huisarts...

Today Em and I went to our Huisarts (GP) to tell her the good news and to confirm that there is in fact a little bud developing in my belly!
We pretty much expected Dr H to be happily bewildered that the insemination worked; we sure as hell were!

Initially Dr H’s intern saw us first. She was shocked to hear that I am preggers; apparently Dr H relayed the insemination process to her and therefore likely expressed the slight chance of this actually working. I mentioned that I took five pregnancy test – all of which proclaimed a Big Fat Positive – but we set up the appt to confirm the pregnancy with a blood test cuz that's what they do in the US. Even if I took 100 tests in the US and knew in my heart that I’m pregnant they’d still require and order a blood test to confirm. Well, we def are not in Kansas anymore… but honestly the practicality of the Dutch medical system makes sense to me, at least in this case. Five positive tests, period is 10 days late, my boobs are tender (and bigger) and my skin is changing – this should understandably be evidence enough – which it is here in NL.
The intern said we just need to call up a midwife and let them know I’m preggers and let them do their thing. The intern asked a few questions and took out her little dial chart which calculated my due date to be Sept 3 2009! I also got a little Dutch booklet entitled “Zwanger”. Yep, I’m zwanger! I still can’t believe it!!!!!!!

Finally, Dr H appeared in the room and I just held up the booklet and her eyes widened with mouth agape… and then… “NEEEE!!!”….
She couldn’t believe it!! She was utterly surprised! Dr H recalled the “struggle” to get the darn sperm out of the straw and the difficult attempts to get the sperm as close to the cervix as possible. This definitely was not an easy process when you 1) have a doctor who hadn’t really done this before and 2) do not have the right insemination equipment on-hand. It was truly a miracle it worked. period. Or in my case, no period.

Then Dr H went on to tell us that while she was inseminating she concluded I was at the most fertile phase; I won’t go into detail here about how she concluded this but let’s just say two of the five senses were at play here.

So, I apparently cannot/should not have vitamin A as this may cause birth defects. I cannot/should not eat raw/undercooked meats or unpasteurized cheese. If I eat seafood it must be fresh – not because of birth defects but just because it can make me sick. I must continue taking my folic acid. Dr H said I am “not eating for two”. I was bummed about that because it’s such a great excuse to pig out and order three desserts. Oh well. I’m still gonna use that excuse…. Shhh.

Now onto the midwife search! I’d preferably like a midwife that subscribes to the theory that beer drinking is good for pregnancy. However, I think this will unlikely happen and I will have to wait at least another 30-35 weeks before my hands caress and lips touch the full bodied glass of the luscious liquid love of my life...

well, on that note, I am hoping and praying for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby - once we get passed the first trimester we will start telling people the happy news! keep your fingers crossed for us!
j.