Homemade caramel coated, chocolate covered pretzels… a little bribe.. errr… gift for my doc and nurse!

While our 20-week doctor’s appointment was wildly overshadowed by our anatomy scan, which we had right before the appointment, I must say it was quite informative. I’ve been sending myself text messages in the middle of the day… or night… when I think of questions to help keep track of everything over the month’s time.

This month, I happened to watch, “The Business of Being Born,” which created about 10 questions right there. Anyway, this is why I bake for my doctor. I am totally aware of the fact that I’m an obnoxious patient. Not-to-mention the fact that I have it in my mind that if my doctor likes me, she’ll be more willing to go out of her way to make it to my delivery. I’ll let you know how that pans out.

So, here are my questions and the corresponding answers:

1. Does it bother the baby when I poke my belly (my husband was on my ass about this one)? Nope! There is so much cushioning, etc, that you wouldn’t be able to poke hard enough to hurt the baby because of the pain it would cause you. IE: Poke away!
2. Can I drink kombucha? My doc didn’t know too much about kombucha but we pulled up the product page online and she said her only concern would be the caffeine quantity in Black Tea, and urged me not to drink too much.
3. Is it okay to take a probiotic supplement? Yep!
4. What are your thoughts on a doula? Essentially, she said they can be very helpful for the mothers and tend to work really well with the nurses in our delivery hospital. Doula away!
5. Can you write me a note providing permission to fly (we are headed to NY tomorrow and Mexico next month)? While she didn’t think this was necessary, she had no problem writing our note.
6. Can I drink fresh fruit juices from the resort juice bar in Mexico? All of the food you have at the resort should be just fine – assuming you’re following basic pregnancy do’s and don’ts. This makes me beyond happy because for some reason (maybe because I’m a hungry pregnant lady), a juice bar and pizza restaurant were requirements for the resort we selected.
7. What percentage of women are given pitocin? Oy. This answer was sad. My doctor literally laughed and said, “A Lot!” This obviously isn’t surprising, but the conversation felt like a clip out of the Business of Being Born.
8. Do you have to take pitocin? This was a little wishy washy, but the gist was that if you do not want it, they will be patient with you. And, ideally, you want to stay out of the hospital for as long as possible. It definitely reinforced the fact that if you don’t know your options, it’s very easy to fall into the pitocin/epidural/c-section pattern.
9. Do you allow mothers to deliver standing up or on all fours? Our doctor definitely seemed flexible, although, it seemed as though she’s only delivered a couple of babies with the momma in an alternative birthing position (versus the typical on your back posish).
10. Do you guys use vacuum/forceps for delivery? Yes, when necessary. They’ve found that it can be done to prevent the need for a c-section.
11. Does the momma have control over the lighting and number of people in the delivery room? Absolutely! My doc recommended writing up a birth plan to give to the nurses when you come in to labor/deliver. While the nurses and docs have their standard procedures, they are very willing to work with you to create the best environment and experience for each mother. Mark and I decided we better have some sort of homemade goody to bring to the nurses so they don’t get turned off by my ridiculous birth plan 🙂
12. At what point are interventions optional versus requirements? When the mother or baby are at risk, that’s where the docs step in.
13. Percentage of c-sections? About 20%… I think that’s what she said?
14. How can you stay in the Jacuzzi tub? Can you deliver in there? You can pretty much stay in there until it’s time to get the baby out… but you can’t deliver in the tub. One question my mom brought up was that she had heard you couldn’t be in the tub once your water breaks. I’ll have to ask that next month.
15. Do you get an IV right away? Yes! There doesn’t have to be anything connected to it, but just in case, they want to make sure they’re prepared for any situation that may arise.
16. Can you request that your nurses don’t ask you if you want pain meds? Yes! Again, this is something to put in the birth plan. My thought is that if I want the meds, I’ll ask. But if not, I don’t want to be tempted.

Wow… okay, that’s all of them! Thankfully, she seemed excited about her treat and didn’t seem to notice the ridiculous number of questions I asked. She even said that she didn’t feel as if she had earned the delicious pretzels. She did in my book!

Symptoms

A couple new things lately… one, in certain positions – mostly when I’m lounging on the couch or laying down in bed – I can feel my heart/blood pumping. At one point, I even took my pulse because it felt like my heart was pounding… but it was completely normal. My doc said it’s just the increased volume of blood that is likely causing my heart to work a little harder in certain positions. Regardless, it’s a little annoying.

The other symptom is the kinda-but-not-really runny nose. I pretty much always feel like I need to blow my nose, but there is rarely anything to blow out. Not a big deal, just something I’ve noticed.