My 24-week Group Appointment

I just got back from my 24-week group appointment at the hospital. Almost all of my other appointments at Women's Health have been group appointments, so this was nothing new. It was a different provider, though. The lady who directed my 18-week group class was a CNM, Certified Nurse Midwife, who worked up in Labor and Delivery. The lady who did this one was a Nurse Practitioner, who does not work up in Labor and Delivery. She does the prenatal and postnatal stuff. But she was nice, talked really fast, but got everything done, and managed to get through everything she needed to talk to us about. Bryan didn't get to go with me to this one. He was off work almost all of last week, so he didn't get the chance to tell his superiors that he needed the morning off for this appointment. But he'd been to my other two group appointments, so he knew what was going to happen. The only things I was worried about happening without him were another ultrasound and getting the results of my Maternal Analyte Screening. But I didn't get an ultrasound, and all my test results came back normal. I felt SO left out, ALL of the other women there knew the gender of their babies (ALL boys), and I had no idea. But it was the first for every one of us. When I went in for my individual exam, I asked the NP about symptoms of anemia, and she told me that the symptoms I'd been feeling were more likely attributed to low blood pressure, and were fine. If they really bothered me, I could increase my fluid intake. I have been told that SO many times now, increase your fluids because you're pregnant, increase your fluids to raise your blood pressure. I can't drink the amount of water they want me to in a day, it's nearly impossible!!! I also asked her about traveling. Bryan and I are planning a trip to Missouri in April to go job and house hunting, and I needed to know the cutoff for those kinds of trips. She told me that 34 weeks was the latest I should be traveling, because after that, they worry about going into preterm labor. So we may have to work around that. I'm supposed to be back by May, and the trip we were looking at taking would have us back home May 5th. So we'll see. I also asked her about fetal kick counts, and when we should be doing them. She said she'd address that with the group, and when she did, she told us that we would begin to notice a pattern in baby's movements. If baby doesn't move when we think it should be, then do a fetal kick count and document how many movements occur within an hour. If it's less than five, then continue counting for another hour. There should be 10 movements in a 2-hour period. If there isn't then we're supposed to call the clinic. I've already started noticing a pattern in baby's movements. I'll usually feel quite a bit of movement every two hours, starting at about 8:30 in the morning. But she said that we should definitely feel movement every day. If any day goes by without feeling any fetal movement, then call the clinic first thing the next morning. I didn't have to worry about that, baby was kicking halfway through the discussion! I guess decreased fetal movement would be a good reason for an ultrasound, hehehe. When I went in for my exam, the NP told me that I didn't have to worry about getting an ultrasound from a civilian practice, that because of my asthma, she had sufficient reason to order one for me, YAY!!! This time, the ultrasound is being done by radiology, not in the Women's Health clinic, so it may be a longer one, and I really really hope they'll be able to see the gender. My ultrasound is scheduled for the morning of March 20th. I have to wait a month, but I've been waiting longer than that already, so I can wait until then. At least I know I'm getting one. The week after that, I'm going in for a 28-week appointment. I don't know if it's a group appointment or not, but it's with the same person. Hopefully, I'll be able to let her know the gender at that point. Two of the other women in the class had gone to an imaging facility to find out the gender of their babies. If this ultrasound doesn't tell us the gender, that's probably what we're going to do. I'm tired of waiting. I want to give this poor child a name, and I want to be able to go shopping for clothes! We want to know by our April trip, because that will be when Bryan's parents have the chance to do the whole baby shower thing. My mom and dad live in other states, so they will have to wait until they get here to do that, or order stuff online and have it shipped to us. I still plan to have two showers, one with Bryan's parents and our friends back home, and one here for the few people I know around here. I'm still trying to figure out the locale for the first shower. Both his parents live out in the middle of the country, so I might try to find someplace in town that's neutral and would make it easier for everyone to get to. One of my friends here has already offered the use of her house for the baby shower, so that's taken care of. But anyway, that's pretty much the most of what happened at today's appointment. Gotta head to work in a few minutes, so I'll update again after March 20th!

TTFN!!!