Doppler Ultrasound

One of the things Dr. B recommends in the first trimester is weekly ultrasounds. This includes looking at doppler blood flow of the uterine artery. When I saw Dr. B at 7 weeks he did my ultrasound including the doppler measurements. I asked about his findings and he said he noted reduced blood flow to my uterus, but great blood flow between my uterus and the baby. He looked at my chart and said he wasn't going to change my current dosage of Lovenox since I'm already taking it twice a day. Last time I remember having to increase my Lovenox dosage and also using Viagra vaginally to help increase blood flow. 

Getting this done at Dr. B's office is fine and easy but getting it done outside has been a bit of a headache. At 8 weeks I went to my old fertility clinic for my ultrasound. The nurse practitioner came in and noted it on the ultrasound. She said, "We don't normally do that." When I asked why she said something about increased risk and exposure to the baby. She said she could get my old RE and see if he was able to do it, but I told her to just do the ultrasound. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. When she was finished she said, "The hospital may be better able to accommodate you."  

At 8 1/2 weeks I had my first ob appointment that included an ultrasound. I asked the ultrasound technician if she could do the doppler. She also said it wasn't something that's normally done this early in a pregnancy. 

When I met with one of the Drs in my ob practice I told him Dr. B was requesting this information in addition to a weekly ultrasound. He was great about working with Dr. B and his suggestions and said he was willing to follow any of them. He asked his nurse about the ultrasound, she asked the ultrasound technician, and they all agreed I'd have to go to the hospital to get it done. With my pregnancy with my twins I had a few ultrasounds at the hospital so it didn't seem like a big deal. The nurse told me I would hear from her and I left. 

The following day she called and told me she needed to call Dr. B's office to get clarification for what she was requesting. The day after that she called to tell me I had an appointment scheduled for the next week at the hospital. 

Yesterday I had that appointment. Going to the hospital made it so much more complicated. I had to register (which included a ridiculous amount of paperwork) and my elevator confusion, sitting in some weird room without any kind of receptionist for at least 10 minutes, and then going to a room with two technicians. They were both somewhat confused by the script. They also commented that it was very early on to do doppler readings. I tried to explain to them to the best of my knowledge what Dr. B measured and why. Then they started. It felt like it took them forever. They did first check the baby so at least I saw that quick before they took their twenty plus minutes to do the doppler readings. All I could think was about those comments about it being done so early and the extra exposure. The technicians were so fascinated by the doppler as it is so early in my pregnancy and kept commenting on how "pretty" it was.  I think I made their days as it was definitely something out of the ordinary for them. 

From there I was sent to my doctors office. I called and asked the nurses if it was totally necessary and she made me feel like it was. The wait times are super long at my office and I really didn't feel like sitting there to find nothing out. I knew it was pretty much pointless. Another hour later I left the office. The dr basically agreed it was pointless since he didn't really know what the doppler measurements meant but did say everything was looking great and the baby was measuring right on target. 

Next week I'm supposed to go back to Dr. B's office to have an ultrasound. The week after that I'm supposed to return to the hospital. I'm honestly debating canceling it because of what a pain it was. I guess I'll just wait and see how I feel when the time comes but maybe asking Dr. B about all of the "it's so early for doppler" comments to help ease my mind may help too. It's quite apparent that the way Dr. B thinks and operates is very different from most doctors.