Heartbeats, obstetricians, pictures and panic management

[ailbhe]

My lovely midwife came yesterday and was lovely. She listened to the tadpole's heart, which was doing a nice 140bpm just like the book says it ought, and took three little bottles of blood the nice new way which minimises needles and pain, and check that I'm not obviously diabetic, and talked nicely to me about my appointment tomorrow, and said that if I get worried again, I can call her and she'll just come over and listen to the heartbeat for me, and I'm not to sit around worried for weeks again.

She had a cup of tea and a biscuit too.

This morning we all three trooped over to the hospital on a number 18 bus. This is splendid, because it goes practically all the way there, cutting out a ten minute walk, which I usually spend trying very hard not to turn around and go home. Then we waited for two hours to see the midwife (you have to see the midwife for standard checks before you see the obstetrician, the administrators get very confused otherwise) and the obstetrician.

I saw the same consultant who runs the traumatic birth clinic, and it was fine. She gives people loads of time with her, which is why she's always running late :) and she let me talk about everything that worried me.

Scheduling the section for 37 weeks will be fine. And if at 37 weeks I feel that I'm not about to go into labour, I can reschedule for a week later. She will not be around to do the operation herself, but I will meet the obstetrician who is doing it before the event. It will absolutely not be the man who attended Linnea's birth. I don't get to meet or choose an anaesthetist, though - but that's much less of a problem.

I can have serious painkillers afterwards, to make absolutely sure I don't experience terrible pain. I will only have one hand restrained during the birth, and the baby will not be taken out of my sight after being born (assuming no need to go to special care etc). I can have the baby in the morning and have my mother and Linnea come to see us in the afternoon.

The obstetrician has asked me to write up a birth plan and give a copy to everyone involved, making sure one is enclosed with my hospital notes, so that everyone knows what's supposed to happen. This greatly increases my confidence that any birth plan will be attended to. I think the last time I didn't have a sufficiently detailed plan, since I honestly thought that what I wanted at individual stages would count for something, and so the few things I did make specific plans about were ignored.

Overall, it was good. The panic management techniques my therapist taught me helped a bit, too. So did knowing that That Man wasn't on duty today - his name wasn't on the board.

And to end the appointment, the obstetrician did a little scan and printed us three photos, without us even asking her to. She went all mushy when the tadpole waved at us :)

Comments

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

Awww, waving!

Glad things are going well.