10 Weeks & Counting

Okay, so I have 2.5 months left of this pregnancy but when you break it down to weeks... 10 weeks sounds WAY TOO SOON!  Yikes!  

Today I had a doctor's appointment with our OB, Dr. Flath.  I just want to say, we have amazing doctors.  What a blessing these professionals are to us!  As mentioned before, Dr. Flath is my neighbor's dad and he treats me with such care and genuine concern.  Meeting with him just feels like visiting with a comforting dad.  

Luckily, today's visit was very normal and routine.  Most of my visits with our doctors are everything but normal for me and I usually leave overwhelmed and emotional.  So it was nice to just have a regular appointment.  Great news, my recent blood work looked great and I don't have gestational diabetes.  He said the only bad news is... "You've gained 8 lbs since your last visit (4 weeks ago). So... just watch out for that."  haha  I could tell he was trying to be tactful with his words as he was basically telling a highly hormonal, donut eating... fast food craving prego woman that she needs to "watch out for that."  Note taken.  Although, I would like to add that he said I am measuring bigger... so I attribute this weight gain to the fact that we just simply make big babies... or that's just denial talking.

Remember how we went through all of those hoops with the Oregon Health Plan?  Well... it's not over!  It turns out that when I switched plans from Providence to CareOregon in order to have the hospital covered, I switched to a plan that my OB does not take.  Bleh.  With such a large team of doctors, it is so hard to coordinate a plan that will cover all of them AND the hospital.  The front office staff told me to talk to Dr. Flath about the situation.  When I explained, he took me to meet Ellen, the billing specialist in his office.  She was well aware of my situation and already working on it.  Dr. Flath looked at me and said "we will try to do everything we can, but just know I will make it work and continue with your care no matter what."  What a guy and what a relief!

After today, I will start seeing Dr. Flath every two weeks.  I am also scheduled to have one of our big 3+ hour appointments with the Pediatric Cardiologist, Dr. King and Perinatologist, Dr. Merrill next Thursday.  They will be doing another ultrasound, fetal echo and make sure nothing has changed.  I will also be meeting with Dr. Larrabbee, a Neonatologist with NW Newborn.  She will be the doctor taking care of our baby in the NICU.  

At Dr. Flath's office, I checked in with a super sweet woman named Molly.  She was so fantastic and easy to talk to.  When I was trying to figure out the situation with our insurance, she quickly pieced together that I was not a routine patient and that my baby had complications.  You could tell she felt really bad and even said, "You're so positive!"  It was at that moment that I stepped back and realized, I AM REALLY POSITIVE!  I have noticed a change in my attitude about our baby's condition.  I just feel so much peace and excitement for Zoe's arrival.  No, it's not all rainbows and smiley faces... but when you really get down to it, it is such a beautiful time for us.  Zoe could not have more people caring for her, even if she tried.  She will be welcomed with so many loving arms and prayers on her behalf.  

How blessed our we?  

As my 2.5 year old would say... "SOOOO MUCH!"