12 week ultrasound

I am 13 weeks and 2 days pregnant. Today, I had my 12 week ultrasound and a blood test to check for DS (Down Syndrome) albeit a week later than it is recommended.

My relationship with my GP is pretty much non-existent. This is the first time

I ever needed to see a GP here in Australia to assess my health on a frequent basis.

My family doctor, whom I have a good rapport with, is back in Kenya. Anyway, it's been really difficult for me to build a good doctor- patient relationship with the GP I am currently seeing for a number of reasons;

1, He is a male doctor- it would be much easier to interact with a female doctor.

2, I have only seen him two times before , mainly for referrals for blood tests and ultrasounds- nothing major.

3, He is a nice guy, but I have a feeling from my experiences with him that only an iota of pregnant women grace his door.

Therefore, due to the reasons above, whenever I visit him, he never recommends the ideal tests that I need to do. I never get any extra information from him apart from the stuff I am reading from pregnancy books like Kaz Cooke's Up The Duff (Which I must say has been immensely helpful so far.)

So anyway, today I went with my hubby to see the ultrasound technician for my late 12 week scan. She asked me if I had also done the recommended blood test (at 10 weeks) for the DS check, to which I replied , ' No! '

She informed me that it was absolutely urgent that I get a referral letter from my GP for the blood test( as soon as yesterday), as the blood test and scan assessments go hand in hand in checking for DS and giving a 90% assessment. So immediately after she completed the scan( all things were in place and very normal according to her) we headed to my GP's office(a minute away) to get the referral letter for pathology but we encountered one little hurdle: My GP's Receptionist.

The Bitch is from hell and cold as ice. I have never met an inflexible, narrow-minded, thick-skinned individual like her. Despite the fact that there was hardly anyone waiting to see the doctor at the time, she absolutely refused to let us see the doctor for just a minute of his time to scribble down a quick referral. We tried to explain the urgency of the matter and also pointed out the fact that it was in fact the GP's over site not to recommend the blood test together with the ultrasound. Anyway, it soon became apparent that there was no way in hell that we were going to get past the bitch. She even showed us the appointment book just to emphasis how totally busy the doctor was. So in the end, I caved in for an appointment slotted very early (9.45am!) the next morning.I was in no mood to get upset. I was still giddy from seeing my baby scans minutes before and this bitch wasn't gonna take that happy feeling away from me.

It was already lunch time when we parted ways with hubby because he still had loads of office work to do. He decided he would try a last attempt at getting through to the doctor when he got back to the office and would let me know the result.

I took a tram to Qv and roamed the food court there, not particularly interested in eating anything specific but I was hungry. So I ended up at Breadtop and picked a sausage roll, a bacon croissant and some green iced tea. I went halfway through the bacon croissant then decided I didn't like it. So I finished the sausage roll and was sipping on some green tea when hubby called me on my cell to inform me that he had managed to get hold of my GP and that my referral letter was ready for pick up. All I had to do was get from his receptionist. Some how that didn't faze me a bit coz I decided that she treated everyone the same(like trash) and I wasn't any different.

Anyway, I finished my tucker, headed back to my GP's , picked up the letter and got my blood drawn at St. Vincent's Pathology. All in a span of 15 minutes. Viola! Very easy, despite 'someone' wanting to make things very difficult.

So,in the end I can only look forward to get transferred soon to an Obstetric at the public hospital. Yesterday, I sent my other referral letter to the pregnancy booking clinic at the Royal Women's - this was also a late booking due to my GP's apparent clueless-ness. Hey, I thought I was the one with the baby brain? Jeez, c'mon! Hello???!!! I am a first time mother-to be. I shouldn't be having half the answers to everything.(But thank God for those baby books I have been reading, otherwise I'd be swarmped CLUELESS.)

I can't wait to get to see the specialists. At least they will know how to do their job without any prompting. Anywaaaaaaayyyyyy! I'm outta here, but before I go here are some baby pics from the scan I had today.

3D image of baby showing where it lies in my womb.

The Hand!