The other big change is that Jeffrey and I have decided to not only change doctors but also to change hospitals. Don't get me wrong, I loved the doctor that I've had for the last 5 years or more -- however, in the past, I would only see her once a year for an annual womanly visit and that was that. Well, as I'm getting further along in my pregnancy I've realized that she is not all that supportive of natural birth and that her views on childbirth are very Western. I think that a doctor should be open minded about what a woman wants during her birth as long as the requests are reasonable...when we brought our list of questions to our last visit, the doctor kindly answered every one of them. However (and this is where the red flag went way up) when we got to the part in my birth plan where I requested that she coach me through the final pushing stage by using Lamaze techniques to slowly birth the baby to prevent tearing (sorry guys...but it happens!) her immediate response was that she had partners that she could refer me to if that was important to me because she didn't really support Lamaze that much. I thought to myself...Lamaze is one of the very basics of natural child birth -- it's not like I wanted to give birth in the woods! She was quick to point out that even if she referred me to one of her colleagues that I could not be guaranteed that he/she would be on call the day I deliver. As she answered our questions and addressed other items in our birth plan, her approach was very defensive and close-minded. Now, I'm not stupid and I realize that there are a million unknowns when it comes to birth and that all of the wonderful ideas I have in my head of how I'd like to welcome this baby into the world may very quickly be thrown out the window if complications arise...however, I don't feel like my ideas should be discounted at this point! And this was not the first time that red flags went up - you should have seen the major eye roll when I told her months ago that I was going to see an acupuncturist for relief from headaches and backaches...I should have probed more then.
So...after much thought, debate, and research (and with the help of first-hand info from friends) we have decided to switch to Touro. They have a Family Birthing Center there and are much, much, much more open to natural births. They even have a midwives program there! I'm not choosing a mid-wife, however, because being "high-risk" (because of my small size) I don't think that they would take me on. The doctor that I have chosen is supportive of natural birth and (from what friends have said) supports tub births (you can rent birthing tubs and have them set up in your delivery room)! You have no idea the sigh of relief that I had when I actually scored an appointment with him for later this month! Now I have to start the process of having my records transferred over and we will be good to go!
In other baby news, I had to take my glucose tolerance test (it's a test to see if you have Gestational Diabetes). It is a standard test given between 24 and 28 weeks. You first have to schedule the one-hour test...basically you go in and have to drink this orange stuff that tastes like Orange Crush and wait for an hour and then have your blood drawn to check your blood sugar level. I'm not a big dessert person, although I will indulge in some chocolate chip cookies and have an Abita root beer on occasion. I felt fine through the test and thought I had that one in the bag.....well, needless to say, I got a call from the nurse a few hours later saying that I flunked. Although I had test anxiety when I was in school, I'm not used to failing tests. This one threw me for a loop! So since my blood sugar numbers were elevated for the one-hour test, I had to schedule the 3-hour fasting glucose test. The 3-hour test involves the same orange drink (except this time I had to drink the whole bottle...must have been 100mg of sugar) -- and they draw your blood FOUR times...once before you drink the orange drink and then every hour for the next 3 hours. I felt like the human pin cushion and got to be personal friends with the ladies in the lab!! The time passed quickly as I had rented some movies to watch on my laptop -- silly me, though, rented the Disney flick The Princess and the Frog...who knew that the entire movie was about food...and New Orleans food at that! I was starving!!!
So I did the glucose test this morning and I'm waiting for the call with the results. I'm prepared to do whatever I need to do to keep this baby (and me) healthy. I have been blessed with a very smooth pregnancy and so I can't complain about having this little bump in the road! Even if I do end up with Gestational Diabetes, I only have 3 more months to go...so whether that's 3 months of a strict diet (which I can totally do) or 3 months of insulin injections, I'm ready!!
On a fun note -- we go for another ultrasound tomorrow morning. Given my small height and weight, the doctors just wanted to make sure that the baby would continue to grow at a normal rate! I can't wait to see the little one again!!!! I'll be sure to post pictures...and no, we still are NOT finding out the sex!!!!!
Kasey, this is Cecile. I had JoJo at Touro. They were great. JoJO was in the NICU at Touro, too (7 days). They were also great. My OB/GYN was William von Almen. Not sure it he's the one you chose. He delivered Julie Leppich's kids, too. You will love Touro.
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