AT LEAST SHE DIDN'T DRESS LIKE A CLOWN WHILE PERFORMING THE EXAM

Maybe because it’s the week leading up to Valentine’s Day so I am feeling extra romantic, or maybe all the chocolate I have eaten (thanks Husband!) this week is making me extra happy but this entire week I have felt so happy and as though life was just one large roller coaster to be enjoyed. It is so rare when there is one week in which everything seems to go right that I could not help but share.

The first and most important reason is that a major stress was just taken away. (Again, thanks Husband!). Two weeks ago I made an appointment with an OBGYN for a routine appointment. Unlike Dr. Kendler (the loss of whom I am still mourning – stupid health care system!) I have no loyalty to any OBGYN and have gone through five different ones in five years. My theory on OBGYNs is that they just need to make sure everything is healthy, renew my birth control prescription and nothing else. That worked for years until I got married. But now, Husband and I want to have a family one day and I figured I should start to find an OBGYN that can help with that when the time comes. I found someone who looked great and was nearby in New York Magazine and made an appointment. My first tip should have been how easily I got an appointment.

I walked into the office and waited for my appointment. When the doctor saw me, she brought me into her office to chat and that’s where it all went downhill. “How many weeks pregnant are you?” she asked casually. I was totally taken aback. Sure, I had gained almost ten pounds since the wedding but I am still a size 6 and well within healthy BMI range. “Ummm, none.” I stammered. “Oh,” she replied, immediately looking concerned, “Did you miscarry?” I shook my head mutely.

After a few more seconds of back and forth, I finally conveyed to the doctor that I was simply in for an annual exam and, if anything, was PMS-ing and not at all pregnant. It was at that point she informed me that her practice was only Obstetrics and not Gynocology. Ooops. At least I no longer thought she was calling me fat. Nicely, she offered to make an appointment for me with one of her colleagues. She also oh-so casually suggested that while I was there, I take a routine blood test to check for things such as Tay-Sachs and Maple Syrup Urine Disease – genes that are commonly found in Ashkenazi Jews like Husband and myself.

I panicked. In order, here is the list of things that scare me most in the world: Needles, death, clowns, turbulence. See the first one? It’s no joke. I have been known to refuse medical treatment because it involved a needle, and in one case, even though the doctor informed me it could cost me my life (he was clearly wrong, by the way) I still chose to face fear number two over fear number one. Upon hearing the doctor’s advice, I started to cry and shake. I refused to let her do it. She pushed back with the fact that if Husband and I ever decided to start a family, we should know about common genetic problems beforehand. Then, she let me off the hook with a suggestion: Husband could do the test. If he was negative as a recessive carrier for everything, then there was no need for me to be tested. Relief swept over me. Even more so when Husband willing agreed. He was getting a cholesterol test anyway, so why not just do it all at once? I love him! How many people in the world would take a needle for you?

So, he will probably go sometime in the next few weeks and have the test. And I can go back to being relaxed. See, it’s been a wonderful week.