13 weeks, 2 days, first doctor visit

Monday was my first doctor's visit with baby #3. I applied for pregnancy Medicaid (a joy of living off student loans - primarily) and was accepted, received all my welcome pamphlets and paperwork and was assigned a primary care physician and an OB, but I still had not received my card. I waited and waited and waited and still...no card. I had been waiting to schedule my appt because I can't afford to pay the office visit by myself and I needed my proof of insurance for the doctor to bill it to Medicaid. Finally I couldn't wait any longer. I had been having nightmares of miscarriages and twins and all sorts of crazy things. I needed to hear that heartbeat just to confirm that everything was okay. I went ahead and scheduled my appt hoping I'd get my card in time, and if not, well, I'd just eat it and hope Medicaid would reimburse me. It seems like when I had Jackson my office visits ran around $60-70 each. Nope. $165 for the office visit. OUCH. First visits at my clinic are always with a nurse practitioner and since I was so far along, there was lots to do. I had to have my girly exam first because I hadn't had one since after I had Sam. (I hadn't had insurance.) Then she checked for a heartbeat. After a few scary minutes she found baby, very low, almost behind my pelvic bone. That sound just made me melt. I couldn't help but break into a cheesy smile, and I almost cried. I hadn't realized how anxious I had let myself get. That is so silly because I had been feeling great and Ben had been keeping an eye on me, too, and I should have known everything would be alright. I guess that one miscarriage I had before Jackson always gives me a little panic attack. After a long visit with the nurse practitioner, she sent me to get bloodwork. This clinic does their own lab work, so I just walked down the hall. As I entered the lab and sat down in the designated blood drawing seat, the lab tech asked me, "How would you like to pay?" gulp. huh? "I thought I already did pay, up front." "No," she said, with a grimace, "this is separate. It'll be $240.00" Oh Crap. So what did I do? Shelled out my cc, got the blood drawn, and began my drive home, dreading how I was going to tell Ben what I had just done. Needless to say, he was.not.thrilled. Today's naptime agenda has me calling Medicaid to find out why they are showing that I am not active until May!? And pleading for them to backdate my active status so that somehow I can be reimbursed for the $400.00 I shelled out. I'm trying to look at the bright side: no more nightmares, and I have a confirmation that baby is fine, and so am I.