20 weeks 2 days, appointment with my high risk OB

On Wednesday I saw my high risk OB. It was a fantastic appointment. Labs and blood pressure are perfect! We discussed the appointment with the pediatric cardiologist and the previous appointment with the perinatologist. After telling her some of the highs and lows of the appointments, she shared some personal experiences, which helped TREMENDOUSLY.

I nervously sat in the chair as I told her of my desire to deliver at her hospital, with her. Much to my surprise, she didn’t say no. Things could still change (much depends on the next fetal echo), but she’s going to move forward as far as discussing it with her partners and speaking with the head of neonatology. Last time I went into labor, and delivered, in the middle of the night, she wasn’t on call. I fear that will happen again, so she’s going to request permission to deliver me, even if she’s not on call. She doesn’t think this will be a problem since they’ve granted special requests for her to deliver other doctors and nurses, in the past. Plus, she’s basically the head of the department, so hopefully speaking with her partners is just a formality. She also wants the neonatologist in the OR when I deliver, so she needs to get his okay too. The BIG problem with all of this is that she’s going to be out of town for most of February (medical conferences). The timing couldn’t be worse.

She has concerns about preterm labor and said that she’ll likely give me steroid shots to mature the babies’ lungs, in case they come early. As for now, everything is stable and she doesn’t need to see me for two weeks. She gave me a big hug and I seriously left my appointment with a bounce in my step, for the first time in weeks.

Then I hit reception…

I told the new receptionist that I needed to schedule an appointment with Dr. Hopeful in two weeks. She told me it wasn’t possible; she was booked throughout the month, and asked who my second choice would be. My jaw dropped. Second choice? Um, no. I explained to her that I was high risk, and only wanted to see my doctor. The other receptionist overheard this and told the new girl to speak with my doctor’s nurse. The new receptionist said she’d do that, but told me to keep a second choice in mind.

At 8:30am yesterday morning, my doctor’s nurse called. The receptionist had spoken with her, she then talked to Dr. Hopeful, and Dr. Hopeful told her to fit me into her schedule in two weeks AND book my next SIX appointments. HOORAY!!!!!!!

As completely awful as this is, and it is AWFUL, I have such amazing doctors!