Thursday, May 7, 2009

New friends

Yesterday I received my Fertility Socks in the mail from Emily at http://www.fertilitysocks.org/. I can't begin to tell you how pleased I was to open the package and find these cheery silly bird toe socks. I have already gone over and signed up to donate a pair myself. The joy they brought! And they arrived just in time for my pap smear appointment with ob/gyn Dr. Phonebook (the pap smear being required before IVF). Don't they look just grand?



Despite getting lost in Mega Hospital and having to wait just a tad bit longer than I should have, I actually liked Dr. Phonebook. And I wasn't expecting to. I went in with the attitude of "can we just get this over with?" But he shocked and impressed me when he wanted to talk to me before I was buck naked with my feet in the stirrups. Through out the interview and exam, he was raving about Dr. Cupcake and her group, how far the science of IVF has progressed, and telling me I was a great candidate for success.

My fertility dr also requires a BMI of less than 37 before beginning IVF. Dr. Phonebook's nurse was able to provide me with an official BMI number of 27. I'm 5 foot, 4 and a half inches tall. (I love the half inch. It lets me round up to 5'5".) And weight 164 pounds. Geez, this is the most I have ever weighed in my life! Eight months ago when I first went to the RE, I was holding steady at 150 pounds. . .and had been that weight the last 2 years or so. Thanks to Ferma, the lack of birth control pills (I LOVE birth control pills!), eating anything I want, practically no regular exercise, and the unwelcome 30th birthday. I am well on my way to being a train wreck.

I managed to snag a picture of the art in Dr. Phonebook's exam room, too. (I really like the blogs that keep a collection of photos of feet in stirrups and a running critique of the lame ass art on display.) It was a very typical general ob/gyn office with Parents magazines on the tables and the TV tuned to the Cartoon Network in the waiting room. The walk to the exam room required a trip through the drs' hall of fame, six full sized bulletin boards filled with baby pictures. Kudos to Dr. Phonebook. Torture for me. I refused to look on the way in and kept my eyes on the nurse's back as she lead the way. But after the meeting and exam, I felt so uplifted by Dr. Phonebook's parting farewells of "I'll see you back in a couple of months for your first prenatal check-up" I stopped to admire the photos of his success.

2 comments:

Shinejil said...

Thanks for your comment!

One really pitiful source of comfort for me, when I was looking at aaallll those babies (and the many sets of trips and twins) was how funny looking most of the kids were. My husband and I had a running contest to find the funniest looking kid on the board. It was tough.

Fertility meds should be used off label to help people gain weight. Even with regular exercise and a not all that insane diet, I put on twenty pounds in about 6 months. So it's not you; it's the drugs. :)

areyoukiddingme said...

My OB/GYN - who is wonderful - keeps all those baby pictures in photo albums lying around the waiting room, so you only have to look at them if you want to. The magazines vary, and there are always pregnant women and women with kids milling about, though.