I arrived on time--a feat for a waddling womb such as myself, this time mostly due to my wonderful mother-in-law who came over early so I could leave the kids home. (My mom came down later to play Gramma for the rest of the day--yeah!). Of course, the office was running late so I sat and waited.
As I did so, the cramps and nausea continued their rather constant attacks. By the time they called me back to an exam room, I was feeling quite ill. As it turned out, I needn't have prepared any type of scolding for my doctor. She was appropriately sympathetic after I wound up sick and puking in her office.
After dealing with that delightful episode, the appointment continued on a more normal note. She listened to the heartbeat--135 beats/min. She did a swab for a bacteria I had at my last delivery. She measured my girth (dream on--I'm not telling). That prompted her to suggest yet another ultrasound--to make sure the baby isn't too big. HA! I would have laughed right in her face except I was afraid I'd puke again.
We discussed my Leave of Absence paperwork--I dread going back there this week, but at least it will be my last. Baby or no baby, I can't handle my job anymore at this point. Then I listed my "concerns" (read: complaints) for her consideration.
1. Vomiting--the only symptom she deigned to treat--perhaps due to my rather decisive display of the day. I'm now on 3 meds to control the nausea.
2. Swelling--we're talking feet the size of grapefruits and having to wear my husband's sport socks. My hands are also swollen to the point of numbness for several hours of the day.
3. Cramps--although I did discover that some of this "pre-labor" is actually helping to dilate me, albeit not much.
4. Insomnia--between the Braxton-Hicks contractions, leg cramps, my belly crushing my lungs so I can't breathe, and the other multiple discomforts of late pregnancy, I can't sleep more than a couple hours a night. And this is before the baby comes!
5. Induction--I reminded her that if we went by MY dates, this baby is already 38 weeks and could be safely induced. She stuck to her guns--especially the one pointed at my head firing out FEB 8TH bullets. The best she could to at confessing that she's wrong was to say that they won't stop my labor if I go "early" and that she didn't think I'd be pregnant for another month. "I'm hoping you'll just go on your own soon, here" were her words. Is there a recipe for humble pie? I'd like to take one along with me when I finally get to go to L&D.
Then we scheduled that ultrasound. Why? I don't know. They scheduled it in two weeks--I wanted to scream. First, I don't want to still be this miserable for that long. Second, by that time, even using the doc's date, an induction should be allowable even without proof that Goliath (formerly known as the PBC) is huge. Then, since I usually see the OB on Mondays and the u/s was on a Tuesday, the receptionist helpfully said we could discuss the results at my next appointment. This would've been on Feb 3rd. I couldn't help myself. I looked at that lady and said "Look, lady, I don't plan on being pregnant that long." After glancing at my chart, she agreed, and changed the appointment to Jan 23rd. I didn't have it in me to tell her I didn't plan on being pregnant that long either.
Matter of fact, I am planning, hoping, PRAYING, to be pregnant for as short a time as possible at this point. I disappointed my Mommy by not giving her a grandbaby for her birthday yesterday. (She know's I wouldn't LOVED to grant that wish). Now I'm thinking, an Epiphany baby would be great. That's today. If I have to wait until tomorrow, my 4 children would be born on Monday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday is almost exactly between two of our other kids birthdays. If he hasn't come until Friday, his birthday would be 1/9/09. Kinda cool. At this point, whatever day is TODAY, whatever time is NOW would be kinda cool. Just let it be soon, dear Lord! I want to serve that humble pie to the doctor, not myself!
"By You I have been upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother's womb.
My praise shall be continually of You."
--Psalm 71:6
No comments:
Post a Comment