Tests, tests, and more tests

In between blood work and the next appointment we continued to do our part in the process. We kept practicing for the night that we would get pregnant! ;)

Ok, ok... I'm moving on! I went in to hear my results from the blood work and in walks a different doctor than the one I saw for the first appointment. The joys of military life... can I get an amen?! She actually looked me in the eyes when she talked. WHAT?! It's crazy how much of a difference it can make to actually look at people!Let's be real for a second... There is nothing worse than having to answer the same question a million times about how you fail as a woman at creating a fetus. I had to go through the whole story, answering all the questions that I posted in the previous post. Several times through this process, I thought about making a shirt, poster or even a tattoo on my forehead with all the answers on it to save time and my sanity. She told me my levels were all within normal range. Well, that's great... but what is the next step? She then scheduled me for some tests.

The first round of tests were ultrasounds. An abdominal ultrasound and a transvaginal ultrasound. I am an over achiever when it comes to being prepared for appointments. I researched all about the ultrasounds to be prepared for what to expect. I was told to come to my appointment with a full bladder. In my research,transvaginal ultrasounds should be done on an empty bladder. Hmmm... Anyways,

I had to google how much I needed to drink and how long before my appointment I needed to drink it. (who knows this kind of information?) If my bladder needed to be full, then I didn't want to show up with a not-full-enough bladder and have to reschedule. I wanted Jeremy there with me. He is my rock. I know you think your husbands are bomb.com but my husband trumps yours. (shameless plug!) He had been to regular OB annual appointments, so it wasn't anything strange for us. So I drank my big glass of water, and headed to the appointment. They took us to a hallway with seats lining the walls with multiple rooms reserved for radiology appointments. There were multiple rooms, ranging from rooms for a broken bone to rooms for broken lady parts. It was us and an elderly lady waiting. I could not sit still. Apparently, I drank plenty of water because I felt like my bladder was going to burst while we were waiting for my appointment. These were some of the worst pains I had ever had (at this point... I felt much worse pains later. You will learn about those eventually). I could have kissed the radiology tech when she opened the door to call me in! Here's the catch.... They wouldn't allow Jeremy in the room. It wasn't because of anything harmful, they just had a rule that spouses couldn't be in the room for any appointments. Side note: They don't allow husbands in the room to be part of pregnancy ultrasounds, not even the gender ultrasound. Dumb, right?! Again, the joys of military life. I walked into the dimly lit room, she handed me that dreaded see through sheet that you are supposed to feel comfortable and concealed with, told me to take off my bottoms, told me to tell her when I was ready by yelling to her and stepped into the bathroom that was in the ultrasound room. As most of us do, I undressed like I was in a race, tucked my undies into my pants (because we never want them to see them, when in all actuality they are going to see our lady parts) jumped on the table and yelled, "ready". This is where things get weird. (Sorry to all the men that might be reading this but it is what it is.) I laid back, she got the transvaginal wand ready and asked me to insert it. waitttttttt.... Go back and read that again... She literally handed me the wand and told me to insert it. Could that have been any more awkward?! Nope! I did as she said and in it went. She then took over and started taking tons of pictures. This was yet another appointment that nothing was said to me. This process can take anywhere between 30 to 60 minutes. Mine took closer to the 30 minute time frame. We then moved to the abdominal ultrasound. Remember how I told you my bladder was full? Well, it was still full and I'm 1383957987% sure it had gotten even more full. The abdominal ultrasound was the one that pushes on your lower belly. It felt like she was looking for an alien or something because of how long it took for her to finish. When she was done, she told me I could use the restroom. I could have probably broken a record with the speed at which I jumped off the table and ran to the bathroom. That was the end of that appointment. Jeremy and I went home and we started stage II of waiting. As you are probably aware, that took a couple weeks to hear anything.

How did this appointment make me feel? I felt nothing. Wasn't that a deep response?! There was nothing that happened besides the strange procedural aspect of how they do the transvaginal ultrasound, to go off of. There was no talking, no ohhhhh's, ahhhhhh's or grunts to go off of. In all reality, I felt like a lab rat. I didn't feel like a person. I'm told what to do, and I do it. Not one person asked how my day was. Bedside manner should really be something emphasized. I can't be the only one that feels that way!