Doctor Drama

As I'm sure many of you are aware, my OB/GYN recently left Buffalo for a better job in Texas. I was heartbroken, but knew I had time to find someone...or so I thought. Then baby came and surprised us and I was looking for an OB sooner than expected. I decided when Dr. Menzies left that I would likely go to the woman OB at Buffalo Clinic-Dr. Emery. I had heard good things about her and had heard mixed things about the other OB (I've heard with him that you either love him or hate him), so we made an appointment a few weeks ago with Dr. Emery to confirm pregnancy.

That Monday I got a call saying that Dr. Emery was sick and that the soonest they could get me in was the following Monday. I still went in that Monday (that was the day Ethan had roseola, so about 3 weeks ago) and got pregnancy confirmed with the other OB (who squeezed me in between appointments). That day, I scheduled my 1st ultrasound (with Dr. Emery) for two weeks from that day (August 10).

Mark and eagerly awaited that day. Even though we knew we were pregnant, there's just something about seeing the baby on screen for the first time that makes it real. Mark took the morning off and I canceled my 3 piano lessons for the day so we could make a morning of it-go to the ultrasound, grab breakfast, and talk about everything. Well, we were never given that chance.

At about 8am that morning, I saw that the clinic had called my cell phone. I knew right away what it was, but decided to call them back and check, just in case. "Hi, someone called me a few minutes ago." "Um...yeah...Dr. Emery is sick today so we will have to reschedule your appointment." Are you flippin' kidding me??? I explained to the receptionist that while I wasn't frustrated with her, I was very angry that this had happened twice in less than a month. "I'm really sorry," was all she could give me. OK, so when is the next available appointment? "We have openings on Wednesday at 6:45 (am or pm? she never did tell me) and Friday at 8:45 am." I asked if the other OB had any openings. "His soonest opening is August 24." Oh my goodness! "Can anyone see me today? My husband stayed home from work." keys typing...."No, I'm sorry." I took the 8:45, but in the back of my mind was trying to decide what to do...give this chick one more chance or try a new doc. After I got off the phone, I told Mark about what had happened. He was more than frustrated. "Jess, this woman is going to be delivering our child and be part of this journey with us and our family and she can't even come to work? What if she decides on the day of your C-section that she's sick and doesn't want to come in?" Oooh...good point. I didn't really want to have to find a new doctor because of convenience. I mean, Ethan and I can go to our appointments on the same day in the same building...who could ask for anything more? However, after talking about it, we decided to try to look for a new doctor. We only had two viable options-Allina Medical Clinic, which has its offices in Buffalo Hospital (so I would still deliver there) or Monticello Clinic, which means I would deliver in Monti. Both were good options, but AMC seemed like a better fit. The two Monti OB's have children that go to St. Francis Xavier, so I don't know how I'd feel about seeing them at conferences or programs knowing where they've been and what they'd seen. We decided on AMC, so I called over there to make an appointment. They were more than accomodating. "We could get you in today with our OB educator (a nurse) to talk to you about your pregnancy and then later this week for an ultrasound." Wow! That was quick! "I'll take it!"

I met with the OB educator on Monday, who pretty much went over all the things that you already know from reading "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and just from having one already...don't drink liquor, only gain 15-25 lb., eat crackers for nausea, etc. I thought that despite the slight redundancy, it was still helpful. There were many great handouts, including one of what medicines are safe during pregnancy and just the fact that they took all this time to talk to me outside of a normal appointment. It was nice. What was NOT nice, however, was the lab work...it's probably my least favorite part of pregnancy and doctoring in general. See, I have really hard-to-find veins, so they poke me at least once before they are able to get some blood (or when I was giving birth to Ethan-7 times!). I lived, and then went to make an appointment for my ultrasound. "We have openings tomorrow at 5pm and 7pm." Again, wow! How prompt! I took the 7pm and went on my way. I have to say that so far, I am really liking Allina Medical Clinic! YAY! More on the ultrasound later...