I mean, we know I'm crazy, but was turning down a perfectly good ultrasound opportunity a crazy thing to do? My RE's office wanted me to come in today even though the man himself is on vacation all week. They said one of the techs would do it and I'd still have to have my RE perform another one next week when he's back in town. I think a lot of it was that the scheduler reached me when I happened to be feeling pretty crummy, so my patience wasn't terribly high, but I was also really frustrated with having to come into their office at the crack of dawn every 48 hours for two weeks to track my beta doubling time. That, coupled with the knowledge that an ultrasound at 5 weeks could tell me about potential problems but wouldn't give me any ability to solve them, made me less interested in coming for a special tech-only visit. I politely declined their request (okay, my tone of voice was a wee bit sharper than it probably should have been) and said that I would prefer to wait until next week, when my RE will be there and we'll be able to see more of the embryo development anyway. And then I hung up and wondered what kind of IVF patient I am, and what kind of mother-to-be, that I didn't want to go for as many ultrasounds as possible. (Even though I know all I would have seen is a blob, and maybe not the right kind of blob, and you know what? Maybe I don't want to know yet if that's the case.)
In related news, I had seen the headlines about Virginia's proposed law to require a transvaginal ultrasound before performing an abortion, but somehow I didn't put two and two together until today that they were debating our old friend Mr. Wandy. When I realized that all of the hullabaloo was about the same procedure I've been regularly undergoing with little fanfare for a couple of months now, I felt the following emotions:
1.) Indignation that a legislature would mandate any kind of vaginal penetration of a woman against her wishes;
2.) Confusion at how a doctor would accurately gauge how far along a pregnancy had progressed in the early stages without doing a transvaginal ultrasound;
3.) A bizarre affection for Mr. Wandy. It's okay, buddy! Not everybody is mad at you! I swear, when I do go for my ultrasound next week, I will be really pleased with all of the information that you give me.
6weeks4days
4 years ago
HA! I love the confused comments about Mr. Wandy! I also don't feel that anyone should be forced to get one of those if they don't want to, but I also have become quite fond of the dildo-cam over the past year for all he's done for me!
ReplyDeleteAnd no, I don't think you're crazy for turning down the ultrasound. You are perfectly reasonable and I don't blame you one bit for wanting to keep the happiness as long as you can.
I think you made a smart decision. I remember being frusterated with my RE because he didn't want me to have my first US until 7 weeks but when I asked him he explained it well. At 7 weeks a healthy fetus should have a heart beat and you can measure CRL, at 6 weeks these things may be seen but also may not so it can cause alot of un due stress. It really was true, I have seen so many people stress because of not seeing a HB at an early US.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree that its weird they have to made the wanding a legal issue but how the hell else are they going to know how far along she is? The law could just say they need to determine gestational age of the fetus since you can't perform late term abortions anyway... weird if you ask me!