The happy and the sad

First of all yay I have followers now, how very exciting! Thank you guys for stopping by, I appreciate the support and a big thanks to Mimi for sending some new friends over to say hello.

This post is a mixed one of a few emotions I have been feeling lately. I am thrilled to report that Rhea and Paul's ultrasound couldn't have gone better and Rhea is now 13 weeks pregnant exactly, with one very healthy and happy bubba. She is extremely excited and says she can't wait to start shopping up a storm. We saw them for dinner last night after they recieved the wonderful report from their ultrasound appointment and let me say they are one happy couple. Brad and I are so excited about becoming an aunty and uncle, and that Nickie will soon be a big cousin. One thing that especially makes me happy is that because we are all very close it will be lovely for Nickie to have a cousin that he is close to in age to play with, just in case we can't give him a brother or a sister. This is something that weighs on my mind a lot and so I am pleased that it looks like he will get the next best thing.

But from one extreme to the other, the weirdest thing happened to me today and it actually made me incredibly sad and also angry in a way too. I work in an office on reception two days a week and I recieved a call today from a really horrible woman. She was abrupt and rude and very uppity, like she was the most important person in the world and I was extremely inferior which annoyed me to begin with. She was enquiring about a bill she had recieved as she was unclear on what it was for, and when I asked her for her account number so I could look into it, she snapped at me and said "I don't have that" so I said that was fine, I could still help her if she could be so kind as to give me her details so I could search for her record and bring up her file so I could see it. I asked her for her name and address etc and she said to me "look I am a DOCTOR and I am too busy for this nonsense. I have PATIENTS to see and you are making me late." I felt like hanging up on her, but of course, keeping the customer service hat on I had to apologise to her and explain that although I regretted I was inconveniencing her, I did need her details to find her record. She reluctantly provided them and I nearly died when I realised who she was. This woman was none other than the very first specialist Brad and I saw when we initially thought something might be wrong as I had not gotten pregnant in a year of trying. She was not only the most uncompassionate doctor I have ever seen in my life with absolutely no bedside manner, she also totally misdiagnosed me. She did one or two tests on me and never even tested Brad and declared that nothing was wrong with us, we must be trying too hard. When I disagreed and said "well why do I get such heavy and irregular periods, and sometimes none at all as well as terrible pain at times? With all baby making aside surely that is something wrong in itself" her answer was to tell me that it was probably because my hormones were a little out of whack and they would probably improve on their own with changes in my diet and lifestyle and maybe the loss of a few kilos. Her assessment left us feeling stupid for jumping to conclusions and we kept trying for another six months to fall pregnant before we finally got the courage to get a second opinion. Our second doctor was not only the most lovely man, he also thankfully knew what he was talking about. Three visits to him and we had uncovered that not only did I have PCOS and wasn't ovulating, but Brad's sperm was also what they call triple defective (low count, irregular in shape, and not the best swimmers). So not only was there definitely something wrong with us after all, but we (according to pretty much every doctor that we have seen since then) are facing a slim chance if any of getting pregnant without the help of IVF.

It made me completely sick to think that not only was this woman responsible for us losing valuable time and starting us on an emotional rollercoaster ride (it was awful to find all this info out about our lack of fertility after being given the all clear) but she also obviously has the nerve to ring people up and act like she is such an important person. I would have given anything to have said something to her, but of course professionalism prevented me from doing so. I am not sure why but the experience rattled me for the rest of the day and made me feel angry, but also extremely sad.

I was amazed though at how quick this sadness was eased by the surprise that I got when Brad picked me up from work at the end of the day. I expected to see just Brad, and for Nickie to still be with my mum at home. But there was my husband in the drivers seat, and there was my beautiful little boy in the back - he had come along for the ride. Not only that, but through the window when he saw me, he beamed a great big sunny smile and let out a squeal of delight. Suddenly I was on cloud nine. I guess that horrible doctor didn't ruin my day after all - just her own.