Meet the Doctor

Wow, what a nice experience I had! I went to my magically-moved-ahead-by-Lynn OB appointment today at the Womens Children Health Services Clinic at Pennsylvania Hospital. It started out a bit hectic as Septa never came and so before I knew it I was going from walking block by block "waiting" for the bus to hauling ass to get to this incredibly privileged feeling appointment. Lynn pulled strings for me and now Septa was ruining it! I got to the corner of 7th and Spruce at 8:30 (my appt time) and couldn't find the entrance and thought I had the wrong address. Panic ensuing I called Andrew and then hung up when I saw the entrance was on the side of the building.... Heart was definitely pounding and I made it to the check in station with labored breath. Thank goodness she let me just sit right there while I filled out forms and she got a copy of my chart which I had in clutched hand!

Then I mentioned I was there by the help of Lynn and requested that if she was there I would love to see her as my nurse. We'll see....

The appointment went ahead easily enough. Blood pressure and heart rate taken, weight calculated. And then the trip to the bathroom, with a sterile cup and wipey. Hhhhhmmmm a noticeable difference to the birthing center. There you weighed yourself and peed in a little cup and did your protein trace and glucose screening on your own. Here a nice lady would be analyzing my pee for me. This is my preference as I could never really distinguish between the slightly bluish green block indicating normal range and the slightly more greenish blue block indicating trace proteins in the urine. And sometimes the block colors would bleed together and I'd frankly take an educated guess. Of course, I always guess normal!

The it was back to the examining room and time to get completely naked.... god, really? So, there I sat in a gown and in came the youngest doctor ever. She's probably a resident but sooo young, oh my goodness. However, very friendly and patient, not in a rush and this was good. She did a breast exam and listened to the baby's heart beat with a Doppler.... I noticed she had a little trouble finding the heartbeat. And I felt a bit strange about that. No one else seems to have any trouble finding the heartbeat. Anyways, she did not do a pap, um, duh... and it was wrapped up pretty quickly.

She did review my chart with me and noticed Bywn Mawr's ultrasound noting complete previa and ordered a cesarean for week 39. Then said because I have another ultrasound scheduled for the following Friday they could review things week by week. Meaning by the slim chance the placenta moves the cesarean will be canceled.

Then off to meet Lynn. What a great lady. She really took her time, reviewed my chart with me again.... and called to schedule my cesarean. There it is.... On the O.R. schedule.... June 12th at 1 pm. Even with all this I'm still hopeful that Bryn Mawr was wrong and the placenta is steadily making it's way upward. Even now, with dates on calendars, with Mom's told and talk of plane tickets starting, with all this, I am still a teeny tiny bit hopeful that we can just let the baby decide when he's ready.