The 36 week appointment.

I should have written directly after my last appointment when everything was still fresh in my mind but being a baby carrier is more exhausting than ever! (Plus I've been on the laptop rather than the desktop recently and I dislike writing on this one, hard to get around the belly to the keys!)

Monday at 2pm I had an appointment with the consultant at the hospital to go over my most recent bloodwork. They were running incredibly late. It was 3:30 before we got in to see the midwife and about 4pm before the consultant came in. (Big surprise here though: we actually met Dr. Ellison! She does exist! The nicest doctor I've seen so far as well so keep your fingers crossed that she'll be on call when it's time for the baby to come.)

While we were waiting for the Doctor, the midwife measured my fundal height like 7 times. I'm not sure if she was expecting it to change or just wanted to be doubly sure. She then ran around for a while and came back with a growth chart. (I hadn't had one made up and she kept flipping through my notes looking for it even though I'd told her there was definitely nothing like a growth chart in there.) There was an amusing moment when I told her the only thing I had similar was scan graph which I'd filled in. She was wondering who had filled it in since they don't normally. I explained that you can't leave me with data, a corresponding empty graph and expect me not to do something with it. After plotting my most recent fundal measurements she realized that I'm measuring big. Something about being over the 90th percentile on at least two occasions or something like that. So she booked me in for a growth scan! I'm not really sure what they're going to be able to deduce from that since everything I've read has said that they're not exactly accurate for predicting baby's size, but as we get to see the baby again I'm not going to complain! [Scan appointment is actually today, in an hour an 40 minutes!!] It's snowing again but it doesn't seem to be sticking so hopefully we'll be able to get there just fine.

The rest of the appointment was fine, no more blood was requested! Yaay! I got to leave the hospital without getting a needle jabbed in my arm for once. My results were actually pretty good. My platelet count is still low but not nearly as low as it was! 150, 128, 105, 128. My iron, and white blood cell counts are both up from the last readings as well! So the medical types are all happy.

Toxoplasmosis - an update on the saga. ;)

Magically my results from the first attempt showed up in back of my hospital file. The ones everyone swore up and down didn't exist. I guess no one actually called the lab that processed the results. I was told that since it wasn't their lab they had no electronic record of it... that doesn't really explain why they thought that the actual lab in question wouldn't have it in THEIR records. Either way, those results were there and Doctor told the current midwife to call and get the most recent set of results. (It was entertaining. The midwife obviously thought that it was someone else's job and that she shouldn't have to be calling the lab, but Dr. Ellison told her at least twice. I want those results back for the patient so call! Yaay for Dr. Ellison!)

Side note: Dr. Ellison was impressed with me! She asked who had requested the Toxoplasmosis test and I explained that it was me. My notes said - any other blood tests requested by the patient so I requested more tests! That's just the type of person I am. She explained that during pregnancy there's not much they can do if it comes back with a positive result since they can't be sure when it was contracted so I explained that I'd asked for it at the very beginning just so I could have an idea if I was already exposed. We had a conversation about what it was, how it was contracted, and how it could affect the baby. She was impressed and said I was quite clued up. She didn't seem at all put off that I knew these things, just happy that I understood what she was saying. Oh yeah. Results show no current infection. (That could mean I have a dormant one but no current infection means there's definitely nothing there that could be affecting the meatball.)

So even though it was 4:30pm before we got back to the car it was a good day all around for results.

Time to go get ready to see the baby!! Hope she's not become a hippo in there! :D