OB update

Well, I couldn't sleep (again) this morning, so I decided to head in to the OB really early to beat the lineups. There were two people waiting ahead of me at 8am. Wow. When she eventually got me in, she decided to do a speculum exam and send a vaginal swab (not irritating the cervix at all) to rule out any infection like bacterial vaginosis that can also cause contractions. She also had me send a repeat urine sample to rule out a UTI.
Then I begged her to try to peek at my cervix, which she had trouble seeing with her ultrasound. She claimed that my bladder was too empty, but if I wanted reassurance, she'd send me to the radiology clinic for a proper ultrasound. It turns out that the patient ahead of me is one of the secretaries at that clinic, so she talked her into squeezing me in for a cervical length ultrasound this morning. Off I went on the subway for my ultrasound, chugging water in the hopes of filling my bladder enough for them to see what they needed to.
They took me in pretty quickly after I arrived, and I was sure to tell them that I was scheduled for the complete anatomy scan next Tuesday. They did it all today anyhow. I didn't get any good pics of the baby, but everything was where it was supposed to be and looked good. The kid didn't want to cooperate with showing its heart, because it persisted in lying there on its stomach. We had many great views of the little spine, but it never wanted to flip over to get the rib and spine shadows out of the way of good views of the heart. The tech finally had to give up on getting it to move after he'd sent me to the bathroom twice to empty part of my bladder, and having me flip from side to side or cough in an attempt to wake the baby up. When the radiologist came in to have a look, it had miraculously flipped into a better position and he saw everything he needed to. Then they had me empty my bladder fully for my first transvaginal cervical length check, since they said that's the only accurate kind. 5cm! I couldn't believe it. Dr M said it was nice and long and closed despite all the uterine irritability I've been having. He told me to check with Dr D whether she wanted me back for weekly cervical checks for our peace of mind (she does). So I guess I'll be heading up there once a week to get a quick cervical length measurement. At least that way I can be confident we'll catch any early cervical changes if they develop. I sure hope not!
The only bad thing for the day: my Pap came back showing ASCUS (atypical squamous cells of unknown significance). Dr D said my cervix had looked pretty inflamed, so she's pretty sure it means nothing. I've screened negative for HPV on previous Paps (my family doctor was part of a trial that ran the screen on everyone having a Pap done a year or so ago), so I'm hoping it really isn't anything to worry about. I've had ASCUS once about 5 years ago, but it cleared on its own. Dr D agreed we can just repeat the Pap after I've delivered, and take it from there.
Interestingly, she'd also just received a fax asking if she'd be interested in participating in a trial of 17P for prevention of preterm deliveries. I'm not eligible (no previous late losses, on progesterone in this pregnancy), but she asked me to contact the company to see if I can find out where they source their 17P. Only one of two compounding pharmacies I talked to said that they can make it, and they won't have the base compound in for another two weeks. It would run me about $200 per shot. Ouch. I'm hoping insurance might cover it, if I do end up going the 17P route, but I'm not sure. They're supposed to give me a call back later tonight to see if they're allowed to release information about 17P.
Hopefully tomorrow won't be too insane at work. I was the second last to pick a list for tomorrow, and the choices were a busy cataracts list at a hospital that I don't have priviledges at, or a full list of endoscopies at a private clinic. 17 in one day. They wanted me to come by today to get oriented, but after having spent the morning running around to doctors appointments, I wasn't going to leave the house again this afternoon. I'll just have to get there a little earlier tomorrow, and hope that I can give them a sob story and have them let me sit down as much as I can during the day. Hope it works!