Pregnancy diary: The first doctor’s appointment, blood tests and dating scan

I’d already made these plans before I found out I was pregnant - and I was a bit unsure about how to best go about it.

• See part one of Imogen’s pregnancy diary which reveals why she was dumbstruck when she found out she was pregnant here.

• A new chapter will be released every Sunday.

Following my positive pregnancy test, I called the doctors to book in an appointment.

The doctor’s receptionist was the first – outside of us two and our dog Teddy – to know of our happy news.

Between then and our doctor’s appointment, Michael had gone online and bought us some books.

He’d bought me The Complete Australian Guide to Pregnancy and Birth, and So You’re Going to Be a Dad for himself.

We’d begun reading before our doctor’s appointment but still didn’t really have much of a clue of what to expect in those early stages.

That weekend, I went on the winery tour and I spent the whole bus ride out to the Yarra Valley psyching myself up to tell my friends that I wouldn’t be drinking with them that day.

Winery tour on the weekend following my positive pregnancy test.

In hindsight, I could’ve made something up like I was doing a ‘no alcohol’ challenge at the gym or something, but I wasn’t ready for any follow up questions about why I’d paid $100 to go on a winery tour knowing I wasn’t able to drink.

As we were about five minutes from the first winery and with sweaty palms, I said to the bus: “So guys, I won’t be able to drink today … because I’m pregnant”.

The shrieks of excitement and disbelief filled the bus and once we got off, the hugs and congratulations rolled in.

The first doctor’s appointment a few days later was basically an information dump and a bunch of blood test referrals.

That’s not to knock my doctor, she was very thorough and explained everything well, but my brain couldn’t keep up with it all.

What I do recall is her asking me about which hospital I’d like to give birth at.

‘What?!’ I thought to myself, ‘I’ve only just found out I’m pregnant and we’re already talking about the birth?’.

Of course I hadn’t thought about which hospital, so she told me the two public hospitals we were zoned for. She sent me away to do a bit of research into them and make a decision on one before our next appointment.

She also said that all of my first trimester tests and blood work would be handled by her and it would only be once I entered the second trimester that I’d be transferred into the hospital system.

Six week dating scan – The white blob between the two points is the fetal pole (embryo).

The heart rate of the fetal pole.

Alongside the blood tests which checked my thyroid function, blood sugar levels and iron levels, I was also referred for the Medicare bulk billed ‘prepair’ carrier screening blood test.

The government subsidised version of the test – there are two other paid options – screens the mother’s genetics to see if you’re a carrier for three common genetic conditions: cystic fibrosis (CF), fragile X syndrome (FXS) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

If you come back as a carrier for CF or SMA, the biological father will also be screened but if you’re not a carrier, the father won’t be tested.

My results came back as ‘low risk’ for all three conditions, meaning Michael didn’t have to be tested.

According to the report, “this individual (me) and the untested partner (Michael) have a combined risk of 1 in 26,700 of having a child affected with CF, 1 in 82,000 of having a child affected with SMA and are at low risk of having a child affected with FXS.”

I was also referred for my dating scan – an ultrasound to determine how far along in the pregnancy I was.

I went into that scan thinking I was about eight weeks along – based on mine and the GP’s rough calculations on when my last period had been – but the scan found that I was actually only six weeks, which pushed my due date back by two weeks.

There was nothing ‘baby’ like about what we saw at the dating scan – it was just a white blob on the screen.

A white blob, or fetal pole/embryo, that had a heartbeat of 114 beats per minute.

Originally published as Pregnancy diary: The first doctor’s appointment, blood tests and dating scan