Hey you pregnant people

Weesh

My husband and I are going to TTC soon.  This info is helpful, thanks!

And congrats to all who are pregnant

velvethelicopters

The reasons why my doctor opted for blood work first are several.

1 - My yearly appointment was in November and I wasn't pregnant then. Cycle would have been at day 6 of my usual 29.

2a - Advanced maternal age is an issue for me. With that, other concerns come in. None of the reasons would have been good other than pregnancy, due to consistent periods and no other symptoms, pre menopause was highly unlikely. The rest would mean I'm sick. Which I wasn't comfortable sharing, because I had gone from very anxious to happy in minutes, I was pretty freaked out.

2b - Reality was from day 1 of my December cycle to day 26, DF and I didn't have sex, then had a normal cycle. So, we had to consider the fact that there was a more likely chance of a nasty medical issue. Which I was trying to ignore because I didn't want bad news.

3 - I had more labs drawn than just pregnancy.

4 - Outside of out of state testing or needing a culture, I've always gotten results from labs in 6-8 hours. That's why I picked her, my daughter with heart disease needs frequent labs and her growth requires dosage changes several times yearly. The quick turnaround has been a huge help, we can catch problems sooner. Doctor works connected to my preferred hospital, so that's why labs are fast.

5 - Doctor felt on the low odds I had released a second egg late and somehow skipped this cycle, a urine test would be unreliable, as I would have been at some point from 3-6 DPO. She prefers blood work normally, but I'm not sure why. It's not a big deal to me so I didn't ask.

Yes, this isn't standard OB starting. But I was starting with extremely early pregnancy (unlikely) or nasty problems being the suspected reality, so we weren't thinking standard pregnancy. I'd gladly take a standard pregnancy, this wasn't fun for a few hours. I'd happily not be puking bile and having dry heaves from anxiety.

Absolutely, this isn't fantastic timing. But it's a much better reality than I had started imagining.

huskypuppy14

@velvethelicopters thanks for sharing. When I saw your post, I figured you had info missing, and there was another reason for getting a blood test.. Not that you had to share with us, but I understand why ashley thought it was strange that your doctor would go right to blood test to squash your fears if it was just pregnancy you were concerned about.

I think it's good to remember that not every woman on here is in perfect health and there are other  reasons they go to the doctor other than just for yearly appointments and pregnancy.  I think because the thread was about pregnancy, that logic jump was missing.

I also need to get blood work every few months or so, and the results come back that day (if i care to look them up). If anything came back important, my doctor would call me. So yes, blood work does come back pretty quickly.  

velvethelicopters

I was just thinking it was odd I'm late this month, how can I be pregnant because honestly, I hadn't thought of the medical concerns. I didn't want to think of cancer or fibroids or whatever the fuck else. So when doctor mentioned labs beyond pregnancy, I freaked. Then get good news and that's all I can think of how can I be at 9 weeks, I had a seemingly normal period in December, oh thank God it's not cancer, we're having a baby, shit, do we need to change wedding, BABY!!!!!!! Rational wasn't there yet.

Yeah, doctor is amazing on everything. When kid picked up pneumonia, we saw it early because the heart issue means it was tanking her oxygen before she had other external signs. Doctor pulled blood, had lab do a rush, did the exam, had kid take two breathing treatments, got kid in x-ray and labs were back with the elevated white count. Took her straight to PICU and kept her stable from the start. Wait a day, she'd have been life-threateningly sick. People here think she's overly cautious, but I refuse to believe that exists with sick children - she's a family doctor vs pediatric, but I don't care.

esstee33

Congrats @velvethelicopters‌ too!!!! Babies everywhere!!!