It's Been Madness!

The last couple of weeks have been an emotional roller coaster ride for us and not the good kind. It started about a week and a half ago with a my normal 33 check up with my OB. It was a simple blood pressure, weight, heartbeat and size check appointment. My blood pressure was fine, I'd lost some weight (over two pounds), baby's heart rate was great but she was still measuring small in fundal height. This was all done by the nurse and then my doc comes in. He comes in sits down and asks hows the baby? I told him she's moving normal, no contractions but I did have a few concerns. Just as a worried mom. I was worried about the fact that her fundal measurements keep coming back two-three weeks small. And that the only movement I feel is above where my belly button is. That just seemed really high and with my mom have placenta previa before, it made me a little more concerned. With out even moving my doctor responded, "Well high movement in fairly common, and as for the size I guess we'll see what size she is when she is born." I start thinking, "um okay while that is all true I know that, I still don't feel very good about it." My doctor rushes on, "Any other questions?" I had been feeling pretty crummy the last week or so. My ears have been clogged, and my sinuses just aren't comfortable. I told him this and before I could even really get to my question he cuts me off saying, "I take half a Zertec a night to help with my allergies. Anything else???" I started getting a little ticked off. Then I pulled out my birth plan. I could see his face sort of drop and he said, "Oh I usually don't start birth plans until 37 weeks. But I suppose we can look at this." Then he proceeds to tear it apart. "No, you can't have anything to drink during labor. You have to have a saline IV so you will be hydrated. And I require that you be on a monitor at all times. You can move as much as you want just as long as you are on the monitor go to the bathroom and walk around, but that means you can't shower." What he doesn't mention but I know because I toured our hospital already is that they don't have portable monitors. So once I'm hooked up to a monitor I have a giant machine that will 3 feet away from me at all times that has to be plugged into a wall. Oh yeah I can really go for a walk on that type of leash. So at this point I'm almost in tears realizing that if I stay with this doctor I'm not getting a birth anything close to what I want. And this was the guy recommended to me for natural birth by several people. ACK!! At least my doc was smart enough to notice that I wasn't very happy and said, "These are my rules and if you don't like them I won't be offended if you go to another doctor. Just call the office and let them know. Any more questions?" I just looked at him blankly. He responded "Okay good, see you in two weeks." I made my appointment for two weeks and went home. Thank goodness it was a Friday and Fred's day off I was able to just home and be a mess. I cried, I whined, I worried, I stressed, so yeah I pretty much just broke down for an hour or two. Then Fred and I worked on the project of the day which helped get my mind off things.
Over the weekend I thought, prayed and tried to decide what to do. I knew I wanted a different doctor but would it be possible to find anyone better who would take me this late in the game. I also researched and e-mailed a bunch of OBs in the area. Then someone gave me the great idea of contacting a local Doula (birthing coach) to see who they recommended. So I did that and anxiously await to hear back from everyone hopefully on Monday.
Monday morning came and so did the responses. The doula's came first and she was very excited to help me. She recommended her favorite doctor to work with Dr. Cimino. As I was doing research about this doctor I got responses from all the OBs I e-mailed and none of them would take me because of how far along I was. Dr. Cimino takes patients up to 38 weeks. So I gave their office a call. And yup they were willing to take me as a patient my appointment was for the following week.
Yesterday I went to my new doctor. The staff was nice, kind and caring. Then the doctor came in and it got even better!!!! He answered all of my questions thoroughly, calmed my fears and took me seriously. I went over my birth plan and he's fully on board. I can even have my Gatorade during labor as long as there are no complications. And I only have to be on a monitor for one contraction every hour just to make sure that the baby is responding positively to the contractions. Other than that I can do what I want. We did have one disagreement though. That was when I'm actually due. According to some of my numbers I'm due on August 22nd. But my doctors have been telling me off the ultrasounds that I'm due September 8th-11th. Depending on which tech or doc you talk to. During my exam Dr. Cimino couldn't find the baby's head and I am starting to dilate. Not enough for a number yet but he can tell my body is getting ready for birth. But with all this an ultrasound was warranted. The ultrasound showed a due date of September 4th. Which isn't a huge difference but because of all the other date confusion and what my body is doing they are officially changing my date to that. Dr. Cimino so far is not convinced I'll make it that long. But Rayne is perfectly healthy with her head down. She is positioned a little different than most and that's why her fundal heights are always off and the placenta is in the front so it makes it hard to find the head on a regular exam.
So that's the story here. With baby arrival looming even closer than I thought my mind is starting to race about things I need to get done. While at the same time making sure I don't over do it and go into labor anytime soon. It will be an interesting balance and I'm sure everything will work out for the best. Just goes to show that when it comes to medical things I never do things the easiest way. I have to be just a little off beat.