Glad to be done with "them"!!

We had our ultrasound yesterday and the area they were so concerned about was completely gone. (Which, for the record, is what we fully expected, but the OB apparently didn’t. @@) She was still maintaining that it was a bleed that miraculously healed in the last month. Despite the fact a bleed that big would not have healed completely in four weeks off of bedrest, when three weeks on bedrest did nothing for it…but whatever, it wasn't really worth arguing with her. So we are now officially, and very happily done with the OB’s office. I am so glad I never have to go back there. We were scheduled for our ultrasound at 11:00, and our prenatal with the OB at 11:30. The day actually went like this:

10:45 - arrived at clinic with Joe and the boys
11:06 – get taken to sonogram room
11:20 – finally start ultrasound
11:30 – back to waiting room
11:35 – get called to a cubicle for weight and blood pressure
11:40 – back to waiting room
11:45 - get called to exam room
12:30 – (an entire hour late!!!) OB finally comes in
12:37 – OB visit over

It was RIDICULOUS!! It was even worse because of the boys getting completely bored while waiting around for the OB. A few minutes before the OB finally came in, we were walking the halls with the boys, a nurse asked if we wanted some toys from another room. I said, “No, I’d like to see the d*mn doctor.” Her office door was wide open so I’m pretty sure she heard me. When she finally came in the boys were throwing tantrums, and she kind of acted irritated that they were making noise, and she had to talk over them. Joe and I both made comments to the effect of “Well, what do you expect when you keep people waiting for an hour?” She never apologized once, but she did say, “Well, we do the best we can.” Whatever…if you people weren’t always late you wouldn’t have a board with pre-printed signs for how long each doctor is delayed. Had I known that we were going to be waiting in the exam room for 45 minutes, I’d have told the desk to cancel our appointment, tell the OB to review the u/s pics and to call us. I don’t get how women think that kind of care is respectful or good. It seems like anywhere I’ve gone for prenatal care in the mainstream model women are herded around like head of cattle, and there is seemingly no regard for the fact that a patient’s time is valuable. Why do women put up with that kind of treatment? Okay, rant over…like I said, I’m glad I don’t have to go back there again. I’ll stick with my midwife who I see immediately and who spends at least a half-hour with me at every visit.

I did get a small measure of satisfaction out of annoying the nurse. I didn’t bother to do a urine sample, since I did one last week for my midwife and it was fine. I didn’t feel like peeing in a cup, and paying them to do an analysis on it when I knew it was fine. When she asked me if I had a sample for her, I told her “no” and why. She said, “You did it where?” I repeated that I had done one with my midwife the week before and it was fine. She said, “Well, we need one here every time.” I said, “No you don’t. If I don’t feel like doing one, I’m not going to.” She got this totally shocked expression on her face and clearly had no idea what to say to that. She scribbled something in my chart and got out of the room as quickly as she could. Joe was laughing when she shut the door, and we were both like, “I don’t think anyone has ever told her ‘no’ before.” So that was kind of fun.

I will give the OB’s office credit for the way they treated us with regard to respecting the fact we wanted very basic care. They didn’t give us a hard time about refusing all the blood tests, which is something I didn’t want to have to stress about. I was very up front and told them that now that this issue has resolved, I don’t see us needing their services again, and the OB said she was glad things worked out and wished me a good birth.

So that’s that. We're happily back to our homebirth plans full speed ahead.