Last Friday.  My first visit to Maternity Outpatients for this pregnancy.

After an uneventful, yet strangely on time, bus trip to the RBH, Mum, Owen and I then waited the what seems mandatory nearly two and a half hours after your allotted appointment time to see the Doctor, Midwife, or Specialist.

Just imagine… a room full of women in various stages of their pregnancies, from not-so-far-along people like me, to some that look as though they should go straight to the birthing ward then and there, then add in the expectant fathers (obviously first timers), friends, rellies and usually a few toddlers.  And all have to just sit there and wait.  It’s painful.  And boring.  And annoying that these people can’t schedule appointments effectively.  How hard is it to work out that Mrs Smith #1 needs a half hour appointment as it’s her first one and first pregnancy, or Mrs Smith #2 has been there plenty of times before and only needs ten minutes?  Doesn’t seem very hard, does it? Anyway, that’s a completely different kettle of fish…

For me, this time it was a specialist visit to a lady who looks after all the freaky Factor V people (one of us blood clotters or non-clotters).  With that all under control – just as with Owen, I’ll give myself Clexayne injections for six weeks after Squirt’s birth – I thought I’d mention the little matter of Marc’s chicken pox outbreak.

I think the poor lady nearly fell off her chair.

• Worse case scenario, I’d just unknowingly spread chicken pox all through Maternity Outpatients (unlikely though, as you have to touch the infectious person to get it).
• Medium case scenario, I’d picked up the virus as well.  Not a good thing at all for me or Squirt, as that is almost a 100% guarantee of causing lots of permanent problems for the baby.
• Best case scenario, since I’d already had a pretty bad bout of the dreaded chicken pox when I was 8, we both should be fine.

So, the distraught Factor V Specialist made me go and share some blood to check for the virus and told me that she would call me if they found anything.

I still haven’t received a call, so I’m just hazarding a guess at I’m in the clear…

No spots as yet!