At 7w3d we went in to see our new doctor.  Again we waited over an hour to see someone and I was furious.  I get so nervous before the exam and it just made my tummy flip-flop. 

Finally the doctor called us in (not the same doctor as last time, but she seemed nice as well).  She said we'd do the fun part first and see the baby.  Sure enough, there was little bean!  The heart was fluttering away and she said it looked totally normal.  Thank goodness they know the word "normal"!  The last doctor told us that at our next ultrasound we'd probably see "hearbreak" and I started to freak out until I realized she meant "heartBEAT".  Oy.  Having German doctors is going to be an adventure.

So they finished the exam (the not so fun part) and then took vile after vile of blood.  I talked non-stop through it to keep myself from fainting and Billy actually WATCHED the whole thing.  He was pale at the end, but said he felt fine.  I, on the other hand, felt light-headed so we stopped at the first place we could find: McDonalds.

Of course we forgot to ask at the start for a picture so we didn't get one of the little "heartbreak" but it was incredible to see it on the screen.  Both of us are cautiously elated.

We had our 4th visit on Halloween and it went great!  All of my test results came back negative and perfect.  I was so worried about this visit since we had not been to the doctor in so long.  But everything was perfect!  Little bean wasn't moving around too much - still too early in the morning I guess.  But we saw him/her wave their little arms around and even wiggle.  It was an incredible experience.  In the ultrasound photo, you can actually see Bean's head, body, arms and legs.  And the heart was beating perfectly!

Sophie is doing great!  She's measuring right on track!  We didn't get any pictures of her because she was facing away, but the doctor said we'll try again at our next visit.  They took some blood and took my blood pressure which is staying steady.  I was kind of bummed that it didn't go down, but at least it didn't go up.  And the placenta is in a great position and the cord is functioning just as it should.  So that was nice to hear.

She gave me a note for work saying that I can't travel.  It's in German, but a co-worker translated it and it basically says not to move around much.  I shouldn't be traveling or taking long car rides and I shouldn't do anything big that involves running around or anything very physical.  I can still work out moderately and I ordered a great new Yoga DVD which should hopefully help with my back issues, too.

The next visit is scheduled for Feb. 6 in the morning.  They said they'll do another ultrasound and take more blood, but otherwise it should be pretty uneventful, too.

Today’s appointment was NOT FUN!  First, they had me see a midwife who didn’t speak a word of English.  She hooked me up to some kind of Doppler and spent about 10 minutes searching for the heartbeat.  When she couldn’t find it, she started having me twist and turn into all different uncomfortable positions.  My back hurt so bad!  So she finally finds it and sits down to do paperwork while we listen to the hb.  Everything was normal, but she left it on me (with me in an awkward position) for like 15 minutes.  Finally, I said “I have to sit up.  This is hurting me” and I sat up.  Well of course, we lose the hb so she flips out and makes me lay back down and goes looking for it for another 10 min!  I was in so much pain at this point that I thought I would punch her in the face.  I told Billy that if it lasted much longer I wanted him to go get someone who spoke English.  Finally, she brought in a doctor who told her it looked fine and that she should stop putting me in pain.  So we think the appointment is over.  WRONG!  I then had to have a regular u/s followed by a cervical check, followed by an internal u/s!  We were there for almost 2 hours!  And we didn’t even get any pictures!  L

So get this.  Next time (February 27), I have to do my glucose test, but they don’t believe in doing a level 1 first so I have to go right to the 2 hour glucose test.  YUCK!  So, I’ll do the level 2 glucose test, they’ll draw my blood at least 3 times, they’ll have the icky midwife check the hb with a Doppler, I’ll get an external and internal u/s, I’ll get a cervical check, I’ll get a shot for my rh negative blood thing, and I need to get a pap for my ph levels.  ALL IN ONE APPOINTMENT! 

The only positive to come of this whole thing is that everything still looks normal and Sophie is doing great.  She was SO MAD when the lady was probing with the Doppler.  She was kicking the crap out of me!  LOL I wanted so badly for her to be able to kick the midwife in the shin or something!  Heck, I wanted to kick the midwife in the shin!

Okay after a nap and a bath, I feel much better.  The doctor was really scary, but not in the way I expected.  The blood draws weren’t bad – 3 finger pokes and 1 arm draw.  The shot was bad and stung like crazy, but I got over it.  And they didn’t do any internal exams or anything so that was awesome.  They did the u/s and we got to watch her move all over the place and the doctor said everything was measuring on schedule.  We were happy that the day was almost over and we thought we’d get to go home soon, but then they came and got us for another external u/s.  She said something wasn’t measuring right and they wanted to consult a specialist.  

They looked and measured the placenta, cord and a few other things for about 15 minutes and whispered back and forth in German.  There were a few doctors (I assume specialists) who came in during the u/s to take a look at different things.  I wasn’t worried at first because it was just the cord and placenta and I knew that if they needed to get her out now, they’d take good care of her and she’d have a pretty good chance of being just fine.  Plus, I really didn’t want to turn into an emotional wreck.  I had been handling the day so well thus far – making jokes, taking each needle poke in stride.  

But then they started measuring and looking at her heart and the different chambers and stuff.  The specialist and other doctors were whispering and pointing to things and they all looked very serious.  I just couldn’t even look at the screen anymore and didn’t want to look at DH’s face.  I didn’t want to see him worried.  Finally, they let me sit up and said they wanted to see us again in 2 weeks.  All I could do was laugh this crazy insane laugh!  See us again in 2 weeks!??!?!  Finally, I heard myself shreek at the doctor, “can someone just tell us what’s going on?!?!”  They explained that they were worried about some pulsing too fast, but that each doctor had taken a closer look and everything looked normal.  Just to be on the safe side, they put me on a fetal monitor for about 20 minutes to measure her heartbeat.  Thank goodness everything measures just fine.  But I swear I have never felt my heart sink the way it did.  And I just am so thankful that everything is fine and we’ll get to see our perfect, healthy baby girl again in 2 weeks.  J