In the Immortal Words of Comic Book Guy...

"Worst. Pregnancy. Ever." (Okay, paraphrased.) But here's the good news:



I think it looks just like its daddy.

So, I've been to the OB-Gyn cattle-conveyer-type medical practice, which did at least include the sonogram. The critter is 16mm, which is just as it should be at 46 days of development. (What is that, Carnegie stage 18? I don't know if that system counts by weeks since conception [as it should], or the standard weeks since last menstruation.)

I have been terribly, terribly ill. Being on the computer makes me feel sick, being on the phone makes me feel sick, being in the car makes me feel sick. The smell of my own skin and hair makes me sick. Just being makes me feel sick! I've been sleeping most of the day, every day since I came home Thursday afternoon.

I haven't been able to keep down much food or liquid during that time, either. I can't eat or drink anything until about 5 pm, and then it takes me an hour just to ingest a little serving of something bland like cottage cheese and canned peaches. I sleep most of the day.

In hindsight I could have predicted this, as I already know that a) I tend to have a lot of whatever hormone I'm producing at the time and b) I tend to be pretty sensitive to whatever chemicals are in my system. I just hope that my body keeps doing things "by the book" and settles down after this month. I am making arrangements to take time off my clinic work for a few weeks, as it is simply too much.

I sure don't need to worry about finding nonalcoholic wine any longer, as I have absolutely no interest in any kind of wine. Also completely uninterested in tea and coffee. Even cheese is just too much. The nausea has completely overtaken the ravenousness. I even threw up innocuous fruit popsicles!

I had the doctor appointment on Friday, when I was feeling particularly awful. I didn't actually throw up there, but I kept thinking I was about to. And it was a three-hour appointment that involved a heck of a lot of waiting for various people to do various things.

I liked the doctor herself, but the overall arrangement was less than satisfactory. For one, it's a busy practice that's actually in a teaching hospital. So that pretty much answered my question about where I might be expected to deliver. Whereas I wanted to go to vet the practice and see what I thought of them, the expectation was that since I was there, I was "a patient" and I was already hooked into this big maternity machine.

My little list of questions to ask the doctor about the values and procedures of the practice seemed a bit moot when I had to see several other people first for all kinds of required procedures (taking various fluids from me, getting my health history, taking my insurance info, etc.)

Overall I felt the general message was "We're asking the questions, here, Missy." Also, I wouldn't get to see that particular doctor (or any particular doctor) with any frequency anyway, as it might be any of the doctors in the practice at any given time, including for the delivery. Also, during that whole three hours, not one person asked me how I was feeling (or had been feeling during the pregnancy), when I was obviously, visibly, feeling horrible. It just felt really impersonal all the way through.

I think I may be switching to another option at some point.

TheLimey seems to have been galvanized into more serious belief by seeing photographic evidence. It could also have to do with my lying completely inert on the couch all day, for days on end, in between barfing. He's been reading his Expectant Father book and going on shopping trips to get things that might tempt me to eat. Also generally fussing and worrying over me.

I can't imagine trying to do this alone, or--worse--with an unsupportive partner. I keep thinking about how cheating and/or domestic violence most often begin in pregnancy, and thanking my lucky stars for the good man I have.