Today was my first appointment with my regular obgyn. I've been kind of gearing myself up for this because I know it's not going to be like going to RMA, where they really treat you amazingly, but that's what I'd hope for. I am having a baby, after all, and it's my first one, so you'd think at the first appointment there might be a little bit of a fuss.
Now maybe I'm making mountains out of molehills but I was a little taken aback by how "blah-zay" my doctor and his nurse were. I would have expected them to do an exam or an ultrasound since it was my first time there since my HSG test at the hospital in October, but this wasn't how it was going to go down.
First the nurse asked me to give her a urine sample. Okay. So I went in, filled up the cup thinking "oh they must have to do all sorts of tests." I bring my cup into the exam room and the nurse kinda makes fun of me for giving her so much urine because it's really for "nothing but a pregnancy test." Um, I'm sorry, but I know I'm pregnant. I watched her dip the strip into my urine, watched her watch it turn positive, then she proceeded to turn around and say "congratulations, you're pregnant" in the worst monotonous voice. I've known this for weeks now, totally ridiculous. Then she proceeds to give me a due date...yet more information that I already had. Thanks. Strike 1.
Finally, it was the doctor's turn to make an appearance and his first words to me were "Well that was awfully fast!" Translation: 'You just started going to the specialist in October when I blew up your Fallopian tubes and it's only January and you are ALREADY pregnant!' That was strike 2. I was already miffed, I didn't need anything else to piss me off.
Well, to make a long story short, we went to his office and had a very long, uninformative conversation about our options with testing (apparently with this group, ALL tests are optional), what the appointments would be like, how much weight to gain, what foods to avoid, etc. All the while, I sat there thinking "This all seems very machine-like, almost automatic and not the least bit personal." And I hate when you go to a doctor and they don't know you or your name until they look at your chart. That's what this whole appointment was. It was 60 minutes of my life that I felt like I'd never get back.
Strike 3 occurred for me when he shuffled me and Paul out of his office to make my next appointment, which wouldn't be for 3 more weeks-that would be a physical. Then I had to go downstairs to Ultrasound to make an appointment for a u/s in 2 weeks. THEN (as if this can't get any worse) if we wanted to do genetic testing for Downs Syndrome, we'd have to call a specialist in Poughkeepsie to make an appointment for that. So THREE separate appointments on THREE separate days. But it gets better....after making all of the appointments, I still thought I'd be going in for an exam or an ultra sound. NOPE! I was done. His nurse said "See you soon! Congratulations!" And out the door we went.
I didn't realize how dissatisfied I was until a little later. I asked Paul what he thought and he said he seemed fine, nothing super extraordinary but competent. I guess I'll have to mull this first appointment over some more. Everyone says the first appointment sucks, and maybe my expectations are too high, but seriously, these people make a lot of money and my experience left me feeling very unsure that I was in a place that would meet my sometimes "high maintenance" needs.
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