So this morning at ass early o’clock was our first appointment. It was mainly a papers-and-bloodwork appointment (as predicted), but several good things did come out of the appointment:
For starters, I am officially pregnant… as in, medically-recognized, doctor-officiated, I-have-the-little-slip-of-paper-that-proves-it-PREGNANT! Also, the dietician and doctor gave me the go-ahead to eat cooked sushi for my Birthday Gluttony this weekend (so thanks, to those of you who advised me not to completely give up hope).
I will, however, NOT be going back to that OB office (yes, this is a good thing, read on). Long story short, since I work at a hospital, getting my OB care at said hospital makes everything 100% free. Yay. So when I called to make my appointment, I naturally called our third floor OB clinic, made my appointment, and showed up promptly on time… where I waited. and waited. and waited, for an HOUR to be seen. And this is the second time this has happened to me at this same place. So, strike one. Strike two, it’s really run down up there (county hospital) and not well kept up or anything. I guess that makes me kind of a snob that I noticed those kinds of things but I have a feeling once I’m 15 pounds heavier and waddling, my poor pregnant ass is not going to appreciate the so-called comforts of the hard plastic bus-stop style chairs in the waiting room or the dirty looking beds and floors. Or clinic rooms, for that matter. So, snooty or not, that’s my Strike Two. Once I actually did get called back, everyone was very chit-chatty but also puzzled. Since I was wearing my scrubs and work ID it was clear I was an employee of the hospital, and I kept getting puzzled looks from staff and a nurse even asked why I was “upstairs”. Cue confusion. Someone finally pulled me aside (literally, pulled me aside into an empty room) and told me that although patients with medicaid and medicare (or no insurance whatsoever) are usually seen upstairs for their visits, the hospital has a general care center for those with private insurance downstairs where they also see select OB patients (read:employees) that is nicer, award-winning, and generally was played up to be the Mecca of OB care. Hint hint, nudge nudge. And, I was told confidentially, that whenever they see employees upstairs, they always perform interventions similar to the one I was going through and make sure that employee ends up in “the right place”. And then the nurse grabbed a piece of paper, wrote down the number, Dr’s name, and staff nurse’s name, and practically forced it into my hand. Yeah. It’s pretty bad when the staff of an OB clinic are telling you you don’t want to be there and practically pushing you out the door. Strike three. They gave me the name and number of the Dr’s and clinic downstairs and left me alone in the room to “make some phone calls”… and call I did. The result of the phone call was that we have an appointment in exactly two weeks to hear the heartbeat!!!* This was far sooner than the dirty-ole-stinky-clinic would have been able to get me in (Feb. 8 versus March 13, anyone?) and is with an attending dr instead of a resident up in the clinic (not really something that’s a huge deal to me, but it’s still a perk so I’ll take it). So YAY, I am so excited.
Finally, the pièce de résistance (and one really wonderful thing that came out of my visit to the clinic) is that we were offered the chance to participate in a research study all throughout my pregnancy. Although at first I was very weary (I immediately pictured needle biopsies and invasive procedures), once it was explained to me I was very much in favor. Basically, the study is to try to find and identify risk factors for complications during pregnancy. To do this, it is a nationwide study involving over 10,000 first-time pregnant moms, all of whom they’re observing over the course of their pregnancies for outcomes, events along the way, and basically anything of note. What it would entail for us is that in between our normal OB visits, we would also visit the Fancy Clinic at the other hospital across town, have my vag swabbed for CM, answer a questionnare, and get an ultrasound every visit. We would get to see the baby three extra times throughout the pregnancy! Also, on top of that amazingness, they offer a free 3D ultrasound (!!!!!) at the third visit… and also, a free Grac.o carseat at the end of the third visit and some giftcards/cash compensation throughout. Even ignoring the carseat and the money incentive, knowing that the procedures wouldn’t at all hurt the baby and that it would enable us to sneak a peak three extra times was enough to get me on board. However, since Shorty wasn’t at today’s appointment with me, I told them I had to talk with her first since it involved her baby too… they were very understanding, gave me their card, and said to call them. I, of course, called Shorty immediately after the appointment to talk about it and once she knew it wasn’t anything invasive and that it involved extra baby eye-candy, she was totally on board. SO excited!!!!! In my view, anytime extra that we get to see the baby is a plus in my book. =)
So that was the appointment today folks! Countdown officially on to the next appointment… yet another TWW! 🙂
lezbemoms 