I have to tell you what happened today. I was in clinic- I have a weekly clinic where I see my patients for their blood pressure or diabetes or back pain or whatever is wrong with them. It's a resident run clinic and so is full of some interesting people. Some of the are normal and just come to us because they have no insurance or because they work at the medical center. But there are also a lot of patients that are "referred" to us because they are too much for their doctor to handle in a 15 minute visit. Long story short I have some characters for patients.
Today was no exception. My patient came in today for a regular follow-up. I often affectionately refer to her as "my stalker patient." An odd woman with psychiatric problems and a lot of health problems who has followed me to 2 different clinics and 2 inpatient wards. I admitted her to the hospital during my 1st call as an intern and she sort of latched on to me. So when she showed up today with chest pain, I stepped into the nurse/triage area to talk to her. It took me 10 minutes to convince her to go down to the emergency department- she needed to be admitted for a stress test. She finally agrees to go down to be evaluated. After which I am trying to walk away when she says "Dr. Barbour, do you have a baby bump?" I immediately replied "no, I'm just fat." And I try to laugh it off. But I think I blushed too much or looked shocked or something because she said "no, I think it looks like a baby bump." It was very weird- from a weird lady.
It honestly freaked me out a little. I went right into the nurse manager's office- she is a friend and the only person in my clinic who knows that I am pregnant. I demanded to know "do I have a baby bump? I don't have a baby bump! I am only 11 weeks I can't have a baby bump." She tried very valiantly not to laugh at me but I was a little frantic. She assured me that there was no bump. But I did not buy it. At lunch I must have asked 4 or 5 of my friends if there was a bump- insisting every time, before they could answer, that there was no bump. I am a little paranoid now I think. It's actually pretty funny now. And I promise, no pictures are necessary- there is no bump. Maybe I shouldn't wear those pants anymore though...
I haven't posted in a while, so here's an update. Everything here is going well. Linda (Brian's Mom) was here last weekend. It was nice to see her. Unfortunately I spent half the weekend sick. I am still having a bit first trimester fun- of the nausea and vomiting variety. Everyone says that it will get better in the next few weeks. I am looking forward to the second trimester for that reason- it is only 2 weeks away. We have another ultrasound February 23rd- it's part of the integrated screening which looks for birth defects and signs of chromosome problems like trisomy or Down's syndrome. I am excited to get to see the baby again.
On a non-baby related note- we are heading to Richmond, VA tomorrow for a concert. Theresa, Brian and I are going to drive up to see Teagan and Sara tomorrow. We'll stay overnight and spend Friday in Richmond. It's supposed to be a beautiful city.
