Well, I'd my first doc's visit in second trimester, around 17 weeks to be specific. It was an interesting experience, one I will never forget. First of all, I had to wait about three weeks after coming back to New York to get papers sorted out for health insurance (thanks, Medicaid!) and then I had to wait to get the appointment. My doc happened to be an Indian lady, and with much demand among the people as she seemed to be always overbooked! Being where I was, New York Presbyterian Hospital was closest and I chose to go there. Also, one of the clinics happened to be right on the same block where I was. So, it was all about convenience more than anything. But as far as the birth goes, I knew from the get go what I wanted and how I wanted. I wanted a "natural" pain med free, intervention free (to the minimum) birth. Choosing NYPH probably wasn't the best bet, but I had to roll with it as I was too tired and lazy to go somewhere else when I could basically roll of off my bed to the clinic each time. And with all honesty, I just knew no matter where I give birth, it would be the way I want it. It's pretty hard to believe, but I was always that determined and confident. (ummm....yeah, right!)
And then I got to meet my doctor. She was nothing special, a typical doctor who follows the protocol, does things as "supposed" to be done. We had a good butting head on our first meeting as I refused to sign papers to do the "genetic testing" etc....she was utterly shocked and went to on say that "No Bangladeshi women in this clinic ever refused these tests"...she didn't know I was not *that* Bangladeshi woman. And then she tried to sort of insult me by asking, "where did you get your education from? Here or Bangladesh?" I wonder what she meant. I calmly said, "Here". The hyper she got, the calmer I remained. And basically she went on and on that it's my choice that I wasn't gonna do these tests, but if something is wrong later I can't abort the baby as the cutoff period for abortion in New York is 20 weeks,?! And, all I could think was WHO CARES?????? This turned into a very uncomfortable atmosphere for me and for her as well. I think, it was her ego that needed a test...not my baby. Anyway, I think, to spite me she immediately asked for a blood sugar test, as I was ha good candidate for getting gestational diabetes. Well, even though I told her that I just had breakfast , she proceeded with the test and completely blew me off saying it didn't matter. But you know what? I think, I DID matter. I failed the test and was summoned for the mighty 3 hours test couple of days later. I was thoroughly disgusted with her and the test, itself. Well, much to her dismay, I did pass the three hours test. And, I cursed her quite a lot for making me go through this.
On March 15th, I had my first sonogram! Despite going back and forth whether I wanted to any sonograms..in the end decided to do it. It was to date the most nerve wrecking experience. When I lay down on the bed and the tech was doing the scans and looking at the screen, twitching her eye...making her eyes big..small...squeezing her eyes making it look like if there were anything wrong...uggghh I got a massive headache from that! Anyway, in the end, everything was fine and, as per request beforehand, she didn't reveal the sex of my baby. Super! And, once I was done with it, and proceeded to get out, the best of curiosity got me, and I asked her if she saw if it was a boy or a girl. And she replied, "well, what does it matter? You don't want to know it." Right. I didn't. But I thought it was funny that someone else knew, but I didn't. She called in her supervisor who verified that everything was perfect and normal! After that I basically ran the heck out of the there, and made the first call to miss E's father, who was 10,000 miles away waiting for my call with this breath holding. He also sighed a breath of relief once I gave him the recap. Then of course he asked me 100 times since then to repeat it over and over again. I think, it made him feel really good that things were just as it should have been!
Here is a pic of the sonogram...done exactly on 19 weeks and 5 days...I could see my baby's puffy cheeks (now, the famous cheeks!) and have wondered if it was a boy, how he would look with cheeks like that! But I must say now, that these cheeks are the fav things of many people!
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