David's parents have graciously offered to rearrange their schedules to come down to Knoxville this weekend to be on "stand by" with me while David works over the weekend if I were to go into labor. Otherwise, it'll be a fun weekend with them to keep us distracted and to spend some time with them before our lives get a little crazier!
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