Doctor appointment update.
Apr. 30th, 2007 09:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
same_skyI had my 36 week appointment today, and I arrived with my list of questions for once. The trouble with having such easy access to the internets, both Google and all of my lovely mom friends, is that I take things for granted and I forget that I don't really know as much as I think I do. Namely, I kept forgetting to ask hospital-specific questions until after I had already left.
The good news is that I do not have group B strep. (For those of you who haven't been pregnant recently, GBS is bacteria that lives in the digestive tracks of quite a lot of people and is, generally speaking, perfectly harmless. If it's found in the girly areas at the end of your pregnancy, they want to give you antibiotics during labor to keep the baby from getting it, because it can make babies very sick.) Yay body! No worry and also no definite IV. My blood pressure was a bit high, but after laying on my left side for a minute, it was perfect. The doctor (Dr. Empathy, if I had to give him a name. I haven't given the others names, though. He's the one who snuck me in for an ultrasound at thirteen weeks because he knew we were still freaking out over something going wrong.) said that was the most accurate way to take a pregnant person's blood pressure because of the weight of the uterus pressing on arteries, etc etc etc. Honestly, I had never heard of that before but who am I to argue? I don't want high BP anyway. :p Heartbeat sounded good--I guess they say about the same thing to everyone but all of the doctors so far have looked especially pleased at the sound of her heartbeat, for some reason, and say, "that sounds really nice!" or similar. Even if it's the same old lines, it's nice to hear so who cares?
I am, however, "measuring large", which apparently is not his way of telling me to lay off the cheeseburgers and stop gaining so much weight. I gained five pounds this week, bringing me to a total of (OH GOD I JUST ADDED IT UP) 39 pounds up from pre-pregnancy weight. M is already putting me on a diet after labor. Ha! He just indignantly protested that statement. He HAS been saying that it's time for both of us to focus more on our health because we have responsibilities now that we didn't have before, but I'm sure that's what he means. ;) Anyway, back to measuring large. I have to have another ultrasound on Thursday morning to "see how big that baby is". I have said all along that I thought she would be a big baby if she wasn't early, so I am just assuming that's what's up with the measurements and not anything bad. So, yay, we get to see the ducky again this week! That is unless she's not HERE already on Thursday, in which case.. well, we'll rather get to see her a lot then.
As for my questions.. what I really wanted to know was how long they would let me go without induction (41 weeks) and what their cesarean rates are (about average) and who performs c-sections (all five OBGYNS) and who would be there when I gave birth (very organized schedule on their end but seemingly-random for patients, and when the midwife is there, an OBGYN is also typically there since she can't do c-sections.) I am pretty sure I came across as a paranoid pregnant woman terrified of the big bad doctors who are standing over me eagerly waiting to cut me up. It really wasn't that, and I hope I explained that well enough to him. I have honestly liked all of them and I do trust that they don't want to do anything harmful. I am not against medical procedures, but my impression is that sometimes, some medical procedures are gratuitous and inhibit successful deliveries. For instance, I'm not so sure that hitting 41 weeks is a good enough reason to induce. Here's one good reason why: there are really only two ways to have your pregnancy dates for sure--IVF and insemination. My dates are firm. We tracked follicles by ultrasound throughout the first two weeks of my cycle, forced ovulation to occur, and therefore, we know for sure what date to calculate from. And yet... they don't. No one is the slightest bit interested in those dates. Not even my RE used the actual date. They all just want to calculate from my last period, which doesn't correlate exactly to my dates. In my case, it's close (two days, and in our favor) so it doesn't really matter, but it could potentially make a big difference to someone who didn't know their dates and didn't ovulate when they were "supposed" to. I also asked him about pediatricians--as I thought, there's just one group in Frankfort, really. They're all supposed to be wonderful, and the doctors there send their kids to them. They show up automatically at the hospital so I don't need to do anything special for that.
After the ultrasound appointment on Thursday, I still have to come in for my 37 week check-up on Monday. That seems really excessive to me, but it's my day off (last one!) so it's pretty much okay. They also scheduled me to go in at the hospital for pre-registration before my appointment. It's good that I'll be getting it done but I really wanted M to do that with me because I am incapable of doing things on my own, and he can't take off Monday, especially in light of taking off Thursday morning for the ultrasound. I'm looking forward to that (barring unlikely bad news) and I'm also hoping that we can get a second opinion on the "it's a girl" thing. Wouldn't it be awkward if she turned out to be a he and we have a room full of swirly pink stuff and no name? :)
The good news is that I do not have group B strep. (For those of you who haven't been pregnant recently, GBS is bacteria that lives in the digestive tracks of quite a lot of people and is, generally speaking, perfectly harmless. If it's found in the girly areas at the end of your pregnancy, they want to give you antibiotics during labor to keep the baby from getting it, because it can make babies very sick.) Yay body! No worry and also no definite IV. My blood pressure was a bit high, but after laying on my left side for a minute, it was perfect. The doctor (Dr. Empathy, if I had to give him a name. I haven't given the others names, though. He's the one who snuck me in for an ultrasound at thirteen weeks because he knew we were still freaking out over something going wrong.) said that was the most accurate way to take a pregnant person's blood pressure because of the weight of the uterus pressing on arteries, etc etc etc. Honestly, I had never heard of that before but who am I to argue? I don't want high BP anyway. :p Heartbeat sounded good--I guess they say about the same thing to everyone but all of the doctors so far have looked especially pleased at the sound of her heartbeat, for some reason, and say, "that sounds really nice!" or similar. Even if it's the same old lines, it's nice to hear so who cares?
I am, however, "measuring large", which apparently is not his way of telling me to lay off the cheeseburgers and stop gaining so much weight. I gained five pounds this week, bringing me to a total of (OH GOD I JUST ADDED IT UP) 39 pounds up from pre-pregnancy weight. M is already putting me on a diet after labor. Ha! He just indignantly protested that statement. He HAS been saying that it's time for both of us to focus more on our health because we have responsibilities now that we didn't have before, but I'm sure that's what he means. ;) Anyway, back to measuring large. I have to have another ultrasound on Thursday morning to "see how big that baby is". I have said all along that I thought she would be a big baby if she wasn't early, so I am just assuming that's what's up with the measurements and not anything bad. So, yay, we get to see the ducky again this week! That is unless she's not HERE already on Thursday, in which case.. well, we'll rather get to see her a lot then.
As for my questions.. what I really wanted to know was how long they would let me go without induction (41 weeks) and what their cesarean rates are (about average) and who performs c-sections (all five OBGYNS) and who would be there when I gave birth (very organized schedule on their end but seemingly-random for patients, and when the midwife is there, an OBGYN is also typically there since she can't do c-sections.) I am pretty sure I came across as a paranoid pregnant woman terrified of the big bad doctors who are standing over me eagerly waiting to cut me up. It really wasn't that, and I hope I explained that well enough to him. I have honestly liked all of them and I do trust that they don't want to do anything harmful. I am not against medical procedures, but my impression is that sometimes, some medical procedures are gratuitous and inhibit successful deliveries. For instance, I'm not so sure that hitting 41 weeks is a good enough reason to induce. Here's one good reason why: there are really only two ways to have your pregnancy dates for sure--IVF and insemination. My dates are firm. We tracked follicles by ultrasound throughout the first two weeks of my cycle, forced ovulation to occur, and therefore, we know for sure what date to calculate from. And yet... they don't. No one is the slightest bit interested in those dates. Not even my RE used the actual date. They all just want to calculate from my last period, which doesn't correlate exactly to my dates. In my case, it's close (two days, and in our favor) so it doesn't really matter, but it could potentially make a big difference to someone who didn't know their dates and didn't ovulate when they were "supposed" to. I also asked him about pediatricians--as I thought, there's just one group in Frankfort, really. They're all supposed to be wonderful, and the doctors there send their kids to them. They show up automatically at the hospital so I don't need to do anything special for that.
After the ultrasound appointment on Thursday, I still have to come in for my 37 week check-up on Monday. That seems really excessive to me, but it's my day off (last one!) so it's pretty much okay. They also scheduled me to go in at the hospital for pre-registration before my appointment. It's good that I'll be getting it done but I really wanted M to do that with me because I am incapable of doing things on my own, and he can't take off Monday, especially in light of taking off Thursday morning for the ultrasound. I'm looking forward to that (barring unlikely bad news) and I'm also hoping that we can get a second opinion on the "it's a girl" thing. Wouldn't it be awkward if she turned out to be a he and we have a room full of swirly pink stuff and no name? :)
