Ninth Prenatal Dr Visit

We went to see the doctor again today.  No ultrasound, just the heart monitor.  This time Joe and I had a small list of questions for the doctor since we’re gearing up for delivery.  I asked her about the rib pain and she said the baby is pretty big now and probably comfortable where it’s sitting so it’s unlikely to move.  It’s not a concern unless it’s so severe I can’t take it.  That would maybe be a sign of a gallbladder infection.  As for the rash, it’s probably fine since it’s not itchy but I can use cortisone cream if it gets itchy.  As far as the blurred vision, I shouldn’t be concerned unless I start to get headaches.  So that’s all well and good.

We asked if West Hills Hospital is baby friendly.  She said it was and explained the procedure after birth to have the baby resting skin to skin to allow bonding.  West Hills offers private rooms and the baby can stay with us the whole time.  We asked about delayed clamping and if it would interfere with bonding time.  She said the cord is pretty long so I can still hold the baby while waiting the delay.  If the baby is a boy she would perform the circumcision but probably the next day after the baby feeds and goes to the bathroom.

We told her our choice for Pediatrician so she wrote it down.  She’s familiar with her.  Also I had heard that I could get a breastpump through my insurance so I asked her about that.  She said she can order it for me at 35 weeks.  They don’t allow ordering any earlier but it’s done all through her office since you need a doctor’s okay to get it but they’ll mail it to me and I won’t have any out of pocket costs for it.  That’s pretty exciting because a good breastpump is over two hundred dollars.  A mid range pump is in the hundred dollar range.  She said they send a pretty good one.  It’s not really free since we pay for our insurance but I definitely want to get some mileage out of our insurance plan for whatever we can get.  We’ll save quite a bit of money not having to buy a breastpump.

She also asked us if we’d taken any prenatal classes and was very impressed when we listed them all.  I guess most people don’t take them or wait until the very last minute.  She was happy we were prepared and referred to us as overachievers.  Pretty funny.  I really like the new doctor.  She’s very informative, helpful and friendly.  We decided to stick with her to deliver our baby since we’re going over everything we’d like with her and we don’t know when my regular doctor will be back and I don’t want to switch again at the last minute.