8 Weeks

Today marks the end of week 8, and it was also my first pre-natal visit at the doctor. I was insanely nervous about going for a couple reasons. First of all I'm (in general) insanely phobic of doctors. I'm not sure when this all started, but I have been diagnosed with "white coat syndrome" by my GP. My heart and BP race every time I enter a doctors office, it sucks. (Yes I know it's ironic that I work in dentistry and everybody is phobic of the dentist)

Second, is I really had no clue what they were going to do and I was just afraid that they would find something wrong. I have known many people that have had problems with their pregnancies, and I can't help but think about all the things that can go wrong. That is probably the main reason I'm hesitant to tell any friends or extended family until after the first trimester. I'm not sure how I will handle it if something goes wrong. . .

Anyway, the doctor visit was very uneventful and kind of disappointing. They went over a bunch of medical history questions with Jared and I, took my vitals, and did some pre-natal education. No blood work (the lab was closed, I have to go back for that), no peeing in a cup (again, will do at the lab), and no ultrasound or doppler. Not that I really wanted any of that (minus ultrasound). I was hoping that maybe we'd get to see the baby's heart beat, but I'm pretty sure it's still too early to hear yet.

I did however get a physical exam and a pap test (I'll spare the gory details), and the one fun piece of info that we got was the doctor said my uterus is definitely enlarged to what she'd expect at 8 weeks of pregnancy! And the final piece of exciting news that I got is the doctor told me my next visit (at 12 weeks) we will get to hear the baby's heart beat. I'm hoping my excitement over this test will diminish my general fear of going. We shall see.