Assumptions

If you make assumptions, sometimes you will end up an accomplice to the cover up of a medical error.

April and I assumed that part of the pregnancy confirmation ritual is getting a blood test. At home, you pee on a stick. At the doctor, they draw blood.

After we returned from San Diego, we scheduled an appointment with our primary care physician. She was reassuring, knowledgeable, and had first hand pregnancy advice. One of the concerns she raised was the possible Rh factor mismatch between mother and baby. April's blood type is A positive so we had no reason to worry.

After we concluded the appointment, we went to the blood lab to get a pregnancy test and confirm April's blood type. The tech didn't see April's name in the system but kindly offered to go ahead and draw a sample. 10 minutes later, the test order had still not arrived. The tech became concerned and asked us to verify the order without revealing that the tech carried out an unauthorized procedure. This was complicated by the fact that April had a hole in her arm and was wearing a bandage.

April and I returned to visit our doctor and played dumb. "Did you want us to get a blood test?" we asked. "No, you took a home test which is very reliable and April has her blood type from the Red Cross. You don't want to get needled for no reason" she replied. No, we wouldn't want that.

A little bit pregnant?

NOT PREGNANT: The digital home test boldly shouted at me. Hmmm, at least I would get to share some excellent wines with my husband in San Diego. We spent a wonderful weekend celebrating his 30th birthday at the The Del—beach, pool, Virgin America flights, food. I had successfully hidden this trip from Christian for so long, so it was extra special to actually get to go!

As the weekend went on, we started to doubt the mean digital test, so we stopped at a CVS and purchased a different test. The faintest, lightest plus sign in the world slowly appeared. A little bit pregnant? Complete disbelief set in. When we returned home, I set up an appointment with my doctor. After discussing the results of the test and next steps with my doctor, I still didn’t actually believe that I was pregnant. Even after experiencing some typical prego symptoms, it still didn’t seem real.

My OB wanted to see me before I left for Dublin/London just to ensure everything was where it was supposed to be. At only about 5.5 weeks, she informed us that we should not be worried if there was no heartbeat or if we could not see much. But, there it was on the screen—a tiny little black circle with a white blip in it! THAT is our baby!!!