Doctor's Visit - 36th Week

Another week has gone by, and it's time to go see Dr. Chen again!

Since we had another 'episode' over the weekend, even if we don't have an appointment with the Doctor today, I would have called to request an unscheduled visit anyway.

The Doctor's office was busy this morning! It was crowded, but I was pretty sure that the size of my wife's tummy is the biggest in the room! There's a couple sitting next to us, who spoke fluent Cantonese. They look older... late 40s maybe?... so I assumed that they weren't there for pregnancy related matters. It was obvious that the wife is literate in English because she was totally focused on filling out the forms (the kind that you have to filled during your initial visit.) But when she got to the 'Patient Medical History' section, it was a torture to have to listen to her conversation with her husband. She was reading out loud EVERY medical condition in English and ask her husband, in Cantonese... "remember that one time when I had that , do you think it was related to this ." I swear! She thinks she has/had every medical condition listed under that 'Patient Medical History' section! Not surprisingly, her husband showed not much patience with her questions either. All his answers were given in a short and irritated tone/manner, in Cantonese of course. As soon as the husband answered her question, she would write it down and ask the next question, immediately! It certainly provided some entertainment while we were waiting to see the doctor.

Finally, we got called-in. Amy did the same routine of urine test, blood pressure, and weight. It is very impressive to see that Amy's weight is not gaining a bit, considering that she's been eating quite a bit lately. Dr. Chen even gave the green light for her to eat all that she wants, including ice-cream, since a few weeks ago! And trust me, Amy did exactly what the doctor told her to do!

After we got settled in the exam room, we waited a bit and here came Dr. Chen. We told Dr. Chen that Amy was bleeding again over the weekend. He asked me what did I/we do? As much as I wanted to tell him that we ignored the bleeding and went to sleep, I told him that we went straight to the hospital (which is the truth, by the way!) I also hold Dr. Chen what the hospital did to us, and how we got released a few hours later.

Dr. Chen didn't seem to be concerned at all! Instead, he asked if Amy has been walking 2-3 hours per day. We told him that we usually go for a walk after dinner, and sometimes Amy managed some afternoon walk at the mall, but only once or twice in the past week. Dr. Chen then told us that the kind of 'slow-walking' after dinner doesn't count against the 2-3 hours of daily walk. Dr. Chen told us that he wants Amy to walk 2-3 hours per day, with some pace. The arms have to be almost swinging from front to back during walking, as he demonstrated. I asked if cooking and doing the dishes count? Unfortunately, he said 'no.'

Dr. Chen used the Doppler to measure the baby's heartbeat. It was 144 beats per minute. If you want an idea of what it sounds like, click here to see the video that we took during our latest hospital visit.

I asked Dr. Chen if we should be concerned with the bleeding that happened over the weekend. He said: "No, her body is just preparing for birth. Especially when the bleeding stopped shortly after."

"Is there a possibility that she will bleed again?" I asked.

"Absolutely!" Dr. Chen said.

"And we shall go straight to the hospital again?"

"Yes! Better be safe than sorry!" Dr. Chen said.

That pretty much concludes our visit for this week. Our next visit will be 1 week from today!