Ditched!

On March 18, 2011… I took my father to an appointment in which we told the doctor I did not care to be induced without medical reason, and that I was fairly confident that even if my baby was nine pounds, I wouldn’t opt for a c-section since big babies are considered the “norm” in my family. No one asked me about how I felt about the head nurse, and the meeting was, while awkward, non confrontational.

That was on a Friday.

The certified letter I received the following week was dated March 21, 2011.  This means that while the weekend gap exists, the office (like most businesses) was not open and therefore it’s safe to say nothing of great impact occurred between the day of my appointment and the day my letter was written.

The letter was one paragraph, and stated that as of April 5, 2011 the doctor will no longer see me and will not be responsible for the delivery of my child. This was stated as being due to, “circumstances involving the nursing staff…”

Talk about a load of capital BS. I called the office, asked to speak with someone regarding the manner, and was transferred to the office manager’s voicemail. I left a polite but firm message stating I needed clarification on what exactly this all meant, and why no mention of it was made during my last appointment.  I never received a call back.

I’m not really upset about losing my doctor in particular. It’s more that my pride was damaged. I feel like they handled this very childishly, and that they “got the last word” without even giving me the chance to finally chew someone out. I had one more appointment scheduled that I didn’t even show for (due to the fact that I scheduled another appointment with a new potential doctor same day and time), and rather than receive a call confirming I had missed my appointment I got nothing. The office totally shunned me.

Now, I believe it’s due to a combination of things. I’m certain the nurse did not think she could handle me anymore, and I also think the doctor felt that since I was taking more control with my birth that he didn’t need me either. Oh well…

A coworker of mine suggested I call her doctor, which I admitted I was hesitant to do since this last disaster was due thanks to a previous coworker.

However, despite what you may think that I am completely anti-hospital (which I am to an extent), I am not so naïve as to believe that I am beyond incident. I know something could go wrong, and I am well aware that a circumstance might arise in which I’d need medical intervention. For this reason, I decided I would get a move on and try this recommendation out.

What a difference. Perhaps also because I’ve changed and grown due to my last experience… still, while I remain hesitant I will admit that upon first impression I was impressed.  This new office is located in the medical center, which is farther away (about a ten minute drive). However, since it lies amongst other medical buildings it has a much more impressive and clean look to it. The staff was very pleasant to me! And everything was computerized.. not in a scary, overwhelming sort of way. Rather when I filled out my medical history I worked on a laptop and all of my info was easily retrieved by the nurse later when we met in the examination room. Via her computer, she was able to address a variety of things I had checked (here I thought they wouldn’t pay attention!). 

I also met with the doctor, and I discussed with them previous issues and how I had ultimately come to end up there. The doctor immediately told me that, “It sounds like you have an aversion to being induced… so we’ll avoid that. I induce medically, say if you go a week past your due date. But we will play it out and see how this goes when the time comes.”

The nurse went over my eating habits, told me she wasn’t too concerned with my weight as long as I am eating healthy. She encouraged more exercise and then, when I laid down to have my belly measured, she did something my old nurse never did. She actually dug her hand into my gut and wiggled it fearlessly! Then she told me, “The baby is head down.”

Wow… and I told her I was amazed that she could tell me his position just by the feel.

So.. all in all I do feel much better. I have another appointment in two weeks (as time gets closer to the big day the appointments get closer together) and by that time they said they should have all of my records and we can go over everything in further detail.

My project? My weight went up… due to swelling I’m almost certain… since the jump was another ten pounds in two weeks. It’s so frustrating. And my blood pressure was horribly high. The nurse suspected that it was because I was extremely nervous.. it was at 139/94. She said it’s probably much lower since I am young, but that I should avoid caffeine, lower my salt… these things make the blood pressure rise. She also said drink more water, drink cranberry juice.

Yeah, apparently swelling with water can put loads of pressure on your kidneys, and cause the blood pressure to go up. And I knew I’d been slacking off with my water intake and drinking more caffeine (which also causes anxiousness and high BP). So… decaf tea, water, and juice, here I come. This should help lower my weight and get me ready for my next appointment, in which I’ll really get to see how this new place is.

In any case, I give them major appreciation for allowing me to vent my feelings and responding so politely.