To catch everyone up on my backstory, and why I feel the way I do about our healthcare system, let me explain a couple of things:
- I have had a few doctors who decided to things that were completely unnecessary to me -- for money. I had an OB/GYN when I was in high school who gave me a pap smear EVERY time I set foot in her office. I set foot in her office 4 times a year, so I could get a Depo-Provera (birth control) shot. Now, you generally only get a Pap test ONCE a year or even once every five years, but this heffa decided to make some extra money off of medicaid. Why do I think this? Because NOT ONCE was the test abnormal, which would prompt you to perform another one so soon. Unless she wasn't telling me something. Either way, I didn't trust her for that.
- My mom went to the pharmacy once to pick up a prescription. Thank God she'd been studying to be a Dental Hygienist and had taken a class where they learned all of the prefixes of things and what parts of the body they correlated to, because when she got the medicine she noticed something wrong with the prefix on it. The medicine was supposed to go in her eye, but the prefix correlated to the ear. She took it back in and asked the pharmacist if it was right, and they quickly gave her the right medicine and told her they were glad she caught it because she could have damaged her eyes with it.
- The whole cancer thing with my mom. Not only the fact that she'd been going to the same hospital since we moved to Atlanta in 1995 and they didn't catch it until it was waaaaaay too late, but even after they had her scheduled to have things (LIKE SURGERY) done when it wasn't even needed. W.T.F.
Now, with those few things I've witnessed/been through, I'm still not saying the US doesn't offer some of the best healthcare in the world. I'm sure we do. The thing is, it's run by people, and people make mistakes or sometimes have other agendas. What I'm saying is WE HAVE TO BE CAREFUL. If you feel an instinct to ask a question, ASK IT. If something isn't adding up to you, MAKE SURE IT DOES. I'm a fond believer that my body is pretty well equipped with everything it needs to run smoothly as long as I'm taking care of it, so I need to know why someone wants to give me medicine or surgery or anything that otherwise disrupts it from doing its job. If there is a logical explanation, fine, go ahead, but don't piss on me and call it rain, and expect me not to smell it and punch you in the face when I figure out the truth.
So, I had to go to a different office this week to have an ultrasound. Something about how insurance companies weren't paying for in-office ultrasounds or something. We get there, I fill out the paperwork, and have the ultrasound. It shows that Chloe is about 5 pounds and 3 ounces, which is behind schedule for now. The ultrasound tech has me wait with the jelly still intact in case the doctor wants to have a look and goes to get the doctor. I lay there for almost an hour and we finally find out that we're waiting for records. Ok. Not sure why, but ok. I'm not happy about the fact that I had to lay there, uncomfortable, for so long, but ok. We go talk to the doctor and she runs down everything they checked for. There was no indication that Chloe has Down's Syndrome. There was no indication that the placenta or umbilical cord weren't working correctly. There was no indication that she wasn't getting enough oxygen, or that the amniotic fluid levels were low. All signs, according to this doctor, were pointing to Chloe just being genetically small. Fine.
And that typically they induce labor at 39 weeks because at that point it would be better to have her out than in. Um.
I had a feeling she left off some information, and I very well could (and maybe should) have asked her to explain it more right then and there, but I was hungry, irritated, and I wanted to get as far away from her as possible because I did not know her and she wanted to force my baby out of me. Ok, that was a little dramatic, but pretty much how I felt. The Husband and I waited to have our appointment today before we got to the real questions, because we wanted to ask the people we were more familiar with. We asked my doctor what she thought about it and she did her heart rate and measuring tests and was happy with the results (still small but good, step one in the right direction) and she promptly went and had the office staff call the other doctor's office 3 times to get the information faxed over, and as quickly as possible (step two in the right direction). She came back in and let us know that what we said was NOT what the other doctor put in her report, and that she was concerned there was a growth problem. That heffa never uttered the words growth problem. Well, she did, but she connected in with the placenta or umbilical cord not working properly, but then told us that WASN'T the case. So here we are, the new crazy little parents-to-be, up against a written report by a doctor...and of course my doctor kind of brushes it off like maybe she said it and we just didn't hear it. *sigh*
Either way, I'm very happy to report that its not set in stone that there will be an induction and that we are monitoring Chloe's growth progress to see IF there is a problem. Maybe we were supposed to put small baby and induction together and come to the conclusion on our own, but they told my mom I was small and I came out on my own and perfectly healthy, so I have no history to make an assumption from. Plus, I generally don't like making assumptions. The doctor did say we needed to get an ultrasound every week to watch her progress but really, she never said anything about being concerned that there was a growth problem. Genetically small babies are fine. Growth problems aren't. I understand that entirely, but she never said the latter. Do I want to be induced? No. Will I do it for her? Absolutely. I want the least amounts of drugs possible to get me through this, not only because my body doesn't always respond well to drugs (and I'd really not like to find out if labor is one of those cases) but because it's better for the both of us in most cases, but I will do whatever it takes to have a healthy baby and a healthy me, as long as the reasons why I need it are properly explained to me. There are people who believe natural birth is the only way to go and other who believe that every pregnancy should end with a C-Section. Why can't we just decide for ourselves, unless it's necessary for health reasons to do things differently?
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| I really need to figure out why my phone uploads pics with a funky gray line under them... |
Ok, finally, this week for Chloe:
- Ideally, she'd be about 6.5 lbs
- Since she's full term she is fully expected to be happy and healthy on the outside if I went into labor right now
- She's in there still practicing for life on the outside
- It's possible for her to have a full head of hair, although, if those heartburn old wives tales are true then there probably wont be that much...I haven't had a single bit of heartburn
Onward, to 2 appointments a week, being informed, and having a healthy Chloe!
And baby shower number 2 this weekend!!!
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