3 little Miracles

3 little Miracles

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Pregnancy Journal - 9 Weeks Pregnant

How is our baby growing:

Our new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: our baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Our baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

How my life is changing:

I still may not look pregnant even if my waist is thickening a bit. I feel pregnant, though. Not only are morning sickness and other physical symptoms out in full force for most women at this stage, but I feel like an emotional pinball as well.  For me though morning sickness has not been a major issue, just a little nauseas and dizzy at times.

Mood swings are common now — it's perfectly normal to feel alternately elated and terrified about becoming a parent. Most women find that moodiness flares up at around six to ten weeks, eases up in the second trimester, and then reappears as pregnancy winds to a close.  For me these days I cry very easily, commercials, wonderful friends who surprise me with a unexpected visit, dealing with doctors, TV shows, pretty much anything.
  
How am I feeling and how are things going so far

WELL, these days I am physically feeling fine, but emotionally I am a wreck with stress over WHO is going to give me medical care for the next 7 months.  I had my first appointment in Wilmington at the OB clinic attached to New Hanover Medical Center, it took us 2 1/2 hours to get there.  Sadly, there is nothing personal about the OB clinic's care, they are used to dealing with patients on Medicaid, no insurance at all, or needing free care.  So this clinic is used to shuffling people through with the most basic of pregnancy care, no bells and whistles, no UN-necessary ultrasounds, and medical care is provided through nurse practitioners and residents.  I was told that I would likely only have one ultrasound at 10-12 weeks that  ultrasounds are considered luxuries past that and most of their patients couldn't afford luxuries (we are blessed that our insurance covers 100% of my care once I am pregnant until the baby is born).  This is obviously a big departure for us from what we are used to in the private practice care that we had for our previous two pregnancies.  I am praying that God will give me the grace and patience to deal with may become our new norm for the next 7 months if I can't find another doctor who will work with me.  I just find it so difficult to believe, as do most people in my life, that being 41, overweight, slight high blood pressure, and a previous pregnancy with gystational diabetes is enough to make a doctor not want to touch me with a 10 foot pole.  Don't my baby and I deserve medical care, GOOD medical care, personal medical care, CARE from someone within the medical field enough to take MEDICAL CARE of me?  When did our nation take out a law against overweight people having children?  When did our nation decide that overweight individuals don't deserve the best of medical care?  I am just in such a state of shock over how I am being treated and how much this is sucking the joy out of the blessed event in our lives.


So on Monday I will probably be making some phone calls to see if we can find another doctor in my area or at least closer who will care for me.  Please pray that we will SOON be onto better care, closer care, and more positive treatment.

2 comments:

  1. What an amazing and exciting time for you!

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  2. I will be praying for you to find some answers. Reading this makes me so thankful for our healthcare system (don't get me wrong we have may flaws) but overweight here makes you high risk and you are immediately given to a high risk OB, where you get amazing care.

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