Too Busy

Tuesday I called the OB/GYN office to see if I could get an appointment with the doctor who did the D&C in January. They told me she was booked until January, and the soonest I could see a nurse/midwife would be November. I was asking for an appointment for my pap smear as it's been 18 months since I had one. I didn't want to wait that long as I wanted an Rx for birth control pills. We decided that part of our decision making process for whether to do IVF again would be to do the ovarian reserve test again which means having blood drawn on day 2 or 3 to check E2 and FSH levels. I haven't gotten my cycle back yet. I stopped nursing Nadia around January 11, 2009 and still hadn't gotten my cycle back two months after that. I have no idea when it would have come back. I am still nursing once a day, but I think most women would get their cycle back when nursing that infrequently. Not that I'm complaining! If it weren't for ttc, I would be very happy never to have it again. I then called the RE's office to see if they would do a pap smear, as they had done mine the past few years. It turns out they don't do them any more. So, they gave me an appointment with the OB who delivered Nadia for yesterday. Isn't it crazy that one office expects you to wait 2 months to see a midwife and another can get you an appointment with a doctor for the very next day? Not that I ever, ever, ever want to deliver in this hospital again.

Yesterday morning my friend, Donna, graciously watched the kids while I was at the hospital. Seeing lots of pregnant women definitely intensified my yearning for another baby. If we decide not to do ivf again I will be skipping my pap smear for several years as it will be too hard to go to the ob/gyn and see all those pregnant bellies. I first asked her about the stress incontinence. I never mentioned it to a doctor or nurse while pregnant as I just assumed it would be the same as other side effects (like heartburn) and go away after I gave birth. She said it usually goes away within 6 months of delivering, and if it doesn't then I need to see a uro-gynecologist. I had it in mind for months to mention it the next time I saw a gyn, but after she mentioned that, it dawned on me that actually it hasn't been as bad lately. I am going to hold off on seeing a doctor about it in the hopes that maybe it will resolve on its own.

My second question for her was regarding what could be done to prevent me from giving birth to another preemie if we have a third child. She said if I were her OB patient, she would have me take one progesterone shot per week (in the arm) from week 16 to 37, and she would measure the length of my cervix every 2 weeks (by ultrasound) beginning at the end of the first trimester, and if the cervix started shortening, she would give me the steroid shot immediately. It made me feel better to know there's something that could be done to try to prevent having another child end up in the NICU. Hopefully if I am pregnant again one of the OB's at the other clinic would be willing to do something similar. I really, really want to experience holding a really newborn baby, which doesn't happen when your baby is whisked to the NICU.

I then asked her for an Rx for the pill as well as an Rx for my E2 and FSH levels to be checked. She was amazed when I said I wanted to check my ovarian reserve. Probably not something she is asked very often, lol. She gave me both. This will help us decide whether or not to do ivf again, and it also will be a test as to whether Blue Shield really will pay for bloodwork or not. I hope they do! I then called the RE office to find out when their up/down cycles would be in 2011 so that I would know when I should start taking the bcp. It turns out they're "up" all year now except for around Christmas time. That's a big change! I had to wait awhile for Nadia's FET because of their up/down cycles. I expressed my sadness that Dr. A has retired, and the ivf nurse told me he was 70 years old when he retired. Wow! He definitely was old enough to retire. :-) She said if we wanted to start in January that we'd need to have our first appt in November. So I'm thinking in a few weeks I'll start the bcp's so I can have the day 3 bloodwork sometime in October.

In hindsight, I shouldn't have made my appointment for a Wednesday morning. Wednesday nights I go from class to choir. Last night I found myself questioning whether I should stay in the choir this semester. I am just soooooooo tired that I can't enjoy choir rehearsal, and when I get home I just want to go straight to bed which means I don't get to chat with Paul, and he left for school about 6am yesterday. We don't have choir rehearsal next Wednesday. I'm going to give it one more try in 2 weeks before deciding whether I'll continue this semester or not. I missed out on participating in the Christmas cantata last year because I was in the hospital with Ian when it took place. I really wanted to participate this year, but I might need to take a break from the choir until January. Hopefully my department chair won't schedule me to teach on Wednesday nights next semester. On the way home from Donna's we did a few errands in town - including picking up the Rx at CVS and returning a DVD to the Blockbuster Express kiosk. I used the new double stroller. I love it!