speaking of socialistic goodness - and an ultrasound

This past week I've been feeling worse and worse come noon about, and by the time I am home from work, all I can do is lay on the couch until dinner's ready, eat, take a shower and go to bed with Leona around 6:30-7:00 pm.

On Monday our company's nurse was in Tromsø for her monthly two-days, and I asked her first thing in the morning about how it is with my company and pregnant employees, as I was newly pregnant - and hadn't told anyone at work yet. She said they do everything they can to try and make us feel unstressed and as not-tired as possible, so as long as I felt ready and comfortable to tell my boss, she encouraged me to, so that my workload could be adjusted and I could take as many breaks as I needed throughout the day. The big aim is that I not go on sick-leave (as being pregnant is not a sickness but a great joy).

So told HR and my boss, and all went well, but was still feeling terrible in the afternoons, so yesterday asked our nurse what she suggested, and she said I could go to my doctor to be put on partial sick-leave.

So that I did this morning, as thankfully my doctor had drop-in hours today.

Not only was I put on 30% sick-leave starting today (meaning I can work 2:15 hours less each day, and get paid for those hours from the State), but she also sent me to a privat OBGYN for an ultrasound, as I told her I had had some fresh-blood bleading this morning (which I know is relatively common in the first trimester, but is still disconcerting when it happens).

So called the OBGYN on my way to work, got an appointment today for 11:20, so when I got to work just picked up my computer, told my boss I was taking a self-decreed sick-day all day, and home I went.

The ultrasound experience was quite different than in Taiwan. First off, you actually only get one ultrasound in Norway, at around 17 weeks, and you can waive your right to it if you wish. In Taiwan, if you recall, it was part of the routine at every check-up, and if we wanted to waive our right, it would cause tons of trouble.

Second, we only had to wait 10 min, and the doctor even appologized for being behind schedule (in Taiwan we would usually have to wait longer, and the wait was expected). Third, they didn't even attempt an external ultrasound due to me saying I was 7 or 8 weeks along only. And fourth, there was no flimsy paper curtain across my stomach to shield me from watching the OBGYN work.

In any event, a little bean was found on the screen, with a flickering heartbeat as well, and all looked to be a-ok.

What a sigh of relief!

The doctor measured the baby to be at around 6 weeks and 4 days, whereas by my calculation s/he should be around a week older than that, so really our estimated range of arrival doesn't shift too much actually. And who knows, our next ultrasound in a couple months may give a different result, as these ultrasounds aren't exactly exact.


.