The First Real Appointment

Since my first appointment turned out to only be a briefing, I was excited for the following week, when I would finally get to see a doctor. I understand in the States, most doctors won’t see you until you’re 8 weeks pregnant, but they scheduled me in at about 6 weeks. It was raining cats and dogs the afternoon of our appointment, which isn’t common here. We raced into the hospital (the doctor’s office is in the hospital, yes) and found our way to his office. After a blonde moment not being able to open the door (push, don’t pull!), we made it inside, checked in and began the long wait. We waited over an hour before the doctor greeted us. In the US, I would be annoyed about the wait time but know that it’s fairly normal. Here, however, it is very unusual to wait that long, so we were a bit frustrated to begin with. Strike one.

The doctor greeted me but did not introduce himself to John nor ask his name. Strike two.

He took us into the examination room and did an ultrasound. Wow! We were so excited to see our little blip of a baby on the ultrasound. We could even see the heart flickering – it was amazing. The doctor ruined it, however, when he said “there’s one. It’s a viable embryo.” Really doc? Must you ruin this monumental occasion for us with your dry medical speak? Do you have no bedside manner? Strike three.

Being a first time mom and at my very first prenatal appointment, I had quite a few questions for the doctor. He made me feel uncomfortable asking my questions, so I left off about half of what I had written down. He even told me that it was too early to be discussing some of my questions. Um, I don’t think it’s too early to know your stance on inductions. I want to know how your practice works. I want to know your philosophy. On top of it all, he told me “if you have any other questions, the internet has lots of answers.” That blew my mind. I do not trust the internet for sound medical advice. Strikes four and five.

When he finished with us, he sent us to his nurse to draw some blood. That’s when I had the fainting episode. Though it wasn’t their fault, I was already annoyed with this office, so I’ll go ahead and say it: Strike six.

(He really does deserve the sixth strike, actually. He came in after I fainted and wasn’t caring at all.  He just told me next time, I need to tell them I faint so I can lie down when the draw blood. Next time…hah! Very funny.)

After all of this, we could easily conclude that this was not the man we wanted to delivery our baby. We switched over to a different hospital and new doctor. More on that next week!

Have a great weekend! We are going to snuggle up under the covers and spend the weekend relaxing and drinking hot cocoa. It’s supposed to be rainy all weekend with highs around 56-58 and lows in the upper 40s.