Eureka!

September 26th I'm back with the quack. I showed up late because I was hesitant to even come but the appointment with my new ob gyn won't be until about a month from now. So I decided to stay under his care until then. They call me in. His nurse tells me to remove my bottoms and drape myself, he will be in soon.

I wait, remembering yet another awful telephone conversation, not expecting what he's going to see on this sonogram, knowing that I feel what I feel in the right places, and mad that he's so hell bent on this not being a viable pregnancy... You'd think he would have to pay child support for this baby, it's like he's hoping it's ectopic... Which makes me more frustrated. He walks in as I'm in those thoughts and I look at him with disgust without thinking to hide my facial expressions. 

"There's my friend!" He says as he walks in with this ridiculous smile. I wanted to ask him who he was referring to. Lol. He looks at my face and asks if I'm nervous. I said emphatically (stankly): "No." His nurse chuckled as if she could read my mind. He asks why I'm not smiling. I'm trying not to be the angry black woman so I'm honestly playing as nice as possible without giving him a piece of my mind or being phony. I don't respond... He leaves it alone. 

I remind them that I'm allergic to latex and they had to change everything again. He squeezed the gel on my belly and checks my uterus for my seedling once again... Eureka! He finds it!  Then goes in with the internal wand and it's even clearer. "So my pregnancy is in my uterus after all Dr. Quack." I wanted to say... I just looked at him smugly. I knew it wasn't ectopic... I just knew it wasn't. 

He explained that everything was normal, the gestational sac was there, and in two weeks we should see my baby's heart flicker inside. I can't wait!!!

I went back to his office and he prescribed me a prenatal vitamin, told me my due date: 5/14/16, telling me we may just be a week off. 

So my pregnancy wasn't at risk, we just found it very early like my best friend told me all along, my sister was still pissed about that huge mistake he made. He still can't touch my baby... But I'm glad to know, with proof, that my baby is in the right place. 

My next appointment is in two weeks. And then I see my new ob... It's a woman this time. Yay!!

WTF?!

September 24th I see I have a missed call and a voice mail. I check my messages and it's my ob gyn informing me to call him immediately within the next 5-10 mins or call his cell phone any later than that. I call him right back, he answers: "Ms. Morris?" I reply yes. "I am calling you to inform you that your numbers are not rising appropriately, they are not doubling as they should and you will have to go to the emergency room immediately so that they can terminate the pregnancy because the pregnancy is not in the uterus, its ectopic."

With no emotional reaction I respond: "Okay... So what were my numbers this time?" "Your numbers were 1376." he responds. So in my head I'm doing the math: they're supposed to double every 2-3 days, my last reading was 648, which doubles to 1296, which is less than 1376. So I repeat my numbers back to him and he says: "Oh wait... what were you numbers last time?" He looks at my folder, I start getting hot with anger. "Oh yes, your numbers were 648..." I'm guessing now he's calculating. "...Oh yes, your numbers have doubled, they are in fact  rising appropriately... You come in tomorrow right?"  Angrily I respond: "Saturday." "Ok Ms. Morris see you Saturday." as I ended the call, I was disgusted! I'd never experienced anything like that. At that moment, all the emotions I should've felt when he was delivering the horrifying news, I felt right then. What kind of doctor doesn't check patient's file before calling them to devastated their whole world?
I could not wrap my head around it, but that's when I decided he'd no longer be my obgyn. 

 I called my best friend and then sister immediately to tell them I'm changing doctors. This quack will not touch my baby. They were more angry than I was. That has to be the most unprofessional moment I've experienced, especially with a doctor. I am so glad I spoke up, had the right frame of mind to calculate and advocate for myself, otherwise who knows what would have happened. I can just imagine all the terminated pregnancies that have occurred due to mistakes like the one this quack made. He could've costed me my child.

Umm... Ok?

September 22nd I wake up Tuesday morning and remembered I had to go to court the next day. Luckily my gyn's secretary calls me to confirm/remind me of my appointment for tomorrow. I informed her that I would not be able to make it because I had something important to do that I forgot about (pregnancy brain already? Idk). But she tells me I can cancel now but I'd have to call back tomorrow  to reschedule. 

September 23rd I get up and go to court. Leaving court I had some other things to do so I was on my way out east to do that when my phone rings, I answer and it's my dr's secretary asking if I cancelled my appointment for today. I reply: "yes I did I was trying to reschedule." She tells me the dr is upset... In my smart ass head I'm thinking: "I don't give sugar honey iced tea about him being upset... he needs to relax." My smart ass mouth says: "Umm... Okay?" So she tells me he wants to speak to me and transfers the call to his office.

 He gets on the phone and asks the same thing she did about my cancelation, he got the same response. He proceeds to tell me that my pregnancy is at risk and my visits are important for the health of myself and my baby and that he won't put me at risk so if I don't come in now I can't be his patient and I can go back to the er for treatment... (Yes he did say that) I ask him well what time does the office close? He tells me oh no you can't come here when we're closing. As I think to myself: "why the hell would I show up when they're closing?" I look at my phone as I start to lose my patience and tell him very sternly: "alright now listen, I had something very important to do this morning which was why I cancelled and was trying to reschedule yesterday morning, it's not as if I just didn't show up. As for me coming there right now... There is no way I'm getting there now because I'm nowhere in that area." He stammers telling me to come in as early as I can. I say ok and end the call. 

I finished everything I needed to at about 2pm so on my way home I went to my ob gyn. I go in to see him, annoyed by our phone conversation. He's all smiles that I made it in. Asks if I'm in pain or bleeding... No to both. 

Then he goes over my numbers from the er. They doubled but still not high enough for anything to show up on a sonogram. So again... More blood is taken. And an appointment is made for Saturday the 26th. 

Back at the E.R

September 19th I go back to my ob gyn because I was invited back at yesterday's visit. He tells me my levels are now 248 and that they have doubled but are still low. So he refers me to the er the next day to do another check of my levels. 

September 20th I show up at the er as told by my ob gyn to do more bloodwork to check that my hcg levels have doubled from two days ago which I found out yesterday (the 19th) were 248, which means they doubled from last test's 123. 

I wait to be registered and seen. They ask if I've had any pain or bleeding I say no. About 45 mins of me being there they draw my blood. I sit and wait a good hour and a half for the dr to come and tell me my results. My numbers came back 648 which is more than double my last level of 248. He congratulated me and assured me it was doing what it was supposed to be doing, he was was going to call my ob gyn to let him know, and get my discharge papers ready.

 I left confident and happy.  

First visit

September 18th I go to my ob gyn appointment, this is my first visit with him since my original gyn is in Brooklyn, but I don't live there anymore, I decided to find one closer to me on the island. I fill out the paperwork with all my personal and insurance info and patiently wait to see, well meet this dr for the first time.

They call me into the office, I'm told by his nurse, after informing her that I'm pregnant, to empty my bladder, change out of all of my clothes, put on the gown and drape... The dr would be right with me. I did just so and waited... Fake patiently. 

He finally comes in, introduces himself, and asks... "Who told you to come here? How did you find out about me?" The tone of the questions were off putting to say the least and my attitude automatically changed. I was ready to go... But I was already on his table. Then he starts with the usual questions, I told him I was pregnant, he asked how did I know... Another eyebrow raiser. I politely told him how I found out. He asked if I was keeping it... I said yes. "Well congratulations." He says. "Is this your first pregnancy?" I said yes. "Any miscarriages or abortions?" In my head... Cuz I'm a smart ass... I'm thinking: "if this is my first pregnancy, how could I have a miscarriage or abortion? I have never been pregnant before is usually what first pregnancy means right??" I simply said no to both. Lol.

He tells me I have to have a sonogram to see if everything is okay. I inform him I'm allergic to latex so they had to change everything. So he squeezed the gel on my belly and searches my uterus for the seedling. He informs me he sees nothing and acts concerned, then he does the transvaginal one and still finds nothing and shows signs of concern. He did find a cyst tho... Which he also seemed to be concerned about. He's getting on my already nervous nerves. 

He tells me to get dressed and that he wants with do bloodwork again to check that my hcg levels doubled from two days ago at the er, which came back 123. He leaves the room and his nurse tells me it's normal not to see anything and that they usually don't see anything really til 8 weeks. "By next week you'll see the egg sac then there'll be a little dot inside." She was more assuring than the dr. 

I go to his office and he expresses to me that he is concerned that it may be an ectopic pregnancy because my levels are so low or it could be a miscarriage, so he wants me to come back the next day. I didn't share the same concerns, I was pissed he was sprinkling negative energy on my pregnancy. Lol. So naturally I hate him already. BUT... Now that the seed of paranoia has been planted, I can't help but wonder. 

An appointment is set for Wednesday the 22nd. 

New discovery

September 16th I went to the emergency room because for a few days to a week I couldn't keep anything down if I could eat anything to begin with. I felt weak, tired, nauseous like I had a stomach virus or something. I went in and told them what was wrong, they asked if there was a possibility of pregnancy, since I live with my partner I said yes but I also told them I doubt it because I just took two at home pregnancy tests and one at the hospital the week prior. All came back negative. The doctor seeing me said that they still had to do it just in case and just to rule it out so that they could pinpoint what would be causing the symptoms. 

About 15 mins later he returns to my bed, followed by a nurse with a computer, and tells me: "well we ran the pregnant test and it came back... (I already knew it was negative) ...positive. Congratulations." 32 years old, my first pregnancy ever, of course I was elated. I think we all as women wonder if we even can get pregnant, but finding out that I am pregnant, definitely put my paranoia to rest. Of course he asks if this is my first pregnancy, yes. So he tells me the nausea is an effect of being pregnant, and told me they had to take blood to find out my hcg levels, and then I'd have a sonogram to see if the pregnancy isn't ectopic, because I told him I was having slight cramping which made me think I was getting my period... Not pregnant. Lol. 

The sonogram showed nothing since I'm only about 5 weeks at the time. My blood came back and he said my levels were low for 5 weeks. So I was told to see my ob gyn in a couple of days, which worked out perfectly because I already had an appointment set to see him in two days. So I leave, happy, excited and scared... I could be someone's mama!