Wednesday, January 19, 2011

...And that accomplished what?

Have you ever left the OB office asking yourself "what just happened?"

It doesn't happen every time for me, but today it did. 

My morning went something like this.......wake up at 8am, shower, get all three girls dressed, hair done x 3, make-up done, teeth brushed x 4 and then, downstairs for breakfast, and ready to take Mairead to school by 9am - ah, is it bedtime yet? It's generally hectic when Mairead has preschool, and it is even more hectic when Mairead had preschool and I have an OB appointment at 1015 to get to. 

After I dropped Mairead off, I came back home, gathered my things, and headed off to the OB for my regular appointment. 

I get there and informed the hospital requires patients to REDO all paperwork, including a health history for the new year. Seriously? Yeah, they weren't kidding. Three sheets, front and back. 

So, I am trying to contain my almost 16 month old from ripping all the magazines up, and my three year old from jumping all over their furniture in the waiting area, all while trying to fill out this paperwork that I JUST filled out in October! Here I am answering insane questions like "How regular are my periods?" "Do I think I am pregnant" and "When was your last period?" ........OH MY....talk about killing trees. This was Not an easy task, and makes for one frazzled mamma! Why do I need to be here again?

Oh, and they expect me to pee in a cup on top of the above? Um......sorry, not this week! 

Then, my name gets called and am amazed I actually completed the paperwork.

The nurse weighs me.....gaining weight in epic proportions. I have now reached the weight I was before I started losing all of my weight last spring: 130lbs. I've gained about 15lbs thus far, which is pretty much right on target for my typical pregnancy weight gain.

She brings me and the girls into the exam room. 

Checks my blood pressure, which is on the higher (but normal) side for me......and she says "good, bp!" I laugh and say "Mine is usually half that" - gee, who would have thought after all I've done this morning that my BP would be on the higher end for me??? 

Asks if I have swelling. Thankfully, NO. but maybe in the brain?

Baby moving? Yup....more like partying.

Then we wait.....the girls are demanding their snack and running all around the exam room. 

Here comes the doc. A little bit of small talk. Listens to the baby, great HB....measures my belly, measuring normal and according to MY dates......looks over last weeks ultrasound report, says my cervical length is stable, asks if I have any concerns, I say nope. And she says "See you in 4 weeks?" and I say "Sounds good to me"

And I leave the office wondering why I couldn't have just done that myself and reported back to them! I have a doppler, and I can get a BP cuff....oh, and measuring tape I have, too. 

Believe me, I totally get the importance of prenatal screening, but somedays I leave wondering what just happened....It takes me longer to get there, drive home and wait in their office than it does for the entire nurse/doctor exam. With my last two pregnancies, I was being seen every two weeks, and thankfully, this time, things are stable, so they are just treating me like a somewhat-normal-pregnant-lady...seems kind of weird! 

Oh! Did I mention that I had the audacity to actually ask the OB if I could skip the glucola drink this time??? :)

5 comments:

  1. What did they say? Can you skip it, I mean they can not force you! They might call that bouncer that kicked the lady out if a bar and have him hold you down and force it down your throat :) you have not had an issue, so there is no reason to drink that awful junk!

    ReplyDelete
  2. She Hmmmmmm'd and Hawwwwwwwww'd and said, well......you really should, I've had moms with no risk factors test positive.....

    With the last one, I cheated. Yeah. I admit. I drank it at home over like an hour, instead of within like 10 minutes or something insane like that. I NEVER consume that much sugar at once.....I mean, who does that??? 50g of glucose???

    I felt like shit for the rest of the day with Clara and Lilah - headache, nausea, just awful, and I do not want to feel like that again.

    UGH. I hate that. I will go for a fasting glucose test over that stupid test. If you do research, there is a lot of question of the accuracy of that test....It's interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've heard that about the glucose test too- For the health conscious, I don't see why you would want to willingly submit yourself to THAT much sugar in one period of time- or- ever at all! It's interesting how doctors want to force that test on you, but checking cervical length mid second trimester? Nope, not thought of the same way.

    ReplyDelete
  4. OMG. You read my mind!

    Seriously! I agree with you 100%

    And, I will stick up for the OB for a tiny second - yes, there is that occasional woman who has had several kids, all no hx of GD, and then...BAM! BUT......that test is just God awful and there should be another way.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I didn't get far enough into my pregnancy to have it, so it'll be interesting to see how I handle it. It's almost a pregnancy rite of passage. Also- I passed a blogger award on to you- it's on my new blog!

    ReplyDelete

Have a COMMENT or QUESTION? Leave one here!