26 weeks and counting
Apr. 16th, 2009 01:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smileswhfSaw my OB this morning for my checkup. She declared me to be in my 3d trimester now but Mayo Clinic still says I'm in my second. Eh, whatever. I am still a straight "C" student -- 50% on everything. My friends cringe when I say this. Then I remind them that this isn't the class where you want to get extra credit.
We had a long talk about various things that have been on my mind. As far as I can tell, the hospitals here all have a "mandatory" 48 hour hospital stay for normal births. I had major surgery last summer and I was out in under 24 hours, but for this I have to stay? It turns out that it isn't mandatory; the hospitals just make it really, really difficult to leave. The key sticking points seem to be if you have a pediatrician lined up before birth who has privileges at the hospital and whether or not you have jumped on the anti-vaccine bandwagon. If you don't have a pediatrician, the one and only neo-natal specialist at the hospital won't release the baby. And I guess everyone gets bent out of shape if you refuse the vaccines.
J is in Arizona this week. We started to have the vaccine conversation last night on the phone. He starts with "Of course we are going to do all of the vaccines." He caught himself right away and admitted that we hadn't discussed it. There are a whole new crop of vaccines out there since I was a kid. I'm really ok with the old fashioned ones like measles and polio, but I haven't kept up on the newer stuff. I want to do the research on those before I say yes. I did find it to be very surprising that the anti-vaccine craze has taken root here. I had thought that was confined to the affluent, new-agey communities -- like the ones that I come from. It's interesting to me since so many women here are willing to be at the mercy of whatever their doctor's choose to do to them during labor but will then utterly refuse to follow the doctor's recommendation on vaccines.
My doctor also strongly recommended a tub birth since I am intending to do a wait-and-see on pain killers. In the category of too much information, I asked about the issue of bodily functions and tubs.
Me: "Uh, I'm told it's pretty common to vomit and lose your bowels while you're in labor. So how does that work with the tub?"
Dr.: "I haven't heard of anyone ever vomiting in the tub. But poop -- poop is part of labor. Especially when you're pushing. We have a net where we just scoop it out."
Me: "Ok, that's just disgusting."
Having said that, I guess I'll take the advice and rent the tub. I hadn't intended to because I don't really like to take baths. We have 3 bathtubs in our house and we have used one of them once. Because we thought we should. When I said this to the doctor she promptly replied, "Yeah, but you've never been in labor before."
Other interesting factoids: it is mandatory to have an IV catheter inserted when you are admitted to the hospital. Someone should tell these people that IVs hurt and you shouldn't have to have one if you don't need it. And unless there is an emergency, the doctors and midwives all "encourage" the partner to cut the umbilical cord. I enjoyed sending J email about that one. Now he can have something to fret about. LOL
We had a long talk about various things that have been on my mind. As far as I can tell, the hospitals here all have a "mandatory" 48 hour hospital stay for normal births. I had major surgery last summer and I was out in under 24 hours, but for this I have to stay? It turns out that it isn't mandatory; the hospitals just make it really, really difficult to leave. The key sticking points seem to be if you have a pediatrician lined up before birth who has privileges at the hospital and whether or not you have jumped on the anti-vaccine bandwagon. If you don't have a pediatrician, the one and only neo-natal specialist at the hospital won't release the baby. And I guess everyone gets bent out of shape if you refuse the vaccines.
J is in Arizona this week. We started to have the vaccine conversation last night on the phone. He starts with "Of course we are going to do all of the vaccines." He caught himself right away and admitted that we hadn't discussed it. There are a whole new crop of vaccines out there since I was a kid. I'm really ok with the old fashioned ones like measles and polio, but I haven't kept up on the newer stuff. I want to do the research on those before I say yes. I did find it to be very surprising that the anti-vaccine craze has taken root here. I had thought that was confined to the affluent, new-agey communities -- like the ones that I come from. It's interesting to me since so many women here are willing to be at the mercy of whatever their doctor's choose to do to them during labor but will then utterly refuse to follow the doctor's recommendation on vaccines.
My doctor also strongly recommended a tub birth since I am intending to do a wait-and-see on pain killers. In the category of too much information, I asked about the issue of bodily functions and tubs.
Me: "Uh, I'm told it's pretty common to vomit and lose your bowels while you're in labor. So how does that work with the tub?"
Dr.: "I haven't heard of anyone ever vomiting in the tub. But poop -- poop is part of labor. Especially when you're pushing. We have a net where we just scoop it out."
Me: "Ok, that's just disgusting."
Having said that, I guess I'll take the advice and rent the tub. I hadn't intended to because I don't really like to take baths. We have 3 bathtubs in our house and we have used one of them once. Because we thought we should. When I said this to the doctor she promptly replied, "Yeah, but you've never been in labor before."
Other interesting factoids: it is mandatory to have an IV catheter inserted when you are admitted to the hospital. Someone should tell these people that IVs hurt and you shouldn't have to have one if you don't need it. And unless there is an emergency, the doctors and midwives all "encourage" the partner to cut the umbilical cord. I enjoyed sending J email about that one. Now he can have something to fret about. LOL
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-16 09:35 pm (UTC)As of 7 years ago, the vaccines are DPT (diptheria, polio, tetanus), MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles, IIRR)), Hib (which I don't remember what it is but something to do with hepatitis, I think), and the chicken pox.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-28 06:10 pm (UTC)There are 12 standard pediatric vaccines (according to the CDC). They say hib is the influenza vaccine that prevents menengitis and pneumonia. The standard flu vaccine is listed. Also tetanus as part of Tdap. They don't list HPV. As you pointed out, they haven't changed that much since I was a kid. I guess I would normally skip chickenpox but neither J or I are clear on whether we have antibodies. Getting the kid vaccinated is a good idea to protect us. I would normally skip the yearly flu one, too, except the observatory has a chronic problem with people flying in who are infected with some noxiousness and giving it to everyone on the staff. The pediatrician that I picked is a real advocate of vaccines and was relieved to know we wouldn't be problematic about it. Before I left her office she assigned homework for J and I to get Tdap shots. They are only good for 10 years. I had no idea that whooping cough vaccines have to be renewed.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-28 06:39 pm (UTC)I knew about the Whooping Cough vaccine needing to be renewed because one of my friends got whooping cough when he was 14 and it took them awhile to figure it out because he had had the vaccine. Also that was when they discovered his latex allergy.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-17 01:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-17 10:51 pm (UTC)