We be Parents

We went for the first appointment with the doctor on October 10th – Yenari was supposed to be at about 7 and a half weeks, and she was scheduled for her first ultrasound.  Here it is (click for a larger version):

In the image on top, the plus sign shows where the fetus is.  They made the plus marks to measure the size of the fetus.  Going into the appointment, we thought that Yenari was seven and half weeks pregnant, but the ultrasound showed that she was only six weeks and one day pregnant.  The doctor said that we needed to have a follow-up ultrasound in ten days to make sure that the fetus is growing and that the small size didn’t indicate a problem.  Despite the worry of the smaller size, it was so exciting to see the baby on the monitor and to see its little heart flickering on the screen.

The first time we went to the doctor’s office for Yenari’s pregnancy we went to meet with the OB nurse so that she could give us information about pregnancy in general and also review how Palo Alto Medical Foundation plans doctor’s visits, labs, and all of the other fun medical stuff.

The nurse was very friendly and happy – she is also preggers too (we be preggers together) – and she said that the first doctors visit, only a week and a half away, would include an ultrasound…here’s how the conversation went….

OB Nurse: On your first visit with the doctor, we’ll do the first ultrasound

Us: Great!

OB Nurse: Because you’ll only be 7 weeks the normal ultrasound can’t detect the baby, so this ultrasound will be internal

Yenari: (starting to look concerned)

OB Nurse: If we do that we can see how the fetus is doing and make sure that everything is going ok.

Yenari: (still thinking about the internal ultrasound, not paying attention)

OB Nurse: It’s great that you can get a photo of the ultrasound so early in your pregnancy

Yenari: How big is it? (still thinking about that internal ultrasound probe)

OB Nurse: (enthusiastically) We can make it as big as you want!

Yenari: (shocked, mouth wide open, thinking ‘Who would want a big probe?!?!?!?’)

Greg: Umm…I think she was asking about how big the internal probe is

OB Nurse: (turning beet red in a matter of a second) Oh my goodness – I’m so sorry, I was talking about the photo! Don’t worry – the probe is really small!

All three of us: (cracking up)

Yenari: (relieved…)

So, we learned early on, pregnancy is a tricky thing and you’ve got to have a sense of humor about it…