So I'm 38+ weeks pregnant now which means weekly doctor's appointments. It wouldn't be so bad except that the wait at the doctor's is RIDICULOUS. Thankfully, John's mom agreed to watch Cooper today so I didn't have the entertain him for the hour & 20 minutes in the waiting room & then the extra 20 minutes in the examining room. So I finally see the doctor & all she has to do is measure me & listen to the baby's heartbeat. It should be quick & simple. She asks, "So, is the baby moving?" And my answer should have been, "Yes, absolutely," but instead I say, "Yeah, not as much as before, but he's moving." BIG MISTAKE. What I mean to convey is that the baby is no longer doing somersaults & flip flops, mostly likely because it's starting to get a little cramped in there, but what the doctor hears is "decreased fetal movement". So she asks me to do a fetal non-stress test. Today. Just to be sure everything's okay. Luckily, John's mom agrees to blow off whatever plans she had for the day to stay with Cooper longer, & I spend another couple hours at the doctors office.
At 2:30 pm I'm finally finished (I arrived minutes before my scheduled doctor's appointment time of 10:30 am). The ultrasound shows the baby is measuring correctly, head down, weighs approximately 6 lbs & 15 oz, & has a good heartbeat & is testing out his breathing skills. Non-stress test shows everything to be fine.
BUT, once they order a NST, they recommend you continue having them twice a week until delivery, so now I'm expected to take a NST every Monday & Thursday from now until the baby arrives. UGH! And for what purpose? Basically because I made a comment that was a little too close to a red flag & now everyone wants to cover their butt.
My doctor says that she just ordered the one & now it's up to the NST specialist to decide follow up. NST specialist says they follow up with bi-weekly test for everyone where another doctor is concerned enough to send them for one. Are you kidding me?? Not that I don't want to do whatever is necessary to make sure my baby is safe & healthy, but come on! What a huge waste of time & money! And they say the test only takes half an hour, but factor in travel time, waiting time, and the fact that Cooper naps right in the middle of the day & the whole day is shot. So instead of spending my last week or so before the baby just relaxing, preparing for the baby, & spending quality time with Cooper I will be wasting 2 entire days a week on unnecessary testing.
So the next time you're complaining about the high cost of insurance, think of me. It's people like me that make dumb, random, poorly thought out comments to doctors causing hundreds (or is it thousands?) of dollars to go towards unnecessary tests. Yah me.
4 comments:
...or is it millions!!!Sorry Sare, hang in there.....don't forget...you can always refuse testing...its really not a big deal to refuse, they just write it in ur chart that u refused and then their butts r covered. maybe u can cancel Mondays NST and just go to Thursdays NST.
....sorry...I can never keep my mouth shut when it comes to pregnancy stuff ;)
Oh Sarah-what a pain. I so like your thinking about having this time to be with your soon to be old baby. And right on Karen having information about options. It's so hard to trust ourselves and what we know and so to the doctor-" Thanks-but no thanks." Some people don't feel secure unless the Dr. whips out all their artillery. I'm sure you will do what's best for yourself. Hey and you are an attorney-so you know what a litigious world we live in. Hope the above spelling is ok. Love aunt Pat
(this is thebabykitties from swapbot trying to see what you might like for your suprise grab bag tag :) )
When I was a day before 36W with my son (who is going to be 2 at the end of Feb) I went in to the doctor because I hadn't been feeling him move, much, at all. So I did a NST nothing wrong. Next day, again I felt weird about him not moving, went in. I said, I think I am leaking or something. They just said I was young and I didn't know I was peeing on myself) I was 22 and tricked some nurse into checking and she was like YOUR WATER IS BROKEN then on the NST Ben's heart beat dropped a lot (I guess my water had been broken for a few days they just didn't believe me) So I had an emergency c-section. I guess I am very random. But, Ben is happy and just wanted to come early.
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