As you know, I didn’t love the new OB who agreed to take me on as his patient. I’ve been thinking about it all week. I remember the first time I saw my perinatologists’ office with the triplets. The doctor rubbed me completely the wrong way. I wasn’t ready to hear anything she was going to say that day. A week or so later, I concluded that part of what was going on with me not liking her was that I picked out the things I didn’t like and those were the only ones that formed my initial impression. I did the same late in my pregnancy when I met the one member of the practice who I hadn’t seen up until that point. I hated her from the first time I talked to her on the phone through the day of that first appointment with her. By the second appointment I had with her, she was one of my favorite doctors in the practice.
Truthfully, pregnancy is such a difficult time to be making emotional decisions, judgments, etc. My judgment can’t be trusted these days. So in the interests of fairness, I must remember that odds were against me liking this OB from the get-go. I don’t like change. I don’t deal well with new people, new situations, particularly when I’m this stressed out. So the obstetrician gets at least a partial buy on account of my emotional instability.
Truthfully, there was a lot more good than bad in that visit. The OB didn’t have any qualms with me wanting to have a VBAC delivery. He didn’t bat an eyelash at me stating unequivocally that I do not want an epidural in place (with the caveat that I needed to understand the risk that I may have to have general anesthesia in the event of an emergency caesarian). He never questioned whether he would take me on as a patient – it was a given from the minute he walked in the door. He was fine with continuing the protocol that I’m on for the hyperemesis, didn’t push TPN (he agreed with me that so long as I’m not nutritionally compromised, which I clearly am *not*, that we didn’t need to move to TPN). His office staff is exceptionally nice, and although his office isn’t nearly as convenient as my former OBs office, it’s not exactly off the beaten path either. Possibly most importantly, the practice has a midwife practice within it. I have an appointment with one of the CNMs for January 14th. No telling whether they’d be willing to let me have a midwife-attended delivery, but I can hope. My perinatologist pointed out that even if they’re not willing to deliver me, I might get more personalized care from the midwives than the OBs, making for an overall more positive experience for the rest of the pregnancy.
So there’s lots of good.
Speaking of good: I had my anatomy scan on Wednesday and Dr. P. came in and went over every detail of it with me after the sonographer had finished getting all her measurements. I don’t remember going over the anatomy results in such detail with the triplets – though truthfully I’m not sure I could have laid on a table for that long with the triplets. The baby has all the requisite parts – fingers, toes, all the proper parts of the brain, heart, etc. It was hard to get a visual on the kidneys because the little monster was curled up like a pretzel, but we’re pretty sure they’re both there. Baby is measuring just on time. My cervix was shorter than it was 2 weeks prior, but still in a more than respectable range. So far, so good. Except, you know, the hyperemesis etc.
I know that this is all “worth it” for the toy surprise at the end, though I could certainly live with an uneventful pregnancy while still getting the toy surprise at the end, but since that’s not an option, I’ll take what I can get. At least with my history/current medical state I’m getting a lot of looks at this little one – I’m at the perinatologists’ office every 2 weeks, and will at some point move to every week. This kid may end up with almost as many ultrasounds as I did with the triplets – I had 33 ultrasounds with the triplets. Crazy!
ChezPerky 