Appointment Update

What an emotional day today has been.

I got to my ultrasound appointment early, and they saw me pretty much right away. I was happy to see that the AFI was normal (yay), but got a little worried when the tech fell silent and focused on taking doppler measurements. She didn't say a thing about any of the measurements. After she was done, she went to consult with the reporting doctor, and took a long while before they both came back. Turns out the tech got some good shots of intermittent absent end diastolic flow. Meaning, the blood flow stops sporradically in the diastolic phase. When she went back to check, it was okay, but the pictures showed that it *does* happen. She said, it's not a reason to have her be born yet, even reverse diastolic flow isn't an immediate indicator of delivery, but that it does mean I need to be followed a lot more closely. She said she thought I should be rescanned tomorrow, and possibly admitted, but depending on the mfm I met with (as they all have very different opinions) might suggest a rescan on Sunday or Monday.

My NST was good. The fetal monitoring RN was awesome.

Then, I waited TWO hours for my mfm appointment. I was supposed to be seen at eleven, she didn't show up until 1!! I heard her complain about being hungry, and said to the nurse that I could wait until after she'd had lunch. OMG, the mfm was horrendous. I did not like her even one bit. After I'm done here, I'm calling the receptionist to request never to been seen by her again. She was awful. She came in, barely apologized for the wait, sat down and asked the basics (baby moving? spotting? contractions?) then went on to say "in my interpretation, your ultrasound results are stable. Your AFI is normal, as are some of your other dopplers". She pretty much stopped talking about that, and switched to talking about a gestational diabetes requisition (which I don't really want to have done) and my need to have it done before they can administer steroids. Jane says that the steroids can skew the results of the gd screen. She said "we'll follow you until 32 weeks and then you can go back to Richmond". Then she asked very quickly if I had any questions, and before I had a chance to think, she was gone. Five minutes later, the nurse came in, handed me the requisition for the gd test, and escorted me out. Are you effing kidding me?! One doctor says my condition warrants close monitoring, the other doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about me. Thanks for the service.

I didn't have too long to stew in my anger, because our meeting with the neonatologist was at 1:30pm. Wow, Dr. A was just the most amazing person I've met thus far. She was so, so nice to Jason and I. She talked about babies being born at 26 weeks, 27 weeks, 28 weeks, and a little about 29 weekers and up. Pretty much, if Ellie has to be born, she will make it. The NICU is so well equipped, they can handle just about anything thrown at them. She explained all the procedures they do to the newborns, all the monitors, all the tests. She was very open about it all, and didn't overwhelm us with information, just provided us with what we need to know for now.

She also took us on a tour of the NICU nursery, which was completely different than I had imagined. She showed us three babies (and thank you to the parents of those babies for letting us look!!). The first, was a 2 day old, 28 weeker who was born at 800grams. 200 grams bigger than Ellie, but so, so, sooooo tiny. Absolutely beautiful, perfectly formed, just micro-tiny. Then we saw a 23 weeker, who had been there a long time, but was nice and big and fat :) Adorable! And so amazing that he'd made it so far. Last, they showed us a 2 day old 31-weeker, a lot bigger than what Ellie would be if she stays on her curve, still so incredible tiny. Jason and I were in awe, and we left feeling comfortable, and no longer scared at the idea of having a preemie. She will be extraordinarily well looked after if she is born early. I have zero intention of allowing my care to be transferred to Richmond at 32 weeks, eff that idea. I'm staying in Vancouver, that is where I am having my baby.

We got home, and I called Jane to vent about the MFM. She suggested I call the ob-scan department to see if I could get the name of the doctor that did the scan, in the hopes of speaking with her about the drastic difference of opinion. Either that, or call the receptionist at the MFM desk and ask for a second opinion, explaining that I was very confused after my awful appointment.

Dr. P might be the more knowledgeable one, maybe her assessment is the correct one, and there's nothing to worry about between now and next week, but I'm not convinced. I think I'm going to think about it for a bit before deciding what to do.