The Wonders of Waiting rooms…

We went for our detailed scan on Wednesday. It is done by another doctor, with highly specialized equipment (which is why it is so damn expensive!) and they are able to check in detail for any abnormalities. At every juncture during pregnancy, you realize that you aren’t out of the woods yet and that there are still so many things that can go wrong. I do try though and see each week that passes as a positive sign. This baby is a fighter and here to stay. She really wants to be born….that is what I believe anyway. As scary as these scans can be, they are also amazing to see and I love the opportunity of looking at my baby. This time, we got to see not just the ultrasound, but a 3D image of our baby as well. You can also see the blood flowing to and from her heart and my body to hers (It gets highlighted in different colours – very fancy). The doctor checked all the baby’s organs and also eliminated Downs completely. Our baby is now 788grams (growing at about 100grams per week) and everything in her development is normal and as it should be. The doctor showed us various graphs, showing how her development is within the average range. It appears her head isn’t that big afterall! (And the same goes for her nose by the way…). Her estimated birth weight at term will be around 3.4kgs. The only horrible part of the scan involved the good Dr.Steyn literally pounding my belly with the ultrasound device, in order to our baby to move into a more photogenic position. She was lying with her head pressed against the placenta, and the doctor wanted a look at her whole face. Well, she (the doctor) pounded me on about 5 different occasions and it was really sore! You could also see the poor baby, clearly irritated by now I am sure, getting jiggled around in there. Craig kept glancing at me, this worried look on his face that read “just tell me when you want me to slap her”. Well, eventually she gave up on trying to move our baby and seemed satisfied enough with the angle she did have. Thank god. At one point, my poor child, raised her hand to her face, in a gesture that seemed to beg the annoying activity to stop. She extended her little finger and I almost expected her to then extend her middle finger and give the bad doctor a sign from the womb!

Anyway, apart from the scan, another fascinating part of this experience, was the waiting room. The doctor’s rooms were situated next to Louis Leipold medi clinic in an old house. On entering the waiting room, I encountered a strange array of people who did not look like they were there for a pregnancy scan. One man virtually had his whole right hand bandaged and I found my mind contemplating the various horrors that might have got him into that state. I discovered the house is shared by 3 occupational therapists as well, explaining the presence of these dismembered patients. We sat down, on rather uncomfortable office-type chairs and waited. And waited and waited. That’s what I love about doctors, you are at their mercy as far as time goes. Anyway, this gave us a chance to survey the room….and what a delightful room it was. Clearly someone (and I suspect it was my doctor) was a fan of Elvis. Two large framed photographic collections adorned the walls. In each frame were about 10 black and white artistic photographic shots of the King himself. I am sure it cost a pretty penny to have done and I must admit that although they were displayed in a rather odd location, they were very tasteful. Of course, the Elvis fetish did not stop there though, and the general tone was lowered somewhat by the addition of an Elvis Calendar, Elvis poster and (my personal favourite) the Elvis clock. Just in case you started to think you had somehow traveled through a time-warp and were actually in Memphis, the other wall had an oil painting of a bokkie in the veld on it, and 3 scary looking ceramic guinea-foul graced the fireplace mantle. Aahhh yes, there was no mistaking after all that we were in fact in Bellville. On returning from the scan I shared these amusing details with my mother, and we spoke about how waiting rooms always tend to have the weirdest mix and match decor. It is as if it is a graveyard for the professional’s old, unwanted furniture. We have known a gynae’s waiting room with an odd array of antique furniture; one with postmodern prints and leather couches and of course many display the essential vase of dried flowers (gently coated with a layer of dust). Another essential part of a waiting room (apart from the rude receptionist), is the reading material. In gynae’s offices this usually comes in the form of “My Pregnancy” and “Your Baby”, with an occasional “Sarie”, “You”, and “Car” magazine thrown in for the men. Lucky is the person, who discovers a magazine printed in the last 5 years. Most magazines are out of date, dog-eared and frequently have the crossword already filled in. While waiting the standard 40 minutes for your beloved gynae, you may be lucky enough to find a worthwhile article or short story to read. That is, before discovering that it says “continued on page150”, and realizing that page 150 has been torn out, because page 151 had a deliciously tempting recipe on it that some patient could not resist pocketing!

Tagged as: baby, belly, born, humour, pregnancy, pregnancy journal, scan, ultrasound, waiting rooms