Friday, January 18, 2008

First appointment
Yesterday morning I had my first appointment with the OBGYN's office. This was just an intake appointment were they ask you every question under the sun & take blood. Unlike my first appointment when I was pregnant with Logan, I did not meet the Doctor & I did not have an ultrasound (bummer!).

The intake nurse was super nice, giving Logan toys & a blue sucker to keep him entertained during our appointment. The purpose of the intake is to answer any questions, solve any problems & help the soon-to-be mom with anything they need. This is a great service & very different from the HMO environment I had previously experienced. The intake nurse had hyperemesis with her two pregnancies & knew exactly how I was feeling. We laughed about worrying about being sick & worrying about not being sick at the same time. She felt the exact same way. She made sure that the nurses would get the pre-auth approved for my zofran.

She also asked about stress & insomnia, where I explained that the in-laws were the source of this stress. I told her a little bit about what I went through after Logan was born (making me cry, of course) & how I was worried about going through all of that again. She was sympathetic, even tearing up a bit herself, saying that she doesn't doubt that there would be increased anxiety in a second pregnancy after the experiences I had with my first. Stating that she felt so touched, she offered a listening ear whenever I needed it. If I ever had to cry, vent or worry, all I had to do was giver her a call. I thought that was really nice & sweet of her.

After the appointment with her, I had my blood drawn - with Logan on my lap & screaming "BLUE! BLUE!" because I took his blue sucker away. After he calmed down, he was very interested in what was going on & the nurse even let him hold a vile of blood (this was super gross, but I wasn't going to say anything because I had a needle in my arm with my head turned the other way). It was actually very helpful to have him on my lap as a distraction. His hugs made the draw a little better.

After that we headed to the financial office to talk about the upcoming bills. The financial clerk had already figured out what the 9 months of care would cost & figured out a budget for us. This was awesome! Our insurance this time is very different (& more expensive), so it's great to be this prepared already. She also said that the clinic will give us a free 3-D ultrasound at around 29 weeks, which was a nice little surprise. Logan was good & made a trail of cracker crumbs all over her entire office. She was understanding, saying that it wasn't a problem (it really was a huge mess).

After we left, I got a call from one of the nurses working on getting my medication. She said that she was on the phone all morning with my insurance company fighting them about it. Apparently, they were being very difficult but she was able to get the approval. I got a 30 pill supply & she said that if I need more, she got the limit lifted to 90. This was a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders. I picked up my prescription last night, feeling like I can relax a little bit more. Now we'll see what week 6-7 will bring because that's when I predict HG will start to slap me upside the head for worrying about not being sick.

At least I'm 100% prepared for it now.

4 comments:

Liz said...

It's really fantastic that you have that kind of support and advocacy in your doctor's office.
I sure hope The Sick doesn't come back, but I'm so glad to know that you have a staff who will work for you and with you.

Kristin said...

I think I'm officially in love with the office. I'm really thankful that I listened to my friends referrals! They were so right!

I don't think I'll escape HG since I'm really fighting it today. I feel like I could run to the bathroom at any minute & right now, I feel the worst I've felt this pregnancy so far. I'm holding off on the medication until I actually do hurl. BUT AT LEAST I HAVE IT! YEA!

Anonymous said...

Yay, I'm so glad things went well. That's particularly good that you'll have the medicine you need now. I'm glad the dr fought your insurance company for you.

Dawn @ Bent, not broken said...

oh it's so good that you're prepared and armed with medicine. That's so awesome. That already shows how much easier this pregnancy will be!