It's Official

Today I woke up anxious about our first appointment!. I got ready early and went to the shop to get started for the day and to keep my mind occupied until 10! Craig came to pick me up and we headed 5 minutes down the road to the Maternal-Fetal Group’s office here in Newport News. There were about 20 patients, all in different stages of pregnancy, waiting to see the doctors so I felt a little intimidated. When my name was called, an automatic nervous smile appeared on my face. Craig could tell that I was nervous and reminded me multiple times to "just breathe". 

I was directed to the scale then the bathroom for a urine test and then room 2. Thankfully my nurse Inez was amazing. She was really sweet, explained everything slowly and always smiled. That put me at ease. When it came time to check my blood pressure and pulse, both were elevated!!!! I blamed it on the excitement of being there but Ines seemed a bit worried. She rechecked it about 5 minutes later with no change, and asked me to lay down on my left side and try to relax.  The Nurse Practitioner Anna came in and she was also very kind. By this time my blood pressure and pulse had decreased and we were able to move on with the appointment. We spoke about prenatal testing, blood work and she did a quick ultrasound on my belly (after telling me I was about 5 weeks) and pointed to a tiny black dot on the screen and said “That’s it!". At that point, things became more and more real.  A few minutes later, we met one of the attendings Dr. Abuhamed, who we also liked very much. He reiterated that we would have to deliver at Norfolk General and admitted that although I would probably be an easy patient in comparison to his workload, that he needed to read a bit more about pregnancy and delivery of someone with my history. On our way out, they scheduled us for an appointment in 3 weeks to “discuss the lab work” and 6 weeks to get our first official ultrasound....ugh! can I wait that long??? 

We left the office extremely pleased and relieved that this group of doctors and nurses seemed capable and willing to see us through this pregnancy. When Craig dropped me off at the shop, my mom ran out with a gift bag....she hugged us tightly and handed it to us. The card read “Things will change before you know it, this is something to get you ready. With love, grandma manis”. I almost started crying and quickly opened the bag. She had bought us 2 books, mine was “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and Craig’s was “So You’re Going To Be A Dad”....more reality set in and I could hardly contain my excitement!!!! Anxious to hear every detail about our appointment, my mom and I walked back in to the shop and Craig headed back to work. 

A little later this afternoon, our friends Martin and Lisa welcomed their baby girl Haven Emilia Zelada into this world. When we heard the news, we cheered and I couldn’t help but think of OUR upcoming day!!!!! Life is absolutely perfect. I married my best friend, and now we are going to have a baby together....