1st OB Appt

My first OB appt definitely began with a bang. I left a few minutes earlier than I usually would because one of my area's infamous summer thunderstorms was quickly rolling in. The sky was an ominous shade of slate and thunder was crashing in the distance. Fortunately, I only had to drive four miles up the road.

I had barely made it into the office when the weather began to sound directly threatening. My OB/GYN's office is in what would have been used as a house once upon a time, so it has a front yard. The front door has been sticking for years, and in order to get inside I have to give the door a hard tug. Often times people don't close the door because of the extra effort required.

Apparently I was the only patient at that time who felt like it was a really good idea to actually close the front door with bad weather on the way. Two patients came in behind me, and neither bothered to close the door. When the second patient entered, I thought surely she or her mother would close the door, especially when lightening struck directly in the front yard. However, I was left to shut the door not only for myself, but when both of the other patients left it open. It was just easier to do it myself as opposed to bothering to teach some manners to strangers whom I will never see again.

The office staff was busy shutting down the computers since lightening had been spotted. There is a new receptionist, and she was very vocal and quite excited about following the procedures. Apparently I was the only person freaking out for fear that lightening would actually jump through the open door and into the office. (My parents house caught fire three years ago when lightening struck a pine tree in the back yard, traveled down the roots of the tree which apparently touched the underground gas line. I take lightening seriously.) I was so glad that I was the first patient called back so that someone else could worry about the door!

My appt went well. We were attempting to combine my annual appt with my first OB appt, and in the excitement of the situation some key events of my annual appt were forgotten. My insurance was charged ten dollars for a hemoglobin test that was never done: I think I would remember the dreaded finger stick part of that test. I had to correct my drs nurse when she tried to say I was 15 weeks pregnant because apparently she didn't know how to operate the due date wheel correctly. I also had a lot of fun explaining how LMP dates wouldn't be very accurate in my situation, but that I would be happy to fabricate a date for her records.

I love my OB/GYN to death. She figured out years ago that when I call with a problem that it is in fact something that deserves attention in a timely manner. She actually listens to me and trusts that I have a fairly good idea about what is going on with my body. We spent a lot of time talking about my IVF cycle and the plethora of thoughts I have had since having a positive beta result, such as my fear of "only child syndrome." Her only child, a daughter, is going to be heading off for college this month, which is so exciting. Interestingly, her daughter hopes to have a large family some day as a result of growing up an only child. My dr actually said that she thought it was really neat that I was just starting out when her own daughter was heading off to college.

I learned that I have a deep pelvis, so supposedly I'm not supposed to look as big as I should for how pregnant I am. (I'd love an explanation for why I was showing at 7 weeks and why there are only a few outfits in my closet that I can wear.) She also determined that I would need a c-section if the baby weighs more than eight and a half pounds.

Then, she whipped out the doppler. I was so nervous! She reminded me that it could be too early to hear the h/b, and I honestly can't remember when she said I'd be back if we didn't hear it. However, amazingly she picked up the baby's h/b on the second attempt. It was so scratchy, and as a result I'm not very impressed by dopplers. In fact, I wouldn't have known it was the baby's h/b if she hadn't told me. I asked her if it really was the baby's h/b, and she told me it was too fast to be mine. I told her, "Don't be so sure about that!" and she just laughed and laughed.

My OB forgot something herself though. She was so anxious to do the parts of my OB exam that she forgot to do my pap smear. When I pointed this out to her she thumbed through my chart and said that maybe we could skip it since I did have on in February. It's been almost five years since my cervical cancer d/x. She finally decided we would just do a pap at my next visit and made a note in my chart, since she had used a lubricant for the manual exam which would obscure the pap results.

We decided that my next u/s will be on August 31. My dr said that the insurance company wouldn't be happy with all of the ultrasounds it was having to pay for, but that she felt it was a good idea to get another cervix measurement before it was time for the level II u/s. Apparently the insurance paid for the last specially coded u/s without any complaints. Then I will see her again immediately following the u/s.

When I made it to the front desk I had to deal with the new receptionist not having a clue as to how much I owed for the appt. I think she was actually going to try to charge me $70 when I have insurance with only a $20 co-pay. The office manager informed her that I in fact didn't even owe the co-pay at this time since it was a first OB appt. I figure the office manager should know what she is talking about, so I just put my check book away.

What was annoying though was that the office manager asked me if my dr realized that I had already had two ultrasounds when we were booking my next u/s. I told her that the dr and I had discussed this and that the next u/s is also supposed to go under that special code. Why can't things ever be easy? If I'm not fighting the insurance company then I'm fighting the office manager to get what I need.

I left the drs office to go to the lab so that I could finally get my b/w done. Thank goodness I had taken my umbrella inside with me, because it was still drizzling. I had a horrible time finding a parking place that wasn't a long way from the lab. Normally I'm just fine with walking, but I decided it wasn't bright to risk slipping and falling during a quarter mile hike in the rain. When I finally made it to the 4th floor of the office complex to the lab, I warned the phlebotomist that I'm a difficult stick. Ha! She managed to get blood out of my arm on the first try with a standard needle. She drew four vials of blood, and amazingly my arm didn't even cramp.

So, all in all I guess my experience was a good one. Except for the idiots who wouldn't take the responsibility of closing the door behind themselves.