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June 24, 2005
Ultrasound #2 And More Bloodwork
Wednesday we went for another ultrasound, the one to rule out macrosomia, or "big baby", one of the potential side effects of having gestational diabetes. Needless to say, and much like Sakina had anticipated, everything measured fine (a day behind on my official due date, and 6.5-7lbs or so).
We had a different u/s tech than when we were there last time, which was a shame as I liked her better. This one didn't bother to move the screen so I could actually see it, so I only had a tiny field of vision onto the screen. PreZ had a good view though, so he got to monitor everything. That said, an ultrasound at 37 weeks is a lot different than one at 19 weeks. This late in the game the baby is so much larger that you're basically looking at baby limbs which are pretty much 'full-size' from an inch or two away, so everything is super magnified, rather than the more overview shots you have when you're only half way through gestation and the baby is still tiny.
We had told the tech at the beginning that we didn't know the gender and also didn't want to find out, just so she knew and to avoid any accidental discoveries. With three or so weeks to go the wait isn't that bad anymore. Just as we were leaving though she made the comment "I know what you're having". She didn't point it out during the scan, and PreZ didn't notice anything either (magnified bits, and you don't always know what you're looking at anyway) while she was scanning. It just struck me as odd that she'd say that, and almost cruel as well... seeing as you're teasing people who still have several weeks to wait. Was she hoping we'd succumb and ask anyway?
Sakina called that night to give me the results, though the tech had already told us everything was fine. She also mentioned that she'll probably be bringing an assistant to the birth who is also a doula. So we get a free doula thrown in for extra support. Yesterday evening the doula called, and we talked on the phone for about 45 minutes just to get to know each other. She sounds like a really cool person, she's worked as a midwifery assistant and a doula, she has a 5 year old daughter whom she cloth diapered and breastfed and slinged etc. so definitely someone on the same wavelength. Though that's often the case with people who are in the midwifery/doula "business", they tend to have a much less mainstream/medicalised and more alternative/natural approach.
Today was more bloodwork for the gestational diabetes. Three tubes in the morning after fasting, then going home and eating a meal, then coming back after 2 hours for another tube to compare against the fasting tube.
This lab tech was different to the one that I've had all the other times I've gone to the lab. And I'm really sorry the other guy wasn't there today (it's usually only one person at the lab). I will admit that the veins in the crook of my elbows are harder to locate (so much for a career as a junkie...), however, I've had blood drawn by a nurse in a hospital clinic, as well as other places, and they've never had a problem. The midwife couldn't get a vein with the initial pregnancy bloodwork, and as a result took it out of a vein on the back of my hand (where they're nice and juicy and prominent. The lab tech had the same problem the midwife did. Okay, no big deal, take it out of the back of the hand. I just really hate when it takes them a while to admit defeat in the crook of your arm, because they're sitting there with this needle and swizzling it around trying to nick the vein... the midwife did this, and so did the lab tech. I'm no large fan of being jabbed with needles, but if it's done efficiently, I'm okay. When it takes them a while to find the vein and while they're using it like a swizzle stick, I get a bit icky, especially if this is being done on an empty stomach. Plus seconds seem to last like minutes when they do that.
Eventually after switching from elbow to hand he got the blood without problems.
Two hours after eating breakfast/lunch, there I am back for the other blood vial. Having learned his lesson the first time he bypassed the elbows altogether, and headed back to the hand with the juicy veins. No problem, or so I thought. He actually managed to be unable to get blood out of that vein. He ended up blaming it on being too close to the site of the original puncture, but I know what the problem was. The angle was too steep, and he'd just stabbed it all the way through or next to the vein, either way he was too deep, because I could feel it jabbing the bone or whatever else is under there. And that really fucking hurts, let me tell you. After a while of this, I pointed out calmly that I thought he was too deep, because he was hitting the bone. Eventually he tried further up on the back of my hand and finally got lucky. The angle was also a lot shallower, so that the needle would have been going in the vein rather than through it. The initial puncture he'd made meanwhile decided to swell up a lot... which to me was indication enough of the fact that he was just way off on placement.
I'm no lab tech or nurse trained in taking blood, but I was definitely tempted to take the damn needle and insert it myself, I'm sure I could have done a better job. So now the back of my hand is really sore as a result of having the bone jabbed a bunch of times.
And I get to do this all again next week. I really hope that the other lab tech is there, because I don't want to have to deal with this guy again.
Posted on 05:59 PM to: Pregnancy