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Archive for September, 2006

Protected: Update on OB Appointment

Posted in OB, pregnant? on September 21, 2006|

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Update on OB Appointment

Posted in OB, pregnant? on September 21, 2006| Leave a Comment »

I had my first prenatal OB appointment yesterday.  It's a bit surreal, and it was a new office, a new doctor, new everything.  For some reason I was very nervous, which is ridiculous.   But everything was fine.
 
I've lost 12 pounds.  Dr. B. told me that it would be fine if I gained zero weight which was a really nice way of saying, "holy cow, you weigh HOW much?"  He also told me not to eat a lot of carbs.  Thanks, Sherlock. 
 
My blood pressure was high, but that's because they're stupid.  You're supposed to do a blood pressure after a patient has been sitting quietly doing nothing for at least 2 minutes.  Not, say, after doing an internal gynecologic exam, telling the patient to get dressed, walking in on her while she's still getting dressed, having her hop up on the table and THEN taking it.  161/70, which by the way, isn't possible.  With a manual cuff, the each mark = 2.  When I was in EMT classes, taking my blood pressure taking test, we were told that if we couldn't figure it out and we absolutely had to guess, we'd better make sure we used even numbers or they'd know we pulled it out of our a$$es.  At any rate, my normal BP is 120/70, and the doctor wasn't concerned, attributing it to "new office, new doctor, new pregnancy" while I was thinking, "and you know, the aerobic workout I got trying to get my pantyhose on before my privacy was intruded upon."  But whatever.  As long as they're not accusing me of high BP already, I'm happy.
 
The thing that set me off was that he said on the weekends they share call with another CWC practice, which is fine.  The reasoning was that they don't have that many deliveries on the weekend.  Also fine.  "Gosh you plan that well!" I joked.  "Yep," he said, "but you know that's partially because we do a lot of inductions and scheduled C-sections, which we can't scedule on the weekend."
 
Ahem.
 
THEY ARE NOT INDUCING ME UNLESS THERE'S A LIFE-THREATENING EMERGENCY.
 
That is all. 
 
I know you must think I'm completely granola crunchy, but I swear on all that is holy that I'm not planning on an unassisted home birth anytime soon.  I promise.
 
Oh, and still with the no epidurals.  ICK.  I told him no way was a needle going into my spinal column and he said, "well, you've had 12 kidney stones, this'll be easy."  So there.
 
He wasn't stressed about the spotting/cramping, because it's mostly late in the day, not all day, and because I've had three good ultrasounds and my cervix was whatever is good for a cervix to be at this point.  Long?  Short?  High? Low?  Open? Closed?  Who the hell knows.  But it was something good.  Really not sure how I feel about someone knowing that much about me.  Heh.
 
Too early to hear the heartbeat with a doppler thingy.  But I've already heard the heartbeat twice, so I'm having a hard time saying that was so important to me.  He asked me to come back in two weeks so they could hear it.  Though, honestly, I think he was saying that so that _I_ could hear it and I just don't have the heart (no pun intended) to tell him I couldn't care less if I hear the heartbeat immediately and I'd rather not miss another morning of work just to hear it if it's only for my sake.
 
But anyway, he'll talk to me then about some of the earlier genetic testing they can do, but said it was totally up to me since I'm under 35.    Gawd that man said my age like 3 or 4 times in the appointment.  Could he rub it in a teeney bit more?  I was supposed to have all my kids by the time I turned 30!  I frankly at my age don't think (other than blood tests and ultrasounds) that CVS or amniocentesis are worth the risk since I had a full Karyotype run at Shady Hell and my husband and I were both screened to see if we were carriers for Tay Sachs, Cystic Fibrosis, etc.
 
But then I start wondering if I'm just being all blah about this pregnancy and why is that?  I dunno.  It's weird.  Combine my complete lack of concern about testing with the fact that I don't care if I hear a heartbeat in a couple weeks (well, I mean, I would care if they tried to find it but couldn't hear it.  THAT would suck.  But I mean, I don't care if they don't try, because I have every reason to believe everything's fine), and I just wonder why I'm not jumping up and down with all this. 
 
I'm still having a hard time saying the words, "I'm pregnant" with a straight face.  Or at all.  Or without thinking about sex, even though none of THAT funny business was involved here.  I still can't get over my childhood trauma…. once I figured out that pregnancy = sex, every time I saw a pregnant woman, I was embarassed for her, because everyone MUST KNOW she had (*gasp*) sex!  Somehow, I've spent my entire adolescence/adult life fearing that some day someone's going to see me waddling around pregnant and say, "Oh my gosh! She had sex!"  Even though, you know, who cares, right?  I'm twelve.  I admit it.  I'm completely juvenile.
 
Anyway, that's all.  Everything's fine.  I sort of expected to get some written information from them… like when to call the office if things don't see right, what OTC medicines I can take (I have a pharmacist husband so I know that stuff, but isn't this a common handout to give to a newly pregnant woman?), general dos and don'ts in the first trimester…. something.  But I got nothing.  Which is fine, because I've pretty much got it covered, but I still thought it was odd.  Meh.  Anyway, I liked the doctor just fine, and I'm confident that nothing is going to go horribly wrong, so it's all good.  Plus this particular doctor in the practice is the one who deals with high risk and infertility… I'm not high risk, but if something happened, he'd be the guy I'd want to see… and well, I mean, the infertility specialty is a bit useless to me right now, but at least he groks the whole infertility/IUI/etc story.  So… so far so good.
 
Of course, I completely forgot to ask him about fasting on Yom Kippur.  Oh well.

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Update on OB Appointment

Posted in OB, pregnant? on September 21, 2006| 1 Comment »

I had my first prenatal OB appointment yesterday.  It's a bit surreal, and it was a new office, a new doctor, new everything.  For some reason I was very nervous, which is ridiculous.   But everything was fine.
 
I've lost 12 pounds.  Dr. B. told me that it would be fine if I gained zero weight which was a really nice way of saying, "holy cow, you weigh HOW much?"  He also told me not to eat a lot of carbs.  Thanks, Sherlock. 
 
My blood pressure was high, but that's because they're stupid.  You're supposed to do a blood pressure after a patient has been sitting quietly doing nothing for at least 2 minutes.  Not, say, after doing an internal gynecologic exam, telling the patient to get dressed, walking in on her while she's still getting dressed, having her hop up on the table and THEN taking it.  161/70, which by the way, isn't possible.  With a manual cuff, the each mark = 2.  When I was in EMT classes, taking my blood pressure taking test, we were told that if we couldn't figure it out and we absolutely had to guess, we'd better make sure we used even numbers or they'd know we pulled it out of our a$$es.  At any rate, my normal BP is 120/70, and the doctor wasn't concerned, attributing it to "new office, new doctor, new pregnancy" while I was thinking, "and you know, the aerobic workout I got trying to get my pantyhose on before my privacy was intruded upon."  But whatever.  As long as they're not accusing me of high BP already, I'm happy.
 
The thing that set me off was that he said on the weekends they share call with another CWC practice, which is fine.  The reasoning was that they don't have that many deliveries on the weekend.  Also fine.  "Gosh you plan that well!" I joked.  "Yep," he said, "but you know that's partially because we do a lot of inductions and scheduled C-sections, which we can't scedule on the weekend."
 
Ahem.
 
THEY ARE NOT INDUCING ME UNLESS THERE'S A LIFE-THREATENING EMERGENCY.
 
That is all. 
 
I know you must think I'm completely granola crunchy, but I swear on all that is holy that I'm not planning on an unassisted home birth anytime soon.  I promise.
 
Oh, and still with the no epidurals.  ICK.  I told him no way was a needle going into my spinal column and he said, "well, you've had 12 kidney stones, this'll be easy."  So there.
 
He wasn't stressed about the spotting/cramping, because it's mostly late in the day, not all day, and because I've had three good ultrasounds and my cervix was whatever is good for a cervix to be at this point.  Long?  Short?  High? Low?  Open? Closed?  Who the hell knows.  But it was something good.  Really not sure how I feel about someone knowing that much about me.  Heh.
 
Too early to hear the heartbeat with a doppler thingy.  But I've already heard the heartbeat twice, so I'm having a hard time saying that was so important to me.  He asked me to come back in two weeks so they could hear it.  Though, honestly, I think he was saying that so that _I_ could hear it and I just don't have the heart (no pun intended) to tell him I couldn't care less if I hear the heartbeat immediately and I'd rather not miss another morning of work just to hear it if it's only for my sake.
 
But anyway, he'll talk to me then about some of the earlier genetic testing they can do, but said it was totally up to me since I'm under 35.    Gawd that man said my age like 3 or 4 times in the appointment.  Could he rub it in a teeney bit more?  I was supposed to have all my kids by the time I turned 30!  I frankly at my age don't think (other than blood tests and ultrasounds) that CVS or amniocentesis are worth the risk since I had a full Karyotype run at Shady Hell and my husband and I were both screened to see if we were carriers for Tay Sachs, Cystic Fibrosis, etc.
 
But then I start wondering if I'm just being all blah about this pregnancy and why is that?  I dunno.  It's weird.  Combine my complete lack of concern about testing with the fact that I don't care if I hear a heartbeat in a couple weeks (well, I mean, I would care if they tried to find it but couldn't hear it.  THAT would suck.  But I mean, I don't care if they don't try, because I have every reason to believe everything's fine), and I just wonder why I'm not jumping up and down with all this. 
 
I'm still having a hard time saying the words, "I'm pregnant" with a straight face.  Or at all.  Or without thinking about sex, even though none of THAT funny business was involved here.  I still can't get over my childhood trauma…. once I figured out that pregnancy = sex, every time I saw a pregnant woman, I was embarassed for her, because everyone MUST KNOW she had (*gasp*) sex!  Somehow, I've spent my entire adolescence/adult life fearing that some day someone's going to see me waddling around pregnant and say, "Oh my gosh! She had sex!"  Even though, you know, who cares, right?  I'm twelve.  I admit it.  I'm completely juvenile.
 
Anyway, that's all.  Everything's fine.  I sort of expected to get some written information from them… like when to call the office if things don't see right, what OTC medicines I can take (I have a pharmacist husband so I know that stuff, but isn't this a common handout to give to a newly pregnant woman?), general dos and don'ts in the first trimester…. something.  But I got nothing.  Which is fine, because I've pretty much got it covered, but I still thought it was odd.  Meh.  Anyway, I liked the doctor just fine, and I'm confident that nothing is going to go horribly wrong, so it's all good.  Plus this particular doctor in the practice is the one who deals with high risk and infertility… I'm not high risk, but if something happened, he'd be the guy I'd want to see… and well, I mean, the infertility specialty is a bit useless to me right now, but at least he groks the whole infertility/IUI/etc story.  So… so far so good.
 
Of course, I completely forgot to ask him about fasting on Yom Kippur.  Oh well.

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Protected: Update on the State of the Me

Posted in pregnant? on September 18, 2006|

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Update on the State of the Me

Posted in pregnant? on September 18, 2006| Leave a Comment »

Sorry I went AWOL. Everything's fine, as far as I know.

I had my last appointment with Shady Hell Fertility Shmertility Clinic on Friday, 9/8. Everything looked fine. My RE couldn't find a source of the bleeding on the ultrasound, so she's not concerned that it's anything serious and it "just happens to some 'lucky' women." She did say to refrain from sex until it stops (and those of you who know what it means to be an Orthodox Jew know that that is not a problem to comply with), and to try to take it easy, physically, but she doesn't think anything's wrong.

It feels sort of odd to leave the safety net of the clinic. I know their routine. I know how to reach someone if I need to. I know all the doctors. I know how to get appointments at the times I want them. People know my name. The sonographer is funny! What if my OB's office is full of staff with no sense of humor? How will I survive? Besides, at the clinic, I could have an ultrasound anytime I wanted! Now I'm going to be restrained by insurance companies saying that even if I'm going completely insane and don't believe there's a real live fetus inside me I cannot have an ultrasound covered for another 8 weeks. Okay, so I'm not completely psychotic yet, but anymore cramping and bleeding and I swear I'm not going to believe there's anything left in there. What if my OB won't indulge an infertile in a quick peek?

Ack. I'm getting ahead of myself.

Right. So last week I was supposed to be in Phoenix, but I couldn't go because I had severe ear infections in both ears. If any of you parents out there ever wonder why your babies turn into demons when they get ear infections… wonder no more. IT HURTS LIKE HELL, THAT'S WHY! Like, landed me in the ER begging for morphine kind of hurt, not just "ow, maybe I need some tylenol" kind of hurt. Anyway, I didn't get on a plane, and I never recovered enough to even head to Phoenix a little late. I gave my presentation via phone conference, which wasn't as easy as it sounds, but it was better than nothing.

I have my first OB appointment on Wednesday. I'm hoping all is well.

I still don't have a billion normal pregnancy symptoms. I have ridiculously severe exhaustion. I thought I knew from exhaustion before, but I was completely wrong. Pregnancy exhaustion is a completely different beast. I'm not complaining, exactly, since I did ask for this, but boy I wish I'd really understood what I'd be getting myself into. I'm getting awful headaches. But that's normal for me. No migraine medicine = horrible pain regularly, and not much I can do about it. I'm queasy a lot of the time, but I'm not throwing up or anything. Things are starting to taste odd to me. I ate asparagus on Shabbos, and it tasted vile to me. I asked Seth if there was something wrong with it in general (overcooked asparagus is often bitter, so I wondered if maybe I was supersensitive and it was a tad overcooked) and he said it tasted just fine. So I don't know what happened, but it just tasted horrible. And today… I ate some pineapple and it tasted strongly of coconut. I hate coconut, so this is not in any way a positive development. My mango tasted funny too, but that might have been because I was still tasting the icky coconutty flavor of the pineapple. Again with the not complaining.

Other than that… nada. Except, oh yeah, how could I forget. "The girls"… I've gone up probably 2 cup sizes . Already. This is unacceptable. I was already well-endowed in that area and I invite them to cordially stop making my blouses too tight! I've actually LOST 10 pounds, but not one of my shirts fits correctly anymore. I bought a blouse that is two sizes bigger than anything I own and I can't even stretch THAT across the girls. So I'm not complaining about the exhaustion, headaches, queasiness, or odd taste sensations. But I am complaining about the ultra-mega-super boobs I seem to have developed. Though, I'm sure my husband isn't complaining, even if I am.

I've told my mother and my father (my father was shocked and didn't know what to say; my mother, predictably, was thrilled and is already annoying me by asking if she can come to one of my ultrasounds… a request which has been met with a resounding "NO" from me). We have not told any of my husband's family and I'd be happy to keep it that way, if I can get away with it. But um, probably at some point we'll have to spill the beans to them. You know, at the bar mitzvah, for example.

So yeah. Pregnancy… seems stable, if a bit unbelievable and somewhat inconvenient, what with the cramping and the falling asleep at my desk and the utter inability to complete a single task at work. And other than that, life is good. The kid (our foster son) turned three on Shabbos (Saturday), and he's so darned cute. We've had him for 2 years almost, and I can't even remember life without him. Except when I try really hard to remember those words "peace" and "quiet" applying to my life…

That is all.

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Update on the State of the Me

Posted in pregnant? on September 18, 2006| 2 Comments »

Sorry I went AWOL. Everything's fine, as far as I know.

I had my last appointment with Shady Hell Fertility Shmertility Clinic on Friday, 9/8. Everything looked fine. My RE couldn't find a source of the bleeding on the ultrasound, so she's not concerned that it's anything serious and it "just happens to some 'lucky' women." She did say to refrain from sex until it stops (and those of you who know what it means to be an Orthodox Jew know that that is not a problem to comply with), and to try to take it easy, physically, but she doesn't think anything's wrong.

It feels sort of odd to leave the safety net of the clinic. I know their routine. I know how to reach someone if I need to. I know all the doctors. I know how to get appointments at the times I want them. People know my name. The sonographer is funny! What if my OB's office is full of staff with no sense of humor? How will I survive? Besides, at the clinic, I could have an ultrasound anytime I wanted! Now I'm going to be restrained by insurance companies saying that even if I'm going completely insane and don't believe there's a real live fetus inside me I cannot have an ultrasound covered for another 8 weeks. Okay, so I'm not completely psychotic yet, but anymore cramping and bleeding and I swear I'm not going to believe there's anything left in there. What if my OB won't indulge an infertile in a quick peek?

Ack. I'm getting ahead of myself.

Right. So last week I was supposed to be in Phoenix, but I couldn't go because I had severe ear infections in both ears. If any of you parents out there ever wonder why your babies turn into demons when they get ear infections… wonder no more. IT HURTS LIKE HELL, THAT'S WHY! Like, landed me in the ER begging for morphine kind of hurt, not just "ow, maybe I need some tylenol" kind of hurt. Anyway, I didn't get on a plane, and I never recovered enough to even head to Phoenix a little late. I gave my presentation via phone conference, which wasn't as easy as it sounds, but it was better than nothing.

I have my first OB appointment on Wednesday. I'm hoping all is well.

I still don't have a billion normal pregnancy symptoms. I have ridiculously severe exhaustion. I thought I knew from exhaustion before, but I was completely wrong. Pregnancy exhaustion is a completely different beast. I'm not complaining, exactly, since I did ask for this, but boy I wish I'd really understood what I'd be getting myself into. I'm getting awful headaches. But that's normal for me. No migraine medicine = horrible pain regularly, and not much I can do about it. I'm queasy a lot of the time, but I'm not throwing up or anything. Things are starting to taste odd to me. I ate asparagus on Shabbos, and it tasted vile to me. I asked Seth if there was something wrong with it in general (overcooked asparagus is often bitter, so I wondered if maybe I was supersensitive and it was a tad overcooked) and he said it tasted just fine. So I don't know what happened, but it just tasted horrible. And today… I ate some pineapple and it tasted strongly of coconut. I hate coconut, so this is not in any way a positive development. My mango tasted funny too, but that might have been because I was still tasting the icky coconutty flavor of the pineapple. Again with the not complaining.

Other than that… nada. Except, oh yeah, how could I forget. "The girls"… I've gone up probably 2 cup sizes . Already. This is unacceptable. I was already well-endowed in that area and I invite them to cordially stop making my blouses too tight! I've actually LOST 10 pounds, but not one of my shirts fits correctly anymore. I bought a blouse that is two sizes bigger than anything I own and I can't even stretch THAT across the girls. So I'm not complaining about the exhaustion, headaches, queasiness, or odd taste sensations. But I am complaining about the ultra-mega-super boobs I seem to have developed. Though, I'm sure my husband isn't complaining, even if I am.

I've told my mother and my father (my father was shocked and didn't know what to say; my mother, predictably, was thrilled and is already annoying me by asking if she can come to one of my ultrasounds… a request which has been met with a resounding "NO" from me). We have not told any of my husband's family and I'd be happy to keep it that way, if I can get away with it. But um, probably at some point we'll have to spill the beans to them. You know, at the bar mitzvah, for example.

So yeah. Pregnancy… seems stable, if a bit unbelievable and somewhat inconvenient, what with the cramping and the falling asleep at my desk and the utter inability to complete a single task at work. And other than that, life is good. The kid (our foster son) turned three on Shabbos (Saturday), and he's so darned cute. We've had him for 2 years almost, and I can't even remember life without him. Except when I try really hard to remember those words "peace" and "quiet" applying to my life…

That is all.

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Protected: Irritating

Posted in pregnancy: never a dull moment, pregnant? on September 6, 2006|

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Irritating

Posted in pregnancy: never a dull moment, pregnant? on September 6, 2006| 4 Comments »

I'm really irritated. This whole pregnancy thing? Yeah, it's kind of cool. But you know what is decidedly NOT cool? The fact that G-d is laughing at me. That I'm not just allowed to be naive and happy with this whole thing. The fact that I HAVEN'T STOPPED BLEEDING even though I'm theoretically over halfway through my first trimester (what does that make me? In my second sexmester?). The fact that the cramping is EXACTLY like menstrual cramps. You know, like the bleeding wasn't enough to keep me in a blind panic. A pregnant friend of mine told me her early pregnancy cramps were so like menstrual cramps that she expected to see blood every time she peed. Except I DO see blood every time I pee! This is completely uncalled for. (As an aside: sometimes I'm grateful that I only have one faithful reader [Hi Jennie!], because if half the world was reading about me peeing and bleeding from ahem, down there, I'd be completely mortified. Thankfully, I'm boring enough that no one is reading my blog.)

On the other hand, some good news for a change. Remember how I was fretting about finding an OB since the OB I had painstakingly chosen based on friends' recommendations and my RE's recommendation wasn't taking new patients? Well, that was Friday. On Tuesday, I said to myself, "Self, why not just try the other office?" Since this OB has two offices, I decided to try the further away, less convenient office.

So I called and a helpful woman answered the phone.
"Hi, I was wondering if you're taking new patients?"
"Yes we are, what insurance do you have?"
"Fabulous! I have BC/BS."
"No problem then."
"Great! Well, um, I'm in the *mumblemumbleearlystagesofpregnancymumblemumble* and I guess I need an initial OB/prenatal appointment, whatever you call it."
"No problem! What's your last name? First name? Date of Birth? Oh, I see you're a patient in another CWC practice. Are you sure want to change providers, or were you interested in returning to that provider?"
"Oh I so, so, so am not going back to [name of provider]. But um, even if I wanted to, she only goes to Shady Hell, and I'd rather go to Holy Cross. You know, if we make it that far." [who, but an IF-er, would EVER say such a thing???]
"Oh! You live in Silver Spring? Do you work there too? Wouldn't you prefer to go to the Silver Spring office?"
"Why yes, as a matter of fact, that would be far more convenient. However, the Silver Spring office told me they were no longer accepting new patients."
"What? That's ridiculous. Of course they're accepting new patients. She must have misunderstood you."
"Um, well, I said, 'are you accepting new patients' and she said, 'no' so I'm not sure what there was to misunderstand…"
"Hang on a second. [time passes] Okay, they are accepting new patients. Here's their number. Call right away and ask for Monica and she'll take care of you.

Deciding that I didn't need to have another one of those conversations from my not very private cubicle, since my cubicle neighbors had just returned from a meeting, I went outside and called from my cell phone.

"CWC, how may I help you?"
"Hi, um, I was wondering if you're accepting new patients?"
"Yes, yes we are."
"Brilliant. Well, um, I'm theoretically pregnant, and um, I guess I need an OB appointment, and um, I was hoping either Dr. B or Dr. S could see me."
"How many weeks are you?"
"7"
"Have you had a blood test yet?"
"Well, yeah. Um, I'm a patient at Shady Hell Fertility Shmertility Clinic and so I've had like 6 blood tests. And 2 ultrasounds, soon to be 3."
"Okay, well, I need you to bring those results with you."
"Okay, no problem." [er… I guess I'll ask on Friday at Shady Hell how to obtain copies of those results??]
"Dr. B. can see you on the 20th. That's the next available appointment."
"Okay. That's great."
"9am?"
"Terrific"
"I'll mail you out the forms you can fill out and bring to your first appointment."
"Fabulous. Thanks!"

And so it goes.

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Protected: Ultrasound Number 2

Posted in pregnant? on September 1, 2006|

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Ultrasound Number 2

Posted in pregnant? on September 1, 2006| 2 Comments »

Sorry I didn't update earlier. I didn't have any power all day until about 5 minutes ago.
Ultrasound 2 went really well. Saw a teeney tiny itty bitty little blip on the screen, which was pretty neat. Heartbeat 127 beats per minute. That rocks.

Then I got home to discover that the bleeding has picked up in intensity, but my doctor wasn't concerned, so I'm not either. I'm just one of the lucky ones. Yay. Or something.

The OB I painstakingly picked out turned out to be the same one that my RE recommended, but the practice turns out not to be accepting new patients. It's the first time since this whole pregnancy thing seemed to start becoming real-ish that I've really wanted to cry. I don't know what I'm going to do. I hate doctors. I really do. But I thought I'd made a good choice based on some really good recommendations, and I can't just go asking all my friends who they see, because people in this neighborhood talk, and they will ALL decide that I'm pregnant, even if I just say I need a GYN for an annual girlie exam. I don't know how to do this and I HATE it.

Right.

Pregnancy hormones, anyone? Ahem.

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