Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Chiro's, OBs, and Pediatricians... Oh My!

Okay, I've been in 3 doctors offices in a week! Seriously...3! I say this in shock, because I am one of those people who can go months, if not close to a year without visiting the doctor. I'm not phobic, or anti-doctor (that's my hubby) but I'm a (luckily) healthy person who doesn't see or have much need to visit the doc that often. Ah well, pregnancy and children seem to bring out the best....

Thursday was my favorite visit of the month.... my chiropractor's office. While I love Dr Bob (the chiro), my current appointments are not with him, but with his massage therapist, Annette! She rocks my world! My own little hour of the day when I can practially fall asleep on the table, while having all my pregnancy aches and pains rubbed away. It is easily the best hour of my day/week/month. Topped off by the fact that my insurance covers pregnancy massage, and it's right next door to a Panera Bread. So I follow my massage with a decaf mocha by the fireplace until it's time to pick up the boys from school! Wow.... how totally selfishly indulgent!! Go me!

Yesterday, was a visit to the OB. While no where near as high on my list as Annette, Dr S and his staff are pretty cool. And right now, the visits are all routine, non-invasive, and let me hear the little girl's heartbeat.... so really cool!

In fact, yesterday's visit was shockingly cool, based on past experiences. I got there 15 minutes early, figuring it can't hurt to be early, and there was NO ONE in the waiting room! At this appointment they were testing my glucose levels (in case of Gestational Diabetes) and so I had to drink the "yummy" sugar drink an hour before my appointment. So, even though I was early, they couldn't see me until the hour had passed. They checked my vitals (I've gained 20 pounds.... yay!), and checked my sugar (70) and all was well. They put me in the room, and viola, not 5 minutes later, the Dr was there. Yes..... 5 minutes of waiting.

This was the first time I've met the actual Dr (MD), previously my appointments have been with one of the two midwives on staff, one of whom will hopefully deliver this little girl. Dr S took a moment to learn to pronounce my name right (bonus points!) and then go thru my (boring) history with me. He apologized for this, and I pointed out that I appreciate that he wants to make sure he knows what/who he's dealing with. After chatting for a while, he measured me, found the heartbeat, and did the 'medical' part of the appointment. Then it was back to chatting... baseball, football, how I ended up here from growing up out east. All kinds of things....and it was chatting, both him and me, and he's funny! So it was a pretty darn good appointment.

He's not worried about me working (my job involves some lifting). He encouraged me to do it as long as I feel I can, pointing out that pregnancy is not a disease or an illness (Amen! that's how I feel). And told me to stay active - how can I not I have 2 preschoolers at home!! He does lose about 5 points off a totally perfect score, as he made me a tad bit nervous...

When searching for the little girl's heartbeat, he commented that it seemed somewhat slow. Not slow as in something to worry about, but slow as in, "sounds more like a boy", which were his exact words! Not what I want to hear, since last month the U/S tech pointed out that there is always a chance she could be wrong! Her heartbeat was 136 which I guess is more in the 'boy' range, but I recall both my boys having high heartbeats, so maybe I just grow little backwards babies!!! Dr S suggested I have another ultrasound later on to confirm it's a girl, so hopefully that will happen (and insurance will cover it!).

Otherwise.... fabulous appointment! I was in and out in 30 minutes, and 15 of that was me waiting until my scheduled appointment time!!

The trifecta of the Dr's appointments came this morning, when I took B for his 3 year well child exam and physical for pre-school. My children (bless them) are also children who don't visit the Dr often, as they are rarely sick. I thank them for this 99% of the year, but I learned last month when they were both sick, that sometimes there is a downside to this. Blake doesn't care for strangers, and his only memories of the Dr (I'm guessing) involve the flu-shots and vaccinations... i.e. PAIN. So B, tends to be a bit of a PITA when we go to the Dr.

So, after dropping Trev off for his day at school, B and I drove to the ped's office. We talked on the way about where we were going (something I don't think I've done in the past.) We talked about the Dr having a little flashlight and wanting to look in his eyes, ears, mouth, nose etc. just to see. We talked about him standing on the big boy scale to be weighed (or the alternative, if he doesn't cooperate of being strapped to the baby table scale like last time!). We talked about the eye test and how he would get to pretend to be a pirate (putting the paddle over one eye) while naming picutres for the Dr. He was excited about all of it. He said (in the car) he would do all of it. He asked to bring his Elmo (Chicken Dance Elmo) in with us, and I said sure.

At the ped's office, we had no more than a 5 minute wait in the front room before being called back (unheard of!). We went back and it was scale time. Chicken Elmo got weighed and measured, then Blake stepped on the scale... piece of cake! We went back to the room and he let the nurse check his hearing and take his temp, no fussing. She asked to do the eye exam and with a little work, he played his role as a pirate, looked at the eye chart, and told Chicken Elmo (vs. the nurse!) what pictures he could see!! We waited and read a book (Thomas of course!), and then the Dr came in. B talked to him, answered his questions, let him look at him with the flashlight, and even did some physical 'tests' with him (walking, squatting, tiptoeing, jumping, etc.). He cooperated for the entire visit, was an angel, and was generally..... totally not my child!!! It was awesome, and weird all at once!!!

I don't know what I owe it to, but I guess when my next few Dr appointments are really slow/bad/late etc. I better try to remember this week, and realize that I've just cashed in ALL my good doctor karma for 2009!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

They thought I was the boy and my twin brother was the girl based on our heartbeats, so I wouldn't trust that measurement. (Amy J)