Saturday 3 March 2012

Doctor visit

I finally made it to the doctor today. I was told to arrive 30 minutes early to fill out "paperwork", but that only took 5-10 minutes as it was the consent form and billing info rather than my medical history. So I got to wait for a while before seeing the doctor. I was pleased to find the building has free, unsecured wi-fi, so I played some games on my iPad.

The nurse was friendly and made sure I knew what to do and where to go since it was my first visit. She took down my medical history, entering it into the computer (which I've become used to in the military hospitals). She has 5 children, so wasn't too put out by my having 7. When the doctor came in, she had already reviewed my chart and was able to figure out that I wasn't going to be a high-needs sort of patient. She brought up the labor options, mentioning that I would be allowed drinks in labor since she would be really shocked if I needed a C-section. I mentioned that I was drawn to their practice by the newspaper article and it's mention of low-intervention. She knew I'd had a home birth, mentioned that things are different here than in the UK, and said they like to give women the option of laboring unhindered so that we won't mind being in the hospital. Anyway, I have a feeling this paragraph doesn't make much sense, but it sounds like we will be able to openly talk about what I want to happen, and probably do it. (Unlike my last hospital delivery where I just had to tell the nurse to leave me alone until it was time to deliver, and she was all put out with me about it.)

We did not have a sonogram this time, as I already had to do the background, the pelvic, and have blood drawn. Next month I will have the sonogram and then a short office visit. (Of course I don't have results from the tests today, but my blood pressure was good, and we got a strong steady heartbeat on the doppler.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So glad for you that the visit went well. Pray they continue. love, mums

Wil said...

Yes, like Mom said: Glad the visit went well.

It's frustrating when you're treated like the lowest common denominator... So it's nice when they give you the benefit of the doubt. ;-)