Weeks 0-15
The pregnancy started great without any complications (other than morning sickness) My OBGYN even told me “you’re boring. Evening looks great, all your NIPT genetic tests came back good… you’re young and healthy, so you’re kind of boring!” which was a good thing! I was able to continue weightlifting throughout the pregnancy (until bedrest of course), traveled to Bulgaria with Jacob and some close friends, finished the nursery for the most part, and continued working full time.
Weeks 16-17
Jacob and I had a trip to Bulgaria this summer for a friend's wedding, so I wanted to be sure to get my 16-week appointment done before we left. I scheduled the appointment on a Tuesday we left for our trip because I thought we had an evening flight, but it turned out we had an early morning flight. I had to change my appointment to the Thursday we got back. God Moment— This is one of the many ways we saw God orchestrate so many moving parts for our best interest. This appointment is when they did the AFP screening (An AFP screen is a test that is mainly used to measure the level of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in the blood of a pregnant person. The test checks the baby's risk for having certain genetic problems and birth defects such as spina bifida) and mine came back extremely elevated. It only takes a day or two for the doctor to call with the results and as you could imagine, being in another country and doing so many once-in-a-lifetime things wouldn’t have been very joyful after getting that call.
Week 18
When we got back from Bulgaria, I had my appointment and everything looked good anatomically. As I was leaving my doctor said “oh yeah, I want to take a quick blood draw so we can do a screening for AFP. It’s an old-timey test and most of the tests we have nowadays are more accurate, but we still like to do this screening around 16 weeks. So sit tight, I’ll have someone come grab a little blood and I’ll see you in four weeks.”
I didn’t think anything about this test because my NIPT genetic tests came back perfect already and as the doctor said, it was an old-timey test. God moment— A lot of OBs do not even perform this screening anymore and we are grateful our OB screened for this. A few days later I got a call from my doctor that my AFP levels were extremely elevated. He told me that he was going to refer me to a specialist to keep a closer eye on things. He also said at this point he was not concerned because these tests are notorious for false positives and again, the modern-day tests are a lot better at picking up on these kinds of things.
Someone from my Ob’s office called me that same day to let me know they sent my paperwork over to the specialist and gave me their phone number to set up an appointment. God Moment— This was the first of many terrible interactions we had with this specialist. You’ll understand how these bad interactions were all little God moments as you read on. When I called their office, they were extremely rude and even harder to work with. The first time I called they said something along the lines of “we got your paperwork but we need to get it into our system before we can schedule an appointment. Hopefully, someone can give you a call within the next couple of weeks to get you on the calendar.” (You mean I just found out my daughter might have some severe genetic condition and you think it is okay to make me wait two weeks to even get on the calendar in the first place?!) I was extremely upset and anxious at the thought of waiting that long so I called my OB to explain the problem and asked for help. My OB is in the same building on the same floor, so someone from the office walked down to the specialist to talk it out. She called me back and said "someone will be calling you by lunchtime to schedule an appointment within two weeks. If you don't hear from them by 1:30, call them again and tell them you spoke to me and need to schedule your appointment” I did not hear from them by 1:30 so I called like my OB’s office told me to. There’s a lot more to this part of the story with even more bouncing back and forth, but eventually, my OB’s office got me in 1 week later. (My OB has and still is exceeding my expectations in every single way- anyone in the Atlanta area I highly suggest OBGYN associates of Marietta. They have an office in Towne Lake and one in Kennestone Hospital.)
Week 19
When I went to my first appointment with the specialist, they told me my husband was not allowed to come because of covid restrictions only for me to see pregnant women with a significant other with them. I’m not sure if the rules changed in a week or if the lady at the front desk was not on the same page, but I was very frustrated to be at this appointment alone when I didn’t need to be. Upon arrival, they always check my blood pressure. This time my blood pressure was pretty elevated— The nurse brushed it off as me being ‘out of breath’ from parking and getting into the office (I had already been sitting and waiting for over 15 minutes which was plenty of time for my BP to go down). She said she wasn’t going to chart it and she would retest it before I left. After checking my vitals, they did a full anatomy scan where they checked and measured every single piece of Andy’s little body. God Moment— This was another of many terrible interactions we had with this specialist. Afterward, to summarize the doctor's words he said “I don’t know why you have an elevated AFP yet, but anatomically the baby looks perfect. I would still like to do an amnio to see what we are dealing with.” At that time an amnio felt very aggressive to us—an invasive procedure when the baby looks perfect at 20 weeks and our NIPT tests all looked great? Instead, I asked if we could do another AFP test to confirm it was elevated before moving forward with the amnio. The doctor agreed and the nurse practitioner wrote up the paperwork for me to go across the street to take my blood for another AFP screening.
Oh and in case you were curious, they never retested my BP before leaving.
Week 20
God Moment— This was another terrible interaction with this specialist. You’ll understand how this was a God moment soon. We waited for what felt like forever but finally, one week later, the specialist called and said “there was a problem with the test because it was put in the wrong test tube so we need you to come in for another blood draw” The nurse who called me neglected to mention it was put in the wrong test tube because she sent me with the wrong paperwork. It was not put in the “wrong” test tube, it was put in the test tube she told them to put it in. Anyways, I digress. I went that same day to have my blood drawn again because we already waited for so long and we wanted answers ASAP.
About 5 days went by and on Friday morning I got a notification from LabCorp, (this is where they send my blood to perform the test) and it said my results were in. Very eager to hear the results, I called the specialist, but nobody answered. I left a voicemail and decided to call LabCorp to ask if they could give me my results. Unfortunately, LabCorp said they were not allowed to give me my results because the doctor is the only person allowed to do this. So naturally, I called the specialist back and this time someone answered. Nobody was available to talk to me but she said someone would call me later that day with the results. God Moment— This was yet again a terrible interaction with this specialist. As we approached the end of the business day, I called two more times and left voicemails because I desperately did not want to go all weekend without the results (especially considering we already waited for results while they had the wrong test tube due to their mess up). Not a single person from the office called me back. After the weekend went by, I called the minute they opened on that Monday. I was told yet again someone would call me with my results before lunch but unfortunately…I did not get a call before lunch. (are you catching on to a pattern here)? The minute after their lunchtime was over I called three times and finally got a call back around 2 o’clock. The nurse practitioner said my AFP was still elevated but it did come down a little bit so the doctor was “pleased with the results” and they would like to see me at my appointment in a week.
The space to write the story is limited so I added it as a journal entry. You can read the rest of the story here.
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ourmiraclebabygirlandy/journal/view/id/631e7107913f0041e2bb0aff 
