Thursday, July 8, 2010

There really IS a baby in there!

.
I guess because of the lack of symptoms I've been having, and the "you're not really pregnant" dreams, I was a little paranoid. But, it's confirmed... baby Hawkins is growing! We're back from our first prenatal appointment... 8 hours later. LONGEST.DAY.EVER. I'm tired.

Detailed version:

It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get there, so we arrived around 9am. I had to pee when we left home, but I was so afraid that I wouldn't be able to pee when the time came for a US, that I held it. We [finally] found the private clinic. Think of every typical American doctors office, and then shove those images out of your head. It was nice for a Kenyan hospital, but would definitely not be up to 'par' in the States. I had to fill out some registration forms and then flipped through a Reader's Digest from the 90's. I had my blood pressure taken, which was really, really high... usually mine is super low. They also took my weight [oh the joys of having this done in front of everyone... things are NOT private here!]... she was like, "You're heavy!" Last time I checked, you DO NOT tell a pregnant, hormonal woman that she is 'heavy," thank you very much!


BUT! I'm letting her comment slide. This time. Because... although I was disappointed I didn't lose MORE weight since coming here, I was happy to see I HAD lost weight... 25 pounds, give or take. So I'm letting that be my victory and I'm just going to ignore what she said.

We waited until 10:30, when we were seen by the doctor. We went over the normal things... LMP... are you healthy, etc... I was surprised she didn't ask MORE questions [are you taking a prenatal, are you taking any other medications, if I have any allergies, etc]. She set my due date as January 30th, one day before the date I figured.  She said it's likely that I'll have to have all of the tests done again when we go home to deliver, because they probably won't accept the records from Kenya... but oh well. And she said that they don't offer any of the testing to see if there is down syndrome or anything like that. I was fine with that; we would have declined it anyways. It will be kind of nice to not have the pressure to take the tests.

She then wanted an ultrasound, urine sample and some blood work... I begged to have the ultrasound first, so I could pee in the stupid cup and empty my bladder. She laughed and said "Okay!" So we walked through the hospital, went outside, up some stairs, and came to the ultrasound area. I told the technician that I had to use the toilet, SOON. He let me go first in line. I felt really bad for the other ladies waiting, but my bladder was about to explode! I laid on the bed and he squeezed the gel on me [brrr] and pressed pretty hard with his magical baby-seeing wand. Made me had to pee all the more! I motioned to Jake to have him close the curtain the rest of the way [there were a lot of people walking back and forth and it was still open about a foot... made me feel weird]. The technician didn't say anything for about a minute. A minute isn't really that long amount of time in general, but laying there waiting, it felt like an eternity. He then asked, "So, you haven't had any problems?" My heart just about stopped beating, because I was so afraid about what he was going to say! The puzzled look on his face certainly didn't help. I looked at Jake as if to say, "Do you see anything?" and he just kinda shrugged. I shouldn't have asked him; he's never seen an ultrasound before, how should he know?

Finally the guy turned the screen and was like, "There it is! You don't have a lazy baby. I think it's happy that we are looking at it right now!"  I seriously wanted to cry, but I was like, "Hold it together, Laura, hold it together!" We didn't hear the heartbeat, but it finally hit me... I have a little baby inside of me!! I can't believe it was moving so much. It just blows my mind. We didn't get any pictures, either... Kenya definitely isn't very high tech. He let us look for a while, then charted what he needed to; he measured me at 11w2d. He wiped the goo off of my abdomen, and sent me on my way to the lab. 

We sat in the lab office for about 10 minutes... there was a guy in front of me. He had his blood drawn, and then the nurse motioned for me to come over... I don't think she even said one word to me. I had to ASK her to change her gloves from the previous guy, though... that was awkward... but seriously, I'm not taking a chance. Instead of a band to tie around the arm, she tied a rubber glove around it. Then, she poked me in my left arm. Nothing. Pulled it out, poked me in a different spot. Nothing. Pulled it out, poked me in a different spot. I could tell she was getting frustrated, and that made me super nervous. She then tried a vein in my wrist... by now she was poking around inside and pushing the needle in and out... NOTHING! She poked me twice there. Finally she tried in my right arm, and she got some within the first try. I was getting irritated. I mean, I didn't even get a sparkly band aid. Come ON! :] And now my arms itch.

So then we got sent back to the clinic part of the hospital. And we waited. And waited. And waited. My labs finally came back, but now we had to wait for the doctor. We waited some more... and finally we were the only ones in the clinic... but the doctor still didn't come. FINALLY at 1pm, she came and said, "Everything looks good!" and we made an appointment for 5 weeks from now... the 19th of August. We finally got out of there, after paying our bill, around 1:30pm.

It took a long time to get home... there was some major fog, and we could only see about 20ft in front of us for a long time. Driving in Kenya is scary enough when you CAN see... driving when you CAN'T see is absolutely insane. We almost got hit twice and almost hit a cow once. We made a quick stop at the grocery store and then made it home around 3:30. 10 hours later after we started our day... we were finally home. I'm exhausted. My head is pounding... I'm ready for this 3-day headache to go away. But I'm happy.

Non-detailed version:
-there actually IS a baby in there!
-she put my due date at 1.30.11
-I'm measuring at 11w2d instead of 10w6d
 

Whew. I think that's all for now. Tomorrow we're going to the "agricultural show" in Nakuru... we're taking all the students for kind of a 'fun day.' It's KIND of like a fair... but I'm not sure what that looks like here, so who knows. Deep fried everything on a stick, all-you-can-drink milk for $1, Sweet Martha's cookies, foot long hot dogs... I can't wait. Oh, darn... that's the MN State fair. Shucks. Guess I'll be stuck with a soda and a samosa. Oh well. :]

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Thank you so much for posting this. Made my eyes water and that's not good cause I'm at work. I am so excited for all of you! Love, Dad

Unknown said...

Congratulations again!

Kathy said...

Love your detailed explanation. I am soooo happy for you and little "prune."
Love,
~Kathy
PS I guess I can't complain about a 25 minute wait at the doctor anymore :o)

crimson_dreams said...

laura!!! that's so exciting!! i'm sorry for the rough day, but i'm so glad to know that your baby is growing, is safe, and is going to be absolutely wonderful. i love you =)

Andrea said...

That is exciting! I'm so happy to hear that you and the sweet little baby are doing well. Maybe he/she will share a birthday with Callia. :)