Liking my new-ish doctor

Today I had my annual physical. This is the second time I've been to this doctor. The first time I went was over a year ago and I was pretty miserable about my weight. True, I had Cameron less than 6 months before but I was still breastfeeding and feeling poorly that the weight wasn't coming off. Unlike all those famous people we read about that have no problem. I'm looking at you, Giselle!

This time I prepared myself for a better experience and got one. Sometimes it is really all in your mind but it helps that I've been proactive, not just with my weight, but also coming prepared with a lot of questions.

The last visit I couldn't wait to get out of there so I didn't really notice the good things about the office and my doctor. This time I did. I was called back to the room a few minutes before my appointment. I met with the nurse first and reviewed my recent history plus gave her the list of questions I had for the doctor. She took my stats and then told me that the doctor would be in soon. And guess what, he was! I'm as shocked as you are.

I figure that the office allows for 30 minute per patient. Because I had bunch of questions, plus my fun yearly girl exam, mine took more like 45 minutes. But my doctor never seemed concerned about the time or rushed me. It's kind of weird that he's my age (I'll probably find it weirder as I get older and the doctors are YOUNGER than me) but he was pleasant and I actually felt like I could talk to him more honestly than I even did with by OB.

I'm sure that it helps he gave me major kudos for my weight loss and gave actionable advice for my questions (nothing serious, don't worry!). It was probably one of my better doctor experiences in the past 10 years. So, what do you like/don't like about your primary care physician? Do you find if you don't like someone you try a new doctor or do you just stick with it for convenience? How do you normally find a new primary care physician? I found my doctor through a recommendation of a woman in my mom's group and I'm so glad she told me about him!

Final PSAs: Make sure you go with a list of questions. I jotted them down over the course of a few weeks which really helped. Also, it's flu shot season so even though DH refuses to get one, please get one for you and your kids!

Behind every cloud

I had planned on doing a picture post but DH is traveling so I decided to veg out last night, watch a little TV and stay up a bit late reading an awesome book. It's the latest Anne Bishop if anyone is interested.

We had a wonderful weekend with very minor temper tantrums by Cameron. Either we are getting better at managing (really distracting) her or she's just gearing up for another big one. Lots of errands were run and DH had his baseball draft. This Sunday is the start of me being a baseball widow for the next 8 months. Perhaps a month less if the Yankees don't make it to the post season. Hey, a wife can dream! DH finally broke down and bought a new flat screen TV for his office and a new couch. The TV is already in place and the couch should be delivered in the next week or so. That means I can have the main TV all to myself!

The one errand we didn't accomplish was to pick out new glasses for me. 7 years ago I got laser eye surgery. It was absolutely the best thing I ever did. I was able to pay for it with pre-tax dollars and loved being able to see in the shower or the clock when I rolled over. I had, to put it mildly, very poor eyesight. My glasses were coke bottles so I primarily wore contacts. About a year before the surgery the contacts started to really bother my eyes if I had them in for longer than a few hours. Faced between scheduling an expensive procedure and wearing my coke bottle classes, I decided to go with the surgery.

I had a feeling that my eyesight wasn't 20/20 any more. But I haven't been to the eye doctor since the last eye surgery follow up. I do have some problems driving at night. I get a halo effect from lights. But DH usually drives so it wasn't that big of a deal. I scheduled my appointment for this huge facility right down the road.

The nurse took me back through a warren of corridors (I think this place could have seen 100 patients at one time!) and began administering my eye test. Are they really nurses? Perhaps eye technicians? Anyway, she immediately began clicking her tongue when I couldn't read below the second line. I said, "These letters are really small. I bet most people can't read them." She responded, "Yes they can." Crap. I knew that this wasn't going to be a good appointment. After scaring me she dilated my eyes and then the doctor came in. He was super nice and his wife was also an eye doctor (Harvard). He also told me that his daughter was going to Harvard in the fall. For what, you may ask? Nuclear physics. Yikes. Smart girl.

The doctor told me that my eyes weren't too bad but my left one was worse than my right which was why I couldn't see well at night. "It's actually a good thing," he told me seriously, "That means in a few years when you are in your 40s and you start to become far sighted you won't need reading glasses." Gee, thanks. I happen to only be in my early thirties, dude. I had to write my birth date down a million times on the forms I filled out. Do the math!

It turns out that I will only need glasses for driving at night which is great. I don't plan on wearing them very often because I remember distinctly when I was 8 and got glasses for the first time. After about a week once I took them off everything was blurry. I don't plan on going through that again. And the silver lining is that despite failing eyesight today apparently I will not require reading glasses in ten years when I'm in my forties.

Has anyone else regressed from their eye surgery? Contemplating getting it?

A big baby or perhaps going early?

DH and I had our last ultrasound this morning. She's still a girl :-) and apparently is at 6 pounds 12 ounces and already has some hair. I think I can see the hair on her ultrasound picture which is very cool. My doctor said that she's definitely big if I'm really at 36 weeks 3 days so I'm probably farther along than that. I suspected as much seeing as I've been measuring ahead all along and my due date had been shifted out a week at my first ultrasound.

Of course now my expectations are that I will go early and I'm going to be even more impatient for the next 3+ weeks to go by. I also found out I'm negative for the GSB test and didn't gain any weight from my last appointment. Yay! Talk about a great appointment. Now if only they had a cure for those stretch marks that seem to be multiplying...

DH and I are meeting with a pediatrics practice this evening and another next week. We also have an infant CPR class (DH's idea) tomorrow and breast feeding class on Saturday. And somewhere along the way we need to squeeze in an appointment for the car seat check/installation and packing the bags for the hospital. March really is the month of the baby!

Pregnancy Updates

I had my 32 week appointment yesterday and everything is looking good. Although now I have to go in every week which seems extreme. Good thing DH and I have excellent insurance! I must be a godsend for my doctor. No real problems, 5 minute office visits, and lots of research on my own.

I am measuring between 32 and 33 weeks and my weight is very much on track (thank goodness!) so I don't have to give up the ice cream yet. The little one is currently head down but that won't be locked in until after week 36. At this point the doctor does not think I will go beyond my due date (3/28) because my original due date was 3/21. He pushed it out with the first ultrasound. Apparently if I go to week 41 I will be offered an induction and he recommended I take it. But in his words, "I would be surprised if you make it that far." Yah! Music to my ears and my burgeoning belly.

Many women get a final ultrasound at week 36 but apparently I don't unless the doctor thinks the baby is turned the wrong way. Interesting. The MBA in me wonders about the weekly doctor visits over the next 8 weeks compared to cost of an ultrasound. I might be willing to make a trade off if it was offered to me. But of course in the US health care system we are not offered choices like that.

I have been extremely fortunate with my pregnancy. Now that I'm at T minus 8 weeks, I figure I'm not inviting too much bad karma by talking about it openly in my blog. Of course this could mean that my labor will be hell, but that's a risk I'm taking regardless.

First off, I got pregnant at a great time of year. Sure, I look a little bigger in the more bulky winter clothing but I avoided pregnancy during the brutal hot months of the summer. Charlotte was blessed with a warm winter so aside from our trip to Massachusetts, I never had to deal with really cold, snowy or icy weather. And it will be well into fall once the baby arrives which means outdoor trips are not only doable but potentially pleasant.

For some reason I have been blessed with a lack of pregnancy symptoms. The only thing I've suffered from is a burgeoning waistline, some stretch marks for aforementioned waistline, occasional lower back pain and minor abdomen pains. Very occasional. All basically gone by the third trimester. I did suffer from some annoying carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms that seemed to appear only when I was relaxing in front of the TV or trying to fall asleep. But it was off and on and really only lasted a few weeks. I've had one or two bouts of heartburn but I had two bowls of chili on Sunday with nothing! And I'm carrying very high so I figure it would have kicked in by now if it was going to.

And finally, I have an amazingly supportive husband. He pitches in on everything without me even asking which is so nice! He was out raking the backyard on Sunday and didn't even bat an eyelash at my lazy ass reading the paper and watching TV. Of course I haven't really dragged him out for a big baby shopping trip so that might change. DH hates to shop. On the plus side for him I have been incredibly mellow with pregnancy. No crying outburst, conflicting emotions. Nada.

So what does this all mean? For me, it means I'm open to more kids down the road. Pregnancy hasn't been a big deal. But check in with me in 8 weeks and I might have a very different answer!

A trip to the dentist

A. told me that she ended up with something like 8 cavities after Finn was born. Having really great teeth and only one cavity in my past, I am determined that this will not happen to me. So I scheduled an appointment with BigDentist, a place I've been to probably 3 or 4 times in the last year and a half.

I already have a grudge against BigDentist because it always seems like they want me to pay out of pocket for some service that I really don't need. Now, I do pay for the stuff I can't live without. Exhibit A (that's for you Mommy, Esq!) is my mouth guard purchased the summer of 2007 for a cost of $400. I am a nighttime teeth clencher and it was starting to cause deep grooves in my teeth. Best money I ever spent! I can't sleep without it more (totally sexy, no?) and it cured me of headaches I didn't even know I had. Until I started using it I didn't realize I was waking up with a slight headache every day. Crazy.

What kills me is when someone at BigDentist tells me I need to pay $60 for a special bacteria treatment because of some stupid thing that could, potentially, down the road result in a cavity. I brush twice a day and floss religiously. I'm probably better than 90% of the patients they see and they still want me to pay for stuff not covered by insurance. I realize they have to make a living but come on! They get money at least twice a year from my dental insurance. And they totally play the fear factor. When I refused an optional treatment they wrote it up in my records and made me sign it. How crazy is that?!?

I had already been considering a switch but for right now they have all my records and I can't get new films for obvious reasons. So I figured one last trip and then I'd find a new dentist after the baby arrives. Hopefully one where there are weekend hours or at least appointments that can be scheduled earlier than 10 AM or later than 4 PM. Dentistry is such a scam. Even my OB has better hours!

BigDentist cancelled my first appointment because their hygienist was out sick. OK. Fine. Although it is BigDentist, shouldn't there be other people to do the work? So I rescheduled for a Friday morning during my vacation. I arrived about 10 minutes early which is standard for me. I was told that no one could see me and they called me to cancel my appointment. Needless to say, I was not happy and I threw a hissy fit.

Me: You already cancelled on me once and now that I'm here you want to do it again? No. That is unacceptable.
Receptionist: According to my records we left two messages for you.
Me: Obviously you didn't because I'm here. And I got the messages the last time you cancelled on me.
Receptionist: Our records said we did.
Me: I am not getting into an argument about this.
Receptionist: We don't have a hygienist here and never do on Fridays
Me (thinking): What the f&%ck? Why did you schedule me then?
Me: Who is in today?
Receptionist: Our dentist is here.
Me: Ask her to do it.
Receptionist: Can I send you to another location and have someone there do it.
Me: No. I'm here already. I expect to be seen.
Receptionist: I'll see what I can do.

The result? Success! The dentist bitched a bit about doing it (nicely since she is a senior partner and I'm a patient) but she cleaned my teeth and made sure I had no cavities developing. Her demeanor has almost changed my mind about switching practices. Of course, whenever I go I deal mostly with the receptionists and hygienists and only see a dentist for 5 minutes. So I'll probably still switch for my next check up.

Anyone else have issues with their dentist? I feel like I'm particularly cursed because my childhood dentist was not very good either. Our affectionate nickname for him was Dr. Death. It's hard to find reviews online for dentists because there are so many of them. Feel free to pass along any advice about finding a good dentist. I suppose I should try and find one that also has a pediatric dentist on hand...

The home stretch to vacation

Two weeks off! Two weeks off! Granted, it will also require a 14 hour drive to Massachusetts and similar return feat but two weeks off from work will be wonderful. I'm already in planning mode (as is DH because he is more organized than me) for what needs to come with us. The list is already a page long. Thank goodness we bought an SUV in August or we could have been in trouble! And, I'm very happy with the downward trajectory in gas prices. Buying an SUV doesn't seem so dumb now!

Needless to say, concentrating on work will be hard this week. What's great is that BigFinance doesn't begrudge people taking vacation. In fact, it encourages it. We just have to make sure that someone can cover for emergencies. I'll probably check email every once in a while so I'm not overwhelmed but that's about it.

In other news, apparently our baby is about the size of a rutabaga and is adding some baby fat. Unfortunately this doesn't include being more aggressive in the movement department. Still more flutters than anything else. I am hoping that DH will get to feel something soon...I plan on asking the doctor about it now that I'm 25 weeks. Of course I've been trolling the message boards at WebMD and BabyCenter and am now totally paranoid. Yes, I know better than to compare my pregnancy to anyone else's but I can't help it!

I go in for my GD test on Wednesday morning. I'm already thinking about what I can have for breakfast that won't interfere. Probably eggs and tomato slices. The test is at 10:30 which is the worst because I have to eat something beforehand or I will be a total grumpy bitch. The best part is that my practice trusts it's patients so they gave me the syrup ahead of time. That way I don't have to wait in their offices for an hour. Woo hoo! DH is coming with me so we can go out to lunch after.

If I fail the test I am going to be totally pissed. I plan on not eating any sweets for the next two days and I only had one Christmas cookie yesterday. A three hour follow up would be required if I fail. Ideally before we leave on vacation but that wouldn't give me a lot of time to schedule. Which means it wouldn't be for a few weeks and I'd have to be good over the holidays. Grrrr. Totally not interested in that! As you can see, I'm already thinking worst case scenario. Mostly because Mommy, Esq. failed. However, she was pregnant with twins and my other sister, A. passed with no problem. So hopefully I'm OK.

While I don't want to necessarily "game" the system, I don't want to have to focus on everything I put in my mouth for the next month and a half. That's what weight watchers is for after I stop breastfeeding. So, any types from women who have been there? I have two days to get into fighting form.