PPD 2 - the pregnancy!

okay! continuing while the muffin is asleep. our army insurance, which is really great, pretty much dictated which ob/gyn i could choose, and the easiest for me to reach was north strand ob/gyn in little river. i called and they made an appt for me with dr j. i googled his name and, awesome, he lost his medical license in 2001 in ohio.

not going to go into all that now, though i do have copies of the discipline proceedings' outcome, but i called and switched my appt to the other dr there at the time, dr mccauley. met with him on 8/12/11, and we talked about my *advanced maternal age* of 38 and the genetic tests he recommended, and i agreed with all of that. now, since it's possible that a woman will be treated and/or delivered by any dr in an ob/gyn office, i decided to ask dr mccauley about his partner and whether i would be able to "opt out" somehow of EVER being treated by him. i was nervous asking because it can't be a fun topic, being asked about your partner's previously revoked medical license, but i 100% felt it was my right. dr mccauley gave me this RUDE look and said, very condescendingly, "really? do we REALLY need to talk about this?" i was totally shocked at this reaction. it even took me a second for it to sink in and then i started crying and said, "well, it's possible i will be treated by this guy, and i don't want someone who is, at the very least, guilty of very bad judgement while practicing medicine, looking after me and the health of my unborn child!" he gave me some other bullsh*t, but never apologized for being such a d*ck to me about a completely valid question. i mean, you choose to partner with a guy with a shady medical treatment background, and your patients aren't allowed to ASK about it? unfortunately, i was stuck with this dr mccauley because the practice was the closest to me, and i didn't even tell andrew or my twin sister about it, or they'd be incensed for me. SO. thank goodness the office staff was/is one of the best i've been blessed to know. plus, the tests he'd recommended were important to me and i didn't want to chance someone else not recommending them. we also decided at that meeting that i would stay on my anti-anxiety/anti-depressant meds, effexor (venlafaxine), which i've been taking since 1996. i would drop the dosage by 1/3 and sometimes to 1/2, after discussing the risks v benefits. it was a tough decision because it's a class c drug - basically, it COULD be harmful or it might not be. i determined it would be best for both the baby and me for me not to go crazy while pregnant. also, because a) i am prone to depression and b) my twin sister suffered severe ppd, probably with a side of ptsd, i had a higher chance of developing post-partum depression. i hoped staying on my meds would help mitigate some of that.

anyway!

while pregnant, with andrew away at JAG school, i sent our family & friends an update every few weeks about how the pregnancy was going - here's the copy and paste, all in italics, of one of the emails on 9/12/11:



okay! first the fun stuff - pictures. the baby, which *should be* at 13 weeks today, measures anywhere from 13 to 14 weeks. as you'll see, the little plum-muffin (because s/he is now much bigger than a butterbean) is moving around like a lil monkeypants, so it's hard to get a good measurement. i saw these pictures all happening in motion so i know what's what, and where (mostly, but who's gonna argue? HUH??? :))
i wish i knew how to put text on these pictures and point out little features, but i do not, so...

picture 1:

picture 1!!!

pretty much what it looks like - baby is standing/kneeling, head facing the camera, little hands on left "wall" and apparently is going to have andrew's darling bottom, as you can see its darlingness sticking out just a little. yes, i realize our baby has a little [easter island] thing going on, and THAT IS FINE. :)

picture 3: baby now facing right "wall" with its little arms and hands against it. all of this happened within about 10 seconds. so our baby has andrew's speed and agility, thank goodness.

picture 6: back view of baby, settling in for a nice nappie. just like its mama.




 

picture 7:

again, just like its mama, not comfortable yet, and now leaning against left wall.
 

picture 9:

4-d image of the plum-muffin - you can see both little arms up, elbows bent, like s/he's rubbing his/her eyes, and you can make out a little hand. or at least *i* can, suckas.



picture 10:


raise the roof.

baby has now turned its little body/round tummy towards the camera and you can't see its face because it has its little arms & hands up, like a boxer. our darling pugilist. OR our darling praying mantis, whichever.

the ultrasound tech DID agree that it was not only the most darling BABY ever, but also the most darling uterus. i mean, DUH. LOOK at it.

back to july 2012 -okey dokey -- the little teeny monkeypants is awake and we're going to eat and play! more later or tamale! :) happy monday, beeotches!!