Today was that thrilling occasion that most pregnant women look forward to: The First Prenantal Appointment. I'll admit that I was looking forward to it - but just to officially say, "yes, i'm now really recieving prenatal care so this must be for real." I have no desire to sit through various lectures on my health and such. I also think that I should be allowed to go through and check a bunch of boxes myself, instead of sitting through a boring interview about the health history of myself and my family. Is that really a two person process? So here's the run-down:
I weighed 118.8, which is a .2 loss from my visit at the regular doctor, but the scales could be off. Still, I started out around 117, so I've gained a bit either way. My BP is 104/69. After determining those things, we started that long boring interview process. One fun question was, "Have you had any problems getting pregnant?" Write that "NO" as big and dark as you can. I mean, come on lady, we already told you that my last cycle started only very shortly after my husband's return from Iraq - does it seem to YOU that we encountered any difficulty?
I'd already filled out a ton of paperwork in the waiting room, but I left one part blank. It was the part asking which hospital I'd be going to for the delivery of this child. Now, first of all - stupid question! If I'm going to this CNM/OB office, which is located in the bottom floor of the military hospital, do I even have a choice? I happen to know that the answer to that is no. Unless of course you're me - and then you leave that box blank because I seriously doubt we'll even be in NC by September, but if I am, I'll be giving birth about 2 miles away at my house, not at the hospital. But if I put that, then we run into all kinds of legalities and they frequently then refuse to talk to you ever again. So I left it blank, as though I were confused.
But she may have gotten the picture when we got to the "Tell me about your previous labor and deliveries" section. Date: 7/27/00 Gender: Male Weight: 9 lbs 2.2 oz Vaginal? Yes. Where was the hospital? Rome, GA "Okay, and the next one?" Date: 4/22/02 She could see that the next child was a girl. Weight: 8 lbs 2 oz Vaginal? Yes. Where?(she didn't say the word hospital here) "Home, Griffin, GA. Like, *HOME*, home, in our home, not just hometown." She chuckled. She didn't ask for details.
She also says they encourage me to breastfeed. Yeah, I nursed my last one for 38 months, but for this one, nah, I think I'll skip it.
Then came the "when are you due?" part of the game. ME? I'm old fashioned - pregnancy lasts 40 weeks, on the day you ovulate you're 2 weeks (regardless of when your period was), therefore, I count from ovulation day and add 38 weeks. This is how we arrived at 9/22. Its very specific, and very accurate. The lady at the regular doctors office decided that I was due on 9/23, based on that high tech device, the pregnancy wheel. This nurse decided that I'm due on 9/24, by doing that very obsure mathematical equation - LMP plus 7 days, minus 3 months. But you see, not all months have the same amount of days. Therefore, days get added in willy nilly with that method. Not that I really care, because the kid will come out when its good and ready - but if you're gonna go playing with my due date, at least have the courtesy to make it sooner! But since I trust my method more than the other two, I still go with 9/22.
Then she gave me my new handy dandy pregnancy book that they give to all new patients. Its got a place to write in my weight and BP every time I go in, and a place for me to write down any questions that I have so that I can remember to ask them, and I HAVE to take it in to each and every appointment. It also has a few pages for every appointment, discussing what all we'll be doing at that appointment. I'm supposed to read those ahead of time. Then she gave me my nifty bag full of stuff I really don't care about - Huggies samples and coupons, a bunch of handouts (though I am impressed that on the list of community resources, they listed the natural health stores in the area), brochures on all the testing I can get (but won't), and a bunch of ads and coupons for stuff like diaper rash cream (thanks, I sell better stuff though) and baby life insurance.
All in all, very boring visit. Oh yeah, and then to wrap it all up, I had to go to the lab to let them suck my blood to make sure I'm immune to lots of stuff and don't have lots of other stuff. It was a blast and a half. And next time - I get the joy of a pap smear. Yippee! (don't expect full details on that one. Unless its a funny story. I mean, I'll talk about the appointment, but not the play by play of the pap.)
No comments:
Post a Comment