The Results Are In...

I'm pregnant. Eeeek! But that's good. We'll figure everything out. We've got a little under 35 weeks (provided the baby doesn't come early -- my daughter was born at 37 weeks 1 day) to get everything settled and ready.

Did I mention this screws up my Christmas plans? Oh, well. :)

So, I've called my OB's office and Gwen (his nurse) has to call me back. "She's on the phone, but she'll call you right back." That was 2 hours ago. Right back. Riiiigggghhhhtttt.

I don't think I've mentioned how much I dislike Gwen. When I was pregnant with my daughter, at about 14 weeks or so, I got really sick. I couldn't keep anything down. For about 2 days straight. I called the OB's office and talked to Gwen. She told me to take a...now, I can't remember what it's called, but it's a horrible anti-nausea drug that just knocks me out for about 3 days. I told her that I had already tried and had thrown it up. She told me that was all that she could suggest. When I called back 1 hour later (after throwing up 3 more times), I got the other nurse, Irene. Have I mentioned that I love Irene as much as I despise Gwen? Irene told me to go to Labor and Delivery. I was so dehydrated that I spent the night in the hospital getting fluids. Thanks, Gwen.

So, as far as I could ever figure out, Gwen is the nurse you have for the first 20 weeks. Irene is your nurse from weeks 21-40+. If you call them, you'll get whichever one is available. Therefore, I saw Irene a lot more, and she was the better nurse anyway.

My husband called me a little while ago to ask if I had called the OB, and I told him that I was waiting on a call back from Gwen. "Is that the one that we don't like?" She must be really bad for my husband to remember that we don't like her. I told him that if she doesn't call me back by the end of the day, I'm changing doctors. I really liked my OB, but if his staff can't make a simple phone call to make an appointment, I will take my business (and yes, my insurance company pays a lot of money to this doctor) elsewhere.

At this point, I already have another doctor picked out. My OB with my doctor was Dr. B. He is one of the best OBs in the area, and he came highly recommended. There are 5 doctors on call with him if you call after hours (or give birth after hours). All are excellent doctors and some of the best in the area.

My daughter was born on a Sunday. That wasn't during Dr. B's regular office hours, of course, so she was delivered by Dr. K. Dr. K was great. He was smart enough to know that right after a baby is born, Mommy and Daddy don't want to talk to anyone; they just want to admire their little baby. I can only remember two things that he said after my daughter was born. He guessed she was about 7 pounds (6 lbs 14.2 oz, actually -- I guess that's what experience will do for you!) and that she probably would have been about 8 1/2 pounds had she waited until her due date.

I was only around Dr. K that morning for a little bit, but I really liked him. In all honesty, I will probably put up with Gwen and go back to Dr. B. He's a great doctor. I never felt rushed (even though it was usually about 5:30 before I saw him -- my appointments were at 4:00), he answered all my questions, he was always polite and wanted to know how I was feeling. He even teased me about having her on a Sunday when he couldn't be there. So, I'm trying not to make my OB decision based on nurses.

I think I'll try to get out of the first appointment though. With my daughter, our first appointment was with Gwen at 8 weeks. She proceeded to tell us absolutely everything that could still go wrong (um...hello...first time parents here....we don't need that much reality) and sent us on our way. I guess I didn't like her from the very beginning.

What I did like was that I could make all my appointments right then. All the way up through the end of the pregnancy. Therefore, I got all 4:00 appointments. That was great. If I'm going to wait around for an hour and a half, I don't want to have to worry about how much time I was missing at work. And I liked having an ultrasound at 13 weeks. No that wasn't typical, but I got pregnant while on birth control, so they have to know how big the baby is. He seemed a little annoyed that Gwen hadn't had me go in for an ultrasound after she met with me. That's right. She's incompetent. Please fire her.

So, I guess I'll try to call Gwen back. Of course, I wanted to schedule my appointment when I called because no one was in the office at that point in time. Now, all the eavesdroppers are here, and I don't really want anyone to know that I'm pregnant. Ugh!

I'm over it, now. I'll call Gwen back whenever I get a chance. We'll see if I need to switch doctors.