Saturday, July 12, 2008

Expecting Mom's first OB-Gyne visit

Finally, our search for our Obstetrician-Gynecologist has ended!
She was recommended by my good friend and classmate in graduate school (who's an OB-Gyne herself, by the way).... Hubby and I, being future first-time parents, would like to entrust my safe and healthy pregnancy to an experienced and highly-recommended doctor. I would have wanted my friend, Dra. Tessa Cardenas, to take care of me... Unfortunately, going to Veterans (where I was born ~ could've been very nostalgic, eh?) and/or Delgado would be very far from where Eric and I are residing. So apart from the OB-Gyne being Medicard-affiliated, we prefer clinics/hospitals within or near Mandaluyong area.
Our first choice of hospital is Medical City in Pasig. Although Dra. Solema Granados-Rivera can perform birth delivery there, she doesn't hold clinic in that hospital but is regularly stationed at Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan and does clinic at Asian Hospital in Alabang. Works good for us since I originally hail from the South and that would be another option for us. :-)
It was also nice to know that our OB-Gyne is a contemporary of my late second cousin-in-law, Kuya Benny ~ a top internist/endocrinologist also at Cardinal. My second cousin, Ate Nona, is a pediatrician and used to hold clinics in the same hospital and knows Dra. Solema, too. Ate Nona for the past years now has focused on their own hospital at Paete, Laguna (my dad's hometown).
Dra. Granados-Rivera is very kind and pretty-looking, too. Hehe. But it's not one of our OB-Gyne requirements, huh. After asking me questions on my LMP and she scribbling numbers in her pad, she told me that I'm about 7 weeks, 5 days pregnant. I told her that I have a longer menstrual cycle so she said that to be accurate, I need to have my transvaginal usg... But before that, she performed an IUE (hope I didn't get the letters mixed up, hehe) on me. Still, it felt a bit awkward even if I had already experienced my first pap smear last end of March in my physical examination.
I also showed her the results of that physical examination which basically reflects my UTI and high-cholesterol diet (uh-oh!). So apart from requesting me to have an ultrasound, she told me to take a urinalysis as well. In that way, we can check if my UTI is still there and she may have to prescribe me with necessary medicine (since I didn't take any before and just tried drinking more water and buko juice ~ but still has a tendency to forego my restroom breaks, hala!) which are recommended for pregnant women just the same.
And so still about 10-15 minutes before noon, off we went to the hospital's laboratory and signed up first on the urinalysis. I requested hubby to check out the 'women's section' (where ultrasound and the like are performed) so that we can fill out the form. I was able to submit my urine sample but unfortunately, the ultrasound section can accommodate us after lunch (they do lunch break unlike in the laboratory), at about 1:30pm...
We checked out the hospital canteen and took our lunch there. Set meals are quite pricey but hubby and I were glad that the food tasted great! So after our hearty meal, off we returned to the ultrasound area. A few minutes of waiting and the staff were back. I was first in line and was requested to take a pee first. Afterwhich, I was led on to the ultrasound room where transvaginal usg is performed. Eventually preparing myself and all, I waited for the doctor-in-charge (OB-Gyne, too) to come and see me. She's tall and pretty and seems to be a young doctor... we talked for a bit and I asked her if that 'microphone'-like instrument hurts... she assured me that she'll try her best not to make it painful for me. :-)
I actually took a photo of that 'mic' instrument when I was there lying in the examination bed of the room... I'll try to post it here next time, hehe. She placed a condom-like (hmm, I'm not sure if it's the same condom that is commercially available) 'suit' on top of the 'mic'. And before she performed the ultrasound, she placed a generous amount of gel on the tip of the 'mic'.... I did feel the coolness of the gel as the OB-Gyne performed the transvaginal ultrasound on me. A bit tensed at first, she told me to relax and to spread my knees and legs wide open. Haha, what an experience!
She tinkered on the keyboards of the machine with her left hand while her right hand continued exploring the different angles of my 'vagina/uterus/whatever' using the 'mic'. Yes, the said machine is used to determine exactly how many months, weeks, or days I'm pregnant.
A few minutes later, another OB-Gyne (who looked a bit older) walked in and checked how the tall OB-Gyne is doing on my ultrasound. They both checked on the machine's monitor and then eventually showed me my baby's position! One of the first things I asked as they were about to show me how the baby looks like was: "Isa lang po ba?" Hehehe. (Both hubby and I's families have a history of having twins. In fact, one of my older sisters has twin sons who are now turning 10 this November.)
They also let me listen to his/her's healthy heartbeat which sounded like a chu-chu train, yey! I was so delighted with the miracle of carrying a life inside my womb and hearing its heartbeat so closely! :D
The feeling was ECSTATIC.
It was so overwhelming that I forgot to request the doctors if I can record the heartbeat of my baby in my ever-reliable celfone.... but it's okay, there will always be next time. And for as long as that memory is very vivid in my heart and mind, I will always recall listening to our baby's heartbeat as such great melody to an expecting Mom's ears like mine. ;)
Both doctors congratulated me when I told them this is going to be our first baby. They were happy to say that the baby is doing good and has a healthy and normal heartbeat. I was told to wait for about 30 minutes for the results so that we can forward it to our OB-Gyne's clinic.
We waited and we were glad that it didn't take them very long. The results came with the first photos of our little angel and hopefully, after we get to scan and/or take a photo of them, I will have the chance to post the pics here. :)
It was already close to 2:00 p.m. at that time and so Eric and I decided to pass by our OB-Gyne's clinic just to give the results. Every Saturday, Dra. Granados-Rivera's consultation is until 12nn only. It was indeed surprising that after giving the results to Noemi, her secretary, our OB-Gyne was still there! She's all packed and seemed to be waiting for her to be picked up... but she still entertained us and looked at the results (original arrangement was for us to coordinate with the hospital to send the results to her clinic on Monday). She prescribed me medicine that I shall take for a week for my UTI and then gave me the go signal to start with the prescribed vitamin she earlier instructed me to buy. And yes, I shall continue taking my folic acid tablets once a day. :-)
Our next visit will be on the 9th of August, about the same time with our first appointment earlier. We will see her at 11:00 am instead of the 11:30 am appointment we had earlier. So there, this date has been certainly blocked off both in hubby and I's respective calendars....
By the way, the ultrasound results officially said that I'm 7 weeks, 4 days pregnant this 12 July 2008.
My expected due date will be on 24 February 2009, plus or minus two weeks. Yay, pwede pa silang maging magka-birthday ni Eric! (and other people close to my heart as well ~ you guys know who you are! *wink*wink)
Until my next pregnancy stories! :-)

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

(+)

Today is hubby and I's 7th monthsary as a married couple.
He already came back from Singapore last Saturday evening and indeed, the two weeks that we have been apart just came by so swiftly. Thanks to my hectic schedule at work and my weekly badminton, I was able to get by and survived being home alone.
Feeling the symptoms for a little more than a week now, I finally decided to take the test early this morning.....