The Idiot

Week 19:  I went to the perinatal office for the thorough mid-pregnancy ultrasound just two days before we were leaving for a family reunion.  My hope, of course, was that we could see that the cord looked normal and thus have a more relaxing vacation.  Having the vacation during weeks 19 to 21 of the pregnancy was far from ideal given that we lost our boys at 19 weeks and 21 weeks.

I saw a different doctor this time, but unfortunately he too absolutely refused to do ultrasound of the cord.  Everything else looks lovely - heart, other organs, growth, etc.  That's good obviously, but did nothing to alleviate my concerns about the cord.  The doctor and I had a lengthy discussion about this refusal to look at the cord.  I should point out that I was very cordial and non-confrontational.  He was a good deal more affable than the last doctor, but still managed to take a condescending tone.  And these are the same doctors at the same clinic that I saw last time!  It makes absolutely no sense!

My view is why the hell would you NOT look at the cord given my history of recurrent cord-related losses? It's not as if it's hard to look - they're doing the ultrasound anyway and getting paid a hefty sum for it.  I cited Dr. Collin's work on recurrent cord pathology.  His reply was that they will not be ordered around by patients or other doctors.  He also argued that since nothing could be done at this point if the cord is malformed, there's no point in looking at it.  I countered that I'd at least like to know what the situation is given the fact I'll be traveling out of state during the same time period we had our prior losses.  And also that we want to know the state of the cord before telling our kids that I'm pregnant.  He said something along the lines of "these are issues a psychologist is more qualified to deal with".  I am so done with this clinic!

Clearly, there was no way for me to win here, so I left with the satisfaction of having wasted far more of his time arguing (30 minutes) than he would have spent just doing the ultrasound (1 minute). And he doesn't get a penny more for the extra time spent.  Ha! Shame I don't still have Doctor Dammit - he would have gotten a well-deserved beating.

The next couple of days were busy preparing for the trip.  Our first day's drive took us as far as Illinois, where we picked up our oldest daughter who had been staying with Q's parents for two weeks.  She asked if I'd been exercising much while she was gone.  Good thing we'd already made plans to tell the kids our news - it's obvious I'm getting bigger!

 I'd made Anastasia a shirt that says "Jie-Jie" on it.  That's Chinese for big sister.  When she showed the older kids there was confusion at first - "But she's not a jie-jie!".  And then they got it.  We had wanted to wait longer before telling them, but since the kids have already noticed my increased girth and our family reunion will involve swimming suits, we felt forced to tell them now.  So they know and we just hope for the best.

Mei-Mei is very excited about being a Jie-Jie!

"Another sister?!"
"Another SISTER!!"